In real estate, where deals move fast and client trust is everything, reliable IT isn't a luxury—it's a necessity. From managing property data and financial transactions to supporting mobile agents and ensuring compliance with data security standards, the demands on your technology infrastructure are non-negotiable.
Yet many real estate agencies are stuck with IT providers that can't keep up. At CNS Data, we often meet firms struggling with unreliable service, delayed support, and a lack of strategic direction from their managed IT service providers. If your current IT partner is slowing you down instead of helping you grow, it may be time to reassess.
Here are six red flags to look out for:
1. Increasing Downtime Is Interrupting Operations
Real estate depends on availability. Whether it's listing updates, CRM access, or remote property viewings, your agents need systems that work around the clock. Frequent outages or sluggish applications signal that your IT provider isn't managing your network effectively.
According to IDC, small and midsize businesses can lose up to 7% of annual revenue due to excessive downtime. For real estate agencies juggling listings, legal documents, and third-party vendor tools, those costs stack up fast. Downtime can disrupt everything from MLS access to secure document storage to virtual tours—undermining client experiences and internal workflows alike.
If you're not seeing consistent uptime reporting, incident response summaries, or root cause analysis after a service interruption, your provider is reacting instead of preventing. Proactive IT partners will not only restore systems quickly but help you avoid outages altogether by offering predictive analytics and automated alerts that flag risk areas before they break.
2. Slow Response Times and Unresolved Tickets
Every minute spent waiting for IT support is a minute lost in client communication, deal progression, or application use. Real estate teams rely heavily on tools like Dotloop, AppFolio, SkySlope, and mobile CRM apps. If these systems go down or glitch and your help desk can't respond immediately, the delay becomes costly.
If your provider takes hours (or days) to respond, escalates basic issues repeatedly, or leaves tickets unresolved, it's time to reconsider. Industry best practices suggest critical IT alerts should be acknowledged within 15 minutes and have resolution steps underway within the hour.
Ask yourself: How often are your team members re-reporting the same problems? Do issues get passed around without a clear resolution path? Are your agents hesitant to use IT support because of prior bad experiences? These are red flags.
The right MSP will offer you a documented SLA (Service Level Agreement), escalation paths, a knowledge base to empower users, and KPIs that show improvement over time. They'll also provide recurring insights from your support metrics to help you uncover workflow inefficiencies and recommend targeted training.
3. Missed Patches and Outdated Systems
In real estate, your agency handles sensitive data daily, financial records, loan documents, ID verification files, and wire instructions. If your systems are not consistently patched and updated, you're not only risking a breach but also potential legal consequences.
A good IT provider will implement automatic patch management for all connected devices, run weekly vulnerability scans, and ensure compliance with best practices and regulations like FTC Safeguards. If your MSP is still managing updates manually or fails to report patch cycles, that's a major concern.
Look for evidence of:
Missed updates for core business applications (Office 365, QuickBooks, Adobe, etc.)
Unaddressed vulnerabilities flagged in audits
Delays in antivirus, firewall, or firmware updates
Sophisticated patch management tools paired with real-time dashboards should be table stakes. Without them, it's likely that your systems have already fallen behind—and that your data could be compromised by something as simple as a known exploit in your browser or a CRM plugin.
4. Little to No Cybersecurity Planning
The real estate industry is now one of the top five industries targeted by wire fraud and phishing scams. Fraudulent buyer and seller instructions, spoofed agent emails, and fake wire transfer requests are increasingly common.
If your MSP hasn't helped implement security policies around email authentication (like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC), encrypted email, or cloud access controls, you are at serious risk.
Real estate firms should expect the following from their IT provider:
Quarterly cybersecurity risk assessments
Multi-factor authentication across all logins
Role-based access to financial and personal data
Simulated phishing campaigns and staff security awareness training
Clear incident response plan in the event of a breach
Cybersecurity isn't just about having antivirus software—it's about creating a culture of security. If your provider hasn't walked your team through what to do in the event of a wire fraud attempt, they're not doing enough.
5. One-Size-Fits-All Service Packages
Your business is unique. A 15-agent residential brokerage operating in the suburbs has very different needs than a 150-agent commercial firm with offices across multiple states. If your provider hasn't customized your solution or scaled support as your agency has grown, they're holding you back.
A rigid service package might mean you're paying for tools you don't need—or worse, not getting the tools that would make your business run more efficiently. Customization might include support for:
Remote closing workflows and e-signature platforms
MLS integrations and data backup systems
Custom reporting dashboards for compliance
High-speed internet failover and multi-site VPNs
A forward-thinking MSP will offer modular pricing and meet regularly with you to evaluate whether your current tools still fit your operations. They'll recommend new solutions where they see gaps and sunset old ones that no longer bring value.
6. No Strategic IT Roadmap
Your IT provider should not only be thinking about fixing what's broken today, they should be planning for what's coming next. Whether you're expanding into new markets, investing in PropTech, or looking for ways to improve operational efficiency, your MSP should be actively involved in those conversations.
Signs your provider isn't helping you strategically:
You haven't had a quarterly IT planning meeting in over a year
No one is benchmarking your performance or tech costs
New hires take too long to onboard due to poor tech preparation
CNS Data assigns every client a Virtual CIO (vCIO) who helps build an IT roadmap aligned with business goals. From cloud migration to smart lock technology, we help real estate leaders assess opportunities, implement upgrades, and stay ahead of digital trends.
Final Thoughts
Real estate firms can't afford slow systems, delayed support, or unclear IT strategy. Whether you're a boutique agency or a large-scale brokerage, your IT environment should drive growth, not introduce risk. If you're noticing these red flags, it's not just an inconvenience, it's a liability.
It may be time to move on from a provider that's stuck in maintenance mode and toward a partner who understands your market, your tools, and your goals.
Book a call with our CEO to learn how CNS Data can deliver the responsive, strategic IT support your real estate business deserves.
