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Corva is transaction and business management software.
Platforms: iOS, browser
Ideal for: Brokerages, teams, agents
Top selling points:
- Fully mobile OS
- Integrated deal checklists
- Task-centered UX
- Extended functionality beyond transactions
- Detailed activity tracking
Top concerns:
I feel like Corva was developed in a vacuum, unaware of what its competition is capable of or how redundancy with existing user tools can impact adoption. Its on-board CRM is a prime example as is its initial property data input methodology. These issues can be overcome as it moves on from its initial release.
What you should know
Corva is a mobile application for managing real estate business, but it centers on the transaction as the jump-off-point for its functionality. The app does have a browser version for broker oversight, but much of its value rests on what can be done while on the go.
Overall, the app is well-designed with a consumer-inspired front-end experience that enhances a mostly well-orchestrated feature set. There’s a calendar tool, template (and custom) task lists, visual sales progress indicators (think: dotloop), a document library with active management, photo uploads, marketing tools and a lightweight CRM, among other odds and ends to support its primary functionality.
Know that Corva is more than a transaction management app, a term I think its owners are using as a catch-all term for what is really a business process app. After all, it centers around revenue production, goal-setting, tasks, appointment management and people. There’s also a solid document management module that identifies parties, links to task lists, and provides in-app signature capability and role assignment, too.
The checklists are driven by each phase of the transaction, populating what needs to be done as each milestone is met. They help remind the user that Corva was built by a real estate agent, as they’re relevant and direct. Nekst functions much the same way, but has had longer to bake in the industry, and offers a more mature alternative to what Corva is in its present state.
There’s also an agent expense input and tracker, which never hurts to have, and a buyer-seller matching tool, not unlike what Percy (previously Buyside) launched with, as well as what a lot of brokerage in-house networks offer.
I feel like Corva’s CRM was an after-thought, an add-on that came from asking too many agents what they want in a software product without studying the rate at which CRMs are added and dropped from brokerage tech stacks and agent workstations.
If you’re not going to upset the likes of Chime, kvCORE, Follow Up Boss and their ilk, then find ways to integrate with them. The lack of two-way synchronization means any data input with a contact on Corva will have to be manually entered from whichever other system or source the record originated. The alternative, of course, is to start fresh with the app as your primary means of scoring and managing leads.
I wouldn’t have this concern if it was merely a collection point for parties involved in each deal, but there are “cold, warm and hot” lead indicators without nearly the same level of context or sophistication as to why a person has earned that status. It sources the individuals from the host device’s native contacts app, which very few agents keep up to date and rarely sync with the primary tools used for lead-gen and nurture.
There’s also a closing gift module that lets agents buy and send items to clients, something I’m having trouble wrapping my dome around. It in no way takes away from the app, but I feel the coding hours would have been better spent elsewhere in the app. Is this something the industry needs more of, a way to order closing gifts? Are agents out there without options?
I do like a lot of things about this app, despite my take on what’s weighing it down. It does a great job, for example, of document control in a mobile environment, and its closing summary, business performance reports and tasks are worth the download.
ListedKit, Trackxi and Mosaik, three apps I’ve been hammering readers with over the last few months, have kicked off what I think is a move toward “client experience.” Corva can move in this way with a few tweaks that enable the user to more actively collaborate with clients. Give buyers and sellers a front-row seat; don’t relegate them to their inboxes.
Today’s agent needs to be better at sharing what’s happening with the people they’re working for, not with. I’d like to see some more robust, shared interactions, something that an agent can offer that will add real value to external relationships, not gift cards.
It’s important for app developers to know that addition often comes from subtraction and that product managers need to be more familiar with “no” than “yes.” I think, in time, the Corva team will get there.
Until then, Corva offers quite a bit for the agent who has had early success and wants to more fully streamline how they operate. It’s a good system for knowing what’s happening when and what should happen next. Keep an eye on Corva.
Have a technology product you would like to discuss? Email Craig Rowe
Craig C. Rowe started in commercial real estate at the dawn of the dot-com boom, helping an array of commercial real estate companies fortify their online presence and analyze internal software decisions. He now helps agents with technology decisions and marketing through reviewing software and tech for Inman.
