Guide to Building a Real Estate Website: Must-Have Features, Costs & Timeframes

Any business that’s not easily accessible online simply can’t function in the modern internet-driven economy. The real estate market is no exception to this rule, and if you plan to reach your customers, you must think about online communications strategically. Simple logic dictates that it is far more likely that a potential client will search for real estate online than turn to some other source. Therefore, the race will be won by whoever has the most visible web presence.Statistics only confirm this trend. A report from the National Association of Realtors states that 95% of clients are looking for housing on the Internet regardless of age and social circumstances. In this situation, having a well-designed website is not just a nice bonus but a vital necessity. In this article, we will look at how to create a real estate website, how much it costs, how long it will take, and how to find a good team for the job.

What Are the Benefits of Having a Tailor-Made Website for Your Real Estate Business?

So, you’ve decided to create a real estate website. Of course, you are interested in spending the minimum amount of money and time with maximum results. However, you should resist the temptation to go for a cheap template-based web platform, as it’s unlikely to actually attract users.

It is important to keep in mind that you are navigating a highly competitive environment. A site created from a ready-made template won’t stand out among dozens of similar platforms. Customers will always prefer a resource that looks unique and offers as much comfort as possible. That is what makes custom website development worth considering.

A custom website will allow you to personalize the customer experience. You will be able to create a user-friendly, modern, good-looking resource that is actually enjoyable to visit. Moreover, only custom development can reflect the specifics of your business.

Another important factor in favor of custom development is security. Website templates often suffer from widely-known vulnerabilities, and a security breach can cause financial and reputational damage that your business may not recover from. Custom development minimizes such risks and ensures that your customers’ data is safe and secure.

The Main Types of Real Estate Websites

Before delving into the specifics of real estate website development, you should decide what kind of online presence your business needs. There are several basic types to choose from:

Real Estate Marketplaces

This is probably the main type of real estate website. It acts as the point of contact between real estate sellers and buyers. Homeowners publish information about their property and advertise it so buyers can find a suitable option.

Property Listing Websites

This type of website differs from the previous one in that homeowners are less involved in the selling process. In this case, the clients simply list the property for sale or rent, and agents handle the advertising and closing of the deal. Additionally, it is a perfect platform for realtors, mortgage professionals, banks, and inspectors to advertise their services.

Property Management Websites

This category includes a wide range of platforms designed for property managers to access their client base. They typically offer various tools for homeowners to facilitate the control of real estate, as well as related business operations. This category may include:

• CRM;
• ERP;
• Marketing automation tools;
• Inventory management;
• Asset management;
• Home valuation ;
• Accounting; 
• Etc.

Real Estate Agent Websites

Buyers typically want to search for real estate on their own if they can avoid it, and homeowners aren’t willing to spend time searching for buyers. Real estate brokers meet the needs of both parties by being a middleman in this process. In turn, agents need websites so that clients can find them online.

Home Builder Websites

Real estate can be sold before it is even built, and you still need a website for it. This can be either a platform for a company building custom-designed houses, or a site for selling apartments in an apartment building while it is still under construction.

Real Estate Aggregators

These sites do not allow users to post real estate listings. Instead, they collect listings from other sources and serve as a database, typically accessible for a certain fee.

What Are The Must-Have Features Of A Real Estate Website?

As you can see, there are quite a few types of real estate websites out there. It is impossible to establish a universal list of what functions such platforms should have, as they can serve a wide variety of business needs. Nevertheless, if you wonder how to create a website for real estate, you should know that some basic features are common to most popular online platforms.

Intuitive Property Search

For users to visit your site, it must be comfortable to use! A good real estate platform should have an intuitive search feature with advanced filters, including price range, location, property type, amenities, map integration, etc.

Property Listings

A good real estate website should have an eye-pleasing design that nonetheless allows users to get information quickly and easily. High-quality images and detailed descriptions, on-site property tours, and additional information are all excellent choices in this case.

Responsive Design

You must provide a comfortable user experience on all devices. Consider adapting the site for mobile devices and desktops, as they are a major source of traffic.

User Accounts

Every real estate website should have a user-friendly account system. This feature allows customers to save search results, customize their preferences, etc.

Contact Forms

Let buyers and sellers contact each other. Use contact forms, chats, and other similar features.

Agent Profiles

To make it easy for users to search for real estate agents, you should organize their profiles, including information like the agent’s bio and reviews.

Mortgage Calculator

Real estate is rarely purchased in one payment. A handy mortgage calculator will help users get a better understanding of their buying power and make your website more convenient to use.

Local Amenities and Neighborhood Information

In addition to information about the property itself, clients usually want to know if their potential new home has access to the necessary infrastructure. They will appreciate an interactive map of schools, hospitals, parks, and other amenities.

Market Trends and Insights

It's beneficial for some businesses to provide users with detailed real-time information about changes in the real estate market as they make purchases. You can also add a blog with topics relevant for your target audience.

Social Media Integration

Social media is one of the key channels for online interaction. Thus, you should consider adding easy login through social network accounts.

Secure Payment Integration

If you plan on including a payment feature on your website, it needs secure gateways. These will allow users to make purchases or book property without endangering their funds and your reputation.

Notification and Alerts

A good platform should include a notification system that informs users about purchases and other actions on their account. This can be done by emails or push notifications, and can also be used to notify the audience about major price changes, new listings, and so on.

Legal and Documentation Information

It is extremely helpful to add supporting resources that make legal aspects of real estate sales and purchases easier for your clients. You can also add checklists and information regarding the documentation necessary to sell, rent, or buy property.

Testimonials and Reviews

No one will trust a website that does not include client testimonials and reviews for property pages, and this is especially true for markets like real estate.

How To Make Money On Real Estate Websites?

When creating a real estate website, it's better to consider monetization options in advance, as the choice of financial model directly affects the required functionality and appearance. You can integrate as many paid features as you like, but remember that locking a significant portion of your services behind a paywall may drive some users away.

Commission for sales

The most obvious way to monetize a real estate website is to charge a commission for each successful transaction. Given that selling real estate generally involves considerable funds, this is a good source of income.

However, stay mindful that house owners may react negatively to the very fact of having to pay a fee. Not all real estate platforms charge a commission for transactions, and there is always a possibility that potential users will simply choose a competitor’s resource that doesn't have such hindrances. If you decide to charge a mediation fee, you should make the commission small. Subsequently, when the site becomes popular and acquires a stable user base, the commission can be increased as long as the market allows it.

Paid advertising

Another common way to monetize a real estate platform is advertising. You can easily add  contextual or banner advertising to your website. For this type of monetization to work, you need to have substantial traffic. Remember that under this model, only for clicks and displayed ads create a profit for you, so you’ll need a large number of active users.

Subscription

Another good way to monetize a website is a paid subscription. While demanding payments from real estate buyers is laughably counterproductive, homeowners are likely to tolerate a small investment if they believe it will bring them greater profit. Subscription can also give premium users the ability to publish more listings, or even remove all restrictions on the number of publications.

Consultations

Finally, you can offer your client paid consultations with real estate experts. Some users may need help selling or registering their property, and you can meet their needs by providing consulting services. This model is great as an additional source of monetization.

How To Build A Real Estate Website Step-By-Step?

Building a real estate website is a complex and multilevel process. To make a platform function properly, you need to approach the task responsibly and involve professionals. The development of a typical real estate website can be divided into the following key stages:

Define Your Goals

Before starting work on the website, it is crucial to define your goals. As a rule, the site owners conduct this stage on their own, but if you struggle to formulate a clear business vision, you may contact analysts for help.

Research and Planning

For the future website to be effective from a business standpoint, you should conduct a thorough analysis before starting the development. At this stage, the following aspects are considered:

• General overview of the site;
• Goals and needs;
• Target audience;
• Features and functions;
• Aesthetic features.

Select a Content Management System (CMS)

A content management system (CMS) is at the heart of most real estate websites. The choice of CMS determines some of the platform’s essential traits, from its appearance to the potential features. To choose the best option, you should consult with the team developing your site.

Design and Development

This is the main stage of making a real estate website. During their work on the real estate design, the UI/UX specialists construct the platform’s appearance and work out the interaction logic to facilitate a pleasant user experience

Then, the developers create the site code directly. The code consists of two parts: frontend and backend. The former is responsible for the part of the platform users will interact with. The second handles the server operations and data processing.

After the development is done, the final product should be tested for bugs and vulnerabilities. Only after the experts make sure that everything is working as it should, the platform may be turned online.

Ensure Security and Compliance

You can’t be too vigilant when it comes to users’ data and money. When you develop a real estate website, it is crucial to equip it with the most advanced security features and ensure it follows all the industry-standard regulations.

Optimize for Search Engines (SEO)

For users to find your website, it needs to appear at the top of the search engine results. To achieve this, the platform and all content on it should be optimized for search engines. This includes keywords and the site’s internal markup.

Launch & Test & Improve

Finally, the last stage is the launch of the website. After the platform is launched and operates smoothly, a business must focus on attracting and growing its audience.

How Much Does It Cost To Build A Real Estate Website?

If you wonder how to make a real estate website, you are definitely interested in how much it costs. However, it is almost impossible to determine the exact price of developing a website before the work begins. A lot depends on the type of platform you choose and its functionality. The general rule is that the more complex the site is, the more funds will be necessary to make it work. Everything else depends on the specifics of your case. Nonetheless, it is possible to give an approximate cost based on how much time the development will take if you have enough experience in working with similar projects.

Preliminary phase and design

The first step in website development is preliminary work, namely analyzing the requirements and conducting market research. This phase can last quite a long time, as you can’t really start the development process without understanding what features the platform needs to compete on the market. Based on the data obtained, the developers will now outline the site's architecture.

Cost: $11,000

Development

This is the core of website creation, so expect to spend most of the project’s time and funds on this stage. The likely expenses include paying for the working hours of developers who will write the code and managers who will oversee the process.

Cost: $25,000

Testing

After the platform is ready, you need to make sure that it functions properly. Your users should get the perfect experience, so every feature and every element should be checked and double-checked to meet the quality standards. This process should not be neglected because an oversight can lead to financial and reputational risks.

Cost: $9,000

Creating technical documentation

Finally, when everything is ready and tested, you should make sure that other developers can work with the website’s code if you need it in the future. This stage involves writing documentation for each element of the site.

Cost: $1,500

Total: $47,500

Based on this rough estimate, the approximate cost of a real estate site is about $40,000 – $50,000. However, the minimal costs mentioned here apply if you order the development in regions where specialized work is relatively cheap, like, for example, in Eastern Europe. Ordering development in Western Europe, you are likely to pay from $175,000 to $220,000, and if you want teams from the U.S. or Australia, the number can reach $350,000. In addition, mind that $40,000 – $50,000 is the cost of a relatively simple site. If you want to get a complex web portal with rich functionality, you will need a larger budget.

How Long Does It Take To Build A Real Estate Website?

As with the price, you cannot estimate the approximate development time without knowing the scope of the task. The fewer features you need, the faster you will see the result. Nevertheless, with expertise and experience in creating such platforms, you can once again make certain estimates.

• Estimation, Research & UI/UX design – 280 hours;
• Development – 640 hours;
• Testing – 240 hours;
• Creating technical documentation – 40 hours;
• Total – 1,200 hours (4 months).

If you need a complex platform, its development may require more time, but 3–4 months should be enough to create an excellent competitive resource.

Temy Experience in Real Estate Website Development

As you can see, developing a website for real estate is quite a challenging process that requires the highest level of expertise. It is only reasonable that it should be entrusted to professionals who know what they’re doing and have experience with similar projects. And Temy is exactly what you need in this situation. 

We are a team of more than 100 specialists in different areas of custom website development with 9 years of experience in the market and more than 100 successful projects under our belt. Our clients have an extremely positive experience working with us, and our partners admire the level of skill and care our employees display.We know exactly how to make a quality online portal for the real estate industry with all the necessary features. For instance, let's take a look at one of our projects, Reali Price Predictor. In just 2 months we managed to create a neural network that is trained to predict the prices of houses. Working on the project, we utilized the latest technological trends, such as AI, machine learning, and big data. You can learn more on our Case Studies page, or Contact Us to get started now.

Conclusion

By developing a custom website, you guarantee that it will reflect your vision and become a prominent player in the market. Nevertheless, creating an online platform can be a long and complex process. You need real professionals who know exactly how to build a real estate website so that the result satisfies both you and your future users. Pay special attention to the experience and approach of your contractors. If you do everything right, your website will start generating revenue relatively quickly, and you will only have to watch it work. Contact Temy now, and we'll make your online presence stand out.

FAQ

Writen by

Oleksandra PetrivskaMarketing Manager at Temy

As the Marketing Manager at Temy, I turn interviews with IT leaders into inspiring stories. By unpacking the journeys, insights, and motivations of founders, co-founders, and CTOs, I bring you the latest on the key players in the tech world. Get ready for a dose of tech inspiration!

Read original