Real estate websites

A real estate website has to compete with the big national portals — Zillow, Realtor.com, Trulia. You are not going to out-listing them. What you can do is out-relationship them: give buyers and sellers a reason to choose you specifically, and make it easy for them to connect with you.

This guide covers what a real estate website needs, the compliance rules that apply, and the features that generate real leads.

What real estate websites need to do

Buyers come to your website to search listings. Sellers come to find out if you are the right agent to trust with their biggest financial transaction. Your website has to serve both.

For buyers:

• Show current, accurate listings (IDX feed from your MLS)
• Make it easy to save favorites and schedule showings
• Demonstrate your knowledge of the local market

For sellers:

• Build confidence in your expertise and track record
• Make it easy to request a home valuation or listing consultation
• Show recent sales and testimonials from past clients

Typical website goals

Compliance & legal considerations

This is general information, not legal advice. Rules differ by state and by MLS, so confirm your own obligations with your broker or a real estate attorney.

Fair Housing Act

The Fair Housing Act (42 U.S.C. § 3601 and following) prohibits housing discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, familial status, and disability. Your website must comply.

The part that applies most directly to a website is the advertising provision, 42 U.S.C. § 3604(c). It makes it unlawful to "make, print, or publish, or cause to be made, printed, or published any notice, statement, or advertisement, with respect to the sale or rental of a dwelling that indicates any preference, limitation, or discrimination" on those grounds. Your listing pages, blog posts, and neighborhood guides are advertising.

In practice, this means:

• Do not describe neighborhoods using protected class language. You cannot describe an area as "great for families" in a way that implies families without children are not welcome, or describe a neighborhood's demographics.
• Equal treatment in listings. All listings must be presented consistently, regardless of the demographic character of the neighborhood.
• The fair housing poster. HUD's rules (24 CFR part 110) require brokers, agents, and others covered by the Act to display the fair housing poster — the one carrying the Equal Housing Opportunity legend — at their places of business, and in some cases at the dwelling itself. Failing to display it "shall be deemed prima facie evidence of a discriminatory housing practice." That rule is about your premises, not your website: it does not put the logo on your site. Showing the Equal Housing Opportunity logo or statement online is standard practice anyway, and your MLS, brokerage, or state may require it.
• Your state may add protected classes. Many states and localities add additional protected categories beyond the federal list.

IDX (Internet Data Exchange) and MLS access

IDX is the system that allows agents and brokers to display listings from their Multiple Listing Service (MLS) on their own website. To use IDX:

• You must be a member of the relevant MLS
• You must sign and comply with the MLS's IDX data agreement
• Listing data has to be refreshed as often as your MLS's IDX rules require
• Listing photos and descriptions stay under the listing broker's control, and IDX rules normally limit what you may change — check your own MLS's rules before editing anything
• Your IDX display has to carry the attribution and disclaimers your MLS specifies, which usually means naming the data source and when it was last updated

Each MLS has its own rules. We work with your IDX provider to ensure your setup is compliant with your specific MLS agreement.

License and broker disclosures

The rules for what a licensee has to disclose in advertising come from your state, not the federal government, and they cover websites. What has to appear, and where, varies from state to state — your state real estate commission publishes its own advertising rules, and that is the list to work from. A common approach is to put your licensed name, your title (Broker or Salesperson), your license number, and your brokerage name in the footer of every page. Check your state's rules, and your broker's policy, before launch.

"REALTOR®" is not a generic word for a real estate agent. NAR's Membership Marks Manual says the terms REALTOR®, REALTORS®, and REALTOR-ASSOCIATE®, and the REALTOR® logo, "are federally registered collective membership marks owned exclusively by the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® (NAR)" and that "these marks may only be used by members of NAR and the local Board."

Privacy and lead data

Leads captured through your website — home valuation requests, saved searches, showing requests — contain personal data. Your privacy policy must explain how you use this data. If you use a CRM to follow up with leads, that CRM's data handling becomes your responsibility too.

Recommended features

Tech & integrations we use

Common pitfalls

• Stale listing data. Nothing destroys trust faster than a listing shown as "Available" on your site that sold three months ago. Proper IDX integration updates automatically — we make sure it is set up correctly.
• Focusing on listings over the agent brand. Buyers and sellers can search Zillow for listings. They come to your site because they are evaluating you. Your bio, results, and personality are your differentiation.
• No lead capture on listing pages. Every listing page is an opportunity to capture a lead. A simple "Schedule a showing" or "Ask about this property" form converts visitors into conversations.
• Missing fair housing disclosures. Showing the Equal Housing Opportunity logo or statement online is standard practice, and your MLS, brokerage, or state may require it. We include it in every real estate build.
• Neighborhood guides that describe demographics. Well-intentioned guides can cross Fair Housing lines. We review all neighborhood content before launch.

Common questions

What is IDX and why do I need it?

IDX (Internet Data Exchange) is the technology that lets you display MLS listings on your own website. Without it, your website can only show your own active listings — which may be few or none. With IDX, visitors can search all available listings in your market from your website, giving them a reason to stay and a reason to contact you.

Can we show listings from a different state or region?

Only if you are a member of that region's MLS and have a signed IDX agreement with them. Being licensed in multiple states does not automatically give you IDX rights in each state. Each MLS has its own membership requirements.

How do property alerts work?

A property alert is an automated email sent to a buyer when a new listing matches their saved search criteria — location, price range, bedrooms, etc. This keeps buyers engaged with your site and gives you a regular touchpoint with leads. We build this into the IDX integration.

Can we display Zillow or Google reviews on our site?

Google reviews can be pulled onto your site through Google's Places API, either directly or with a plugin that uses it. Google's own policy says you "must retrieve and display attributions for place details, photos, and reviews obtained through the Places API, including author information and links where available," so the Google branding and the reviewer's name have to stay visible.

Zillow is different. Zillow's Terms of Use say you may not "reproduce, publicly display, or otherwise make accessible on or through any other website, application, or service any reviews, ratings, or profile information about real estate, lending, or other professionals ... except as explicitly permitted by us." So link to your Zillow profile rather than copying the reviews across, unless Zillow gives you a tool that explicitly allows it.

Do we need a separate website for each agent at our brokerage?

Usually not. A brokerage site with individual agent profile pages is easier to manage, better for the firm's brand, and more cost-effective. Individual agents can have their own domain that points to their profile on the main site. We set this up for brokerages of all sizes.

Related guides

• Local SEO basics
• Google Business Profile for SEO
• Data privacy basics for your business
• Landing page anatomy
• Why track your website?
• Writing service pages that convert
• Image basics for your website
• Working with contact forms

Learn more

• The Fair Housing Act — the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division's plain-language guide to what the Act covers
• The Code of Ethics — the National Association of REALTORS® Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice
• Report Housing Discrimination — how HUD takes fair housing complaints
• 24 CFR Part 110 — Fair Housing Poster — the rule that sets out the Equal Housing Opportunity legend and where the poster must be displayed