Leobit
REAL ESTATE SEARCH PORTAL
Dynamic real estate portal providing an excellent property search experience to US customers
ABOUT
the project
Client:
Location:
US
|TX
Company Size:
Industry:
Solution:
Services:
Our team helped the customer completely redesign a dynamic real estate search portal, upgrade its architecture, and expand its functionality with new features. The customer has been running their operations for more than 5 years and had issues matching the rapid development of proptech technologies. They decided to enhance their web presence and differentiate from other competitors by upgrading their web portal to the state of innovation. Driven by the desire to leverage the most advanced web development technologies and gain a competitive edge, the customer contacted Leobit. Our team redesigned the customer’s web portal to improve user experience and system performance, upgraded its architecture to harness the potential of AWS cloud technologies, and expanded the solution with new features and 3d party integrations tailored to the needs of its most demanding users.
Leobit delivers high-quality development work promptly and remains in close contact with the client at all times. The team demonstrates professionalism, adaptability, and responsiveness. We held discussions with several vendors and felt we had a special connection with Leobit. They did not let us down, assigning us developers with very good skills. Language and time zones were not an issue and we’ve communicated effectively.
CUSTOMER
The customer is a real estate agency based in the United States, specializing in properties in Austin and its surrounding suburbs. They harness a combination of advanced technology and skilled real estate agents to expertly assist buyers in their property search. The agency offers customers an exclusive photo catalog of properties, showcasing all the details buyers need to make informed decisions.
BUSINESS
CHALLENGE
The customer noticed a decrease in visitors' engagement, resulting from issues with the existing website functionality and user experience. They opted for a comprehensive website redesign that would not only ensure they meet industry standards but also keep them ahead of their competitors. Driven by the desire to transform the existing web portal into a user-centric online destination for property searches, the customer wanted to enhance the search engine and provide its users with personalized content. This real estate agency also wanted to improve the loading time and performance of their solution. Apart from boosting user experience, it would allow our customers to increase the transaction speed and improve their web portal's ranking. Finally, the customer wanted to configure AWS cloud services to improve the manageability and scalability of their web application.
Why
Leobit
We attracted the customer with our experience in providing web development services for the real estate industry. We’ve implemented multiple custom real estate software solutions integrated with CRMs, MLS platforms, and automated workflows. The customer was also drawn to our emphasis on creating a compelling visual presence and a user-centric design for their application.
Project
in detail
To ensure a well-structured and comprehensive approach, our team came up with a roadmap involving 4 crucial project stages.
ADVANCED PROPERTY SEARCH FUNCTIONALITY
Our team expanded the search functionality provided by WooCommerce. We configured basic search filters from WooCommerce, but many filters, such as the ones allowing one to search for a property by its size, location, price, condition, etc had to be built from scratch. To ensure advanced filtering functionality, we had to write lengthy fragments of custom code using JQuery and PHP.
One of the biggest challenges was integrating the list of properties with an interactive map. We used Google Maps API for this integration. Custom JQuery code displays properties' information on the map, while integration with custom WooCommerce endpoints allows users to use filters for searching for the properties on the map.
INTEGRATION WITH THE NATIONWIDE COLLECTION OF PROPERTY LISTS
To provide the users with the most relevant selection of properties, we integrated the solution with MLS (Multiple Listing Services), one of America's biggest collections of real estate listings.
This script includes several steps:
1.WP-Cron plugin retrieves data from MLS and triggers the mls_full_import_new_data event.
2.This event downloads data from MLS using MLS queries configured on WPL -> MLS Query.
3.Another event triggers the mls_transform_data_and_import_images event, which transforms all encoded data and saves it to the database.
4.Also, this event imports images from MLS and saves them to S3.
5.AWS Lambda processes and resizes images to maximize their quality and ensure they seamlessly align with the solution's UI/UX design.
MESSAGING AUTOMATION
The platform involves messaging functionality, allowing the users to connect with the customer's real estate agents. Our real estate development specialists boosted this functionality by integrating the solution with Zendesk. Such integration allows the customer to process every message with routing, history, and flags.
As a result, the customer can process and respond to any incoming message in the shortest time possible. We also integrated the solution with Amazon SES to ensure email automation, which is vital for customer interactions. Another feature worth mentioning in this real estate case study is the fact that our team enhanced the platform with a custom chatbot system to ensure that the customer's support team can handle buyer interactions 24/7.
FLEXIBILITY OF THE CLOUD
We helped the customer configure their cloud architecture to leverage all its benefits, such as scalability, cost-efficiency, manageability, and excellent productivity. Our team configured the fundamental database services, namely Amazon EC2 and MySQL RDS. To ensure efficient DNS routing, we integrated the app with Route 53.
We also configured Amazon S3 and AWS Lambda to store property images retrieved from MLS and resize them according to platform needs. With well-configured AWS technologies, the customer receives a future-state solution that fits the latest industry trends.
The Journey
Behind Our Success
years of continuous support
experienced specialists in the team
Technology Solutions
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Seamless integration with MLS property listings
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Advanced search functionality powered with custom filters and Google Maps integration
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3d party integrations with MLS platforms, Zendesk, Amazon SES, Google Maps and custom chatbot system for more efficient user interactions
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Custom scripts enhancing workload mobility and website performance
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Flexible AWS-based architecture prepared for forthcoming upgrades
Value
delivered
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Improved customer retention and satisfaction achieved through UI/UX redesign and code refactoring
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Application loading time has been reduced by at least half
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Decreased maintenance cost
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Future-state architecture design ready for long-term development in the cloud
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Personalized content and improved listing manageability boosting the efficiency of real estate agents