14 DAY TRIAL // There is a lot of commercial software designed for the management of the real estate listings. Joomla is an open source content management system that could provide you with a professional solution for publishing real estate listings. First, you will need a domain name and a web hosting where you must install Joomla.
On the same server, but in a different directory, you must install Open Realty, which is a stand alone free web based real estate listings management application. You can use Open Realty alone in order to present your real estate listings, but by integrating it with Joomla, you will have more options to improve site design and content display, as well as the possibility to use many other features offered by Joomla CMS.
From the Joomla administration panel, you will have to install CMS Realty component which integrates the Open-Realty listings management software with Joomla. Then you will have to install the Feature listings module and Search bot. The first one allows you to display featured real estate listings in Joomla front end and the second one offers search functionality for real estate listings from within the Joomla search module. There is also another module available for integration of Open Realty real estate listings classes in Joomla navigation system: CMS Realty Classes Module.
These installations are optional, but recommended. They provide flexibility for the listings display and also for the easy integration of Open-Realty application in Joomla. After you installed Open-Realty you must change settings for Site Template and Administrative Template from default to cms_integration and cms_admin_integration, respectively. Then from Joomla administration panel you must select Components - CMS Realty - Settings and provide the full path to your Open Realty installation. After that, you save and should receive this message "The CMS Realty component settings have been saved successfully".
You also have the option of administering real estate listings from joomla administration panel, but in order to use this option without errors you must provide different administration rights for Joomla and Open-Realty (different user name and password for every application). At the end, you must publish the Feature listings module this way: from Joomla administration panel select Modules-Site Modules and find the module you need then publish it. You should obtain a site front end similar to the one presented in screenshots.
This approach of real estate listings presentation should provide an attractive way of content separation from site design and a rapid real estate website development. I will point out again that using these two content management systems together you will be able to offer more interesting and attractive features to your site visitors.
