Choosing a digital partner for your estate agency: 10 questions to ask

Ten questions to ask before you hire a company to build your agency's website, integrations or marketing, so you know what you're signing up for.

Your website, listings and enquiries are central to how your agency wins business. Before you choose a company to build or manage them, ask these ten questions. The answers will tell you a lot about how the relationship will work.

1. What exactly is included in the price?

Ask for a written list: design, build, hosting, security, updates, support and integrations. Ask what costs extra and how changes after launch are charged.

2. What's the total cost over two years?

Upfront and monthly figures can hide the real cost. Ask for the total over 24 months, including any minimum term and price increases.

3. Who owns the domain, content and data?

Your domain name, website content and listing and enquiry data should belong to your agency. Check what happens to them if you leave.

4. How do agents update listings?

Ask to see the dashboard. Agents should be able to add listings and change prices and statuses themselves, on a phone, without waiting for a developer.

5. How does the Property24 connection work?

If you list on Property24, ask whether listings are published automatically, which details sync and how errors are handled.

6. How are enquiries captured and followed up?

Ask where enquiries go, how they're recorded and whether your team can see which listing and channel each one came from.

7. How is personal information protected?

Ask how forms, the dashboard and any WhatsApp tools handle personal information in line with POPIA, and who can access client data.

8. What support do we get after launch?

Ask how to request help, how quickly they respond and whether support is included in the monthly fee.

9. How will we know it's working?

For marketing especially, ask what you'll be shown each month: spend, enquiries and cost per enquiry, explained in plain language.

10. What happens if we want to leave?

Understand the notice period, the minimum term and how your domain, content and data will be handed over.

Our answers

At Howzit Digital, our Website & dashboard service is R1 250 a month excluding VAT on a 12-month minimum term, with hosting, security, updates and support included and no setup fee. Your agency's domain and data remain yours. Build your package to see the full price, or get in touch with any of these questions.