Empowering Real Estate Software Solution with a Skilled Remote Team
Our engineer in AreaButler's team added GPT-written location and exposé texts to the live SaaS for estate agents.
Industry
Proptech
Location
Germany
Client since
2022
Status
Ongoing
4+ years
in AreaButler’s team
5
AI text types
2
CRM integrations
2023
gpt-3.5-turbo switch
AreaButler is a German proptech SaaS for estate agents. It analyses the area around a property and turns that analysis into interactive maps, location texts and exposés written for the buyers the agent wants to reach.
Our client, AreaButler
The product works from the target group. If a client needs a luxury penthouse, AreaButler shows only the best restaurants and supermarkets nearby. If a young family needs a home, it finds kindergartens, schools and pharmacies. Agents get arguments for a purchase or lease built from the location itself. AreaButler's customers are brokers, real estate consultants, property managers, appraisers, building and real estate companies, and property owners.
Alexander Timper founded AreaButler in October 2021, after years as a manager in engineering services and digitalization programs. He set out to help every person find the best place to live, and to help real estate agents do their work faster. AreaButler puts data protection first and states that it complies with European rules, the GDPR in particular.
Since May 2022, Brocoders engineers have worked inside AreaButler's own team. AreaButler sets the tasks and priorities, and our engineers build them. This is team augmentation, the service we now deliver as a senior engineering pod.
“After working together for 4 months Brocoders is fully part of our team. The service delivered is of very high quality. The execution is quick and includes a very close communication. In case of bugs the Brocoders team is super responsive and takes actions also late at night.”
Proptech SaaS for estate agents: location analysis, interactive maps, AI-written location texts and exposés
AI feature
OpenAI text generation inside the live product: GPT-3 first, moved to gpt-3.5-turbo in March 2023
Integrations
onOffice Marketplace, Propstack, PayPal next to Stripe, CSV import
Engagement
Team augmentation since May 2022, ongoing. Our engineers work in AreaButler’s team and process
Team
1 full-stack engineer and an account manager from 2022; a backend engineer and QA from 2024; a frontend engineer in 2026
Stack
React, NestJS, MongoDB, OpenAI API
How the AI texts work inside AreaButler
Alexander Timper asked how AI could help real estate agents in their daily work. AreaButler already produced the location analysis, the maps and the point of interest tables. Our full-stack engineer in AreaButler's team added OpenAI text generation to that live product, so an agent gets a written text from the analysis they have already run.
What goes in
AreaButler’s location analysis for the address. The target group the agent chose. The property data, typed in or imported from the agent’s CRM.
What the model writes
A location description. A property description. A combined location and property text for the exposé. A rewrite from formal to informal German (Sie to Du). Answers to general questions.
Where agents use it
Inside the AreaButler app. The 2023 release marked each text type as new and the feature as beta, with a note to check facts before using a text.
First version, 2022
Text generation on OpenAI’s GPT-3, inside the existing app, live before February 2023.
March 2023
Our engineer moved the texts to gpt-3.5-turbo. On March 13, 2023, AreaButler announced that it was the first proptech in the DACH market (Germany, Austria and Switzerland) to make the model available to all its users.
By spring 2022, AreaButler had an MVP of its geodata services for real estate and wanted to develop the product further. Alexander Timper needed a full-stack developer who could join his team for the long term, and he looked for a company that could provide one.
April 2022
Timper wrote to Brocoders.
Spring 2022
AreaButler compared vendors, by Timper’s account on Clutch around 20 companies worldwide. Brocoders reached the final round.
May 2022
Our full-stack engineer joined AreaButler’s team.
August 2022
Timper reviewed Brocoders on Clutch, four months in.
AreaButler managed the work directly. Our engineer joined the in-house team, took tasks from AreaButler's board and worked to AreaButler's priorities.
Inside the client’s team
Our engineers work with AreaButler’s CEO and, from March 2024, its CTO, and take part in planning and prioritization.
Weekly sprint review
In 2022, Timper described the process on Clutch: AreaButler fixed the board at a weekly sprint review, and our engineer then built with full autonomy.
Account manager
Brocoders assigns an account manager for onboarding, monthly workload planning, time tracking, invoices and feedback from both sides.
“We work in agile methodology, feature cards are developed on customer and market feedback. Together with the Brocoders team we estimate the efforts and prioritize based on customer benefit and market impact.”
AreaButler integrations: onOffice, Propstack, PayPal and CSV import
Next to the AI texts, our engineer connected AreaButler to two real estate CRMs and added PayPal as a second payment provider.
onOffice makes CRM software for real estate agents in Germany. AreaButler wanted its analyses, maps and texts available inside onOffice through an onOffice Marketplace app. Agents on other CRMs, or on none, use AreaButler's web app.
The onOffice Marketplace is built mainly for PHP, with limited JavaScript support. AreaButler runs on NestJS. Our engineer built the authentication on AreaButler's backend, for security, and handled the differences between the two languages' data types.
Agents already keep their property data somewhere, so AreaButler imports it instead of asking for manual entry. Our engineer built two routes: a CSV import, and an import from the agent's CRM, onOffice Marketplace or Propstack.
Each source uses its own data formats and field structures. Our engineer compared the formats, mapped the differing fields and converted the data to AreaButler's own format.
AreaButler took payments through Stripe and needed PayPal as a second provider. It sells two products: a subscription, monthly or yearly, that renews until the user cancels, and a pay-per-use package of 10 interactive maps for 10 addresses within one year, which the customer buys once and does not renew.
AreaButler's pricing gives both products a 4-day trial. PayPal allowed a trial period only on subscriptions. Our engineer set up the pay-per-use package in PayPal as a single-term subscription that cannot renew, which gave it the trial.
Also delivered, 2022 to 2023
A new pricing model
Map style improvements
Server-side operations
API import
Sorting and filtering of real estate objects
Algorithms for filtering points of interest
Support and bug fixing
What AreaButler does for estate agents
The interactive maps and the location analysis existed before Brocoders joined; our engineers built the parts named in the sections above.
Interactive maps show buyers and tenants the full area around a property. Agents embed them in their own listings, in their own design. AreaButler says visitors stay on those pages longer.
An automatically generated location exposé has three parts: an AI-written location text that describes the area, a table of points of interest that the agent can adjust to the client, and map sections that show the micro and macro location. The AI texts can also use the property data stored in the agent's CRM.
AreaButler's database covers demographics, transport links, schools, distance to recreation areas, air quality and points of interest. It combines government data, AreaButler's own data and purchased data. Agents use it to show what speaks for a property's location.
AreaButler generates print-ready location plans to download into sales exposés, with the map section and points of interest the agent picks. Location indices score aspects of the location, such as transport, education, recreation and shopping. Agents compare properties with them and adjust their marketing.
Agents set their own colors, fonts and icons for the maps and for each point of interest category, and their logo appears on every export document.
Environment analysis: enter an address, set the travel mode and radius, and choose points of interest and important addresses for door-to-door routes.
My real estate: create a property by hand or import it from a CSV file.
My target groups: active seniors, established performers, young professionals, (young) families, conservative/pragmatic middles, and students. An email link lets a prospect mark their own preferred transport and places.
My maps: open the editor, copy a link or snippet, delete. Maps can show demographic comparisons and election results, and agents can limit the number of points of interest.
AreaButler runs on laptops, PCs, tablets and smartphones: in the web app, in onOffice through its Marketplace app, and with other CRMs through its API.
“The Brocoders team has fully adapted to our schedule and is always available.”
In 2026 our frontend engineer works on AreaButler's map editor.
Map editor redesign
Our frontend engineer built a workspace switcher with AI, Data and Property tabs, a new map menu, saved presets, a crop tool for map screenshots and a new point of interest list for the embedded map. He removed the Leaflet map component and kept Mapbox GL.
Frontend upgrades
He upgraded Next.js, React and axios for known vulnerabilities, moved the remaining forms to React Hook Form and began moving state to Zustand.
Result: four years inside AreaButler's product team
AI texts in production before February 2023
Five text types inside the AreaButler app, moved to gpt-3.5-turbo in March 2023.
AreaButler inside agents’ CRMs
An onOffice Marketplace app with authentication on AreaButler’s backend, and property import from onOffice, Propstack and CSV files.
Two payment providers
Stripe and PayPal, with a 4-day trial on both of AreaButler’s products.
More than four years in AreaButler’s team
Since May 2022, working in AreaButler’s own process.
AreaButler today
AreaButler reports 500+ paying real estate offices and 8,000+ active users on its website (October 2026).
“Words are kept and problems are solved in a very pragmatic way. We can always rely on the support of the Team.”
FAQ: adding an AI feature to a live proptech product
Can you add AI features to a product that is already live?
Yes. At AreaButler, our engineer added OpenAI text generation to a live proptech SaaS for estate agents. The first version ran on GPT-3, and the texts moved to gpt-3.5-turbo in March 2023, inside the existing React, NestJS and MongoDB product. This is the work of our AI development and integration services.
Can the AI texts work in German?
Yes. In 2023 AreaButler ran in German, and one of its AI text types rewrites formal German (Sie) into informal German (Du).
Do you work with real estate CRMs such as onOffice and Propstack?
Yes. For AreaButler we built the backend authentication for its onOffice Marketplace app and the property import from onOffice and Propstack. The integrations section above has the detail.
Is this a dedicated team or team augmentation?
Team augmentation. Our engineers join your team and work from your board and priorities, and Brocoders adds an account manager. We now deliver this as a senior engineering pod.
How did AreaButler choose Brocoders?
In Alexander Timper’s words on Clutch: “We interviewed around 20 companies world wide and the Brocoders delivered the best performance during the supplier selection process.”
Can we start with one engineer?
Yes. AreaButler started with one full-stack engineer in May 2022 and has changed the team’s size since.
Where do we start if we want AI in our product?
With a call about the feature and the data behind it, or with a software audit of the product the feature will live in.
