How to choose a real estate CRM in India: a checklist
By the PropT team · Published
Choose a real estate CRM by testing it against your own sales process: does it capture leads from the portals you pay for, track site visits as a stage, manage channel partners and live inventory, run WhatsApp properly, and show which source produced each booking? A generic CRM can do some of this; a real estate CRM should do all of it out of the box.
Start with how you sell, not with features
Most CRM demos show the same things: contacts, a pipeline board, reports. What separates a CRM that works for an Indian developer is whether it fits the way property is actually sold here, through portals, site visits, channel partners and WhatsApp. Write down your process first, then test each product against it.
- List every lead source you pay for or receive leads from, including walk-ins and channel partners.
- Write down your sales stages from first enquiry to registration.
- Note who touches a lead: telecallers, sales managers, site staff, channel partners.
- Note what you report on every week, and to whom.
The checklist
| Area | What to check | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Portal lead capture | Leads from 99acres, MagicBricks, Housing.com and Meta Lead Ads arrive automatically, with their source | Manual entry delays first contact and loses the source |
| Duplicates | The same buyer enquiring on two portals becomes one record | Otherwise two salespeople call the same buyer and reports overcount leads |
| Site visits | Visits are scheduled, confirmed and marked completed against the lead | The site visit is the stage that best predicts a booking; see cost per site visit |
| Pipeline stages | Stages match real estate (enquiry, site visit, negotiation, booking, registration) and can differ by project | Generic stages hide where deals stall |
| Channel partners | Partners submit leads themselves, duplicates are checked at submission, commissions are tracked per booking | Attribution disputes and late payouts are what make partners stop selling your project |
| Inventory | Unit status (available, blocked, booked) updates live for sales and partners | Prevents two buyers being promised the same unit |
| Works through an official WhatsApp Business Platform provider with approved templates | Unofficial bulk tools risk numbers being blocked | |
| SMS | Uses DLT-registered sender IDs and templates | Unregistered commercial SMS is blocked in India |
| Attribution | Shows which source, campaign or partner produced each visit and booking | Without it, marketing budget follows the cheapest leads, not the best ones |
| Data and access | Where data is hosted, who can export it, and role-based access for staff and partners | Buyer data includes phone numbers, PAN and payment details |
Questions to ask in the demo
- Show me a lead arriving from a portal, end to end, without anyone typing it in.
- What happens when two channel partners submit the same buyer?
- Show me the cost per site visit for each source last month.
- How long does it take to go live, and who moves our existing leads and inventory across?
- Can we try it on one project before rolling it out to all of them?
Generic CRM or real estate CRM?
A generic CRM can be configured for real estate, but you pay for that configuration in time and consultants, and portal integrations, site visits, inventory and partner portals usually need add-ons or custom work. A real estate CRM should cover the checklist above without that work. Either way, judge it on your own process, using the questions above.
Frequently asked questions
What is a real estate CRM?
Software that manages property buyers from first enquiry to booking: capturing leads from portals and ads, scheduling and tracking site visits, managing the sales pipeline, and, for developers, channel partners and unit inventory.
Do brokers need the same CRM as developers?
Not always. Brokerages need lead capture, follow-up and commission tracking; developers also need live inventory, channel partner management and reporting per project. Check that the plan you choose covers your side of the market.
How do I compare CRM pricing fairly?
Compare the total for your team size, lead volume and number of projects, including WhatsApp and SMS message costs, portal integrations and onboarding, not just the headline monthly price.