How to Create a Real Estate Website like Zillow?


With the ever-growing competition in the real market, it is high time for the players in the market to make a strong position in the digital world to grow their businesses. One possible solution is a multi-functional web platform, which acts as a social marketplace and gains popularity due to its advantages. The parties mainly involved in the real estate business, namely the buyers, sellers, and agents, benefit from the assistance these platforms provide to them. Thus, these three kinds of people can become your potential customers to bring you revenue. One of the leading names in these real estate listing websites is undoubtedly Zillow.

The website of Zillow has an impressive record of accomplishment with 245 million unique users in 2021, with 25% increase users from the year 2020. The company holds 3rd position in the top real estate listing website according to surveys. Therefore, if you want to get benefit from leading Zillow clone, we got you covered. Before diving in, let us know what Zillow is and its history, then we will see how to create something similar. 

The Story behind Zillow

Zillow is among the most popular real estate listing websites in today’s time. Lloyd Frink and Rich Barton founded Zillow Group Inc. in 2006. It was a website with limited features, but with continuous efforts and constant improvement on the website, it became successful by adding a new feature. Millions of potential homebuyers, sellers, tenants, and agents visit the listing website daily. They go through the prospects and select profitable mortgage offers and perform other similar actions. In the year 2018, the company signed a partnership with Century 21 Canada; thus, it is safe to say that Zillow entered the International Market.

Benefits of a Great Real Estate Website

The website serves three main user bases, the buyers, the sellers, and the agents; each of them gets a different kind of benefit from using the app or visiting the company’s website. Let’s talk about some of the main benefits, for which the company has become a fan favorite for players in real estate businesses.

• To the Sellers

We will begin with the sellers. Here is a list of benefits they get:

1. Loyal target consumers: As sellers present on the listing website, they get an opportunity to research clients’ interests and make a personalized offer. 

2. Easy customer reach: The site saves you from the hassle of finding prospects who you can convince to become a satisfied customer of yours.

3. Brilliant advertisement: The listing website provides you with opportunities to promote your property and acts as an advertisement platform.

4. Convenient communication: the website proves to be an effective communication medium with all the details you require and expert help too.

• To the Buyers

Moving on to the perspective of buyers. Here is a list of benefits the website provide to them:

1. Simple search option: The website brings the privilege of listing for everyone. Before this, only agencies will know who wants to buy or sell a real estate property.

2. Geolocation capabilities: It assists the potential buyers in finding the best-suited option according to their needs.

3. Easy to use interface: The website possesses an easy user interface, which can be accessed anywhere and anytime.

4. Reliable: The system of providing ratings and reviews to sellers and agents, helps buyers to deal with genuine sources.

• To the Agents

Now, let’s talk about the benefits to the third type of users, the agents:

1. Simplified work: The websites provide access to listings of objects and assist the agents to serve as a connection between parties.

2. Better targeting: Just like sellers, real estate agents appreciate the website’s opportunities to target potential customers.

3. Enhanced Analytics: Tools, which analyze user behavior, helps the agents to work efficiently to serve the other parties.

4. Improved number of successful deals: Websites like these are excellent tools, which agents use to close more deals.

Process of Development of the Website

The below-mentioned steps are among the few which you need to consider to start a real estate website. You can get benefit from leading Zillow clone and achieve the desired market result along with following these process steps.

• Market Research

This is the first stage of real estate website development. You need to carry out market surveys and research to identify the user’s needs. Know the gap between services that existing players offer and the needs of the population, which will help you find the target audience whose needs are not fulfilled by your competitors, then come up with a plan.

• Business Models

Think carefully about the business model you adopt, as the goal is to recoup the cost of website and development expenses. You need to receive a constant profit to make ends meet. You can look into options like premier service, allowing promotional activities and earning from them, and more.

• Geolocation

This is a feature all real estate websites aim to have. The geolocation provides the website a chance to buy or rent real estate property at a specific location, helping find the location details of the property and ways to reach it, and locating free agents to view real estate in your area are some of the few features to mention about.


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• Commercial Design of the Website

Look after the website’s commercial design to boost the selling services when designing, consider the user expectations, and use optimum level of creativeness. We will suggest hiring professionals with experience in website development.

• MVP Model

Suppose you run a small firm that cannot start big in the first attempt because of constraints like money, manpower, or other factors. We would suggest going for the MVP model, under which sort out the necessary features at the time of launch and add additional features eventually. 

Must-have Features

 They are the essential feature, which your website needs to have at all costs. This will ensure the growth of popularity in the market with appropriate SEO applications. Some important features are listed below:

• Listing system

Listing of real estate properties and creating a maintained database is essential. You might not have an extensive data collection at the initial stage of launch but can source it from existing listings, i.e., MLS contract, tracking FSBO (For Sale by Owner) offers, or buying a base altogether.

• View of the Real estate property

Websites like Zillow facilitate the users to inspect the property via photos or 3D models. This feature helps the users to filter out their options. So, ensure to include this feature in your app and remember to incorporate visualization of the highest grade.

• Search option

It is a necessary feature of any good real estate website to help the users crawl through the database and find the options that suit them perfectly.

Conclusion

The prospect of a real estate website in the near future is up-and-coming. With technologies like blockchain, extensive data analysis makes it more convenient for clients to get information. If you have cool ideas and vision for real estate web development, get benefit from leading Zillow clone, which will help you create a similar or better website. Consider all the tips mentioned here to guide yourself to build the perfect real estate website that you always desired. 

About The Author :

Hermit Chawla is a MD at AIS TechnolabsOpens in a new tab. which is a Web/App design and Development Company, helping global businesses to grow by Global Clients. He love to share his thoughts on Web & App Development, Clone App Development and Game Development.

Steve Todd

Steve Todd, founder of Open Sourced Workplace and is a recognized thought leader in workplace strategy and the future of work. With a passion for work from anywhere, Steve has successfully implemented transformative strategies that enhance productivity and employee satisfaction. Through Open Sourced Workplace, he fosters collaboration among HR, facilities management, technology, and real estate professionals, providing valuable insights and resources. As a speaker and contributor to various publications, Steve remains dedicated to staying at the forefront of workplace innovation, helping organizations thrive in today's dynamic work environment.

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