How much does a real estate website cost?

It depends on the scope — and that's fine, because you shouldn't pay for work you don't need. The honest spread:

• A simple agent site — your name, services, listings as photos, a contact form — runs about $2,000–$4,000 to build.
• An IDX-enabled site with live MLS listing search is more like $5,000–$12,000 to build.
• Ongoing work — either a retainer that starts at $49 a month, a bucket you spend on whatever needs doing, or one-off projects at a fixed fee.

The build is one-time. After that, you pay for the work you need, when you need it — not a flat "keep it healthy" fee that ignores everything else.

IDX stands for Internet Data Exchange — plain version: it's the feed that lets your site show your local Multiple Listing Service (MLS) listings with live search.

Wiring that in turns a brochure site into a tool buyers actually use, and it changes the price in two ways:

• The build — setting up the data feed, the search, and the listing pages is real work, so it pushes the build into the higher range.
• The upkeep — a feed that goes stale breaks the search and dries up leads, so IDX sites genuinely need the ongoing maintenance more than a simple site does.

If you only need your own listings and a way to be found, the simple site may be plenty. IDX earns its cost when you want buyers searching on your side, not someone else's.

A proper build is more than a pretty homepage. It covers the pages and features a buyer or seller actually uses:

• Core pages — home, listings, about, and the neighborhoods you serve.
• IDX listing search — if you want it, so buyers can look at current properties on your site.
• Lead capture forms — so the inquiries reach you instead of vanishing into a void.
• Mobile that works — most people start home shopping on a phone, so this isn't optional.
• Basic SEO — the titles, descriptions, and structure that help you show up when people in your area search.

Everything above should be part of the price, not a surprise add-on.

Because a website is a car, not a statue — it needs regular care to keep running. Maintenance is the oil change, not the engine rebuild.

It covers the boring stuff that matters when it goes wrong:

• IDX feed upkeep — if the feed breaks, your listings freeze and so do the leads.
• Security — the kind of upkeep that means you never wake up to a hacked homepage.
• Backups — so a mistake or an attack is an annoyance, not a lost site.
• Speed — buyers leave a slow page. Keep it fast and the forms get filled.

Skip it, and the "savings" get swallowed the first time something stops working — usually costing more than the upkeep ever would.

Honestly, yes — because a portal is a rental. Every buyer lead that comes through Zillow or a similar site is one you paid for, and you may never see that buyer again.

Your own website flips the relationship:

• You capture the lead and the relationship — they're on your site, reaching out to you directly, not to a portal you have to keep paying.
• You pay once for the build and a small amount to keep it running, instead of paying the portal over and over for the same business.
• It compounds — a site you own keeps working for you as your listings and your reputation grow.

That's where the real return is. Skimping on the site that holds your own leads is where the hidden cost lives.

We can build a real estate site scoped to your needs — a simple agent site, or one with IDX setup — not a $12,000 build if a $3,000 one is what you need, at a fixed, upfront price. After the build, ongoing help is a retainer starting at $49 a month, spent on whatever needs doing; a specific job can be a one-off with a fixed fee. You email us the tasks. We handle them. No jargon, no surprises.