Real Estate Software Features Overview
Real estate websites designed and developed by Union Street Media have a wide range of software features that integrate with your MLS, help your customers find what they're looking for, help you promote and market your listings and more.
real estate search tools with integrated mls
Your real estate website is updated them automatically through an MLS Data-Feed (IDX) every day. This means your site has the most up to date property and real estate information. Union Street Media offers this service for the following MLS boards:
Read what "integrated IDX" is and why it's important
one-click real estate search
With One-Click Real Estate Search, you create pre-set searches that are popular (for example: "Waterfront Homes under $1 million"). Searches can be easily created, categorized, and managed in our web-based administration system. Creating popular searches helps leverage your knowledge of the local market, creates a unique user experience for on your site, and increases the utility of your site for buyers. For more specific information about how One-Click Real Estate search works for some of our clients, see the Union Street Media Internet Marketing for Real Estate Blog.
mobile-friendly sites
Your real estate web site can now be viewed on an iPhone, Blackberry and other mobile devices with web browsing capability. Buyers who visit your site from a mobile phone will see an option to "view mobile site" as one of the first links. Once they click that link, the mobile version of your web site will load anytime they type in your web site address from that mobile phone. The result? Fast, seamless property searches and access to your site content.
quick search for real estate widget
Your real estate web design will incorporate a widget that allows your site visitors to quickly search for property using common search criteria.
advanced real estate search
For real estate website visitors who are very specific about their needs, your site will include an advanced search form to let them search on a wide variety of search criteria.
google maps for real estate
Google Mapping shows all search results on a Google map to give buyers a visual sense of the location of listings in their property search results. The Google map displays on the real estate search results and on the detail view page of each property listing.
tools to help your real estate customers
Your real estate website will include a variety of tools to make finding property easier and more efficient for your site visitors.
save favorite real estate listings
Allow registered visitors to save particular listings to a favorites account. Listings stay in the account as long as they are active in the MLS. In creating a favorites account, buyers give their email address, converting a casual web surfer into a qualified lead. In the "back-end" administration system, you can see all users' favorites lists, and search by MLS number to see what users have a particular listing in their favorites lists.
automatic email updates for real estate search
Your real estate website visitors are in a hurry and want to get the freshest information as soon as possible. Registered visitors who save their property searches and choose the agent that they are working with (if applicable) can have have any new properties or changes emailed to them once per day.
The email in the customer's inbox looks similar to your website and each listing in the email links directly to the listing page on your website. Each email sent is copied to the office or chosen agent. Visitors can cancel their emails anytime and can also log into their own page on your web site to view searches, edit their searches, and change preferences.
send a real estate listing to a friend
Your site visitors can market your site for you by using the Send Real Estate Listing to a Friend widget! The "Send this listing to a Friend" widget allows site visitors to send a listing to a friend. The email that arrives to the friend looks like your web site and provides a photo of the listing that links to the listing detail page on your web site.
real estate blog
Real Estate Blogs have become increasingly popular with many REALTORs for a number of reasons. A blog can:
- Give you and your office the ability to communicate with a number of customers for a fraction of the cost of print or mail
- Provide your visitors with timely information about your market
- Help improve search engine pick up
- Make the site "stickier" once the visitor finds the site
- Help you establish trust and expertise in your market area
Union Street Media can set up a blog powered by easy-to-post blogging software on your own domain and designed to look the same as your real estate website.
marketing tools for your real estate listings
Visitors to your site will search the MLS and your listings, which update daily. Listings appear on unique pages with clear action buttons enabling buyers to perform tasks such as:
- Save a property search to be notified daily of new listings and price changes (see upgrade below).
- Save a listing to a favorites list (see upgrade below).
- Email a listing to a friend or family member (see upgrade below).
- View an online video or virtual tour (created by a third party developer).
- Calculate estimated mortgage payments.
- Request an appointment to view a property
built-In real estate seo features
Your real estate website by Union Street Media is search engine friendly. From dynamic page titling on every real estate listing to customizable title, web address and meta information, you can use your site as an active part of your search engine optimization activities. And if you need help establishing and achieving your search engine optimization goals, our Real Estate Internet Marketing Team is available to help.
enhance your real estate listings
You can create additional content about your own real estate listings on your website. This helps to establish unique credibility for your site for search engines as well as provide a richer experience for your site visitors. Enter in text, links to additional photos, video, virtual tours or any other content that will help your real estate listing stand out from the crowd.
featured real estate listings widget
The Featured Property Widget allows you to feature properties on your homepage to maximize exposure for your real estate listings.
syndicate your real estate listings
Imagine being in a listing presentation and telling a prospective seller that you will literally put their home on Google. Just as we place your listings from the MLS on your site, we can now place that same listing information directly on Google for you.
built-In google analytics
Every real estate website built by Union Street Media comes with Google Analytics installed. This allows you unprecedented access to understanding your site visitors, effectiveness of your marketing efforts and performance of your website. If you need help translating all those charts and graphs into actionable marketing insights, Union Street Media can help you develop and execute a data-driven real estate marketing plan.
real estate office software
Real estate websites for an entire office or brokerage can make use of time-saving and client-helping features.
real estate agent and office manager
All personal information about agents and office contact information is managed through the Agent & Office Manager (required for offices). Changing contact information for an agent or office in the Manager automatically updates the contact information in all content areas of the site. The Manager also:
- Disseminates agent information to the "About Us" page (or similar section), where each agent gets an individual page with a photo, bio, contact form, and link to his/her listings.
- Pulls in agent information everywhere that agent's listings appear on the site, including in "Our Listings" and in all MLS Searches.
- Allows buyers to choose their agent when signing up for Automatic Email Updates. Thereafter, the chosen agent is cc'd on all automatic emails sent to that buyer. Also, if the buyer clicks 'reply' to the email, it arrives directly in the listing agent's mailbox.
real estate lead management
USM's Lead Management Center leverages the data collected from buyers on your web site to create bulk email lists of interested buyers. In the leads management center you can:
- Search the "Saved Favorites" lists by MLS number to generate a list of users who have flagged a listing as a "favorite." The search generates a list of buyers to whom you can send a bulk email. If, for example, a particular listing has an open house, you can search for that listing in the database and email interested buyers of the upcoming open house in just a few clicks.
- Search the Saved Searches by MLS number to see what buyers have saved searches that would include that MLS listing in their results. A spam-filter friendly bulk email can be sent to the resulting user list to inform them of an Open House or other valuable information about the property.
real estate agent-branded office websites
Every real estate agent in your office can have a website with all the features of your full site. When someone comes to work at your office you can give them a phone, a desk, business cards and a website.
additional tools for your real estate website
There are a lot of other features you'll want in your real estate website. Chances are good we've got them. Here are a couple that our clients use and enjoy.
wysiwyg Editor
The What You See is What You Get (WYSIWYG) Web Site Editor empowers you to update and control the content of most pages of your web site. WYSIWYG makes updating easy by giving you a "back-end" administration system that resembles the layout of your web site. Because this is a web-based tool, there's no software to install or maintain.
In the WYSIWYG Editor, you can enter and update content, title tags, meta keywords, meta title, meta descriptions for every page-all very important for search engine prominence.
mortgage calculator
Mortgage Calculators allow buyers to enter in their desired down payment, interest rate, number of years of payment, etc, to help determine the affordability of listings on the site.
