Recently, I had an offer to create a website for a real estate agency. However, I've never done such a thing before and the biggest issue in functionality I see is the interactive house search options..

Examples: zillow.com, reality.sk, novostavby.sk (not english sites, but for a demo, you get the idea).

How would I go about coding such a thing? Is it just php going through and filtering a database of properties based on user preferences ?

This might be a lame question, but this is the first time I'm dealing with such a request and I have no idea what the development procedure would look like.

Thanks

Yes, you need to create a database, e.g. MySQL, and populate it with all current property data. Then you write script, e.g. using PHP, that give you all the functionality you need, e.g. update property, delete property, view property etc. It's a lot of work to create full functionality, and there are already many many scripts that cover real estate functionality. So, you are bound to be able to find software that could do what you need if you don't want the big job of writing it all yourself.

Yes, you need to create a database, e.g. MySQL, and populate it with all current property data. Then you write script, e.g. using PHP, that give you all the functionality you need, e.g. update property, delete property, view property etc. It's a lot of work to create full functionality, and there are already many many scripts that cover real estate functionality. So, you are bound to be able to find software that could do what you need if you don't want the big job of writing it all yourself.

thanks. Ye, that's what I was thinking.. if there already exist pre-made plugins / scripts for this. Will try to have a look.

Well think about what you would search for if looking for a property.

 

Say you want to buy not rent, a house not a flat, with 3 bedrooms priced between £150,000 and £300,000 in Grimsby. So the query string might look something like

?location=grimsby&prop_type=house&beds=3&min_price=100000&max_price=300000

So your search query might be something like

"SELECT * FROM properties WHERE location = 'grimsby' AND prop_type = 'house' AND status = 'sale' AND beds = 3 and price BETWEEN 100000 AND 300000"

Depending of course on the complexity of the tables in use. Which can be quite complex as it needs to account for a very wide range of data to comply with legislation. This is why a lot of estate agents turn this side over to Zoopla, Rightmove and similar services.