Real Estate agents and agencies reach their buyers/sellers through online medium. They depend on their website to list all their new properties (for sale/rent) and uses the traffic on their website to make a transaction happen. Compared to the olden days, real estate agents and firms now depend on the online medium for their business more than ever. If you are a real estate agent and you don’t have a website to list your properties, then seriously you were sleeping for the last couple of years.
There are 2 types of trends we see among real estate firms and agents. The first one is new agents/agencies starting a website to list all their properties. A few agents who opted out of a website before have changed their minds and they are on their way to start their own website to list properties. The second trend is agents/agencies who had built a website years before renovating it with new features and new designs.Most of these old websites are outdated in technology and they don’t work properly in mobile devices (smartphone and tablets). A major trend in redesigning websites is making it responsive. A responsive website will adjust itself automatically to different screen sizes (say notebook, tablet and smartphones).
WordPress is a great platform to build a real estate listing website with killer features and trendy looks. I have written a detailed article on building a real estate website with WordPress. All you have to do is buy a premium real estate theme for WordPress (you can buy a premium real estate theme for as low as 50 US Dollars & less) and set the website up. Building a real estate website with WordPress has so many advantages:
- Very easy to setup, add properties, edit properties and manage the listings
- WordPress is open source and comes with a GPL license which is free to use and distribute with source code.
- High end features like Featured listings, Interactive slideshows, Related listings, Advanced Search
- A unique, trendy, clean and neat design. Its possible to bring great look and feel.
- Highly customizable – you can customize your website in any way you want.
- SEO Advantages – WordPress is the nost Search Engine Friendly platform available to build a real estate listings website. No other platform will match with WordPress in SEO advantages. This will help you to bring maximum traffic to your website from search engines.
So in this article, I am reviewing the best real estate wordpress themes and premium real esate wordpress templates available. I have taken care to be neutral & unbiased while reviewing all the themes. However the buying decision should be solely yours based on your unique needs & requirements.
Standard Features of a Premium Real Estate Theme
A good real estate theme is supposed to have the following basic features. Many great themes available in the market gives a lot more in addition to these basic features. However in my review of the real estate themes, I haven’t considered any theme that doesn’t give these basic features in full.
1. Responsive design – A responsive design makes the website adjust itself to different screen sizes. This will help the website to be displayed perfectly in all mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones.
2. Theme Admin Panel – A theme admin panel is necessary where the administrator of website can change important aspects of the website like Logo, Slider images, Currency, Skin Colors, Font Styles and many such features. Different themes provide different kind of customization options in their admin panel. Some themes like PropertyMagic offers high level of customization that you can change every aspect of the theme from your admin panel.
3. Listings page with Multiple photos+Property features – Listings details/description page is the key feature of every real estate theme. A good theme should give options to add multiple photos, add various property features like property type, MLS number, price, measurements, property status (rent/buy) and such features.
4. Property Search (Quick and Advanced) – A good real estate theme should give a powerful search option. Ideally there should be a quick search (for an easy and quick searching of properties) and an advanced search (for filtering out a specific property).
All the themes listed below provides all the basic features listed above. I have taken utmost care to list only the best ones from different companies. However good a theme may be in looks and features, customer support from the theme developer is a crucial factor. I have made sure that all the themes listed here has a good history of providing decent customer support. Please be informed that a history of good customer support may not be an indicator of the present/future.
1. Graha – Real Estate Theme
Graha is one of the best real estate theme’s I’ve ever seen. The best thing about Graha is its fancy look, unlike other cliched real estate themes Graha was able to deliver its own identity .
I had a real estate client who is a hardcore fan of WordPress . When he approached me for building a real estate website in WordPress, I had no doubt referring Graha to him. He really liked the design and was very happy with the outcome (customized version).
Some of the good features of Graha are,
1. Fully Responsive.
Well, every theme released now a days are fully responsive, so as Graha
2. Google Map Property integration.
Graha is google map integrated. You need to enter the latitude and longitude of the property, and it the map section will automatically point the property in the desired location. This feature makes it so handy for the user to check the surroundings, access, and other major landmarks to the property.
3. Neighborhood map (The main attractions nearby the property will be listed).
Another fantastic feature offered by this theme is the Neighborhood map . The major spots(restaurants,schools,bars etc would be fetched automatically through google map api and would be displayed in a sexy manner.
4. 360 Degree View
Recently , I was looking for a rental property and one of my agents used to show me panoramic images of the properties which he had in hand. To be frank, these images really did give me a clear cut vision about the property. Graha does have the support for panoramic images which would be great in the viewers perspective.
5. Multiple Agents.
You can add multiple agents to the users. Properties will be displayed on basis of your agent profiles. This would be great if you have an agent based business. Not only you but also your agents will benefit through this feature.
6. Plenty of widgets
How much widgets you have in your WordPress theme, that much customizable is your website. Graha does have nearly 20 widgets which makes the theme highly customizable. Almost all the things you have in the home page are widgets. Even for the property search , there are 2 widgets (Normal search and Ajax property search widget – which does have dependant dropdowns in the propery search).
2. Rent & Buy
Rent & Buy is a Google Maps based real estate theme for WordPress. Highlight of this theme is the site wide Google Maps with properties marked on corresponding locations. Each property will be listed on Google Maps based on the location. Upon hovering the marked property, it will be highlighted with a short title and description of the property with an active link. You will be taken to the corresponding properties listing page upon clicking the marked property on Google Map.
Other Highlighted Features:-
1. Front End Submission – this feature will enable visitors of your website to register an account and submit a property for sale/rent.
2. Payment Packages with Paypal integration – this is a unique feature of this theme. You can set a number of packages for registering an account and listing a property in your website. Payments can be collected using the integrated Paypal checkout.
3. Surrounding Suburbs Search – is a useful feature of this theme which will include listings from the near by suburbs/village/streets in the search results page.
4. Sorting in Search Results Page – is another useful feature which will help the visitor to sort the search results based on price, relevance, date, new listings etc.
5. List, Grid and Map based view in Search results page – The visitor can choose a view he would like to have. The layout will switch based on the selected view. However map based view is not responsive.
Drawbacks of the Theme
1. Except for the great looking Google Maps and marking of properties, the home page lacks a unique and stylish design.
2. Theme fails miserably in responsive outputs. Maps based home page is the villain here! Maps will vanish completely on responsive output for smart phones of all types. However responsive output for tablets looks fine with maps being active.
3. Single Listings page lacks a unique design! In fact the design & layout of single listings page is average. They have not given a dedicated content area for listing property features like number of bathrooms, bedrooms, rent or buy etc. Visitors will find it difficult to identify if a property is for sale or rent from the single listings page.
4. There is no “Related Properties/Listings” – which is an important feature to be provided in single listings page. Every visitor who read details of a property would like to know about other similar properties available in the website. A “Related Properties” widget will help people to navigate to other similar properties easily.
5. There is no social sharing enabled in property listings page! Another notable drawback can be found in the design of their blog, which is average.
3. WP Pro Real Estate 4
WP Pro Real Estate-4 is a full screen image based real estate theme from ThemeForest (Author:- Contempo). The uniqueness of this theme is in the usage of a unique looking, stylish, high resolution image in the home page header area. This image gives the theme a modern style with a good look and feel. On top of this full width image, a sophisticated search engine is placed which adds appeal to the overall design as well. In addition, this theme looks neat and clean.
Highlights of the theme:-
1. A unique approach to home page header area, which is not implemented by any other theme authors. Neat and clean design with a natural flow.
2. Image slider with unlimited number of slides. Just below the “full width image based header” area, they have given an Image slider which can be used to list properties with a brief data and a link to the listings page. This slider can be used to promote a handful of premium or featured properties. You can also promote properties that are listed for emergency selling.
3. Featured listings slider helps to promote maximum number of featured properties through home page. This is an added advantage which will help you to promote another set of premium properties.
4. Promote a specific property among all visitors – This is a unique feature of this theme. A single featured listing will be displayed as the first result (just like sponsored results in Google search page) in the search results page.. This will help admin to promote a particular property among all visitors of the website.
5. Mortgage Calculator is a unique feature of this theme, which is otherwise available only in OpenDoor Theme (as Loan Calculator).
Drawbacks
1. Featured listings slider fails in responsive output.
2. Latest listings are not given very importance in home page.
3. Design of Single Listings page is too minimal! Images are small in size. Property features could have been displayed better by using a dedicated content area. Social sharing icons are not very engaging.
4. They have not given “related listings”. Search Engine Widget is not available in single listings page.
4. OpenDoor
OpenDoor is a feature rich real estate theme from ThemeForest (Author:-) which gives a lot of emphasis on features than on neat design and clean looks. Highlight of this theme is the home page with an interactive slider and map based listing of latest properties. They have provided important features like a Loan Calculator, Search widget on Sidebar, Browse by different property types, In addition they have a “compare properties” feature which will enable visitors to compare different properties in tabular columns.
Highlights of the theme
1. The Theme is available in 2 versions. The normal version and dsIDxpress plugin version. This is a unique feature of this theme and you can use the theme based on your choice. No other theme gives the dsIDxpress integration. However dsIDxpress is not a choice for many theme buyers. But if you are one looking for a dsIDxpress version, then this theme is for you.
2. Search results page has a map based listing (just like Rent & Buy) along with normal list based view.
Drawbacks of the theme
1. The major drawback of this theme is in its design side. The overall design is not neat, not clean and it doesn’t follow a proportional design flow.
2. The “tab area” in single property listings page to switch between “basic details” and “features” fails in design. In my opinion, it makes that portion of the theme awkward in view.
5. ReMap
ReMap is a fully map based real estate theme using Google Maps. This theme has features almost similar to the Rent & Buy theme like Google Maps based home page, Front end submission with paid packages, Paypal integration and similar features. However the major difference is in the approach to design and the layouts. Remap has a fully map based home page where as Rent&Buy follows a mix of maps and conventional design elements like featured listings, footer area, sidebar etc.
If you are confused to choose between Rent&Buy and ReMap theme, I will highly recommend Rent&Buy because it is more Search Engine Friendly. ReMap depends too much on Google Maps and they tend to give more importance to list details of a property inside maps (as a JQuery popup) rather than to direct listing details to a single unique page. This approach of ReMap affects SEO severely and it can loose you lots of traffic to your website.
Highlights of ReMap
1. Fully fresh and unique approach to design based on Google Maps.
2. They have used a modern approach (based on Jquery) to build inner pages, in the design of quick details of listings in maps and in developing search results page using Google Maps.
3. They have been successful in blending the “search widget” and “login/registration” into the map based design without affecting the design flow. However they made it too confusing that a website visitor will find it difficult to see the search form and login/registration form.
Drawbacks of ReMap
1. Poor SEO(Search Engine Optimisation) – is the major drawback of this theme. As I have wrote before, they have made it great in design & looks but failed in Search Engine Optimisation. One of the major drawback is a fully map based home page. Another drawback being listing the property details inside Maps page as a Jquery popup. To get maximum benefits of SEO, a theme should have a home page with text based contents accessible by Search Engine Bots. Similarly individual property listings must be accessible by a single unique URL. This theme fails in both aspects and is one of the premium real estate theme with poor SEO scopes.
2.Confusing design elements – Though they have blended design elements like search function, login/registration, front end submission and such features, they made it confusing for the visitor. A visitor who is not very familiar with internet and modern website elements will definitely find it too confusing to find major elements like “search function” & “front end submission”.
6. FreeHold
FreeHold is a simple, clean and neat real estate theme from ThemeForest (Author:-). FreeHold was created in September 2012 and has been updated with new versions till this month. It does not follow a map based design in home page. It’s home page is fresh & clean with a slider (image based), latest listings and a featured listings widget. The “search feature” which is crucial for any real estate website is placed in the header area. The single property details page has a fresh and clean layout with a beautiful design.
Highlights of FreeHold
1. Clean, neat & fresh design of home page & inner pages.
2. Search is implemented in perfect fashion with a minimal option & advanced options in the header area. Minimal option allows for quicker search while advanced options allows for a refined search. Both are implemented at the same header area and can be accessed by selecting a tab click.
3. Search Results page has map based listings at the top portion, where listings can be selected from Google Maps. In addition they have listed all properties in “List Based View” just below the maps section.
Drawbacks of FreeHold
1. Featured Listings – could have been more highlighted in home page. Though they have given featured listings as a sitewide sidebar widget, it doesn’t serve the true purpose. A “Featured Property” widget is supposed to get maximum visibility in a real estate website and this theme fails in delivering maximum visibility to the featured listings.
2. Related Listings – FreeHold doesn’t provide “related listings” feature in the single property page.
3. Social Sharing icons – in single property listings could have been more interactive and larger in size. As of now it offers minimal visibility and minimal action on social sharing.
So those are the best real estate wordpress themes available, you might also be interested in my article about Launching a good looking real estate website under 100 $ expense
