An estate agency website that does not look like a classifieds board

Estate agency websites are oddly alike: a narrow column of listings, small photographs, filters spread over ten drop-down menus and a price you only reach after three clicks. The whole thing looks like a classifieds board — which is a problem, because what separates an agency from a classifieds board is precisely that it selects.

For Kvart we built the opposite: fewer listings, bigger pictures, the price visible straight away and filtering that happens on the spot.

1. Search on the first screen, but simplified

Above the photograph of the building sits a search field with three choices: location, property type and budget. Nothing more. Every extra filter in the first step cuts the number of people who use it at all.

Advanced filters (floor area, year built, storey, parking space) belong on the results page, where the user actually needs them to shorten the list.

2. Numbers that build trust

Directly under the search runs a band with four figures: 340+ properties sold, 98% of the asking price achieved, 21 days average time to sale, 4.9 client rating.

The second figure is the important one and almost nobody publishes it. A seller does not care how many listings you carry — they care whether they will get their price. If you have that number and it is a good one, put it at the top of the page.

3. Filtering without a page reload

Above the list are four buttons: all, flats, houses, premium. On a click the cards that no longer match shrink and fade, the grid reflows, and the remaining ones fly in one after another. The whole operation takes less than a second and the page never reloads.

This is not only aesthetics. When a page reloads, the user loses their place in the list and often gives up. In-place filtering is one of the most measurable improvements you can make to a property website.

4. The listing card: picture, name, price, three specs

Nothing more. Every card has a large photograph (3:2 ratio), the name with the location, the price in blue and a line of specifications in a technical typeface: floor area, number of rooms, storey, lift. New properties get a blue “NEW” tag, the best ones a gold “PREMIUM”.

The photograph zooms in slightly under the pointer and the card lifts — enough to make it obvious that it can be clicked.

5. One property of the month across the full screen

Below the list sits a single featured property across the full width, with a dark gradient over the photograph and the text on the left. This is the place for the more expensive property that needs a story rather than a spec sheet — and at the same time a chance for the agency to show how well it can sell.

6. “Why us” has to be concrete

Four reasons, one sentence each: we select, we do not hoard (twelve properties a month, not two hundred), pricing based on data (comparable sales street by street), presented as it should be (a photographer, a floor plan and styling advice are standard, not an extra), sold and supported (contracts, notary, handover).

Every one of those sentences can be checked. Anyone can write a general line about “many years of experience”; a specific number of properties a month is another matter.

What we need from the agency

1. Good photographs — ideally from a property photographer, with a tripod and straightened verticals.
2. Structured data — floor area, rooms, year, energy rating, price. A spreadsheet is best; from it we can generate the listings automatically.
3. A decision about linking to your existing system — if you already use property management software, listings can transfer across on their own instead of being entered twice.

That last point is often the biggest saving: a link to your existing database means a property you enter into your own system appears on the site by itself — and disappears by itself once it is sold.