A real estate agent’s job is much more than buying and selling properties; a realtor must also be an expert analyst, both for themselves and for their clients. As financial advisor, Paul Clitheroe, once said, “Before you start trying to work out which direction the property market is headed, you should be aware that there are markets within markets.” 

The crux of the matter is understanding how each property fits into the context of these markets. With real estate GIS data at our fingertips, an agent can be fully prepared to make well-informed business decisions for themselves and their clients. 

When an investment requires large sums of money, we can’t leave anything up to chance. No one wants a surprise when buying a property, so the art of buying and selling must be handled with care. Platforms utilizing rich real estate GIS data provide agents with far more customization than standard real estate software, allowing agents to leverage the most accurate, and up-to-date information for their clients. 

Spatial Analysis 

One of the primary benefits of real estate GIS data is that it allows for spatial analysis of properties, the process of solving problems by studying the attributes and relationships of features in a particular location. We use spatial analysis to solve complex problems and uncover hidden insights. Having a complete, holistic understanding of the area will not only give you an edge as an agent but likely result in happier, more satisfied clients. 

Visualize Parcel Information

Keeping real estate GIS data at your fingertips will not only help you, the agent, with spatial analysis but your clients as well. With the plethora of information GIS can provide, you can show your clients nearly anything they may want to know about a property. Displaying multiple GIS layers on a single map can show countless features of a piece of land alongside each other, including everything from soil health to average income to weather patterns. 

Purchasing a property can be quite anxiety-provoking, but having a comprehensive understanding of what exactly they’re getting into can help assuage a buyer’s fears. More often than not, the photos of a house/apartment/building for sale tend to embellish the good and negate the bad - so, buyers are rightful to be a little weary. Real estate GIS data allows you to show your clients a more complete picture of the property, displaying information such as floodplains, soil types, neighboring parcels and more, so they don’t have to worry about what they don’t know. 

Build Databases of Properties

With real estate GIS data, what you learn about one listing can carry over to other properties in the area. By building a database of properties, you can compare sales prices, observe patterns, and snag off-market properties before your competition does. How can a GIS database help you achieve this? The same way your real estate knowledge does: an agent who knows their market better than the rest tends to excel. The more you know about the market (in all respects), the faster you can connect to highly-motivated buyers and sellers. That’s a big deal because time-sensitive, off-market sales bring in the big bucks.

Discover Spatial Relationships

Nothing is more critical when buying or selling a property than the three L’s of real estate: location, location, location. Sure, it’s a tad cliche, but the location is a top priority for most people investing in real estate. With real estate GIS data, you can show clients everything there is to know about a properties location. 

Maps of the shortest route to certain places, such as schools, offices, or restaurants, can immensely help agents and buyers alike. Instead of giving clients an address to plug into google maps, you have all the data you need to provide a more comprehensive understanding of a neighborhood and a property’s location within it. Clients may want to know the value per acre of surrounding lands, zoning, location of flood zones and wetlands, city and county lines, highly-ranked school districts and so on. A GIS application can quickly answer all of those inquiries and more. 

Real estate GIS data can also help hopeful buyers locate opportunity zones created by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, which provide preferential tax treatment for certain investments in lower-income communities. GIS can not only identify these areas but show how they are evolving over time - something a prospective buyer or investor may want to know. 

Building Ownership Mailing Lists

A real estate mailing list, the index of carefully chosen potential leads, is likely one of the most powerful items in your toolbelt. Contrary to intuition, the best mailing lists aren’t those you’ve grown over the years - what’s the use of having 1,000 people on your list if 850 of them are dead or no longer interested? The most effective ownership lists are lean, selective, and current. 

Leveraging real estate GIS data provides agents with an abundance of up-to-date information on possible leads in an area -  and it can weed out those that aren’t as current or qualified. This data will also allow you to filter through potential leads based on what you are looking for in buyers or sellers, whether that be pricing range, location, housing type, etc. Your network is a significant contributor to how successful you can be in real estate. When you can combine this information with a powerful GIS system, you give yourself more ways to utilize it. 

Land id™ (formerly MapRight) understands how important it is to share your properties with the most interested potential buyers. For any selected property, export landowner data for parcels within a radius of up to eleven miles. This list can be used for your own marketing activities or can be uploaded to our virtual postcard store.

Sharing Property Maps

Before a client ever steps foot on a property, they’ll likely want to see some photos to determine if it’s even worth checking out. Due to the importance of real estate photography, you can expect to spend anywhere from $100-$300 per property on average, and that number will increase if you choose to add videos. With real estate GIS, you can build a far more complete picture of the property that goes beyond simple photos without the hefty price tag. 

Land id™ clients can create maps showing every relevant feature of a property, such as roads, nearby buildings, custom datasets for features such as wells, timber stands or units, and so on. With our software, you can also create a holistic experience of the property you hope to sell by including 360 degree aerial photos, virtual walkthroughs, videos, geo-referenced site plans or surveys in more all in a single interactive map. Buying property is a considerable investment, so anything we can do to ease the buyer and seller’s anxiety is a bonus. If clients have a full picture of the property, they can feel secure in the process. 

Land id™ makes it easy to email your maps to prospective buyers, embed them on your website, or share them on listing sites. Regardless of how you choose to share your maps, offering an accurate and complete picture of your properties will certainly give you an edge over the competition. 

Leverage Real Estate GIS Data With Land id™

While traditional methods of buying and selling land still work okay, the future of real estate is comprehensive and data-driven. As GIS technology advances, more and more agents are choosing to step ahead of the curve and reap the benefits of real estate GIS data. At Land id™, we pride ourselves on working with trailblazers, game-changers and forward thinkers - so if you’re ready to get an edge with real estate GIS data, sign up for your 7-day free trial now and make your first map in minutes!