Earlier this month we launched a new premium WordPress theme designed for individual realtors, real estate companies, and home builders. The new real estate theme is a Genesis child theme and has functionality similar to the AgentPress theme from StudioPress.
An Example of a Real Estate Firm Website Launch:
Before I could stop myself, I showed off our Hans theme and color options. It wasn’t even available yet, but I couldn’t help myself. The broker loved it and bought it as soon as I added it to our online store. He had us create a custom color scheme for it and integrate the IDX plugin and HTML code for him.
We also set up the AgentPress Listings, Simple Real Estate Pack and Gravity Forms plugins for him. It was a perfect, low cost, and low hassle solution. And more importantly, the website looks great!
A few days before we officially released the theme I received a call from the president of a real estate firm in California. He needed a custom Genesis theme that was capable of integrating with the IDX functionality from Diverse Solutions.
If I Have IDX, Why Do I Need to Bother With AgentPress Listings?
IDX isn’t a solution for all theme users. While IDX is great for agents and real estate firms that buy and sell homes across a wide range of areas, it wouldn’t be suitable for a homebuilder that limits sales to their own new construction homes. In this case, Hans and the AgentPress Listings plugin is a perfect fit.
The AgentPress Listings plugin can actually do this for her. Once you configure the base settings, the plugin does it for you. Jen will only need to pop in her square footage, lot size, photos, and virtually any other criteria she deem appropriate.
She’ll even be able to segment homes by neighborhoods. And adding new neighborhoods is as easy as dropping the subdivision name in a table within the WordPress admin panel.
My girlfriend Jen is a marketing manager for a local new homebuilder. She knows WordPress, but struggles getting her homes listed on her company’s website because she is never really sure how to style the content.
Is IDX Integration Really as Easy as it Seems?
I will say that I found Diverse Solutions’ dsIDXpress IDX Plugin to be one of the best plugins I’ve ever installed and used. It was not only filled with great functionality, itdid the majority of the integration us at installation. When I activated it the first time, I was amazed at how well the functionality worked and was ready for use right out of the box. The only thing we really needed to do was modify the CSS (look) of their default search box.
The folks at Diverse Solutions are also awesome at support. Keep in mind I do not have an account with them and I’m not directly paying them money. But I’ve called them twice for two different clients and both times they were very helpful and were more than happy to give support on behalf of our shared client.
Another buyer of Hans had inquired about IDX integration, so I suspect this is a common question for users of real estate themes. Hans can integrate to IDX, but the CSS code may need to be tweaked in some cases. There are just too many IDX companies and integration options to have the theme completely preset with all IDX code options. We’ve worked with two different IDX companies in the last 30 days and while they are similar, they are different. Some IDX companies and/or packages create listings right on the website and others embed an iFrame into a page that manages the functionality. Both are strong options and the choice is made on a variety of factors pertaining to the ultimate client’s unique needs.
Why is Hans Perfect for Real Estate Firms and Home Builders?
Han also includes multiple sidebars, a widgetized home page, a flexible rotator, call to action boxes, FeedBurner integration, and author boxes for single or multiple bloggers and agents. It takes advantage of cool Genesis’ features such as multiple page payouts, columns, featured images, latest tweets, user profiles, eNews and updates, and featured pages. And because this premium WordPress theme is built for Genesis, it is a lightweight theme and secure.
Keywords:
It uses the awesome AgentPress Listings plugin and can also integrate to plugins like Simple Real Estate Pack and Gravity Forms. Hans comes with five different color options and as we discussed above, custom color schemes can be created.
The important part of all of this is that Hans was designed for realtors and homebuilders who sell new construction homes.
The look, feel, and functionality was specifically designed to accommodate the needs of this industry and their website visitors.
And it is a great low cost option for creating a swanky website that makes the agent or company look as professional as possible.
