few questions?

J2569 · #1 (**permalink**) 10-16-2009, 11:00 AM

Hello everyone. I am wanting to build a website like "Century 21" except that it is for property that's For Sale By Owner in my local area. I am only targeting about 15 counties in my state. I want to be able to have people email me their pictures and descriptions of the property and I will list it in the appropriate county on my site. I also want to make a form on the site that they can fill out to show number of bedrooms, baths, sq. ft, etc. I also would like to have a paypal link available. Is this something that SBI would be able to handle or do I need to look elsewhere? I talked to a local website builder and they told me it would be too expensive to build a site like this. Just looking for a second opinion since I know nothing about website design. I have most of the design (ideas) made up already on my computer, just not on a webpage. Any and all feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

lisa · #2 (**permalink**) 10-16-2009, 11:22 AM

If I am understanding what you are trying to do then yes, you can do this with SBI. It will require a lot of manual work because you will have to add the description and properties youself, but it is doable.

I'm not sure why your local website builder told you it would be expensive. Unless I am misunderstanding what you want to do then this should be pretty simple using any kind of web host, not just SBI.

Now if you want to automate portions of this website with scripts, then SBI would not the best choice. But if you just want to do all this manually then yes SBI will be fine.

J2569 · #3 (**permalink**) 10-16-2009, 11:32 AM

Yes I was going to do it all manually unless it just grows out of control. I used a program called snagit and made me several pages as a guide to show the local website builder and they told me it would cost thousands to build a site like that. I don't really want to post the pictures I have on here but it is basically a listing page of small pictures of houses on a page. Then you can click on each house and it takes you to a detailed page of the particular house you clicked on. Did that make since to you? If you don't understand what I'm trying to explain then you can message me and I can show you a few pictures.

Donk · #4 (**permalink**) 10-16-2009, 12:52 PM

Hi and welcome to the forum.

Free scripts for real estate websites are available for download at sourceforge . There are also scripts ( Noah's classified and Open Realty ) which may be suitable that are available as a "one-click" installs on most cpanel based website hosting.

I have not used any of these scripts personally so you would have to install them on a server to assess their viability.

Regards

Bob

lisa · #5 (**permalink**) 10-16-2009, 02:08 PM

Depending on how many pictures you are going to have, it may be worth looking into some kind of script like Donk is referencing above to cut down on the manual work. However, if you use a script it may not be compatible with SBI. It will be depend on the script.

J2569 · #6 (**permalink**) 10-16-2009, 02:23 PM

Thanks for the feedback. I have looked at a few of the scripts on sourceforge but I am getting more confused by the minute! I downloaded Open Realty but I can't even figure out what to do with it. Do I have to have SBI before something like Open Realty will install? Sorry but I know NOTHING about website design. I'm just trying to figure out where to get started. I don't want to buy something that will not do what I want it to do but since I don't know what I'm doing I'm chasing my tail.

lisa · #7 (**permalink**) 10-17-2009, 12:07 AM

I don't know anything about this script but in my opinion, if you need a script, it's best to NOT use SBI! and use a regular web host. You will have much more flexibility. Yes, SBI! supports javascript and many other basic web design languages/scripts but if you think a script will make things easier or you are looking for a more automated solution for your site, it's best to stick with a regular host. Many scripts are now written with PHP and SBI! does not support that at this time.

However, if you plan to do all this manually and you think it's important to get the SBI! education then you may still want to go with SBI!, just understanding you will have to manually upload your pictures, etc. It really depends on how much work will be involved with what you want to accomplish.

I know all this can be overwhelming in the beginning, but perhaps the first thing you should decide on is how much of this process do you want to automate? Also, are you planning on working with a large amount of data? If so, then you may want to think of going with a script and consider a basic web host.

Donk · #8 (**permalink**) 10-17-2009, 01:12 AM

Hi

To run scripts you need to use a web-server.

Most web-servers run under the Linux operating system using apache others use Windows and IIS (or can use apache).

PHP/mysql scripts run under apache. Asp scripts run under IIS PHP scripts are often available free of charge as is Linux and apache. ASP scripts are in general paid for.

You can create a web-server on your own Windows PC by downloading and installing WAMPserver .

Alternatively you can try one of the companies that give free web hosting. I would only advocate using the free web hosting for trial purposes. Running a live site on free (or cheap) hosting has many pitfalls (See Lisa's video )

I hope this hasn't confused you too much.

Regards

Bob

kelevraco · #9 (**permalink**) 10-17-2009, 01:47 AM

Open Realty will be perfect for this project. You will need the ability to add a database to what ever site you plan on adding this for. if you are wanting this to be your main site then you need to install the files to your root directory. If not then just add the files to the directory you would like. Once installed go to your site via the web where you installed the script. (IE. yoursite.com/realty or yoursite.com if in the root dir) Follow the directions you will find on the screen. This does a fairly good job of walking you through the install.

Once installed you will need to login to the admin section and start setting up your site. The options with this CMS for what you are wanting to do is perfect. You can break down the site search to what ever fields you like. Price, sq ft, bdrm, location, school or what ever you need.

Each property when entered gets placed in a default template on to its own page. You can set the list on the pages however you would like. Amenities or price what ever you need.

This is a open source script so who ever was telling you it would cost thousands was probably thinking that each page would have to of been built manually. Hope this helps out if not feel free to email me again.

lisa · #10 (**permalink**) 10-17-2009, 02:03 PM

Great help kelevraco and Donk. Well if you do decide to go with this script then you should select a regular Web host not SBI. SBI does not allow you to create a database.

J2569 · #11 (**permalink**) 10-17-2009, 02:07 PM

If anyone would like to see the pictures of what I have just to make sure we are all on the same page I would be happy to email you what I have. I just want to make sure I start off on the right foot and not get knee deep in a site only to find out it's not going to be capable of what I want it to do.

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