Estate agent website: listings on your own domain, area pages that get found
An estate agent website holds the agency's listings, area pages and enquiry forms on its own domain. Portals collect the listings: Funda in the Netherlands, Rightmove and Zoopla in the United Kingdom. The agency's own site keeps the portfolio at its own address and appears for area searches. ALTAI Digital builds the site for that job. Listings come from the portfolio system, valuation and enquiry forms land in the CRM, and WhatsApp sits on every listing page. The footer carries company details and GDPR notices. Live in four weeks.
In the Netherlands the listings are on Funda; in the United Kingdom they are on Rightmove and Zoopla. The portals lead general search, and an agency's own site is not built to compete with them. Its job is different. It keeps the portfolio at the agency's own address and gives every listing a permanent page. The buyer sees who the agent is, not a row in a portal list. The second job is the area search. When a buyer types a neighbourhood and a property type, the agency appears for that search only through a page written for that area.
The third job is not losing the enquiry. For Kali, a team of five agents in Istanbul, we put the portfolio, incoming enquiries and client records into one system. What we measured there was simple: clients read the listing page, then wrote on Instagram or WhatsApp instead of filling in the form. The contact form stayed empty while the inbox filled up. So the form cannot be the only channel. Every listing page carries a WhatsApp link. An enquiry from the form and a message from WhatsApp land in the same client record in the CRM. The agent opens one screen in the morning and sees which conversation belongs to which property.
The fourth job is identity. In the United Kingdom an estate agency must belong to a redress scheme, The Property Ombudsman or the Property Redress Scheme. That membership is shown in the footer, next to the company details. For a Dutch office the footer carries the KvK number. The enquiry and valuation forms collect personal data, so a GDPR privacy notice sits beside them. Cookie and privacy pages are set up as well. The fifth job is speed. Listing pages carry large photographs, and an unsized photograph opens slowly on a phone. The site is written in Next.js from scratch, images are served at the right size, and the first month's report includes load time.
Below are the scope of an estate agent site build, the process and the questions we are asked most. We work from Rotterdam and Istanbul. The site we built for Mert Fatih Tasbasi, a villa specialist in Sariyer, Istanbul, is the live example of this structure. Listings come from the portfolio system, the valuation request is tied to a form and the sales method is written in five steps. Separate area pages were built for six neighbourhoods. The price is given after the discovery call, once the scope is clear.
What goes wrong today
- 01
The portfolio lives only on the portals
The listings are on Funda, or on Rightmove and Zoopla, and the agency has no address of its own. When a buyer searches the agency's name, its own site does not come up. The buyer sees the agent as one row among many in a portal list.
- 02
Invisible for area searches
Buyers search by neighbourhood and property type. If the site has no page written for that area, it does not appear for that search, however many listings the agency has there. The portfolio exists; the page does not.
- 03
Enquiries arrive in the inbox, not the form
The site has a contact form, but clients do not fill it in; they write on Instagram or WhatsApp. We measured this for Kali in Istanbul: the form stayed empty and the inbox filled up. A message enquiry is not recorded, and which property it concerns gets lost.
- 04
Valuation requests are not recorded
A homeowner calls or messages to ask what the house is worth; the details end up on a notepad or in a chat history. Caller, property, size and the date of the reply never sit in one place. Two weeks later nobody can find which house was asked about.
- 05
Footer details missing
No company details, no redress scheme membership, no privacy notice next to the form. The buyer cannot see who is behind the site and cannot tell where the personal data from the form goes.
- 06
The site is heavy and slow on a phone
Listing pages carry large photographs; served unsized, the page opens slowly on a phone. A slow page gets closed, and because speed is never measured the agency never sees it. The problem is not the design but the way the images are served.
Scope of the build
Listings from the portfolio system
The portfolio or CRM software the agency already uses is connected to the site. Every listing gets its own detail page, a permanent address and a photo gallery. Adding a listing or changing a price does not touch the site. The record is updated in the portfolio system and appears on the site by itself.
Area pages
A separate page is written for every neighbourhood the agency covers: the listings there, the housing stock and the questions buyers ask. When a buyer searches for that area, this is the page that appears. The Tasbasi site has six such pages for the neighbourhoods around Sariyer.
Valuation and enquiry forms
A homeowner leaves a valuation request through the form: address, size, number of rooms, phone. A buyer opens a viewing request from the listing page. Both land in the CRM with the GDPR privacy notice recorded; who replied and when is visible. Nothing stays on a notepad.
WhatsApp and Instagram on every listing
Every listing page carries a WhatsApp button that includes the listing link, and an Instagram link. When a client writes instead of filling in the form, the WhatsApp Business setup tags the conversation with that listing. It lands in the same client record. The form is not the only channel.
Enquiries land in the CRM
Every enquiry from the form, WhatsApp and Instagram is collected in a single client record. The record, the listing and the conversation history sit in one place. The same client cannot become two rows under two agents. The agent opens one screen in the morning.
Footer, redress scheme and GDPR
The footer carries the company details, the KvK number for a Dutch office and, for a UK agency, the redress scheme membership. The valuation and enquiry forms get a GDPR privacy notice; cookie and privacy pages are set up. Every page shows whose site it is.
Speed and search structure
The site is written in Next.js from scratch; images are served at the right size and listing pages open fast on a phone. Every listing and area page carries the schema Google reads; Search Console and the Google Business Profile are connected. At the end of month one we report which searches the site appears for and how fast it loads.
How the build runs
- 01
Discovery (1 week)
The portfolio system, the areas covered, the service list and the footer details are collected. Which channel enquiries arrive through today is measured with the agency.
- 02
Design and writing (2 weeks)
Area pages, service and method texts are written, the agency reviews and corrects. The portfolio system is connected and listing pages are built with the design.
- 03
Corrections and launch (1 week)
Domain and hosting are registered to the agency, footer and GDPR texts are placed, WhatsApp and Instagram links are tested, the site goes live.
- 04
Indexing and measurement
Search Console and the Google Business Profile are connected. At the end of month one we report which area searches the site appears for and which channel enquiries came through.
Estate agent site
- Home, about, services, contact and valuation pages
- Listing pages fed by the portfolio system
- An area page for every neighbourhood covered
- Valuation and enquiry forms with CRM connection
- WhatsApp and Instagram links on every listing
- Footer details, redress scheme membership and GDPR notices
- Search Console and Google Business Profile connection
Pricing is given after the discovery call, once the scope is clear.
Sariyer, Istanbul: an own-domain site for a villa specialist. Listings come from the portfolio system, the valuation request is tied to a form, the sales method is written in five steps. Area pages were built for Zekeriyakoy, Uskumrukoy, Demircikoy, Tarabya, Yenikoy and Maslak.
Read the caseProducts used in this build
Web and mobile development
Code written from scratch: web with Next.js, mobile with React Native and Swift; the repository is yours from day one.
CRM and customer management
The customer record gathers in one place: duplicates merge, required fields are defined, the report comes out on its own.
WhatsApp Business integration
Notifications, order tracking and customer conversations gather in the business account; the history stays with the company.
Request handling
Requests from five channels collect in one list, the draft reply arrives ready, and the decision to send stays with you.
Terms used on this page
- Area page
- An area page is the page written for one neighbourhood; it holds the listings there and appears for searches naming that area.
- Portfolio system
- A portfolio system is the software in which the agency keeps its listings, photographs and prices, and which feeds the site's listing pages directly.
- Redress scheme
- A redress scheme is the complaints body a UK estate agency must belong to: The Property Ombudsman or the Property Redress Scheme.
- Valuation request
- A valuation request is the form record in which a homeowner leaves address, size and contact details to ask what the property is worth.
- Client record
- A client record is the single CRM entry that collects enquiries from the form, WhatsApp and Instagram, the listing concerned and the conversation history.
estate agent websiteFrequently asked questions
It keeps the portfolio at the agency's own address and appears for area searches through area pages. Funda, Rightmove and Zoopla lead general search; the agency's site does not replace them, it sits beside them. Every listing gets a permanent page, enquiries land in the CRM, and the footer shows who the agency is.
No. The portfolio system the agency already uses is connected to the site. A listing is added or updated there and appears on the site by itself. On the Tasbasi site listings arrive this way and nobody touches the site to add one. During discovery we look at which system is in use and build the connection for it.
Buyers search by neighbourhood and property type. If the site carries no page written for that area, it does not appear for that search. An area page brings together the listings there, the housing stock and the questions buyers ask. One is written for every area the agency covers.
We measured this for Kali in Istanbul: clients read the listings on the site, then wrote on Instagram or WhatsApp. The site therefore includes the messaging channel. Every listing page carries a WhatsApp button with the listing link. The conversation is tagged with that listing and lands in the same client record as a form enquiry.
Company details, address and phone, and the KvK number for a Dutch office. For a UK agency, membership of a redress scheme: The Property Ombudsman or the Property Redress Scheme. A GDPR privacy notice sits next to every form. Obtaining the membership is the agency's job; we place the details and make them visible on every page.
Four weeks: one week of discovery, two weeks of design and writing, one week of corrections and launch. The number of area pages does not change the schedule; a slow portfolio connection or late text approval from the agency does. The first month's measurement report follows.
The agency. Domain, hosting and source code are registered to the agency; ALTAI Digital is added as an administrator. The listing data in the portfolio system stays the agency's; the site only reads it. If the contract ends, site and data stay where they are.
By the number of area pages, the way the portfolio system connects, and the WhatsApp and CRM scope, after the discovery call. The scope of the Mert Fatih Tasbasi and Kali builds is on their case pages; a similar scope starts from there. We work from Rotterdam and Istanbul and quote in euros or pounds.
The process first, the proposal after
In a short discovery call we map the process together and tell you plainly whether it is worth automating. If it is not, we say that too.
30 minutes · no preparation needed
