Managing real estate listings - any ideas?

Here’s the site that i mentioned before: http://www.homeconnect.asia I still got a lot of cosmetic things to fix but the listing and search are working.
There’s no MLS link. All properties are stored in the database. We wrote a custom snippet for the search using Ditto filters.
Property images are simply files in the photos folder. This was easier to import then dealing with image galleries.

Hi everybody,

Does it exist a standard (a data model) or a known reference to describe a property ?
It propably depends of the country. But for instance for UK or US ?

How is described a property ?

Thanks for your answers or links on this subject.

Hi everybody,
Doing research myself how to create a property search functionality in MODx.

@outre99 - do you mind to share your custom snippet?

Cheers,
Kaspar

Hello,
I know this is an old topic, but it’s highly relevant to me! I’m trying to build a site with the functions described by the original poster. I think MODx can do it, but I’m still not sure, and definitely not sure about the correct methods if I do use MODx.

To summarize, this kind of site is more than just displaying listings in an attractive way (I know MODx can do that). The real challenge is here:
1. Present a form where the client can add, edit and delete a listing (keeps rack of who entered the listing)
2. Set up searches based on property criteria (price range, bedrooms, etc)

Thanks,
Matthew

Hi Matthew,

I mentioned earlier in the thread that i did a property listing site: http://www.homeconnect.asia.
It was a learning experience to be sure.
I did it in Evo because the client needed multi-language support. And i find YAMS for Evo to be a cleaner solution for that. Otherwise Revolution would be a better choice.

Each property was a separate resource organized into the geography based hierarchy. I used Quill to create cross relationships between pages (neighborhoods to schools/hospitals/transport). All property attributes and statuses were stored in TVs. The search was a custom snippet based on Ditto and Ditto filters. The biggest gotcha was the fact that Ditto uses MODx cache file to run its searches. The client had an existing system of record for their properties so we decided to do direct imports from their system into the site’s database. The problem with that was that the cache file was not being updated by the direct import, which resulted in new properties not being included in the search results.
After the completion of the project i found a couple of APIs that allow creation and updating of MODx documents.
http://modxcms.com/forums/index.php?topic=35663.0
http://modxcms.com/forums/index.php/topic,5983.0.html

I think using those APIs can solve the caching problem. Also those APIs will allow you to create forms to add and manage listings from the front end.

Best of luck

Kiril,
Thanks for the help here! I really would like to explore MODx for this project. If I were doing a simpler project, I would already be using MODx, but the more advanced needs described here are making it difficult for me to enter into MODx.

I found that post #5 and #6 in one of your links seem to be talking about what I need to do:
http://modxcms.com/forums/index.php/topic,5983.msg42439.html#msg42439

However, these posts are from 2006. That’s a lifetime in CMS development! I wonder if different solutions have come about since then? Also, I’m not at all clear how to grab these APIs and where they go exactly (template?).

Still trying to figure this out!

Thanks,
Matthew

Hey Matthew,

the first main decision to make is which MODx to use. Evolution or Revolution.
Evolution is the older established code base with a lot of plugins but some limitations. Revolution is the next generation code base.
I had to go with Evolution because of the multi-lingual requirement and the client preferred to manage multi-lingual content on the same document rather than opening a separate document for each language. Evolution supports the first mode while Revolution the second. But if you don’t have this requirement go with Revolution, which has it’s own OO API for managing things programatically. Evo doesn’t have a built-in API for that, hence the links i sent you.

Hope this clarifies things.

If I were any better at programming, I’d take on the challenge of putting together a realestate/property listing package within the modx framework--I think it would be a great addition to Modx and it can grow as time goes by to include more features.

if someone is willing, I’d definitely like to help..

Anyone have any new fresh thoughts, and or updates on this topic?

Thread bump again: Anyone have any new fresh thoughts, and or updates on this topic?

Thanks!