Choosing The Core Plugin for WordPress Real Estate Website (FREE and paid)

What makes a good real estate website, and what are the essentials for it? What should the developers find out about the real estate business before building a site? What Elementor plugins are the most helpful? Let’s figure things out.

What is MLS?

This section is for developers who are complete newbies in the world of the real estate business. 😁

Actually, the idea of MLS is like 120 years old. In the late 19 century, real estate agents were meeting to share information about the properties for sale. This networking tradition has transformed into an MLS concept and looks like brochures or website catalogs of properties.

MLS stands for Multiple Listing Service, and it is a database created by real estate brokers who cooperate to represent data on properties for sale. Real estate brokers consolidate their properties’ data in a single database available to each client. The basic idea is that while clients get various choices, real estate agents and brokers share the profit between themselves if a trade occurs.

An MLS concept excludes any governing MLS body. Real estate brokers usually just conveniently cooperate in their local areas to build their regional MLS.

So, what allows members of MLS to integrate real estate listings to their websites? IDX!

What is IDX?

IDX stands for Internet Data Exchange and it’s a set of policies and software that allows displaying real estate listings on websites.

IDX sets a data connection between the website and the MLS, imports, and displays listings on the required website. Pros are obvious:

• the clients receive the information on new properties always on time since IDX updates listings every couple of hours
• agents and brokers assemble all appropriate listings on their websites to ensure they have enough options to offer to prospective buyers

Over the years, IDX has been governed by a large number of regulations, most of which were set by the National Association of Realtors (NAR). But the main thing you really have to do is to consult your MLS to understand their specific policies (which vary by MLS) regarding the use of their data on your real estate website through IDX. Problems can arise if you break the particular community’s rules, but you won’t do that, right? ;)

What Real Estate Plugins Do

A real estate website is quite complicated for developing. You need to think over everything and implement a lot of complex functionality:

1. MLS search
2. Front-end properties’ listings with images, precise filtering, wishlist, and much more
3. Map-based listings
4. Contact form
5. Different user roles and so much more

Once upon a time, only experienced developers could cope with such tasks, but now we have WordPress and plugins that make our life much easier.

❗️WP plugins are the software apps that are installed and run on top of the WordPress regular capability.

In this article, we will discuss plugins that will help to implement real estate functionality, but I also want to remind you about the security and SEO plugins! I don’t recommend creating any website without them. I talked about each in more detail in this article, so now just a shortlist:

• All In One WP Security & Firewall — a free plugin that protects passwords and other personal users’ information
• Akismet Anti-Spam — checks comments and contact forms for spam and filters them out
• Yoast SEO — best plugin for SEO optimization

Now let’s move on to the list of plugins that I think are the best for creating real estate sites! All compatible with Elemenor as usual.

By the way, I want to draw your attention to the fact that I give a list of the most important functions of each plugin, and you will see the complete list by going to the plugin page.

Elementor-Friendly Real Estate Plugins

Showcase IDX

💵Price: from $59.95/mo

Showcase IDX is probably the most well-known real estate plugin that allows you to integrate IDX into your website. Their IDX features come with forced registration and other tools to engage consumers; lead routing; map search; etc.

Showcase IDX plugin features:

• Modern user-friendly search options
• Fully integrated map search
• Leads management tools
• SEO optimization
• Widgets and shortcodes included

Pros:

• Well-considered listings styling
• SEO optimization does show a significant result in website promotion
• It’s really simple and easy to use even for the beginner
• Provides free 10-day trial

Cons:

• Sometimes it takes days for support service to reply

❗️There are some peculiarities of installing this plugin when using Elementor. Learn how to install Showcase IDX plugin on WordPress in this tutorial.

💸 BUY NOW

Easy Property Listings

💵Price: from $97/year

Easy Property Listings is a plugin which name speaks for itself — it helps you to display the listings on the website. Basic features are available for free but the paid version is worth it.

Easy Property Listings plugin features:

• Dozens listings templates
• 100s of free themes included
• Pre-configured 150+ custom fields, 7 post
• Calendar and booking appointment option
• Built-in WordPress real estate CRM
• Advanced reporting options
• API documentation
• Available in 10 languages and 26 currencies

Pros:

• Very intuitive and easy to use, no coding required
• On the other hand, it offers advanced features for devs and supports extending add-ons
• Works perfectly with all themes and most page builders, including Elementor
• Very flexible customization options
• Helpful and quick support service

Cons:

• No opportunity to buy a monthly subscription
• Some options that are usually free come here within paid version only

💸 BUY NOW

Estatik Real Estate Plugin

💵Price: Freemium | from $89/year

If type “real estate” in the WordPress.com search bar, Estatik will appear #1 even though it doesn’t have the most downloads. And in my mind, it’s really the top option that does provide awesome tools and vast opportunities for Real Estate websites. It comes within a freemium model and even free features are quite impressive.

Estatik plugin features:

• Provides an opportunity to create unlimited custom fields of ANY type
• Filtering by price, date, popularity
• Saved searches & wishlists
• 50+ shortcodes
• Property labels, types, statuses, categories, features, amenities all customizable
• Unlimited currencies
• Map view listings
• CSV import

Pros:

• Its dashboard for managing listings is very intuitive and simple
• It’s truly an all-in-one tool that covers the needs of any real estate site

Cons:

• I found many reviews that support is quite slow

🤩 LIVE PREVIEW

💸 BUY NOW

PropertyHive

💵Price: FREE | Add-ons from £14.99

PropertyHive is a plugin that takes control over the property and contact management. It helps you to list the properties on the website, store data, and automatically send emails to the users. The rest real estate features are available as well but via paid extensions only.

PropertyHive plugin features:

• Different layouts for displaying properties
• Properties management
• An agency-like option that helps you to track everything from applicants to sales
• Bookings management; integration with major property portals; real-time data feeds with the likes of Zoopla, and On the Market, etc. are available via paid add-ons

Pros:

• Compatible with any theme
• Developed especially for the UK market (which is a great advantage for UK real estate professionals)
• Great support

Cons:

• Add-ons are quite expensive
• The fact it was developed especially for the UK means it’s not the best option for those living outside the UK :)

Real Estate Right Now

💵Price: FREE

Real Estate Right Now is an Elementor real estate plugin developed especially for the UK market. Its main advantage is that it is free but still copes with its task perfectly.

Real Estate Right Now plugin features:

• It helps to customize the Search Bar
• Slider Price Range
• Unlimited management, search and filter the custom fields for any agency
• Currency management
• Google Maps integration

Pros:

• Multilingual support service

Cons:

• It was hard to find significant disadvantages. This plugin simply does its job

🤩 LIVE PREVIEW

Essential Real Estate

💵Price: FREE

Essential Real Estate is a free plugin that provides an overwhelming amount of features like membership packages, global payments, and more.

Essential Real Estate plugin features:

• Pre-configured real estate pages like Listing Properties, Search Page, Agency, and more
• Back-End and Front-End submit property management
• Manage property listings management
• Ability to add custom fields for property
• Membership Packages
• Integrated Captcha
• Paid Submission Type: Free, Pay per Package, Pay per Listing
• Payment Method: Paypal, Stripe, Wire Transfer
• Advanced search
• Option for comparing properties
• Places Nearby functionality
• Map Search

Pros:

• It’s free! And add-ons are free as well
• Fully responsive
• Built-in option to manage properties from both front-end and back-end
• Compatible with Visual Composer and WPML plugin

Cons:

• It’s too complicated to cope with for non-developers

Real Estate Pro

💵Price: from $39

Real Estate Pro is a beautifully designed plugin, very intuitive and coded in advance which makes it a superb choice for newbie developers as well as everyone simply in love with neat website styling. I like the subtleties provided by this plugin, like VIP badges and more but it also comes with one heavy con you’ll find out later.

Essential Real Estate plugin features:

• AJAX filtering
• Contact Form
• VIP badge
• Integrated payment methods: PayPal, Stripe, WooCommerce
• User Profile
• Front-end submission and dashboard
• Integrated MailChimp

Pros:

• Contains email templates
• SEO optimized
• Supports 13 languages
• Provides reports in different formats

Cons:

• It doesn’t support MLS

🤩 LIVE PREVIEW

💸 BUY NOW

WP Amortization Calculator

The WP Amortization Calculator is a nicely-designed plugin for calculating Mortgages. It can be used as a widget or added to a page.

The WP Amortization Calculator plugin features:

• Compatible with Elementor, WPML, Visual Composer, and any themes
• Many customization options
• Can be used for any amortized loan and de-select mortgage-related results

Pros:

• A simple plugin that just does its job

Cons:

• No option for adding dynamic fields

🤩 LIVE PREVIEW

JetEngine

💵Price: from $26

JetEngine is a dynamic content plugin for building complex websites of any kind. Although it’s not designed especially for the real estate niche, it provides above and beyond features for creating such a site.

I found this awesome video by LivingWithPixels that explains step-by-step how to create a real estate listing website with JetEngine:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_pFelchBHc

JetEngine plugin features:

• Unlimited options for adding and editing the dynamic content
• Allows you to customize taxonomies, and add new layouts to custom post types and terms
• Allows to display services, properties, create portfolio layouts
• Provides Maps Listings
• Wishlist functionality
• QR codes module

Pros:

• Requires NO skills in PHP and CSS
• There’re lots of videos on YouTube on how to work with this plugin efficiently
• It really costs very little in relation to the huge functionality that it provides

Cons:

• It’s not designed especially for the real estate niche
• Can be a little overwhelming for newbies

💸 BUY NOW

IMPress Listings

💵Price: FREE

IMPress Listings is a plugin that provides a complete listing management system with an MLS integration, and listings’ status tags for convenient search. It’s completely free but you can buy additional templates for a little price.

IMPress Listings plugin features:

• Integrates MLS via the free IMPress for IDX Broker plugin
• Listings management and manual input
• Integrated maps
• Allows to create taxonomies to classify listings in your own way

Pros:

• User-friendly dashboard
• Properties customization options
• A great choice for beginner devs

Cons:

• Features are limited compared to the res plugins on the list
• There are complaints about the work of the support service

🤩 LIVE PREVIEW

Realtyna Organic IDX plugin + WPL Real Estate

💵Price: $199

Realtyna Organic IDX plugin + WPL Real Estate is an impressive plugin for real estate agents and agencies.

Realtyna Organic IDX plugin + WPL Real Estate plugin features:

• Listing management system
• Advanced filtering and search
• Facebook and Twitter meta tags
• Property comparison
• Real estate CRM plugin functionality

Pros:

• It integrates with local marketplaces
• Easy and intuitive

Cons:

• It’s not compatible with all themes
• It’s quite expensive
• Hard to customize

🤩 LIVE PREVIEW

💸 BUY NOW

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