Hi! I am new to buzztouch and have yet to create my first app. I have 2 apps I need to make asap (within a month) including a professional looking and functioning real estate app but before I start work on one through Buzztouch, I am trying to decide (given the time frame, my lack of experience and nature of the work I need done) whether I should proceed to learn Buzztouch and create them myself, buy a template (or templates) or hire out for these job? If it would be better to hire them out, or buy a template (or templates), can you give me some recommendations? Thank you!

What kind of real estate app are you talking about? If you are thinking about storing, sorting and retrieving information on a database system, then BT is not what you are looking for (unless you are ready to do some serious coding). On the other hand, if you just want to display information (such as contact information, address, etc) or read from a webpage, then you can do that with BT.

Real Estate apps are easy with BT, cool thing is most realtors use an existing IDX or RETS solution to pull and sort listings and these can be entered on a simple custom URL screen and you needn't worry about the backend. IDX feeds costs around $100 per year and RETS have some neat WP plugins that will drop right into your app. Have played around with a few and since these solutions are hosted elsewhere you simply tie into the feed of your realtors area. Make sense?

"RETS have some neat WP plugins that will drop right into your app" How do you add wp plugins to app or do you mean call them from url via custom url screen?

That is what I meant, cheers buddy! Typing to fast.

Would you recommend setting up a joomla or WP site to assist with creating app screens then, its something I have been thinking of for a while now

My first Buzztouch app was a "real estate" app. I built it for a friend so I could learn BT/iOS/Android. I use a customURL for the "MLS" and just regular screens for the rest… iOS: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/duane-pahl-realtor/id598503783?ls=1&mt=8 Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.duanepahl It may not be much; it was my initial effort. But I'm happy to answer any questions, if you think I could shed light on anything… Cheers! -- Smug

Nice one Smug! Had some late night on my real estate app. @Mr Stuck - To be honest I settled with using a paid IDX solution, did mess around with WP plugins and was fairly happy but didn't use in the end. Just found out my MLS folk are changing to flexmls Web so have to do some more poking around. The joys of updates.

I am looking for an app that will, using the location services provided by the phone, let a potential buyer find nearby homes for sale, locate a real estate agent, and find other listings in a local mls system. I suspected this would be something I would be unable to reach very soon.. some are saying that it's easy, while others are saying it's too much. Are there any tutorials I can follow? Can anyone make one for a price? Also, I found a template on another app service (http://ibuildapp.com/marketplace/Real-Estate1.html) but not sure if it's the best choice or if I would be better served going a different direction. Thanks for all of your help! Anthony

Lol you both lost me at MLS. never even heard of IDX so will look into it, I know of your Apps Smug as I beta tested the Dwayne thing but did not know how you got the mobile version of the current property the agent was dealing with. Just looking at different angles for apps

I used the URL for his mobile website (m.duanepahl.com) for my customURL screen… it works great for both Android and iOS… Most realtors already have this (MLS) as a part of their 'resources' - either solo or working through an agency. In 'our' case my friend's mobile website is a part of a 'package' that his parent realty agency obtained, and each agent has a little customized site (not *that* customized, heh) that they use. I just pulled from that. Cheers! -- Smug

One thing I did while playing with this concept was a 'featured listing' concept. I used a DataURL as a feed in Image Gallery and that way the R/E agent only had to do it in Excel and export it with a macro I provided. You can do similar things with the DataURL on other plugs too. I too used the MLS URL at the time while playing with it.

thanks, some good learning material.

Try looking here. http://www.lynda.com It's cheap, only $25 a month. And if you use the lessons on there and couple with buzztouch, there is no way you wont be successful.