No matter what happens, real estate will always be in demand. So whether you’re a blogger or an agency, getting into the real estate ind...
No matter what happens, real estate will always be in demand.
So whether you’re a blogger or an agency, getting into the real estate industry is a great way to establish yourself in an evergreen niche.
I talked about why in my earlier review of EstateEngine.
While researching about some of the best
real estate solutions (plugins & themes) for WordPress, I bumped
into another great resource for building a real estate business on
WordPress.
WPCasa is another incredible solution for creating real estate websites using WordPress.
Before featuring it on ShoutMeLoud, I
researched in-depth about WPCasa & I was surprised to learn how
popular it is. In the WordPress real estate niche, they are one of the
top guys & today you will be learning everything that WPCasa has to
offer.
But before we move ahead, I quickly want to show you this note from one of our readers who shared this with me after my last post on EstateEngine:
So now, let’s have a detailed look at WPCasa.
WPCasa: Real Estate WordPress Solution
Casa is a
popular Spanish word that means “home”. You must have heard this word
multiple times while watching English or Spanish movies.
Inspired by the Spanish word, WPCasa
(WordPress + home) is a real estate WordPress solution that provides an
intuitive way to manage property listings and create first-class real
estate websites. No coding required.
WPCasa
WPCasa offers a free custom engine for creating WordPress real estate websites. To build further on the free engine, they offer a range of beautiful themes focused entirely on real estate.
In this post, I’ll tell you a bit about the free WPCasa WordPress plugin and then will show you some of the amazing themes
you can purchase from WPCasa. When you combine WPCasa’s themes with
their free plugin, you get a powerful, fully-functioning real estate
website.
And if you’re a real estate website developer, you’ll love WPCasa’s Developer Package.
WPCasa WordPress Plugin: Easy Listings and SEO-optimized
To get started with WPCasa, you’ll need to install their free WordPress plugin. Once you activate it, you’ll see two new options in your WordPress admin sidebar:
- Listings: This is where you manage all the listings for your site. If you know a bit about WordPress, you’ll recognize that this is a custom post type.
- WPCasa: This is where you manage all the plugin’s settings. You can also install add-ons and purchase themes through this interface.
I’ll show you the settings under “WPCasa” first and then demonstrate how easy it is to create a new listing.
All the basic settings are contained in the “Settings” menu under “WPCasa”:
There’s nothing too major that needs
configuring. Most of your options deal with how the content is
displayed. But there are a few settings you definitely want to look at:
- Listings Page: This is the actual WordPress page where you want your search results to appear.
- Currency: You’ll want to make sure you choose the proper currency for your market.
- Listing Features: Checking this box will open a new set of options which allow you to configure the default features included in a listing.
- Rental Periods: Checking this box will open a new set of options which allow you to configure what rental periods are available for properties.
Once you go through all the settings, you’re all set to add your first property listing!
Adding Property Listings to WPCasa
To add a new property, you just need to click on “Listings” → “Add New” in your WordPress dashboard.
You’ll see the normal WordPress Editor, but with several new input boxes:
You’ll need to pick a location,
features, and categories for your listing. Then, you’ll also need to
fill in the information like price, bedrooms, size, etc.
You can always add new locations by going to “Listings” → “Locations”:
Locations are all the specific areas where you’ll be listing properties.
One nice feature is that you can enter a custom slug for each location. This allows you to implement an effective on-page SEO strategy and maximize your longtail traffic.
You can add new features by going to “Listings” → “Features”:
Features are special details about the property that can be answered with either a yes or no. Some examples of features would be “swimming pool” or “balcony”.
Finally, you can add new categories by going to “Listings” → “Categories”:
You can use categories to internally
organize your properties. Or, you can create external categories like
“special offers” for visitors to browse.
WPCasa Themes: Beautiful and Functional
Where WPCasa really shines is the themes you can purchase to go along with the system. They turn your real estate site into a beautiful end-product with user-friendly search features.
For example, here’s a preview of WPCasa’s Oslo theme:
Oslo features your property pictures front-and-center, so visitors can instantly see how a property looks.
The theme also has a detailed search function:
This search functionality is incredibly important for your real estate website. Your visitors need to be able to search for the exact properties they want – location, size, and features are all essential details to a property buyer.
Another excellent option is the WPCasa Madrid theme. This theme opts to showcase a clickable map at the top, rather than property pictures.
Buyers can easily see all the properties laid out by location:
Of course, this theme also includes advanced search functionality:
In addition to these two themes, WPCasa also sells seven other themes of similar quality. All their themes are well-designed, SEO-optimized, and structured to make it easy for shoppers to find exactly what they want:
If you’re a real estate website
developer, you can purchase a package with access to all their themes.
This allows you to create the perfect site for each individual client.
WPCasa Add-Ons: Get Even More Functionality
The basic WPCasa plugin I highlighted above is 100% free. But, if you want to extend the engine with even more features, you can install some free and/or premium add-ons.
Here are some of the best extensions that you’ll want to consider:
- Featured Listings (premium) – lets you highlight specific listings to draw attention to them.
- Favorites (premium) – lets users save their favorite listings.
- Expire Listings (premium) – lets you disable listings after a certain period of time. This is a great add-on if you want to sell paid listings.
- Listings Map (free) – shows all your listings on Google Maps.
There is a total of 19 add-ons, so you’ll definitely want to give them all a look.
WPCasa Pricing: Good value for your money. Especially for developers…
WPCasa’s themes are affordably priced for their quality.
Standalone themes cost just €49.
You can also opt to purchase a bundle which includes the theme + add-ons for €69.
While I think the individual themes are well-priced, here’s where WPCasa’s pricing is really strong:
- The Developer package.
If you’re a developer working on a lot of real estate websites, you can get amazing value from WPCasa.
The developer package only costs €199 for one year of access.
With that, you get access to all themes and add-ons.
You can use the themes on an unlimited number of websites, though only 20 websites will be eligible for free updates.
You’ll also get editable PSD files and one year of premium support.
My Final Thoughts: Great For Real Estate Companies
I think WPCasa is the best solution for real estate companies
or developers looking to create a property listing site. The basic
engine is free and the themes and add-ons are affordably priced.
There’s one area where I think WPCasa is inferior to EstateEngine – there’s no built-in monetization support.
So, if you’re looking to create a property listing site that allows third-parties to pay for property listings, I think you should consider EstateEngine instead.
Otherwise, WPCasa is an amazing solution for real estate websites.
What are your thoughts on WPCasa? Let me know in the comments below!
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