How to Choose a Real Estate Website Designer: 12 Criteria for Agents

To choose a real estate website designer, look for three things. You want real estate experience (IDX, MLS rules, license disclosures), a build you fully own and a clear plan for getting found in search. A pretty portfolio is not enough. Your site has to follow advertising rules, load fast on a phone and turn visitors into conversations.

This guide is part of our Real Estate and Property Management Marketing Guide. It gives you 12 criteria, the questions to ask on a first call and the red flags that should end the conversation.

If you are still deciding what the site needs, start with our list of real estate agent website must-haves.

1. Real estate experience you can check

A general web designer can build a nice site. A real estate designer knows why your site needs IDX search, neighborhood pages and a clear path to "talk to me."

Ask for two or three live agent or brokerage sites they built. Click through them on your phone. Try a home search, open a listing and submit a test inquiry if the owner allows it.

Look for these signs of real estate depth:

• They can explain IDX in one minute. If they can't, read our IDX explainer before the call so you can judge the answer.
• They ask which MLS you belong to and which IDX vendor you use or plan to use.
• They ask whether you are an individual agent, a team or a brokerage, because that changes the page structure.

2. They build license and brokerage disclosures in from day one

Real estate advertising rules apply to your website. They vary by state, so your designer should ask where you are licensed.

For example, California regulation 10 CCR § 2773 requires licensees to show their eight-digit license number and the responsible broker's name on first-point-of-contact materials. The rule lists "websites owned, controlled, or maintained by the soliciting licensee" among those materials.

Texas has its own homepage rules. Under 22 Tex. Admin. Code § 531.18, license holders must link the Consumer Protection Notice in a readily noticeable place on the homepage of each business website. A separate rule, § 531.20, requires a similar homepage link to the Information About Brokerage Services notice, with set link labels and font sizes.

If you are a REALTOR®, the NAR Code of Ethics also applies. Standard of Practice 12-5 says your firm's name must appear "in a reasonable and readily apparent manner" in advertising. Rules vary by state, so confirm final wording with your broker of record.

3. They know Fair Housing advertising rules

The Fair Housing Act bars ads that show a preference based on a protected class. The federal rule at 24 CFR § 100.75 covers "words, phrases, photographs, illustrations, symbols or forms." It also covers choosing media or locations that deny parts of the market information about housing.

That matters for neighborhood pages, photo choices and ad targeting. A good designer will write "a three-bedroom home near two parks," not copy that describes who should live there. Our guide to Fair Housing advertising rules for websites covers the wording in detail.

Ask the designer: "Who reviews the copy you write for Fair Housing issues?" A good answer names a process and includes you or your broker.

4. You own the site, the domain and the data

This is the most important contract point. Many agents find out at renewal time that they rent their site.

Before you sign, get written answers to these questions:

• Is the domain registered in my name, with my login?
• If I leave, do I keep the content, the images and the design?
• Can I export my leads and contacts in a standard format, such as CSV?
• Who holds the hosting account, and can it move to me?

If the answer to any of these is "no," you are renting. Renting can be fine for a new agent. Just know what you are buying.

5. They have a plan for IDX, not just a plugin

IDX is how MLS listings appear on your site. The way it is set up decides whether those pages help your search visibility or sit outside it.

Ask the designer which IDX tools they have worked with and why. Ask how listing pages, saved searches and lead capture will connect to your CRM.

Also ask how they follow your MLS's IDX display rules. Those rules come from your MLS, so the designer should ask you for them.

6. Speed and mobile use on real sites

Most buyers will see your site on a phone first. Test the designer's past work on your own phone, on cellular data, not office Wi-Fi.

Check these five things:

1. Does the home page load quickly and without jumping around?
2. Can you tap the phone number and start a call?
3. Is the contact form short and easy to fill in with your thumb?
4. Does home search work without pinching and zooming?
5. Do photos stay sharp without making pages slow?

7. Accessibility is part of the build

The U.S. Department of Justice's web accessibility guidance says the ADA's requirements apply to goods and services that public accommodations offer on the web. It points to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) as helpful technical guidance.

Ask whether the designer builds to WCAG 2.2 AA and how they test it. Good answers mention keyboard testing, color contrast, form labels and alt text on listing photos. An accessibility overlay script alone is not a full answer.

8. SEO is built into the structure

A real estate site earns search traffic through its structure: clear page titles, neighborhood pages, fast pages and clean code. The designer should talk about all of these before design starts.

Ask about structured data too. Our guide to schema markup for real estate websites explains which types matter. A designer who adds RealEstateAgent and LocalBusiness markup correctly is thinking about search and AI answers, not just looks.

9. Truthful content and current information

NAR Standard of Practice 12-8 asks REALTORS® to use reasonable efforts to keep website information current. Standard 12-10 bars deceptive framing, misleading images and using "metatags, keywords or other devices/methods" to divert traffic.

So your designer should never stuff competitor names into hidden text or use photos of homes you did not list without making that clear. Ask how sold listings and old market stats get updated after launch.

10. They plan the move if you already have a site

If you are replacing a site, the designer must protect what already ranks. Google's site move guidance recommends mapping every old URL to a new one with permanent (301 or 308) redirects. It also suggests keeping redirects "generally at least 1 year."

Ask: "Will you give me a redirect map before launch?" If they look confused, that is your answer.

11. Clear scope, timeline and price

You should get a written scope that lists pages, features, integrations, rounds of revisions and who writes the copy. You should know who to call after launch and what support costs.

We don't list fixed prices in articles because scope changes cost. See our pricing page for how we quote real estate projects.

12. Honest talk about results

Google's own page on hiring an SEO says "No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google." It suggests asking for examples of past work and how the firm measures success.

Apply the same test to your designer. Good designers describe what they will build and how you will measure it: calls, form leads, booked appointments. They don't promise a number of closings.

Red flags to watch for

Questions to ask on the first call

1. Which real estate sites have you built that I can test on my phone today?
2. Which IDX vendors have you worked with, and how do listing pages get indexed?
3. How do you handle my state's license and brokerage disclosure rules?
4. Who reviews your copy for Fair Housing issues?
5. Who owns the domain, the content, the design and the lead data?
6. How do you test accessibility?
7. What happens to my old URLs at launch?
8. What does support look like after launch, and what does it cost?

Next step

With two or three designers on your list, use our real estate agent website launch checklist to see what a finished build should include. For a team that designs, builds and markets agent websites, see our real estate website design and SEO services or schedule a discovery call.

Frequently asked questions