An Intro Actually Worth Reading
I’ve worked for, competed against, or founded the companies that design many of the best real estate websites on earth.
I also believe in radical transparency. Real estate website design companies excel differently. Agents and brokers have very different needs. Based on your specific situation, I may strongly recommend that you choose a different service than my own real estate website design and lead generation company, InboundREM.
For proof, check out the Google Reviews on the sidebar. I regularly recommend that potential clients wait a few years or go with a different company.
How to Choose the Best Real Estate Website Design Company
The perfect choice starts with aligning your goals with the right services and expertise. Of course, your budget is also top priority. But there are other considerations that are easy to overlook.
- Does a website provider have a history of sudden, unexpected price hikes?
- Is it difficult to switch companies?
- If you do switch, will you lose your entire investment?
- What do past customers have to say?
As you’re probably aware, negative reviews tend to be more revealing than positive ones.
This blog post truly shows you how to choose the best company to build a real estate website that best suits your needs and budget.
These reviews are up-to-date, brutally honest, radically transparent, and the culmination of 150+ hours of research. It’s designed to be the only guide to real estate website design companies you’ll ever need.
(Listed Alphabetically)
What You Need to Know First
Real Estate Website Service Updates (2022)
Every August, I review and publish a list of companies making the best real estate websites on earth. For 2021, Luxury Presence replaces Resi in the Top 10.
There have been many changes in price and service options from the companies. Here is a brief list of the companies that had the greatest changes. Jump to the company reviews to find out the full details.
- Real Estate Webmasters – Price and technology changes
- InboundREM – Price and technology changes
- Easy Agent Pro – EAP was acquired at the end of 2018; client acquisition strategy changes
- BoomTown – Adds major services and changes its pricing and service features
- Placester – Significant pricing and design changes
- Sierra Interactive – Price changes (both decreases and increases)
What Type of Real Estate Website Do You Need?
IMPORTANT: Great real estate websites focus on a primary objective. Knowing what your main goal is when buying a website will make choosing between real estate design companies much easier.
Real estate websites fall into three broad categories. ALL real estate websites have secondary features that enhance their core offering.
Primary Features
- Lead Generation – The websites might look the same, but the companies that supply these websites design their service offering around producing leads. It’s their core purpose.
- Search/IDX – The primary of these companies is to offer a unique search experience. They might claim/offer lead generation, but their core competency is the actual search experience.
- Brand/Custom Design – The primary objective is to look different/better than your competitors. While these companies might claim excellent lead generation, their real expertise is brand-creation.
Secondary Features
- CRM – Customer Record Management
- CMS – Content Management System
- Email Marketing – As an integrated service connected to the website
- Lead Management – Giving you a dashboard that you or your agents can log into and manage communication with leads.
- Landing Pages – The ability to create a special webpage that funnels leads
- SEO – Creating high-ranking content or giving you the tools to do it yourself
- Drip Marketing – Automated emails sent to prospects that have registered with your website
What Are Real Estate Lead Generation Websites?
Lead generation websites focus on attracting lots of the right kind of digital traffic. They use social media, email marketing, direct advertising, and high-ranking blog articles to turn prospective clients into actual clients.
Usually, real estate website design companies make these websites with trusted, effective templates. They can then give their prospective customers lead generation estimates based on facts and research as opposed to guesses.
Each time you make a real estate web developer change design in a significant way they no longer have a fact-based experience to estimate lead generation. Small changes can occasionally result in big differences in lead generation percentages.
IMPORTANT: Many real estate website building companies (except InboundREM) don’t allow you to own your actual website.
Usually, they also use direct advertising (Except InboundREM who uses SEO and direct advertising) to generate traffic via Google Adwords, Facebook Marketing, and occasionally automated Craigslist posting.
Prices range from $500-$5,000 for setup and monthly costs between $750-$5000.
Example companies specializing in lead generation include BoomTown, Real Geeks, and InboundREM.
What Are Real Estate IDX/Search Websites?
IDX means Information Data Exchange. Any MLS that exchanges information with a real estate technology company is engaged in an Information Data Exchange.
Any company I have put into this category is there because the main selling feature of their website packages is the search experience. The secondary services they offer often include lead generation, which makes understanding the difference between real estate website providers a little difficult.
IDX/Search vs Lead Generation Companies
One main way to define a true lead generation company is the way that they support the website. Both InboundREM and BoomTown provide end-to-end solutions where the only task the client has to do is manage leads.
Boomtown and IREM both require some learning, but this is a managed process with resources dedicated to stepping you through the process.
ALL other providers make the client LEARN how to get leads from their website. If you fail to follow these companies’ tutorials (if there are any), they will promptly tell you the reason you’re not getting leads is your incorrect use of the website.
IMO, a true lead generation company takes all that guesswork away from the client. The only service education should be educating real estate teams on how to access and work leads.
A quick way to identify how RICH a real estate IDX website search experience is supposed to be is the price. Prices range from $0-5000 for setup and monthly costs of $56-1000.
What Are Custom Real Estate Websites?
Custom designs are great when creating a unique brand is central to your real estate business goals. Luxury real estate agents are the #1 consumers of this kind of real estate website.
Custom design projects tend to be very difficult because they require a lot of detail. 80% of the time, you aren’t capable of giving the technical/design specifications for website-building companies to pull off these projects without a lot of redos.
ALL the companies listed in this category tend to customize PART of a website (like the home page). They leave the rest of the webpages pre-designed.
Fully-customized sites (designing every page to your specifications) START at $10,000.
Note: Very few teams or agents see an ROI unless the site (re)design is done alongside an expert SEO/UX specialist AND an aggressive SEO campaign.
Best Real Estate Website Builders (100% Honest Reviews)
1. Agent Image
🏆 Best Custom Real Estate Website Design Company
Website and Service Description
Detailed Agent Image Website “Build Information”
Unlike most of its competitors, Agent Image does allow its customers ownership of their websites. However, they do not allow unauthorized WordPress plugins. If you have some experience with websites, this can be frustrating.
Design Options
Agent Image has three website design options (with a possible “hidden” fourth option).
- Template: Choose from a predetermined selection of designs that you cannot alter much ($1500-$2000)
- Semi-Custom: Create a custom homepage, and the rest of the website is a template ($2500-$3500)
- Imagine Studios: A hybrid between full custom and Semi-Custom ($5000-$8500)
- Full Custom: All elements of a website design customized and potentially custom functionality as well ($10,000 – $100,000)
- Two options for IDX: Home Finder OR IDX Broker. The costs are comparable ($36-56 per month), but IDX broker is the much better choice.
Agent Image DOES NOT set up your search tools (IDX) for conversion. You will have to ask them to do it, and all they will do is activate a predetermined setting which usually produces mediocre results.
Lead Conversion
No one is truly trained in real estate website lead conversion, although a couple of salespeople in the U.S. talk a good game.
If you purchase an Agent Image website, go to YouTube and research lead conversion settings for the IDX provider you chose. Here is a video tutorial that I did in 2010 for IDX Broker. It’s still viable today and should increase conversion considerably.
Agent Image ALSO has marketing options for both Direct Advertising (Google Adwords + Facebook marketing) and Search Engine Optimization.
In 2011, the part of Agent Image that focused on marketing was purchased by the CEO at the time. The division and its employees left.
Since then, Agent Image does marketing out of the Philippines. I cannot speak to the direct advertising packages, but I am 100% sure their SEO packages are years out of date.
Any readers that have Agent Image websites or purchased marketing in the last 3-4 years can set an appointment with me, and I’ll show you what a successful SEO strategy looks like in 2021.
Website Prices
- Setup – $1500.00
- Monthly Licensing Fee – $900-$1500.00 (+$35 for every additional user after 25)
Online Advertising Costs (100% necessary to generate leads)
- 3-5 Agents: $1000 per month
- 5-10 Agents: $1500 per month
- 10-30 Agents: $2000 per month
- Additional 15% Ad Spend management fee
- Seller Lead Suite: $250 per month
Grier Allen founded BoomTown in 2006. Some websites in 2019 identify them as having 250+ employees.
Officers
- Grier Allen, CEO
- Rivers Pierce, Director of Inbound Marketing
- Don Sedora, Director of Product Development
The company has been fast-tracking since 2006. They’ve made the INC 500 four years running. They are the recommended lead generation company of Keller Williams and famously noted as a key ingredient to Ben Kinney’s meteoric success.
BoomTown has expanded into a renovated warehouse and has high ratings from the employees on Glassdoor. The outward product and the internal reviews make this company the one to watch in the real estate marketing space.
My only note here is this company is ripe for acquisition. They sought and received 20 million in a private bond release. This was the first time BoomTown sought or received funding which makes them unique in the tech space.
Since BoomTown does NOT publish its pricing, I rely on customer intelligence. In 2021, I heard through industry contacts that BoomTown has changed their pricing. They have lowered their monthly licensing fee for individual real estate agents.
The changes published elsewhere claimed that BoomTown had created a different product for smaller teams or individuals. That product REQUIRED a $250.00 per month PPC spend on top of the published rates available in this review/writeup.
I will update this article as required if I receive proof BoomTown has changed its packages. I’ve had to alter the details of BoomTown offer very little since 2017 when I first added them to this list of best real estate website design companies.
🏆 Best Real Estate Website Design Company For Lead Generation (Without Owning Your Website)*
*If you’re interested in real estate lead generation but don’t need a real estate website design company, I’d strongly recommend that you check out Ylopo.
Website and Service Description
Detailed BoomTown Website “Build Information”
- You do not own your BoomTown website
- Websites are templates, which means all their websites look similar
- They build their websites on WordPress
- BoomTown manages customers information and behavior
- They provide one-look “lead management” dashboards, so brokers can see the lead status and last contact in real-time
- Boomtown provides dedicated account managers that train agents and brokers on using the platform
- They will import existing leads
- Boomtown talks a lot about SEO and shows signs of being able to apply SEO. But they target mostly lower value terms backed with very functional content pages, but not very deep or interesting ones.
On a scale of 1-10, I would give Boomtown a 5 for SEO from a results standpoint. My video review (below) covers this topic in detail.
BoomTown SEO ADDENDUM: They might be adding in SEO as a “value-add.” That means they include it as part of their licensing fee, and you don’t pay extra for the service. Any results that you get are a bonus. As you might expect, my analysis shows the results aren’t very impressive. SEO requires a concentrated and expert effort to succeed.
Website Prices
- Setup – $1500.00
- Monthly Licensing Fee – $900-$1500.00 (+$35 for every additional user after 25)
Online Advertising Costs (100% necessary to generate leads)
- 3-5 Agents: $1000 per month
- 5-10 Agents: $1500 per month
- 10-30 Agents: $2000 per month
- Additional 15% Ad Spend management fee
- Seller Lead Suite: $250 per month
Grier Allen founded BoomTown in 2006. Some websites in 2019 identify them as having 250+ employees.
Officers
- Grier Allen, CEO
- Rivers Pierce, Director of Inbound Marketing
- Don Sedora, Director of Product Development
The company has been fast-tracking since 2006. They’ve made the INC 500 four years running. They are the recommended lead generation company of Keller Williams and famously noted as a key ingredient to Ben Kinney’s meteoric success.
BoomTown has expanded into a renovated warehouse and has high ratings from the employees on Glassdoor. The outward product and the internal reviews make this company the one to watch in the real estate marketing space.
My only note here is this company is ripe for acquisition. They sought and received 20 million in a private bond release. This was the first time BoomTown sought or received funding which makes them unique in the tech space.
Since BoomTown does NOT publish its pricing, I rely on customer intelligence. In 2021, I heard through industry contacts that BoomTown has changed their pricing. They have lowered their monthly licensing fee for individual real estate agents.
The changes published elsewhere claimed that BoomTown had created a different product for smaller teams or individuals. That product REQUIRED a $250.00 per month PPC spend on top of the published rates available in this review/writeup.
I will update this article as required if I receive proof BoomTown has changed its packages. I’ve had to alter the details of BoomTown offer very little since 2017 when I first added them to this list of best real estate website design companies.
Schedule a meeting with me
Let’s chat about how an SEO-focused website that YOU OWN can generate high-quality leads and exceptional long-term ROI. If my services aren’t the best move for you, I’ll gladly point you in the right direction
Website and Service Description
Detailed Dakno Website “Build Information”
- You do not own your Dakno website
- Dakno’s design aesthetics are not comparable to Agent Image or Real Estate Webmasters, but they cost 50% less
- Dakno builds their websites on a proprietary CMS (WordPress is the much better option)
- Dakno makes an IDX plugin for WordPress
- IDX seems responsive (Property results work well on smartphones)
- Danko imports leads from Zillow, Trulia, and Realtor.com
- Email Campaign functionality from within the platform
- Round-robin and first-come, first-serve lead distribution
- Updates are free and promised
Dakno Marketing
This is one of the few real estate website design companies on this list where I’ve only seen their backend management system once. Whether it performs as described is anyone’s guess.
There are few complaints online, so that is a good sign. However, there also isn’t a single training video OR case study showing the Danko platform in use.
The lack of access to training videos makes sense. It’s normal to restrict public access. But the lack of a case study is surprising. If they have such a great tool, why not demonstrate results via YouTube?
Brad and Bobby Carroll both profess to be online marketing experts. Yet their social media and their SEO on the Dakno corporate website is sub-par compared to most other top companies designing real estate websites. And they have been in business far longer.
Plus their SEO packages are horribly out of date.
Website Prices
- Setup – $1500.00
- Monthly Licensing Fee – $900-$1500.00 (+$35 for every additional user after 25)
Online Advertising Costs (100% necessary to generate leads)
- 3-5 Agents: $1000 per month
- 5-10 Agents: $1500 per month
- 10-30 Agents: $2000 per month
- Additional 15% Ad Spend management fee
- Seller Lead Suite: $250 per month
Grier Allen founded BoomTown in 2006. Some websites in 2019 identify them as having 250+ employees.
Officers
- Grier Allen, CEO
- Rivers Pierce, Director of Inbound Marketing
- Don Sedora, Director of Product Development
The company has been fast-tracking since 2006. They’ve made the INC 500 four years running. They are the recommended lead generation company of Keller Williams and famously noted as a key ingredient to Ben Kinney’s meteoric success.
BoomTown has expanded into a renovated warehouse and has high ratings from the employees on Glassdoor. The outward product and the internal reviews make this company the one to watch in the real estate marketing space.
My only note here is this company is ripe for acquisition. They sought and received 20 million in a private bond release. This was the first time BoomTown sought or received funding which makes them unique in the tech space.
Since BoomTown does NOT publish its pricing, I rely on customer intelligence. In 2021, I heard through industry contacts that BoomTown has changed their pricing. They have lowered their monthly licensing fee for individual real estate agents.
The changes published elsewhere claimed that BoomTown had created a different product for smaller teams or individuals. That product REQUIRED a $250.00 per month PPC spend on top of the published rates available in this review/writeup.
I will update this article as required if I receive proof BoomTown has changed its packages. I’ve had to alter the details of BoomTown offer very little since 2017 when I first added them to this list of best real estate website design companies.
Dakno vs Easy Agent Pro vs Placester
Though I’ve only seen one Dakno backend, the available evidence suggests that newer competitors like Easy Agent Pro or Placester deliver a better starter website.
Dakno vs Real Geeks
In addition, Real Geeks delivers a far better lead generation website all for a significantly lower investment. These alternatives offer better online training and verifiable online case studies.
I’d love to hear from past or present Danko customers. Feel free to share what YOU thought about this company. If anyone wants to PM their Danko login, I’ll do a detailed analysis and update this review/comparison.
🏆 Best Real Estate Website Design Company For New Agents
*There is one important consideration, however. EAP does not allow you to own your website. In other words, it will be very difficult to migrate to a new company once you’ve outgrown EAP. It’s not a scalable option, and this will cost you heavily in the end.
Website and Service Description
Detailed EAP Website “Builder Information”
- You do not own your Easy Agent Pro Website (One of my main CONS about this company)
- Easy Agent Pro has good designs, but they are templates (Websites can barely be customized)
- They the second largest and most useful Tutorial Library for Real Estate Online Marketing
- Easy Agent Pro builds their websites on WordPress
- They teach you how to use their websites more effectively than any other real estate website provider
- EAP offers more value for the money you spend than most of the best real estate website service providers
Conclusion
Easy Agent Pro is my #1 recommendation for newer agents interested in learning how to “do” online marketing.
Easy Agent Pro vs Real Geeks
If you have a budget of $1000-$2000 per month for direct advertising, Real Geeks has the potential to generate more leads. Real Geeks also has a better method of managing those leads.
Just like Easy Agent Pro, you will need to invest 10-40 hours of “learning” how to use your Real Geeks website effectively.
Easy Agent Pro vs BoomTown vs InboundREM
If you can spend $2000-$10,000 per month, then BoomTown and InboundREM become interesting options. BoomTown provides direct advertising and leads management solutions, while InboundREM provides the only SEO + ownership-focused solution among the best real estate marketing companies.
Neither Easy Agent Pro nor Real Geeks allow your company to scale beyond a certain point. You’ll spend a lot of time and money coming to this conclusion yourself.
*There may be changes in pricing. Check the section below for the most
- $500+ Setup (As of 2018, setup costs are no longer listed)
- Landing Pages – $119+ per month
- Real Estate Website (Lead Site) – $215 per month
- Real Estate Website + Marketing Lead Site Plus – $315 per month
- In-Depth Comparison (Easy Agent Pro vs Real Geeks)
- Yelp [6 Reviews] 5 of 5 stars – (Note: EAP used to be called “Page One”)
Tyler Zey and Robert Laprise founded EAP in New Mexico. Tyler handles content marketing/SEO, and Robert handles website development.
Regardless of what the rest of my review says, these guys are top in class for real estate marketing services. When it comes to results, Tyler is the best content marketer in the entire real estate vertical.
Seth Price from Placester is comparable. His results are slightly better, but he has considerably more resources.
Both companies focus on educating real estate professionals on how to utilize digital marketing to enhance real estate sales revenue. In the process, they show you how their tools can help meet sales goals.
Tyler may have shifted his role and moved full-time into Product/Service Development.
Officers
Tyler Zey, Co-Founder, CTO
Robert Laprise, Co-Founder, Head of Development, Chief Amazement Officer
Easy Agent Pro constantly updated their pricing in 2019-2020. I’ve seen the setup cost range from $99 to $500.
In 2020, Tyler Zey stated that Easy Agent Pro got acquired at the end of 2018. There’s no info on who bought the company. His LinkedIn profile also says he is the CTO, and they are working on a custom backend solution. That suggests they will be moving away from WordPress over the next couple of years.
5. InboundREM
🏆 Best Real Estate Website Design Company For Lead Generation (Own Your Website)
🏆 Best Real Estate Website Design Company For Long Term ROI
Website and Service Description
Detailed InboundREM Website “Builder Information”
- You own your website
- Designs are comparable to Agent Image or Real Estate Webmasters and include template and custom options
- Websites are built on WordPress and managed 100% by InboundREM
- InboundREM uses IDX Broker for search and lead generation
- For lead management, we use Follow Up Boss, which integrates automatically with IDX Broker
- InboundREM can set up and manage Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus
- InboundREM is a 100% managed solution. There is no learning required except to read reports and how to use Follow Up Boss if you’re a team or brokerage.
- InboundREM is a CONTENT marketer making informational pages for your website that includes charts, graphs, and detailed area information. The client owns this information after 18 months.
InboundREM Technology Comparisons
InboundREM uses the same technology as Placester, Boom Town, and Agent Image regarding website design and CMS.
In 2019 InboundREM finished developing a WordPress Real Estate Website solution that is now considerably ahead of its competitors in terms of deliverables centered around lead generation.
Here are some native features that few, if any, InboundREM competitors have:
Listing Optimization
- Listings on landing pages are read as ORIGINAL content, which adds extra SEO value. The only companies in the Top 10 that have that feature are BoomTown and Real Estate Webmasters. This element significantly increases the probability of the page ranking well on Google.
- Listings have designations and “Favorites” hearts overlayed on top of the active property. Only BoomTown, Trulia, REWB, and Sierra Interactive have a similar feature.
Google Maps and Google Earth Integration
- You’ve never seen an integration like this one.
Drag and Drop Editor
- Recent advances in WordPress allows us to edit our websites in minutes, rather than hours or days. Our wildly adaptable websites are cheaper to maintain. Plus, they last 200-300% longer than most competitors because we can adapt the design to the evolving technology and consumer tastes.
Real Estate Website Providers vs Lead Generation Companies
Calling InboundREM a website provider isn’t perfectly accurate. We don’t sell websites per se. Rather we sell real estate lead generation packages that include a WordPress website that you own.
Like BoomTown, InboundREM only takes (2) clients per city, so availability becomes a factor. We do this for your benefit. We create highly-competitve websites. If you pay for our services, you shouldn’t be competing against our expertise.
InboundREM vs BoomTown
When comparing BoomTown and InboundREM for lead generation, the expectation should be similar.
Short-term lead generation with InboundREM provides higher quality leads. Boomtown has better-integrated lead management features.
A crucial difference is if you stop paying for BoomTown, then all leads immediately stop.
On the other hand, if you stop paying for InboundREM after 18 months, the leads will continue. Of course, they will lose momentum but that process can take years.
The tailing results may even last the lifetime of your business because we do evergreen content marketing. A fantastic, SEOptmized blog post can rank highly and drive leads for years, which is a huge advantage over direct advertising.
If long-term ROI is important to you, then InboundREM will deliver more value for the dollar, although with a slightly less fluid team and lead management solution.
Compared to CINC, KvCORE, and other lead generators, there is an even higher ROI.
InboundREM vs Easy Agent Pro
Unlike EAP, InboundREM will almost certainly not be a good fit for most new agents. If you’re new to the game, we recommend our competitor Easy Agent Pro over ourselves.
InboundREM vs Real Estate Webmasters
Real Estate Webmasters is the only comparable Real Estate SEO provider, and they have an excellent website design team. They don’t have especially friendly integration with other technology, providers making their website solution somewhat “one size fits all.”
Additionally, you don’t own the website with REW. If you decide to invest $1000-5000 per month, that investment is gone if you change real estate website companies.
*All Pricing is inclusive except for IDX, which is $79.99 per month
Upfront Costs
- Setup – $2500 – $3500
- Website – $2500 – $10,000 (Template and Custom Websites)
SEO Marketing Campaigns
- Small City – $600 per month
- Medium City – $1000 per month
- Large Cities (single area) or luxury neighborhoods – $1500 per month
- Small Teams and Brokerages – $2000+ All inclusive. PPC management, CRM, Service and agent education are all part of the monthly.
Even a quick tour of our websites reveals a load of features that turn a real estate website into a powerful lead-generation machine.
Notice the stunning video banners, realtor introduction videos, extensive contact options, zip code maps, in-depth blog posts, testimonial bars/carousels, widespread agent headshots, Local-SEO-friendly URLs, and visually stunning IDX maps.
Features like these and many others allow us to generate exception long-term ROI for our clients. And our clients are over the moon about it, as you can see from the testimonial carousel below.
Robert Newman founded InboundREM in 2014. His role is Chief Marketing Officer. You can see more about Robert and his history within the real estate marketing space by watching this video.
Rafe Altschuler (his brother) leads project management. The company consists of a team of 20+ social media managers, content writers, developers and designers that work remotely.
Robert focuses on educating Real Estate professionals about online lead generation and provides deep analysis for existing real estate online marketing solutions.
InboundREM is the only company on this list that provides a real estate lead generation solution the real estate client owns.
Disclosure: I am the founder of InboundREM Inc.
In 2019, we finished development on our “Agent Hub” WordPress website platform. What does that mean for our clients?
- Exceptional listing and search design comparable to Trulia and Zillow
- Real Estate listings are read as original content to the website, even though they are fed in through IDX (Excellent for SEO)
- Reviews imported from Yelp, Zillow, Google, and Facebook
- Customized maps
- Websites are ready for PPC campaigns with comparable conversion rates to Real Geeks, BoomTown, Zurple, and most other major real estate marketing platforms
- Design upgrades
- Advanced services for brokers and small teams*
*The advanced service for small teams and brokers costs $5k for setup and $2k per month. It includes Pay-Per-Click marketing (PPC), Customer Relationship Management software (CRM), and website servicing.
In other words, we provide services comparable to BoomTown or Zillow, but at equal or less cost.
InboundREM has grown its distributed workforce to 10 dedicated resources and another 20+ part-time or overflow resources with the core team located in the US. We now have 40+ accounts in the U.S. and a couple outside of the country.
2019 saw InboundREM add to its reviews and we maintained a perfect 5-star rating across all platforms. You can see our latest video testimonial on our services page.
Schedule a meeting with me
Let’s chat about how an SEO-focused website that YOU OWN can generate high-quality leads and exceptional long-term ROI. If my services aren’t the best move for you, I’ll gladly point you in the right direction
6. Placester
🏆 Best All-Around Real Estate Website Design Company
Website and Service Description
Detailed Placester Website “Builder Information”
- Responsive Real Estate IDX Website (Search Focused)
- Content marketing and direct advertising options (Read reviews before investing)
- Drip-email marketing campaign (basic)
- Landing page creation (without a marketing funnel this is useless)
- Template websites
- Options for agents AND Brokers
- Includes Customer Relationship Management software and CMS
Ultra-Cheap Real Estate Websites
Placester has its marketing game dialed in. They say all the right things and have decent looking websites using the latest technology like WordPress.
They also have the BEST library of How To’s in the industry. If you only have a few bucks per month to spend on a real estate website, join NAR and call Placester.
You can get a bare-bones website for $5 per month, which is the best offer among all the top real estate website design companies.
**Prices Go up 25% if you are not a NAR member
- Agent Pro – $80 per month
- Broker Pro – $150 per month
Placester is a Real Estate Technology company that sells WordPress real estate websites which include IDX and online marketing options. With over 400,000 customers, 1/6 of real estate professionals in North America use their services.
- Partners Fredrick Townes and Matthew Barba founded Placester Inc. in Boston, MA in 2011.
- Matt Barba, CEO & Co-Founder
Fredrick Townes, COO & Co-Founder
Actually, Placester is one of the few providers with few recent updates. There are no new news articles on their website since 2019 and pricing and service offerings remain 100% the same.
They still provide a good low-cost option for a “starter” website. This site offers one of the lowest value propositions of all the providers on this list. If all you’re looking for a “placeholder” website, you might consider Pro Agent, one of the honorable mentions at the bottom of this review.
Placester vs Easy Agent Pro vs Real Geeks
If you can spend a few hundred dollars each month, then Easy Agent Pro or Real Geeks might be better options. Why? Because by all accounts, Placesters service is spotty at best.
I had to call them on behalf of a Placester client. My experience was definitely sub-par, and I’m an easygoing and generous person. I have found 3-4 other major review sites saying the same thing.
I’d guess Placester is a victim of its own success. They might have grown faster than their ability to service their 400,000+ clients. If you pay for their ultra-cheap services, expect problems and headaches sooner or later.
7. Real Estate Webmasters
🏆 Best All-Around Real Estate Website Design Company
*While REW can produce great and perhaps even the best all-around websites, they suffer from a widespread negative reputation among clients. They sometimes introduce sudden and unexpected price hikes, and clients complain about a serious lack of attention as soon as they’re under contract.
I have also read many negative comments about the CEO. Multiple companies have sued REW for different reasons. Accordingly, you may want to think twice before committing. They are the most expensive website provider, and it will be impossible to switch providers without losing your entire investment since REW doesn’t allow you to own your website.*
**REW has traditionally focused on lead generation, but their new direction is designing branded websites. For this reason, it may not be a wise choice for real estate agents and brokers who need long-term lead generation.
Website and Service Description
Detailed Real Estate Webmasters Website “Builder Information”
- Custom and Template real estate website design
- CRM and CMS
- Search Engine Optimization
- Search Engine Marketing
- Responsive (Mobile Friendly)
- UX is better than most (Site structure and navigation)
- Custom IDX both as a plugin and as a SAAS service
Need-to-Know Info for Real Estate Webmasters
Real Estate Webmasters isn’t quite the best in ANY category.
- BoomTown is better at lead generation and lead management.
- Agent Image is better at custom design.
- Sierra Interactive has the best search experience and customizable IDX.
Real Estate Webmasters is 2nd or 3rd in ALL of these categories making this company one of the best overall options if you need a strong performance in design, lead generation, search experience, and lead management simultaneously.
Important Drawbacks
Real Estate Webmasters is also the most expensive website providers of the top 10 best real estate website design companies.
As with all the options except Agent Image and InboundREM, you do not own the website.
In the 13 years I have consulted with and met some of real estate’s most influential founders and leaders, I have heard stories that mirror what others have said in the reviews you can read about Morgan and Real Estate Webmasters.
That said, I have never met the man. What I know beyond a shadow of a doubt is Real Estate Webmasters has implemented sudden and extreme price hikes with little or no warning to its customer base.
Because (1) there is so little competition in the “All-in-One Real Estate Website Provider” category and (2) you lose your entire investment if you stop paying (because you lease rather than own your site), REW has a captive audience.
You can get a REALLY good idea of what I mean by reading be review below from prolific real estate bloggers. Go to the end of the post and carefully read through the pros and cons: Real Estate Webmasters Detailed Customer Review.
- REW has a whole host of website options ranging from $1900-$35000.
- In many cases, setup costs $5000
- IDX/Service: $50-$499
- SEO/PPC/Search Engine Marketing: $1500-$15,000
Leadership and Company Summary
Based in Canada, REW has traditionally been a real estate lead generation company. However, they continue to transition to specializing in branding. As their focus changes, their lead generation capabilities are slacking.
The only name associated with Real Estate Webmasters is Morgan Carey. Famously known as the “SEO Guy,” Carey got his start as an SEO consultant and moved into owning his real estate focused technology company in 2004.
The bar was set very low for good SEO focused websites, and Carey quickly built up his company to its current 150 employees and two locations in Canada.
He also built up the single worst personal reputation in all of real estate technology. (This is a data-driven assessment based on the number of negative reviews that mention Carey by name).
In recent years, Morgan has attempted to stem bad publicity by taking a turn on Dragons Den and letting employees dump ice on him for an ALS challenge.
Morgan Carey, CEO & President
Real Estate Webmasters recently implemented A LOT of changes in almost every category with their “Renaissance” update:
- They continue to drift away from lead generation websites and push their new branding website categories
- REW simplified its CRM, but also took away a lot of its enhanced lead generation potential
- They increased service pricing from $199 per month to $499 per month (This is the price to have the website hosted with REW and does not include any marketing).
- REW struck, then lost partnership deals with some of real estate’s top names like Barbara Corcoran.
I’ve updated website examples and links used to support my REW review.
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8. Real Geeks
Website and Service Description
Detailed Real Geeks Website “Build Information”
- Template Design
- Very lead capture friendly
- Need to use direct advertising for lead generation
- Excellent Tutorials on how to use direct advertising and Real Geeks
- IDX is very clean, and it’s set up for you
- Responsive
- Good customer service
- Excellent documentation to support the launch of the website
Important Considerations
Real Geeks was just bought by a mortgage company with very deep pockets. They probably are keeping Jeff as CEO for the next year or two as they transition to a new team. How this will affect their real estate websites is anyone’s guess.
The good news is I doubt they bought the company to mothball it. Frankly, Jeff seems too passionate to sell to someone just looking to bury a competitive tech company AND and as near as I can tell Fidelity doesn’t own competing technology.
But you can be 100% sure this will affect your real estate website in the long term. They may try to integrate mortgage partners straight into your real estate website (getting millions of dollars worth of “free” advertising).
Or they might want to increase the volume of customer acquisition. Despite their exceptional product, Real Geeks has fewer customers than most of the companies on this list.
Overall, I still feel this is a great bet in the real estate lead generation website category for the next 12-24 months.
I have only been able to get “off the record” verbal quotes from former clients currently using Luxury Presence.
Those verbal quotes have been from $5000 – $15,000 for website development. Service (non-marketing) quotes ranging from $300 – $500 per month.
As a new company with no published pricing, it’s likely they are still figuring out their pricing models so you should contact them directly if you’re interested in a quote.
Luxury Presence Company Information
The company has been producing websites since 2016. They currently have over 300 customers, 18 of whom are listed on the Real Trends and Wall Street Journal Top 100 Real Estate Professionals operating in the U.S.
Malte Kramer founded the company, which managed to produce about 300 website projects in 3 years. Jade Mills one of the country’s top real estate producers is a first-round seed investor.
They make beautiful websites that are surprisingly mobile-friendly, and they have a proprietary IDX. Currently the search functionality is extremely limited, but the search APPEARANCE is great.
I have only been able to get “off the record” verbal quotes from former clients currently using Luxury Presence.
Those verbal quotes have been from $5000 – $15,000 for website development. Service (non-marketing) quotes ranging from $300 – $500 per month.
As a new company with no published pricing, it’s likely they are still figuring out their pricing models so you should contact them directly if you’re interested in a quote.
- Pro Site Setup – $500.00
- Premier Site Setup – $8995.00
- Product Coaching (Help setting up advanced features like email drip) – $199.00 per month
- Fee for 1-10 users – $399.95 per month
- Fee for 11-25 users – $499.95 per month
Honorable Mentions
I’ve reviewed hundreds of real estate websites and the companies that design them. I’ve put the best HONORABLE mentions into a YOUTUBE PLAYLIST CALLED “HONORABLE MENTIONS”.
Real Estate Website Companies – Price Comparison
FINAL VERDICT: How to Choose the Best Real Estate Website Design Company
Picking the wrong real estate website can cost time and money. Measuring twice and cutting once is ALWAYS the best method, even when considering low-cost options.
If you are a realtor or real estate broker currently considering buying a website, here is what you need to know BEFORE you start shopping.
- How much CAN you spend upfront and monthly?
- Whats is most important to your business: Design, Search Experience, or Lead Generation? If they are all important, prioritize them.
- How much time do you have for getting a website online? To generate leads?
You need to create features and functionality list on a 1-10 scoring chart. Here is how that works.
You might prioritize lead generation, but also require responsive property search results. Attach an importance score to that requirement IE: 9
Sample Functionality List with Scoring
- Integrated CRM & Lead Management – 9
- Lead Generation – 10
- Drip Email Campaign – 5
- Leads Automatically Texted – 9
- Search Experience – 4 (FYI complicated or robust search tools almost always DROP lead count)
- Design -7
- 3-4 weeks before the website goes live
Now go through this list of real estate website providers and eliminate any that fall outside your budget. Then see if the others offer some or all of your listed features.
Final Tips Before Committing
TIP ONE: Seriously consider owning your website. Most real estate website design companies force you to lease your website. It makes it impossible for you to transfer companies.
That can lead to sloppy customer service, price hikes, inflated invoices for custom work, and many other headaches. Think twice before trapping yourself in a corner. If you can’t afford to hire InboundREM, you could use Boxmode to build a free website.
TIP TWO: Be aware of necessary tradeoffs. If you’re hoping for a fantastic branding website that maximizes lead generation…it doesn’t exist. Branding and efficiency only work together in extremely specialized real estate verticals.
However, there is an interesting alternative. If you’re EXTREMELY driven, you can create a large amount of high-quality content for a website and the quality of your information becomes your brand.
TIP THREE: Consider the ethics and organic (honest) reviews of your potential website provider. Especially because most companies prevent you from easily switching providers, it’s important to find a trustworthy company that won’t burn you.
TIP FOUR: Real estate marketing is a marathon, not a sprint. Whether you use a template or custom design, it takes time and testing to see the best results.
You should be able to measure progress, but truly profitable results will be an ongoing process. It should also get better and easier over time.
Conclusion
Hope you enjoyed this article on top real estate website design companies. A lot of time went into it.
If you DID enjoy or learn or save money, please do me the honor of leaving a comment.
Robert Newman, Founder and Chief Marketing Officer of InboundREM.
Schedule a meeting with me
Let’s chat about how an SEO-focused website that YOU OWN can generate high-quality leads and exceptional long-term ROI. If my services aren’t the best move for you, I’ll gladly point you in the right direction
16 Comments
Thank you for publishing this article. I have just started researching changing web site providers and this article was by far the most comprehensive and well written article that I have found so far. Keep up the good work!
Bruce, I am so grateful you both let me know the article was useful and decided to let me know. Sooooo much work went into this one. Good luck with your research 🙂
This kind of blog post is so so helpful and current. It is neat to see the invitation for new information and the willingness to double back to update and keep it fresh, current. Thank you for the thorough turn your head and cough.
Andrew,
Truly thrilled you found the article useful. Took a LONG time to write it and I was thinking about something similar for years. Very grateful to know it resonated with its intended audience. I’ll keep updating it year over year.
Good reading post, Robert.
I love Dakno website. It clean and friendly.
Without a doubt the most comprehensive and utterly mind-blowing analysis I have seen. Not only for real estate websites but any subject in general. It was so thorough and honest I asked to be contacted. And wouldn’t you know it Mr. Robert Newman called me directly to schedule a call for the next day. In doing so, he was so excited to share information with me we ended up speaking for 20 minutes. You can tell from the get-go that he is super knowledgeable and gets the real estate website SEO space like no other. Been studying up and trying to learn for 3 weeks and thankfully came across this today. Helluva resource that took God knows how much to compile. Thank you, Robert!
Thank you Bret! It WAS good talking to you and I hope I am able to be of service. This list originally took 3 months and about 100 hours to research and write.
Nowadays a website is a must in any industry especially in real estate and this blog is well written about website importance.
Obviously, I agree with you, Adam 🙂
I know how much work this is. Excellent effort.
Jim,
I feel like a rockstar just visited my blog. Thanks for the encouragement. Really appreciate it. So much so I left the backlink live and do-follow. Not that you really need it as you are one of the most established real estate marketing websites out there.
Clearly a scholar, and on top of that, a true gentleman! Thanks Robert.
Let me know if you’d be up for a post exchange. I think that’d be fun!
You can’t put together this type of material without a great deal of time, talent and discipline. Awesome!!
I look forward to speaking with you.
Thank you, Bruce
I think we got together and I JUST noticed you were kind enough to leave me a comment on my blog. Thank you!
Very nice article and thanks for sharing all your research. What’s your take on Union St. Media? Their sites are ranking well on RealTrends and they offer comprehensive marketing packages. Thanks!