CHAPTER I

THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND

Introduction

Effective handling of property listings, client leads, and transaction records is key

to success in the real estate business. Yet, most small to medium-sized agencies are still

holding on to antiquated, labor-intensive processes that are error-prone, wasteful, and

time-consuming. VR Real Estate Services, a Bulacan-based family business, was founded

by the owner, who began her career in the real estate industry as a freelance agent in

2007. Over the years, she collaborated with various freelance real estate brokers, assisting

them in preparing and filing essential documents related to property transactions. This

hands-on experience allowed her to gain in-depth knowledge of processes involving the

Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and other pertinent government agencies. After 17

years of dedicated service and continuous learning, VR Real Estate Services was

officially established in August 2024, setting up an office in Tambubong, San Rafael,

Bulacan. The firm was created to provide comprehensive real estate services, leveraging

her extensive experience to offer clients reliable and efficient assistance in

property-related matters. The company had three staff members who helped the company

work hand in hand. They operated using spreadsheets, pen-and-paper records, and phone

coordination. For instance, when a customer comes to the office to make inquiries about

available properties, the office staff manually calls different agents to verify property

status. The same procedure is repeated when a property owner wants to list a property.
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Such procedures tend to create delays, misinformation, and loss of opportunities. As VR

Real Estate Services grows in both client base and listings, the difficulties of working

with these manual systems become more evident.

With these conditions in place, there is an obvious need for a centralized and

automated system to facilitate operations and improve efficiency. Advances in technology

have transformed business processes in all industries, including real estate, where

web-based property management systems are becoming indispensable. In line with Nusa

and Faisal (2020), information systems greatly contribute to organizational effectiveness

as they simplify the processing of data, enhance its accessibility, and facilitate informed

decision-making. Setyawati and Hariri (2021) also highlighted that web-based

applications provide cost-saving, easy-to-use solutions that allow companies to process

data and transactions more efficiently.

Despite these innovations, numerous real estate companies—small agencies such

as VR Real Estate Services—still use archaic, semi-manual methods. This practice raises

the chances of information inaccuracies, delays in transactions, and lost opportunities to

make sales. Ali et al. (2020) pointed out that it leads to quicker and more efficient

operations through automation of repetitive tasks and reduction of errors by using

web-based systems.

A web-based real estate property management system provides an ideal solution

through the centralization of the agency's database of property listings, clients, and

transaction records. Naeem and Rana (2023) added that these systems enhance

operational efficiency along the property cycle, from marketing and listing to client
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management and transaction processing. By adopting such a system, VR Real Estate

Services will be in a position to give real-time information on property availability,

simplify client inquiries, and improve transaction monitoring, all within a secure and

structured digital platform.

This research thus suggests the creation of a Web-Based Real Estate Property

Management System for VR Real Estate Services. The major objective of the system is to

automate property listings and client inquiry management and ensure real-time access to

data as well as effective transaction monitoring. The system will be particularly meant to

serve the needs of buying and selling property transactions and will not include other

services like payment processing, land titling, or surveying. Finally, the use of this system

will enhance the overall efficiency of operations of VR Real Estate Services and the

customer experience by minimizing delays and providing accurate, current information.

Project Context

​ The real estate industry had undergone a rapid digital transformation, yet the

property management aspect had remained a complicated and lengthy process for

property owners. Traditional real estate management relied on manual record-keeping,

in-person interactions, and limited communication, often leading to delays and

mismanagement of properties. With the increasing demand for seamless,

technology-driven solutions, there was a need for more effective, transparent, and

user-friendly methods for real estate management.

The project titled “A Web-Based Real Estate Property Management System for VR Real

Estate Services” was a comprehensive digital platform designed to optimize property

management processes. The system allowed the administrators, real estate agents, and

clients to manage listings in an automated and centralized environment. By integrating

features such as real-time property updates and active customer support channels, the

platform aimed to improve operations and enhance user experience.

The significance of the project lay in its ability to reduce administrative burdens, improve

accessibility, and enhance decision-making for stakeholders by taking advantage of cloud

technology and data-driven insights. The project aligned with the growing trend of

digitalization in the real estate sector, offering an innovative solution to optimize property

management practices.

Purpose and Description

This project was intended to develop a web-based real estate property

management system specifically for VR Real Estate Services, a family-run business in

Bulacan. The system took the place of the manual processes the company previously

used—such as spreadsheets and phone calls—and served as a centralized, automated

solution that managed the real estate listings, client inquiries, and transaction records

handled by the company. Administrators and clients used the system; therefore, it had to

support a consistently organized and efficient workflow that enabled both parties to

access internal documentation and make decisions in real time.

This system was important for many reasons. First, it resolved the operational

inefficiencies previously faced by VR Real Estate Services, particularly the challenges of

managing customer inquiries and property availability that were often delayed or lost due
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to outdated and uncoordinated systems. Second, it addressed concerns about the

company’s ability to scale. The researchers were somewhat limited in serving more

clients because of the significant amount of time required to manage customer inquiries

and property availability. The new web platform allowed the researchers to manage

inquiries more effectively, enabling them to serve more customers with a higher degree of

trust and satisfaction.

General Objective

The primary aim of this project was to design and develop a system called “A

Web-Based Real Estate Property Management System for VR Real Estate Services” for

the automation and streamlining of VR Real Estate Service operations. It was also meant

to improve customer experience, enhance the efficiency of property management, and

support the company’s growth through an integrated platform for the secure and effective

management of real estate transactions.

Specific Objectives

To accomplish the general objective, the study was guided by the following

specific objectives:

1.​ To develop a system that could perform the following functionalities:

1.1. Online inquiry tracking for clients who submitted questions or

viewing schedules;
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1.2. Maintenance features for user account management, property listing

updates, automated notifications, and report generation;

1.3. Creation of a centralized digital document storage for internal

processing; and​

1.4. Design of a dynamic web content management system for real estate

listings and client-side access.

2.​ To analyze the existing manual processes used by VR Real Estate Services, by

conducting a face-to-face interview with the owner to identify information

requirements, workflow inefficiencies, and operational gaps.

3.​ To determine appropriate security and control measures such as user roles,

password protection, and data integrity features.

4.​ To conduct black box and white box testing by preparing test cases based on the

system’s functional and logical requirements, then executing these test cases to

verify if the system produced the expected outputs and followed the intended

internal processes, ensuring responsiveness, accuracy, reliability, and compliance

with specified features.

5.​ To evaluate the level of acceptability of the proposed system using the software

quality standard ISO/IEC 25010 instrument in terms of the following criteria:

5.1. Functionality Suitability;

5.2. Performance Efficiency;

5.3. Compatibility;

5.4. Interaction Capability;

5.5. Reliability;
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5.6. Security;

5.7 Maintainability

5.8. Flexibility; and

5.9. Safety

Scope and Limitations of the Study

This research was concerned with the design and construction of a system called

“A Web-Based Real Estate Property Management System for VR Real Estate Services.”

This system was built for a family-owned real estate business, also named VR Real

Estate Services, operating in Bulacan, a province in the Philippines. The principal reason

for creating this system was to automate and centralize the existing manual processes of

the business that involved managing property listings, handling inquiries from clients,

and monitoring the various stages of transactions—which functioned like a pinball game

where the transaction bounced from one person to another until it was completed.

Automated notifications were part of the system, including both in-system alerts

and emails. These features allowed clients and administrators to be promptly notified

about inquiries and when appointments were confirmed or rescheduled. The system was

web-based and, therefore, capable of accommodating a content management system

(CMS). This allowed the administrator to manage all the content that appeared on the

front end, or in public view, including the homepage. The system was developed using a

modern web technology stack and was deployed on a standard web server. There were

two main reasons for this—accessibility and security. Accessibility was crucial because
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the platform had users with a variety of hardware, whose access was ensured through

standards-compliant URLs.

Even though the system was functional in many ways, it had certain clear and

defined restrictions. Online payments were not part of the system’s operations. They

might have been integrated in a future version of the system, but at that time, payment by

credit card, GCash, PayPal, or any other online method was not included. Likewise,

certain features found in other real estate systems—such as virtual property tours or

augmented reality views—were also not part of this version. Finally, certain real estate

features required a level of human judgment that the system had, by design, excluded

from its functions.