One of the best things about WordPress is that since it’s open source people have created plugins that can do pretty much anything you need.
In general WordPress lets you create two kinds of web pages, Posts which are blog posts and Pages which are general website pages.
Many themes have other options built into them such as Portfolio pages and there are lots of themes specifically designed for realtors that have real estate listings built in.
However if you’re using a theme that doesn’t have listings built in there are several excellent and free plugins that you can use to add real estate listings to your website. Here are 5 of our favourites.
1) WPL Real Estate
WPL Real Estate is made by Realtyna, a web design company that focuses specifically on web design for the real estate industry.
This plugin comes with an easy to use Listing wizard where you or other site users can easily add your own listings. It lets you?customize things like the type of listing (sale, rent, shared accommodation, etc.), types of rooms (bedroom, bathroom, etc.), property types (apartment, town house, etc.), and any other fields for any other features or information you’d like to add.
You can create multiple users and give them different levels of control over the listings as well.
The plugin has a very powerful search feature with Google Maps integration and multiple search criteria.
The basic version of this plugin is free and already has a ton of features however there’s also a Pro version of the plugin available for $199.
The pro version adds in a number of additional features such as the ability to search for properties within a certain radius of a location, property comparison feature, some advanced SEO settings and more.
Realtyna has two demo websites set up using two different WordPress themes so you can see their plugin in action here.
2) IMPress Listings
This plugin is made by Agent Evolution, another company that focuses on web design for the real estate industry.
IMPress listings also creates a listing management system?in your WordPress dashboard.
This plugin?has it’s on taxonomy creation tool which lets you create your own classification systems for your listings such as number of bedrooms, price ranges, locations, etc. and then allows your visitors to search for properties using these custom taxonomies.
The plugin is completely free and open source. Agent Evolution sells their own premium WordPress themes that work together with the plugin. You can however use the plugin in any theme you want.
Agent Evolution has a demo website set up here so you can check out how the plugin works.
3) Estatik
Estatik is another excellent real estate listings theme that’s designed to work with any WordPress theme
This plugin also supports customizable fields for different features you’d like to add to your listings, has Google Maps integration and many other excellent features.
There is Pro version of this plugin available for $59 that adds in some additional features like a feature that generates PDF files based on your listings and a front end property management system where?visitors can create their own listings that will appear on your website after being approved by an administrator.
They have two demo websites set up, one on a default WordPress theme and one on one of their own custom themes.
4) Realia
Realia?is another excellent completely free WordPress theme. It’s designed to work with a few premium themes that you can purchase on ThemeForest but it should work fine in any theme.
It also comes with a front end listing submission system where visitors can submit their own listings which can be reviewed before going live on the site.
There’s a detailed property management system where you can create your own custom taxonomies and fields for any features you’d like.
The makes of Realia also made an iOS app that allows real eastate agents and companies tho create their own iOS apps with their property listings. Any listings you add to your website using this plugin will be included in your app.
You can view a demo website using this plugin here.
5) Easy Property Listings
This listings plugin is specifically designed to work with any WordPress theme and is quite easy to use with built in tutorials to help you out if you need.
Easy Property Listings has over 150 custom fields and 7 post types all pre-configured. ?The listings are easy to search and sort as well.
There’s also a built in CRM so you can manage your leads and contact information and also pull reports and analytics.
The plugin is free although there are various premium add-ons that you can purchase if you need the additional features like frontend submissions or advanced map features.
There’s a showcase section on their website where you can check out multiple websites that all use this plugin.
Which Plugin Should You Pick?
We can’t really answer that for you as all of these plugins have their own features and benefits.
Since all of these plugins are free we highly recommend you install each of them and try them out one at a time. Get a very good feel for each of them and then decide which one best fits your needs and that you won’t mind using a lot in the future.
The last thing you want to do is build a website, create a hundred listings and then decide that the plugin isn’t working out for your needs and that you have to start over.
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