How much should a real estate website cost?

You could ask this question to multiple web developers and receive many different answers. The truth is, there isn’t an exact answer and depending on your requirements and the company you’re speaking to will affect the real estate website cost.

I think it is important to understand what the different website delivery options are and price ranges around these. This way when you’re having conversations with a web development company you can understand where the solution they’re offering sits and what ball park price ranges are.

Real estate industry website solutions can be classified into 3 segments; Template websites, Hybrid websites and Custom websites.

Template Websites

This is when you pay for a web development company to setup an off-the-shelf website for your company. They re brand the website with your branding, logo and colours and add a certain amount of content to the website for you. Usually the website has limitations around what you can do with it and the biggest issue is you don’t own the website so you’re leasing the website from the company. Once you stop paying your monthly ongoing fees, your website will go off-line.

Limitations & Restrictions

• You don’t own the website you are leasing it
• Limited website adjustments
• Limited number of pages
• Locked into using that company to maintain and evolve your website
• Usually design and innovation is limited with template websites

Price Range: $700 to $2,500

Hybrid Websites

This is when you purchase an off-the-shelf website for your company from a real estate web development company. 

They rebrand the website with your branding, logo, colours and font and add a certain amount of content to the website for you. These websites usually have the ability for an unlimited amount of content to be added and they are also usually built from an open-source coding framework so there is a large network of other web developers who can maintain and work on your website. One of the advantages is that you can usually pay the web developer to adjust the hybrid website however you like, meaning you can continually evolve your hybrid website as your business changes.

Another important advantage of a Hybrid website is that you own the website and you’re not leasing it. This is important as it means you’ll be making a proper investment in your new real estate website which you control. You can host the website where you like and choose whichever web developer you prefer to maintain and evolve your website solution

Limitations & Restrictions

• You are limited to the layout of the Hybrid website

Price Range: $2,900 to $4,900

Custom Websites

This is when you pay a web developer to build a website that is unique and has been designed via a graphic designer. The web developer may work with a graphic designer for all the page designs for the website or you could provide this to the web developer from a graphic designer of your choosing and the then the website is coded out from there. The major advantage of a custom website is that the website is designed exactly as per your requirements and there are no limitations around layout, design or functionality. In most instances you will own your website and it will be built from an open source technology.

Limitations & Restrictions

• It takes a lot more time to deliver a custom website

Price Range: $10,000 to $18,000

Pricing is usually based on the number of unique page templates the web developer is required to build and also whether the web developer is completing the graphic design for the website.