Trends in Real Estate Websites
Real estate is a valuable and often expensive
purchase. Copious research is done by home buyers before venturing out
to acquire real estate. In this day and age, gathering information
about a property is typically done online, and an effective and
captivating website design can make or break a home sale.
There have been trends on how these specialized websites are presented to the public. Here are some of those trends used by successful real estate websites.
1. Traditional/Sophisticated Theme vs Modern/Contemporary design
Property realtors want to convey the message that they’re reliable and well-established. They want home buyers to feel that they will be purchasing property from a company that’s dependable, steadfast and time-tested. That’s why most of them opt for a classic and sophisticated theme for their websites, rather than a sleek, modern theme.
Even so, some runs their site against the flow. They let the creativity flow on the design but maintains the simplicity and ease of use of the site. Whatever design you choose, Real Estate websites must stay clean and simple to add ease to the complexity of the business.
2. Image Heavy Designs
True that RE websites has lot of images. it is because home buyers want to see what they’re potentially buying without having to take the time to travel to a property. Real estate websites typically contain a lot of images for this very purpose. Images also introduces realtors to the customer. It tells the customer what type of houses does this realtor sold and how he present it to the market. Poor, low resolution images can be a turn off for most buyers.
3. Photo Gallery and Slide Shows
Again, photo galleries allow website visitors to see what properties look like without having to leave their computer. That is why you’ll often find image galleries that feature properties that realtors currently have available. Virtual tours are also in demand to convey the same message. These features saves time and aids in decision making of the buyers, whether or not they want to see the property in person.
4. Property Locator, Maps and Street View
Many real estate websites provide a property locator feature for home buyers to find properties for sale in areas they are interested in.
Real estate property locator features are usually a Web form with various input fields — such as property type, property features, price range, zip code, etc. — so that you can easily narrow down your search to the exact type of property you’re looking for.
Many realtors use a third-party service or application (such as Google Maps) to enable this feature on their websites. Street views and measuring walkability (such as WalkScore) are also great stuff to add and realy helps the customer to see whether they would fit in to the property they are looking for.
5. Mobile Versions and QR codes
Smart phones are in-demand along with other iOS gadgetssuch as tablets. In this reason, RE websites must also connect through those gadgets. That is why lot of realtors have a mobile version of their sites. This feature increase the usability of the site and reach more customers, even those on the go. It also assist greatly those first time home buyers to came up wth their decision of buying a home.
QR Codes (create your QR code) are also a good feature as most smart phones can read a web profile using this codes and it makes the site easy to remember.
There have been trends on how these specialized websites are presented to the public. Here are some of those trends used by successful real estate websites.
1. Traditional/Sophisticated Theme vs Modern/Contemporary design
Property realtors want to convey the message that they’re reliable and well-established. They want home buyers to feel that they will be purchasing property from a company that’s dependable, steadfast and time-tested. That’s why most of them opt for a classic and sophisticated theme for their websites, rather than a sleek, modern theme.
Even so, some runs their site against the flow. They let the creativity flow on the design but maintains the simplicity and ease of use of the site. Whatever design you choose, Real Estate websites must stay clean and simple to add ease to the complexity of the business.
2. Image Heavy Designs
True that RE websites has lot of images. it is because home buyers want to see what they’re potentially buying without having to take the time to travel to a property. Real estate websites typically contain a lot of images for this very purpose. Images also introduces realtors to the customer. It tells the customer what type of houses does this realtor sold and how he present it to the market. Poor, low resolution images can be a turn off for most buyers.
3. Photo Gallery and Slide Shows
Again, photo galleries allow website visitors to see what properties look like without having to leave their computer. That is why you’ll often find image galleries that feature properties that realtors currently have available. Virtual tours are also in demand to convey the same message. These features saves time and aids in decision making of the buyers, whether or not they want to see the property in person.
4. Property Locator, Maps and Street View
Many real estate websites provide a property locator feature for home buyers to find properties for sale in areas they are interested in.
Real estate property locator features are usually a Web form with various input fields — such as property type, property features, price range, zip code, etc. — so that you can easily narrow down your search to the exact type of property you’re looking for.
5. Mobile Versions and QR codes
Smart phones are in-demand along with other iOS gadgetssuch as tablets. In this reason, RE websites must also connect through those gadgets. That is why lot of realtors have a mobile version of their sites. This feature increase the usability of the site and reach more customers, even those on the go. It also assist greatly those first time home buyers to came up wth their decision of buying a home.
QR Codes (create your QR code) are also a good feature as most smart phones can read a web profile using this codes and it makes the site easy to remember.
