ApproveThis manages your Buying Buddy Integration approvals.

When Approval Workflows Meet Real Estate CRM

Let’s get real: real estate teams waste 12 hours a week chasing down signatures, validating client budgets, and begging agents to check their CRM. ApproveThis and Buying Buddy just declared war on that nonsense.

ApproveThis handles the "get three people to say yes" part. Buying Buddy manages the "keep 387 client files from becoming a dumpster fire" part. Connect them through Zapier, and you’ve got something that actually works for teams scaling past 50 agents without hiring a full-time approval coordinator.

Why This Combo Doesn’t Suck

Buying Buddy’s good at tracking leads. ApproveThis is good at getting decisions made. Together, they fix the three worst parts of real estate ops:

• Lead limbo: New client? Great. Now get 2 brokers and a compliance officer to approve their package. Watch the lead go cold while you play email tag.
• Black hole approvals: “Did Karen in accounting ever sign off on that buyer’s escalation clause?” Check Slack. Check email. Check the CRM. Nope. Check your sanity.
• Compliance theater: Mandatory disclosures? Commission splits? Everyone says they reviewed them. The audit trail says otherwise.

ApproveThis brings structure. Buying Buddy brings the client history. Zapier makes them talk without needing IT to get involved.

Actual Use Cases for Actual Humans

1. Automatic Lead Creation with Built-In Approvals

The problem: Your team finds a hot lead at a open house. They need approval to offer a 2% buyer credit. By the time management signs off, the lead’s already working with someone else.

How it works:

1. Agent initiates an approval request in ApproveThis for the credit
2. Zapier automatically creates the lead in Buying Buddy with “Pending Approval” status
3. Broker gets the request via email, clicks approve/deny
4. Buying Buddy updates the lead status instantly

Who cares: Teams closing 50+ deals/year where custom offers are common. Lets agents act fast without breaking compliance rules.

2. Approval Requests That Actually Track Client History

The problem: Your managing broker approved a $10k marketing spend for a luxury listing. Three months later, accounting can’t find the paper trail during tax prep.

How it works:

Every approved/denied request in ApproveThis automatically adds a timestamped note to the client’s Buying Buddy profile. No more “I never approved that” debates. Approval thresholds mean small spends (<$5k) get auto-approved based on your rules.

Who cares: Brokerages managing multiple agent budgets. Keeps financials clean without manual data entry.

3. Client Onboarding That Doesn’t Require 17 Emails

The problem: New buyer needs sign-off from lender, title company, and two agents before making an offer. The back-and-forth happens over 14 separate email threads.

How it works:

Set up an ApproveThis workflow that:

• Requires sequential approvals (lender → title → agent)
• Pulls client info from Buying Buddy automatically
• Adds signed disclosures to the CRM post-approval

Approvers get email links to review everything. No logins. No “can you resend that PDF?”

Setting This Up Without Losing Your Mind

Three steps even if you’re not “techy”:

1. Connect the apps in Zapier
Use the ApproveThis triggers for “New Request” or “Request Approved/Denied.” Connect them to Buying Buddy actions like creating leads or updating records.

2. Set your approval rules
Use ApproveThis to define who needs to approve what. Pro tip: Set conditional rules like “Only require CFO approval for spends over $15k” to prevent bottlenecking small stuff.

3. Test with real data
Run a $1 marketing spend approval. Check if it creates a Buying Buddy lead with the right status. Have an agent reject it. Confirm the CRM updates. Takes 20 minutes.

Why Your Finance Team Will Stop Yelling

ApproveThis gives them calculated fields and approval thresholds. Translation: No more manually checking if that $7k staging cost is within budget. The system auto-approves based on your rules or escalates it. All tied to actual CRM data from Buying Buddy.

What Your Agents Won’t Hate

They can approve stuff from their phone without logging into Yet Another System. Email approvals work like this: “Approve the $5k credit for client X? [YES]/[NO].” Click. Done. Syncs to Buying Buddy before they finish their latte.

The Part Where We Talk Money

Buying Buddy licenses? Still need those. ApproveThis? You’re paying for workflow builders and admins. But here’s the kicker: External approvers (lenders, clients, title companies) don’t need ApproveThis licenses. They just get email links. So no $30/month fee for someone who approves two things a year.

When to Ignore This Entire Article

If your team does under 20 transactions a year, this is overkill. If you’re cool with agents using DocuSign for everything and praying nothing gets lost, carry on. But if you’re scaling past 50 agents across multiple offices? This combo stops minor issues from becoming massive compliance fires.

How to Not Screw This Up

Do:
- Start with one workflow (like offer approvals)
- Use calculated fields to auto-approve small requests
- Set up vacation delegates so approvals don’t stall

Don’t:
- Try to automate every approval process day one
- Give junior agents permission to edit workflows
- Forget to sync existing CRM data into ApproveThis

Real Talk: What This Fixes

A 200-agent brokerage we work with used to have 12% of offers delayed by approval bottlenecks. After connecting ApproveThis + Buying Buddy? Down to 2%. Not because they moved faster—because the system forced accountability. Approvers get automatic reminders. Denials require comments. Everything’s tied to CRM records.

Cool, How Do I Start?

If you’re already using Buying Buddy:
1. Grab an ApproveThis trial
2. Connect them in Zapier (takes 15 minutes)
3. Run your next 5 approvals through it

If not? Book a 15-minute demo. We’ll show how other real estate teams use it without adding busywork.