We’re two weeks out from March, which means the autumn selling season is about to hit full throttle. If you’ve been in Sydney real estate for more than a few years, you know what that means: back-to-back appraisals, Saturday auctions from Mosman to Maroubra, and a CRM that’s about to earn its keep.

This is not the time to discover your listing feed is broken or your email sequences are firing to the wrong segments. I’ve seen agents lose prime listings because their tech stack fell over during crunch time. Don’t let that be you.

Here’s my pre-season tech audit checklist. Work through it this week while things are still relatively quiet.

1. CRM Health Check

Your CRM is your nervous system. When was the last time you actually cleaned your database?

What to do now:

• Purge duplicate contacts (they skew your reporting and waste marketing budget)
• Update property preferences for active buyers—last year’s search criteria won’t cut it
• Test your automated workflows: buyer alerts, appraisal follow-ups, post-settlement sequences
• Check integration points with REA, Domain, and your email platform

I had a conversation with an agent last month who was sending Bondi apartment alerts to buyers who’d moved their search to the Lower North Shore six months ago. That’s not just inefficient—it’s damaging to your brand.

2. Listing Platform Setup

Domain and realestate.com.au are non-negotiable, but are your listings actually optimised?

Pre-season checklist:

• Verify your agency profile is current (awards, agent bios, recent sales)
• Test the upload process from your property management software
• Confirm your enhanced listing features are active (virtual tours, floor plans, video walkthroughs)
• Review your featured property allocation strategy

With clearance rates sitting around 65-70% across Sydney metro in recent weeks according to CoreLogic, every listing advantage matters. Your property presentations need to be flawless from day one.

3. Digital Marketing Infrastructure

Autumn means competitive Saturday inspections. Your digital marketing needs to work harder.

What to audit:

• Facebook and Instagram ad accounts (check billing, audience lists, pixel tracking)
• Email marketing platform (template updates, mobile rendering, unsubscribe compliance)
• Google My Business listing (hours, photos, recent reviews)
• Landing pages for buyer/seller lead capture

Test everything. Click every link. View every template on mobile. I cannot stress this enough: if your open home registration form breaks on iPhone, you’ve just lost half your potential buyers.

4. AI Tools and Automation

This is where most agents are still leaving money on the table. If you’re using AI for property descriptions and social posts but nothing else, you’re barely scratching the surface.

Consider these applications:

• Automated property valuation models for quick appraisal prep
• Chatbots for after-hours enquiry response (buyers don’t stop browsing at 5pm)
• Predictive analytics for days on market and pricing strategy
• Photo enhancement and virtual staging tools

The technology has matured significantly in the past year. If you’re unclear on where to start or how to integrate AI into your workflow without creating more work, talking to specialists like AI consultants Sydney can save you months of trial and error. I’ve seen agents double their response time efficiency just by getting the right tools configured properly.

5. Photography and Media Assets

You can’t run autumn campaigns on summer photos. Well, you can, but you shouldn’t.

Media prep:

• Book your preferred photographers for March-April now
• Test video hosting and embedding (YouTube, Vimeo, native uploads)
• Organise drone operator availability for prestige listings
• Check your editing software licenses are current

With the eastern suburbs market heating up again—I’m seeing solid buyer activity from Double Bay through to Coogee—presentation quality is the difference between a 28-day campaign and a 45-day campaign.

6. Communication Tools

When you’re managing 8-10 active listings, communication breakdowns kill deals.

Tech to verify:

• Video conferencing setup (appraisals, interstate buyers, VPA explanations)
• DocuSign or equivalent for remote contract signing
• SMS platforms for open home reminders and auction updates
• Calendar integration across devices and team members

I learned this the hard way years ago: if your buyers need to wait 24 hours for contract copies or can’t sign a VPA remotely, they’re looking at other properties in the meantime.

7. Reporting and Analytics

You should be able to pull accurate performance data in under five minutes. If you can’t, fix that now.

Set up or verify:

• Listing performance dashboards (views, enquiries, inspections)
• Campaign ROI tracking (cost per lead by source)
• Market share reports for your key suburbs
• Settlement pipeline visibility

When a vendor asks why you’re recommending a $1.65M price guide instead of $1.75M, you need data. Clean, current, credible data.

The Bottom Line

Running through this checklist will take you 3-4 hours max. Not doing it might cost you a $30K commission when your tech fails at the worst possible moment.

Autumn 2026 is shaping up to be strong. Interest rate stability, improving buyer confidence, and healthy stock levels across most Sydney regions mean opportunity—if you’re ready for it.

Your competitors are already booking their photographers and updating their CRMs. Don’t get caught flat-footed.

Get your tech right this week. Thank yourself in April.