5 Steps for Creating a Real Estate Agent Website

Real estate is a profitable industry that is, like many others, gradually moving into the digital world. These days you have to know about advanced technologies to stay updated with your clients’ needs and expectations. Are you planning to create a real estate agent website? We have some tips for you!

STEP 1 – CONSIDER THE PROS AND CONS

Every coin has two sides, just as there are certain benefits and challenges in building a modern website for a real estate agent. Think them over before you start to develop your idea a product.

The pros of creating a real estate agent website:

1. You have more chances to expand your client base. There was a survey conducted by NAR (the National Association of Realtors) claiming that 52% of homes are purchased via a real estate website or app. In comparison, 29% of buyers contact an agent by phone.
2. You’re building the basis to increase business value. You can create a website to promote a real estate agent’s services and display properties for sale or rent. But is that all? No! On this website, you can also write a helpful blog for those who buy and sell homes or deal with rent. Education and consultation will bring additional value to your real estate business.
3. You’re enhancing the brand. Building a cutting-edge website for a real estate agent is one thing. Making it the face of your business can be the next level. Through this website, you can build your personal brand, introduce your business to potential clients, share your values and expertise.
4. You get a chance to increase your availability. When you have a real estate website on the Internet, people don’t usually hesitate to contact you. Leaving messages is easy and convenient, no matter what time of day or night.
5. You can use the power of digital marketing. Apply real-time statistics to track user behavior and pick the best strategies. All tools are at your command, from commercial emails to SMM. And remember to add HD photos of properties – it’s the best way to draw the initial attention to your website. What is more, your potential clients will love an intuitive design allowing them to browse through picture galleries and informative descriptions from the comfort of their homes.

The cons of creating a real estate agent website:

1. You have to plan your expenses. Really good solutions cost money, and you have to plan quite a budget to develop a custom website for a real estate agent. You can always opt for a template, but there are lots of disadvantages to this approach. If you want to learn more about choosing the type of design for a real estate website, proceed to “Step 4” of our guide.
2. You have to wait for the end-product. Building a website for a real estate agent takes some time, 4-6 months on average. It’s a complex process that requires lots of planning and consists of several development stages, but at the end of it, you’ll be rewarded with a trouble-free, high-quality, original product.

STEP 2 – STUDY THE LEADERS’ APPROACH

We’ve collected four examples of the world’s best real estate websites so you could discover the most promising features of architecture and design. These features and characteristics help attract new visitors to a website and convert them into clients. If a real estate agent has a helpful, attractive, and user-friendly platform, it becomes a powerful marketing tool.

THREE SIXTY

This website belongs to a highly qualified team of real estate agents delivering a wide range of selling & marketing services.

Closed deals portfolio at Three Sixty

What to learn from Three Sixty:

• up-to-date design with grid layout;
• modern design effects (sliders, parallax, hovers);
• HD photography and video content;
• multilingual support;
• a registration form for investors.

SW PROPERTY & AGENTS

This perfect example of a real estate agent’s website was created for commercial property experts and consultants working with all participants of the real estate market.

The Auction page at SW Property & Agents

What to learn from SW:

• a custom navigation system;
• an animated menu;
• a search at the top panel;
• creative design elements (carousels, hover effects, parallax scrolling);
• user profiles for buyers, sellers, brokers, and so on;
• the Auction page with filters;
• real estate cards (a detailed description of each property);
• Google maps integration.

BERDAN REAL ESTATE

This modern-looking website belongs to a young team of real estate agents from Chicago.

Modern design and creative call-to-actions at Berdan Real Estate

What to learn from Berdan:

• stylish design with clean fonts;
• a unique navigation system with sidebar submenus;
• sliders with HD photography of real estate properties;
• creative text content;
• unusual call-to-actions;
• HD video content.

PROPERTY VISION

This creative example of a real estate agent website belongs to a British company that helps clients from all over the UK with property search and investing advice.

Custom web design and blog at Property Vision

What to learn from Property Vision:

• exciting, stylish backgrounds;
• smooth work of all elements;
• a custom horizontal navigation;
• custom fonts;
• frequent use of non-intrusive design elements (hover effects, light animations);
• a creatively made blog and other pages.

STEP 3 – SELECT THE FEATURES

If you want to develop a website for your brand or a marketplace for multiple real estate agents, start picking the top features. Some of them are simply essential for any business needs, while the others become an additional part of your marketing strategy.

LIST OF PROPERTIES

We advise you to pay lots of attention to this feature, as it allows your website to stand out among other platforms for real estate agents. Think about it when planning a layout – users should be able to click and go to a list of properties right from your website’s homepage.

What else is nice to include:

• best proposals (with high-quality photos);
• closed deals (the best way to demonstrate your agents’ expertise in real estate);
• “add to favourites” and “hide” buttons enabling each user to sort properties.

SEARCH

This is another feature that a real estate website can’t do without, as it helps your potential clients navigate through lots of offers. A search should be intuitive and give predictable results. Some real estate websites allow entering zip code to find a neighborhood. You can add advanced filters, including keywords, price, size, the number of bedrooms, and other property features.

A detailed search system at the real estate website Live Here

CONTACT

There is a variety of options here – a separate page with contact information, a form to fill in, or a support chat with instant messages. Whatever you choose for your website, remember a client-centered approach and give users a convenient way to reach a real estate agent.

We advise you to:

• place a Contact Us button on a navigation menu and in the footer;
• add the “follow us” buttons for your social media accounts;
• use a pop-up animation for a live chat;
• add an address of your real estate office to the map.

The Contact Us page at the real estate website Live Here

REGISTRATION

This feature enables each user to create a personal area on your real estate website. Add the registration and user profiles – they demonstrate your foresight and care, making a significant impact on a customer’s decision to buy.

We also recommend the advanced functionality for a user account:

• saved search results;
• support chat;
• mortgage calculator, etc.

The easier your registration form is, the better. We advise using a social login as a simplistic approach for a real estate agent website.

BLOG

You can name this page in different ways – e.g., Our Blog, Our News. There are also more creative options – for example, a real estate agent website Property Vision has chosen Insights for their blog’s name. Building a blog isn’t the first thing to do for a young company. However, if you have a significant client base and expertise to share, we strongly recommend applying this powerful instrument to enhance your audience’s trust and strengthen a brand name.

Another reason to have a blog on a real estate agent website is empowering your content marketing strategy. Write exciting posts and let your audience discuss them and share via social media.

OTHER FEATURES AND METHODS

• Clear and simple menu – it works better for a real estate website’s users who need all frequently used options on the main page. We suggest adding Home, About us, Property List, Calculator, Blog, and Contact.
• Functional footer – it’s usually a great idea to place some navigation elements, contact information, social media buttons, and useful links at the bottom of your home page. However, it shouldn’t be the only place for them because not every user scrolls that far.
• Testimonials – previous clients’ feedback is the most telling way to affirm your agents’ great work.
• CTAs – the use of engaging call-to-actions and subscription forms will help you generate more leads from the audience of a real estate agent website. Each page should contain at least two CTAs, and the more creative they are, the better.
• Visual information – adding some eye-catching photos is always a rewarding decision. It creates the right vibe, encourages buyers, and promotes real estate properties. Remember using professional, high-resolution photography and video.
• AR/VR integrations – Augmented Reality allows combining virtual information with objects of the real world, e.g., to learn about the real estate properties in a certain building by pointing your smartphone camera at it. Virtual Reality allows creating digital tours, 360-degree videos, and 3D models of houses and apartments.

STEP 4 – DECIDE ON DESIGN

When you’re looking for an efficient design for a real estate agent website, you should keep in mind three basic principles: client-centered, responsive, and mobile-friendly. However, you may be on a tight budget – and that means a tough choice between custom web design and a ready-made template. The decision is up to you while there are undeniable pros and cons on both sides.

STEP 5 – CONTACT THE TEAM

If a template design for a real estate agent website is not what you desire, we’ll be happy to help you with our skills and experience. ADEV’s workflow has several stages, all equally important.

1. Discussing your idea. This is the time when you tell us about the audience, goals, strategies, and other key features of your real estate business. Based on your demands, we make a list of estimated costs. If you decide to hire our team, we conclude a contract and proceed to the next stage.
2. Doing research. This is when you start working with our business analysts. They will help you define a whole architecture, UX flows, core features, advanced functionality, and other powerful factors for a real estate agent website.
3. Designing. This is a fascinating stage when an idea is turning into something real, presented in mockups by our UX/UI designers. They will create several versions of your real estate agent website: desktop, laptop, and mobile. We believe in a client-centered approach and make practical, user-friendly layouts.
4. Developing your website. The Agile methods help us deliver high-quality results while meeting deadlines. Professional front-end and back-end developers will work on your website. Our specialists have expertise in various industries, including platforms for real estate agents.
5. The final testing. QA engineers support all development processes to ensure flawless work. They will do the last tests and quality checks just after the launch of your real estate website.
6. Post-launch support. This is the stage when you “get to know” your new real estate website, trying to use it as a digital marketing tool and an online representation of your business. We provide our clients with warranty support (usually for a month) to find and solve any possible issues. In addition to that, we gladly offer our clients long-standing cooperation. Scaling up your real estate business, extending the website’s functionality, or doing a redesign – everything is possible with a well-developed basis.

Our philosophy is presenting sufficient and cost-effective solutions for businesses. The development of a website for real estate agents with ADEV will cost you around $30,000.

IN A NUTSHELL

A website is essential for a real estate agent’s online presence, and this is why we should do a lot of planning before developers start their work. Do you have an idea? Tell us about it! Don’t hesitate and take the first step to your excellent website.

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