Why Real Estate Brokerages and Agents Should Move to Specialized Real Estate Website Builders

In today’s competitive real estate market, having a well-designed, functional website is essential. It’s often the first point of contact for potential buyers, sellers, and investors, setting the tone for how your brokerage or agency is perceived. However, not all websites are created equal, and many real estate professionals are finding that the standard solutions—like WordPress sites or custom builds from agencies—are not keeping pace with their needs. The real estate industry demands tools that are flexible, efficient, and, most importantly, dynamic enough to handle constant updates. This is where platforms like Brevitas, often referred to as the "Shopify for real estate," come into play.

Here, we’ll explore why brokerages and agents should consider switching to a specialized real estate website builder like Brevitas, and why traditional options like WordPress or hiring an agency for a custom website may not be the best long-term solution.

1. Real Estate Listings Demand a Dynamic Website, Not a Static One

A typical real estate website will list properties, which need to be regularly updated—prices change, listings go off the market, and new properties need to be added. With traditional website builders like WordPress or agency-built custom sites, updating your listings manually can be a slow, cumbersome process. Real estate websites need to be more than a static page; they need to be dynamic and responsive to constant changes.

For agents, it’s essential to have the ability to quickly add, modify, and remove listings as needed. Platforms like Brevitas allow you to dynamically integrate real estate listings so that updates can be made in real time without needing advanced coding skills. It automates much of the tedious work, allowing brokers and agents to focus on deals, not data entry. This type of functionality is built into the platform itself, meaning no additional plugins or third-party tools are required.

2. Managing Properties Should Be as Easy as Managing an Online Store

Consider this: Shopify revolutionized e-commerce by giving users a streamlined, all-in-one platform to easily manage an online store. Brevitas offers the same convenience but tailored specifically for real estate professionals.

When using a generic platform like WordPress, managing listings becomes complex and disjointed. Agents need to manually input details for each property, and often, plugins or custom development are required to make listings presentable or searchable, increasing the complexity of the system. With Brevitas, property details, photos, maps, and even financial information can be pulled dynamically into your site from your listings on the platform, without needing to use multiple tools.

Moreover, Brevitas offers seamless integration between listing management and other marketing tools, such as email campaigns and landing pages, eliminating the need for agents to jump between systems. In contrast, a traditional site often requires a separate CRM, email tool, and marketing management system to accomplish the same result.

3. The Long-Term Costs of Custom-Built Sites Add Up

At first glance, hiring an agency to build a custom real estate website may seem appealing. You get exactly what you want, and the website looks great. However, as any agent or broker who has gone this route will tell you, the ongoing costs can be staggering. Custom-built sites often require significant upkeep—every time you need a change made, whether it’s a new property listing layout or a change in search functionality, you may need to hire a developer. Additionally, custom websites may lack scalability, requiring frequent reconfigurations to meet the growing demands of a brokerage or agency.

On the other hand, specialized real estate platforms like Brevitas offer the flexibility and scalability needed to keep up with business growth without needing to constantly pour money into updates and redesigns. Brevitas handles the technical aspects of web design and development, and with its customizable templates, any agent can update their website quickly—no need for expensive, ongoing developer involvement.

4. SEO and Real Estate Are a Match Made in Heaven—If You Have the Right Tools

Search engine optimization (SEO) is critical for generating organic traffic to your real estate website. However, getting your site to rank on Google is an ongoing process, and using a platform like WordPress or a custom site often requires additional tools and plugins to optimize content for search engines.

Brevitas, being designed for real estate, already understands the intricacies of SEO within the industry. Its platform is built to prioritize your listings, making it easier for you to rank for keywords specific to real estate—like property types, neighborhoods, and investment opportunities—without needing additional SEO expertise. Its integration with landing pages, listing pages, and blog tools allows you to control every aspect of your real estate marketing strategy under one roof, ensuring all of your content is optimized for maximum visibility.

5. Faster Time-to-Market: Speed Matters in Real Estate

In real estate, timing is everything. Getting a new property listing up quickly is crucial to capitalizing on market demand. Traditional website solutions are slow; between setting up templates, ensuring listing functionality works, and integrating marketing tools, a new property listing can take too long to get posted. When using a platform like Brevitas, speed becomes your competitive advantage.

With real estate-specific templates and built-in tools, Brevitas allows agents and brokerages to quickly upload property details, choose pre-built templates, and instantly generate high-quality landing pages or emails with just a few clicks. This reduces time spent on getting new listings up and allows agents to focus on selling rather than managing web content. Plus, everything from property details to images and contact forms is integrated, so there’s no disconnect between your website and the back-end listing management.

6. End-to-End Deal Management Is Built-In

Another key advantage of using a specialized real estate website builder like Brevitas is the seamless integration of deal management tools. Unlike a WordPress site, where agents would need to install additional plugins or manage multiple tools to track inquiries, share documents, and finalize deals, Brevitas consolidates everything into one platform.

The built-in Dealroom feature allows agents and brokers to communicate with potential buyers, share property information, and exchange documents all in one secure environment. This simplifies deal management, improving both speed and transparency for both parties. Furthermore, because Brevitas tracks all actions taken within the Dealroom, it provides better insights into the transaction process, allowing agents to make informed decisions in real-time.

7. Mobile-Ready, Out of the Box

With more and more buyers and investors browsing properties on their mobile devices, having a website that works seamlessly across all devices is essential. While many custom-built sites or WordPress templates claim to be mobile-friendly, the reality is that it often requires additional customization to ensure a great user experience on mobile.

Brevitas solves this problem by offering fully responsive, mobile-ready templates from the start. Agents don’t need to worry about how listings or landing pages will look on mobile versus desktop; everything is optimized for cross-device compatibility automatically, so your clients always have a smooth, professional experience, no matter how they’re viewing your site.

Conclusion: Specialized Solutions for Real Estate Are the Future

The real estate industry has its own unique set of challenges, and your website should be equipped to handle them. While platforms like WordPress or custom-built websites may have served agents in the past, they simply cannot keep up with the evolving demands of today’s fast-paced market. Managing listings, creating marketing campaigns, and closing deals all require a platform that is not only dynamic but also intuitive and flexible enough to grow with your business.

Brevitas, with its real estate-specific website builder, offers the tools you need to take control of your online presence—automating processes, integrating marketing, and streamlining deal management. By choosing a platform designed specifically for real estate, brokers and agents can focus on what matters most: closing deals and growing their business.