A two-phase real estate website build for Laguna Woods Village Real Estate, a California-based real estate agent specializing in the Laguna Woods Village 55+ community. Phase 1 covered a full custom WordPress site with gallery, video integration, and lead forms. Phase 2 added IDX Broker property search integration with map and grid view toggle, a floor plans section with downloadable enlarged images, and Buyers and Sellers pages — delivered across four feedback rounds.
Laguna Woods Village Real Estate — Real Estate Website & IDX Integration
Overview
Laguna Woods Village Real Estate is a California-based real estate agent website specializing in the Laguna Woods Village 55+ retirement community in Orange County. The project was delivered across two phases — Phase 1 building the full custom WordPress website with gallery, video, and lead generation, and Phase 2 adding IDX Broker property search, floor plans with downloadable images, and dedicated Buyers and Sellers pages — with four rounds of client feedback and revisions throughout.
The Challenge
The project required combining a polished personal brand real estate website with functional IDX property search integration and a complex floor plan display system. Key challenges included:
- Building a photo and video gallery with strict categorization — Laguna Woods photos and "Places to Visit" photos kept separate and used only in their correct contexts
- Integrating IDX Broker with a full-screen map search widget and a toggleable grid view, including search filters
- Building a floor plans section with thumbnail previews that expand to a downloadable full-size image on click — referencing the official Laguna Woods Village floorplans page behavior
- Replacing the IDX map widget with a three-section property finder approach using community-specific buttons linking to custom IDX Broker search pages
- Managing photo asset naming conventions, category assignments, and correct usage across multiple pages across multiple revisions
Scope of Work
Phase 1 — Full Website Build
The website was built from scratch using Elementor with a clean, professional real estate personal brand design. Pages covered the full site including Home, About, Gallery, Contact, Privacy Policy, and Terms of Use. The gallery was built with categorized photo sections and YouTube video thumbnails — initially showing 3 videos on the homepage and expanded to 6 on the Gallery page. A looping background video was integrated on the homepage using the client's provided MP4 file. Lead generation forms were configured with email notifications sent to the agent's inbox. Form notification email templates were updated to clearly identify which form was submitted. A mobile popup alignment issue was corrected to center the popup correctly on small screens. Unnecessary plugins were cleaned up and test data was removed from the site.
Phase 2 — IDX Integration & Property Finder
IDX Broker was integrated with the site to power the Property Finder page. The initial implementation used a full-screen map search widget — configured to display all Laguna Woods area listings dynamically rather than only the agent's own listings. A toggle button system was implemented at the top of the Property Finder page allowing visitors to switch between Map Search and Grid View — the Grid View using the client's custom "Laguna Woods Grid" widget created in IDX Broker. Search filters were enabled within the IDX widgets. The Property Finder page was later redesigned — replacing the map widget with three community sections (United Mutual, Third Mutual, The Towers) each with a photo, button, and short description, with each button linking to a dedicated custom IDX Broker search page in a new window. A scrollable "Laguna Woods Listings Carousel" IDX widget was added to both the Homepage and the Buyers page. The "agency" page was removed as requested.
Floor Plans Section
A floor plan section was built using data from the client's Excel spreadsheet covering all Laguna Woods Village floor plan types. Each entry displays a mini floor plan thumbnail — clicking the thumbnail or the "View 3D Floor Plan" button opens the full-size floor plan image in an enlarged view with a Download Image link. The missing "La Princesa" floor plan was identified and added. Floor plan images were sourced from the client's Dropbox folder with logos applied.
Buyers & Sellers Pages
Dedicated Buyers and Sellers pages were designed and built as part of Phase 2. The Buyers page includes the Laguna Woods Listings Carousel IDX widget inserted between the "Who This Is For" section and the "Three-Stage Buying Framework" section.
Key Features
- IDX Broker Integration — Map search and grid view with toggle buttons and enabled filters
- Community Property Finder — Three-section finder with United Mutual, Third Mutual, and The Towers linking to custom IDX search pages
- Listings Carousel — IDX Broker carousel widget on Homepage and Buyers page
- Floor Plans with Download — Thumbnail-to-enlarged-image floor plan viewer with downloadable full-size files
- Categorized Photo & Video Gallery — Strict photo category management with 6 YouTube thumbnails on the gallery page
- Homepage Loop Video — Client-provided MP4 looping as hero background
- Lead Generation Forms — Contact and Get Listings forms with identified email notification templates
- Four Revision Rounds — Comprehensive feedback rounds covering design, photo usage, IDX behavior, floor plans, and functionality
Result
A fully featured two-phase real estate website for Laguna Woods Village Real Estate — combining a polished personal brand WordPress site with IDX Broker property search, a community-specific property finder, a downloadable floor plans section, lead generation forms, and a categorized media gallery, delivered across two development phases and four structured client feedback rounds.