… and how to go about creating your own Real Estate Website.

There is simply no better way for many millions of buyers and sellers to find houses and properties then online. You might have noticed that there are very few realty agents who haven’t made the shift to the online world - it’s the perfect way to manage listings and promote other service. People from all over the world can discover listings in all parts fo the world, and they’ll also have access to information about your business and agent profiles. A realty website is like a business card on steroids - actually, that’ not a fair comparison. A website is, in the modern age the most valuable tool any real estate business can have (apart from maybe it’s staff). In short, if you’re a realty business and you don’t have a website yet - you need to act now.

If you’re wondering how you can build your website, there are a few things to keep in mind.

1) Don’t get somebody local to build your website from the ground up (unless you have an exceptionally talented in house IT person who can put your website together quickly). There are a number of different real estate website packages that are easy to install and set up. Some popular scripts, which will run on most Apache servers include:

- Real Estate Manager - $39.95

- iRealty Soft - $219

- The Real Estate Script - $59.95

2) If you’re thinking “I don’t know a thing about setting up a script” then relax. Create a job on Rentacoder and get somebody else to do it for you. It will cost about $20 for someone to install the script for you. Create an account, click on ‘request bids’ and then follow the steps. If you haven’t used Rentacoder before you’ll be amazed at how easy it is to outsource work to all parts of the world. Romanian and Russian Federation coders are usually the best… that’s a massive sweeping generalisation, take it or leave it. Indian and Pakistani coders might be cheap, but you’ll soon find out why.

3) Web hosting - I’ve been working on websites for the past 10 years. I’ve had so many bad hosting experiences that when you have a good one, you really take notice. PAIR are exceptionally good value. They really are world class and their support is great - they don’t make any absurd promises, but they do ALWAYS reply in a timely fashion. Their hardware and software is up to date and you don’t really need to know any more - PAIR is, in my opinion, the best web host around.

4) Select a template from Template Monster and then get Template Tuners to customize it for you. Template Tuning convert pre-designed web sites (web templates) purchased with Template Monster or into your unique web site - they can add your own business logo, photos of your team or whatever. Just give them a brief online and leave the work up to them. This will normally cost $100 - $200 depending on the amount of work required - don’t go crazy in the beginning, get something simple together and leave the bells and whistles until later on.

5) Once you’ve got your template finished and you’re complete happy with it, go back to Rentacoder and create a new job for someone to integrate your Template with your new backend system. It’s actually fairly simple to do and you should be able to find someone to do it for about $50. Once this last step is completed, you should be ready to start using your new site. Note: We assumed that the example Real Estate Business already has a website domain to work with… if not, get Picky Domains to search for one for you, it costs $50 - but you get your money back if you aren’t happy with the suggestions. Once you’ve found something you are happy with, register the domain at Moniker and point you name servers to PAIR where you can add your domain, and email accounts.

It’s that simple - in less than a week and for under $500 you can have a brand new Real Estate website up and running. You’ve already seen how powerful outsourcing can be. As a final step, you could hire a virtual assistant to manage your business by uploading new property listings and rentals. They could even update the new website with valuable information about your team and business. Compare this with any quote from a local company and you’ll see why outsourcing, and website like Template Monster are such a valuable asset.

There are over 300 Real Estate Website Templates available on Template Monster - There are full site templates, Flash 8 Packages and prices range from $60 up to a few thousand (if you want the unique rights to that template). We don’t recommend buying the rights to a template as you can always customize your template to give your own unique look and feel.

Browsing through over 300 Templates is a waste of everyone’s time - we’ve found some of the best Real Estate templates below. Find the one that fits your business and then get started. Here’s the best 8 absolutely smashing Real Estate Website Templates:

1.

Simple clean lines and lots of white space. Would look good with most business logos. PRICE: $65

DEMO / DOWNLOAD | CUSTOMIZE

2.

Animated Swish Template, great value for money. PRICE $55

DEMO / DOWNLOAD | CUSTOMIZE

3.

This is a simple HTML Website, with very effective use of CSS - easy to integrate with Real Estate Scripts. PRICE: $62

DEMO / DOWNLOAD | CUSTOMIZE

4.

A full Flash 8 website package for just a great price. Compare this with how much it would cost you to get a web designer to make something like this for you. Outstanding value. PRICE: $68

DEMO / DOWNLOAD | CUSTOMIZE

5.

This one is an absolute classic. Our pick of the bunch. Great navigation and elegant colour scheme with some nice usage of Flash on this full site website template package. PRICE: $58

DEMO / DOWNLOAD | CUSTOMIZE

6.

This full site Flash and HTML website template provides a unique way for you to showcase your most important properties. PRICE: $66

DEMO / DOWNLOAD | CUSTOMIZE

7.

This is different, but very memorable - this full package website template makes a great first impression, which is important to any Real Estate agent. PRICE: $64

DEMO / DOWNLOAD | CUSTOMIZE

8.

Some thing full package template would be perfect for a full service agency or property developers looking to sell off the plan. PRICE: $96

DEMO / DOWNLOAD | CUSTOMIZE