Your Own Real Estate website for less than RM600 (US$130)
In 2017 I created a Real Estate website, KLCCVirtualTours.com to market 360 virtual tours to real estate agents and FISBOs (For Sale By Owners). It was created on the WordPress platform, hosted locally on Exabytes and featured a special Wordpress plug in to allow users to search for 360 virtual tours of high end properties by name, PSF, and even using a map of KLCC. I paid extra for an email plug-in so clients could reach me on custom emails eg. Ray@KLCCVirtualTours.com.
All in all, my set up cost was about RM4000 including enterprise level hosting, two domain name registrations, and USD$200 for the WordPress plug-in developed specifically for displaying 360 3D tours by Matterport or similar platforms. But WordPress is actually optimized for bloggers. The learning curve is also steep. Even with the free Real Estate templates available, it took me a month to produce something that I could feel comfortable showing clients.
Fast forward to 2021, the technology has improved by leaps and bounds. Squarespace is another popular platform that offers even better ease of use, nice looking templates for Real Estate websites and more importantly, a cheaper entry to the world of personal websites.
This time, it took me half the time to produce a website. And my all in cost in 2021 for 360KiranaResidence.com is USD 130 or RM560. A lot lower than in 2017 without features I don't need to have, such as a search function.
You can now produce a website quickly and relatively cheaply for a neighborhood eg KLCC, Bangsar, Tanjung Tokong or even a specific property eg.Kirana Residence.
No need even for a laptop. I am creating this blog post on my midprice Android smartphone.
Although I did have some experience creating a previous website, I believe the latest edition of Squarespace.com does allow almost anyone without a background in website design to create a custom Real Estate website quickly if you follow my 4 easy steps.
1 Splash screen or landing page. This is the first page anyone sees when they key in your URL. Choose a nice background picture. Think of a slogan that describes your neighborhood or property. Eg Kirana Residence- Urban Sanctuary
From 360KiranaResidence.com
Navigation menu from 360KiranaResidence.com
2 Navigation Menu. Decide how many sections you need. My website has Amenities (facilities for residents), Rent & Buy (listings for sale and for rent), Agents, KLCC (the neighborhood) and Media (news about the property, developer's brochure, MC/JMB newsletters). Keep the navigation menu simple & uncluttered. Use a nice background photo.
3. Location map and address, and a montage of pictures of the property, neighborhood, amenities and major infrastructure such as nearby parks, MTR stations or shopping malls.
4 Identify your property's USPs and X Factor
Every property (project or neighborhood) has some good and bad points. Emphasize the positives eg sea front prime location, only 2m walk to a big park or greenery, “walkability” - how many MTR stations, malls, F&B establishments are within a radius of say 400 m. If there are negatives eg construction site next door, property has no view or overlooks an ugly view, briefly acknowledge that and suggest some way to mitigate the negatives.
Now identify the single most important USP that other properties around don't have. This is what I call The X Factor. For example, Kirana Residence has long wrap around balconies that hug the curved building facade. Besides keeping out rain, they act as tropical sun shades, making the interiors cooler.
Notes and disclaimer: In 2021, I see some developers are now offering Wordpress plugins for showing 360 virtual tours at a more affordable price point. WPVR price is as low as US$59 per year for a single site. But in 2017, the WP plug-in that I paid US$200 was a one time payment. If you needed technical support, an additional charge per annum was applied.
