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Wix for Real Estate Websites: Complete Guide & Review

Wix for Real Estate Websites: Complete Guide & Review

This guide explains all the pros and cons of using Wix as a website builder if you are a real estate agent or property investor.
Wix for Real Estate Websites: Complete Guide & Review

Wix is one of the most popular website builders. Many real estate agents and investors prefer Wix because building a site with it is very easy. You just need to pick a theme and customize it by replacing the content. You can set up a Wix real estate website within a few minutes. While the ease of use and out-of-the-box web designs are some of the advantages that Wix offers, you also need to be aware of certain disadvantages.

In this in-depth guide, we are going to discuss all the pros and cons of using Wix as a website builder if you are a real estate agent or property investor.

Understanding Wix website builder

There are plenty of website builders. Squarespace and Wix are two of the most popular ones. You can read our review on Squarespace for real estate website here and sign up for a 14-day free Squarespace trial here.

By using a website builder such as Squarespace or Wix, you can design and develop a website without any coding or programming knowledge. Most real estate agents, brokers, and investors don’t have the technical knowledge to build a website. For them, a website builder can really be a cost-effective and the least complicated solution.

With Wix, you don’t have to purchase web hosting. Everything is included in the monthly or annual plans. Needless to say, you can build and maintain a Wix website even if you have zero coding or technical knowledge.

How to build a real estate website with Wix

There are three ways you can set up a Wix website:

  • Wix Artificial Design Intelligence (ADI)
  • Wix Editor
  • ‘Velo by Wix’ (formerly ‘Corvid’)

ADI builder

Wix has introduced Artificial Intelligence in web designing.

If you are looking for a really simple web solution, you can go for the ADI builder.

Here is the step-by-step process how to build a Wix website with ADI:

  • You answer a few basic questions.
  • Wix collects information about you and your business from other sources online.
  • Wix puts together a website for you.
  • You can then use Wix’s drag and drop builder to add sections and pages and change design, fonts, colors etc.

The below YouTube video from Wix explains how ADI builder works:

Editor

It’s the classic version of this website builder.

  • You pick a Wix real estate theme and template
  • You edit that theme – change logo, text, visuals, sections etc. using Wix’s drag-and-drop functionality.

The best advantage of using Editor is that it gives you control over almost every aspect of your website. You pick the design and then customize it as per your preferences. You have full access to Wix’s app market. The community in the Wix forum and help center are very active and offer solutions to almost every issue you may encounter while building your website with the Wix Editor.  The biggest disadvantage is that it may be time-consuming to build a personalized website from a template.

While Wix ADI makes it really faster to build a website and is easier to use compared to the Editor, you don’t have full access to all Wix apps and editing tools. 

‘Velo by Wix’

This solution is for those who are familiar with coding. So basically, if you are a real estate broker and also a website developer you would want to use this option to build your website with Wix.

You will have access to the website code, databases, and APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) if you use Velo. This access is not available if you use ADI or Editor.

Wix pricing

Wix offers country-based pricing plans. For example, here are the plans for the USA:

Website plans

  • Combo — $14 per month
  • Unlimited — $18 per month
  • Pro — $23 per month
  • VIP — $39 per month

Business and E-commerce plans

  • Business Basic — $23 per month
  • Business Unlimited — $27 per month
  • Business VIP — $49 per month

Enterprise plans

  • Wix Enterprise (from $500 per month)

As a real estate agent or investor, you will most likely need Website Plans starting at $14/month. In order to set up an ad-free website, you will need to subscribe to the $18/month or a more premium plan.

You can also purchase apps from the Wix App Market to extend the functionality of your website. Each app will cost you anywhere from $10 – $100/month. For example, if you want to integrate an appointment scheduler with your Wix website, you can purchase the Wix Bookings app at $17/month.

Pros of using Wix for a real estate website

Now that you understand how Wix works, let’s discuss all the pros of using Wix to build your real estate website:

1. Real estate website templates

Wix offers nearly 20 real estate website templates. Since you provide your clients a service, you can also use any of the hundreds of templates from the Business and Service category.

We recently wrote a detailed guide on how to choose the best Wix template for a real estate website. Make sure to check it out.

The best thing about Wix templates is that they have a modern interface and are regularly updated. The templates allow you to build a real estate website within a few minutes.

2. IDX integration

You can integrate IDX with your Wix real estate agent website. But an important thing you should know is that IDX integration is not an out-of-the-box solution like a template design. Wix doesn’t support IDX. You may need to hire a Wix developer to use the ‘Velo by Wix’ functionality to integrate the IDX with your website.

3. No hosting and SSL certificate required

When building a website with a fully customizable CMS such as WordPress.org, you will need to purchase hosting separately. (Read Also: Best hosting services for real estate websites). Wix will host your website and also add a free SSL certificate so that the website loads on HTTPS. SSL is an important feature to make your website more secure. However, most hosting providers such as Bluehost also provides SSL certificates free of cost.

4. No coding skills required

If you are planning to set up a basic website, you won’t need any coding skills. You can build your website without any web development knowledge. It can be a big advantage for real estate agents and investors who don’t want to waste money and time on custom web development and design.

5. Excellent support

If you run into any issue, Wix provides excellent support. If you are on a premium plan, you can contact Wix via phone or email. 

Cons of using Wix for a real estate website

Here are a few reasons why you may not want to build your website with Wix:

1. Not easy to scale

If you are planning to use your real estate website as the main source for online real estate lead generation, you may face a few challenges. Website builders such as Wix are usually for those looking for a quick and easy solution. They may not be an ideal solution if you want to scale and grow your website beyond a certain limit.

For example, none of the Wix plans offer unlimited bandwidth or storage – not even the business and commercial plans that are sold at premium rates. Another major con is that you can’t transfer content from one Wix template to another.

If you have built your Wix real estate website using ADI or Editor, you won’t be able to transfer the database in case you decided to use a different website builder or CMS such as WordPress in the future. You will end up copy and pasting content and doing a lot of URL redirects – not a great solution if your website has a lot of pages.

If you want more flexibility and freedom, you may want to choose an advanced CMS such as WordPress. Here at RealtyCrux, we build real estate websites with WordPress. You can check out templates by visiting this page.

2. More expensive than other website builders

Wix is free if you don’t mind ads appearing on your website. Even the Starter plan doesn’t remove ads from your website. You will need to purchase a more expensive plan to have an ad-free website. You can set up an ad-free website with Squarespace for $12, while you will need to subscribe to at least an $18/month plan to get an ad-free website on Wix. 

If you want advanced functionalities, you will need to pay extra for third-party apps – many of which are available with a monthly subscription. The cost adds up. Some of these apps are not even apps like WordPress plugins. You’ll get to add ‘I-frames’ instead of a real functionality to your website.

3. IDX integration is not easy

If you are the US or Canada-based real estate agent, integrating IDX with your Wix website can be challenging.

Though ‘Velo by Wix’ enables you to integrate IDX, you may not be able to do it on your own. You will likely need to hire a Wix developer. Many agents and brokers who have built their website with Wix complain that the listings are not mobile responsive. If this happens in your case too, your website visitors won’t get a great user experience and this might end up being a major setback in your efforts of online lead generation.

4. Wix SEO

While Wix offers basic tools to customize meta tags and follow other SEO best practices, it doesn’t offer advanced functionalities that can help you get more organic traffic from Google and other search engines. You will find the tools a little behind the times.

Conclusion

If you want an easy-to-use solution for your real estate website, Wix is certainly a great choice. It’s cost-effective. You don’t need any technical knowledge to set up a website on Wix. However, it may not be an ideal solution if you want a very flexible and easy-to-scale platform. You should carefully evaluate all the pros and cons before choosing Wix as the website builder.