Do you understand the distinction between consumer-facing and professional mobile applications? Does there have to be a distinction? After all, particularly when it comes to applications built primarily for property search, don't many professionals and consumers want the same thing? We chatted with Phillip Charles-Pierre, CMO of Smarter Agent - one of the industry leaders in developing white label or branded apps for franchises, brokers, and agents - to find the answers to these questions and more.

What Consumers Want

"Most consumers want to be able to search for homes, obtain accurate data (which might be a problem when they're using an app from the aggregators who don't always pull directly data from MLS data feeds), and want to be able to search by GPS as they walk or drive a neighborhood of interest," Mr. Charles-Pierre explains. He goes on to say that consumers want to be able to refine their search with advanced features to narrow down results. Further, they want to be able to receive alerts for new results that meet their criteria. Ultimately they just want to find the right home for them with not too much fuss.

What Professionals Want

Agents want these same things, Mr. Charles-Pierre explains, because it is how their clients are searching. However, they also need to have secure access to view additional data in their respective MLSs that cannot be shared with consumers (listing price history, agent remarks, compensation, etc.). "Many agents also want their clients to be able to contact them directly through the app," he says. "This makes communication during the buying process seamless and fully controlled by the client.