Still trying to pick a website provider

Yes, Im still looking! The Christmas rush isnt helping and Im getting a bit desperate now.

I've recently been very impressed with 'incom real estate'. They actually list pricing, which is a huge plus in my book. And their prices are far more reasonable than others. The annual cost is $599, and setup is $250 US.

This means Im looking at about $850 US to get started. Thats about $1200 in Canadian dollars. Thats more than half what everyone else was quoting. Im almost suspicious, to be honest!

Picking a design

The only catch I can see is they have a very limited number of themes to choose from. They also have 'premium' themes and 'standard' themes. My guess is the 'premium' ones cost more to setup? Or maybe even more monthly. And their 'standard' themes are OK but there are only 13, and none are exactly what I want. But I could live with one though, believe me.

See what I mean here

I also notice that only 2 of the theme are labelled as 'responsive design'. I'm thinking that means that only 2 of these respond to searches or respond with CREA to get latest listings. Thats really bad if I can only pic from those 2. I really want full IDX features like search, and showing more than my own listings.

But who the heck is 'Incom'?

Another concern I have about 'incom' is I cant find much information about them. They have a tiny 'about' link on the bottom of their site, which I couldnt even find at first. On that page they dont provide any info about them. No address, or even approximately where theyre located. No info about the team, or how many people work there. Im worried this is some company I could shell out $1000 to and then they just disappear!

So much to learn

One thing Im discovering is that not all real estate website providers even put the full MLS on your website. You would get a site, but only with your own listings. Even worse, to update it you have to sign in and update things yourself every time. That has helped rule out at least a few providers.

Real estate acronyms

MLS, CREA, IDX, DDF. More like A.R.G.G.!

A big hurdle for me is learning all the different shortcuts. Ive been taking notes, and 'DDF' is data document feed. Not exactly sure what that even means still. It seems like I want this, and it means I get everything on my website, and not just my own listings.

Another good one is 'IDX', which I heard from a fellow REALTOR before I got started. Thats 'internet document exchange' I believe. From what I can tell, this is the exact same thing as DDF, and means you get all the listings in your area on your website, and they can be searched. But I dont know why there needs to be two acronyms, and cant find any differences when I look online.

Am I wasting my time?

Maybe Im too frugal and want to understand too much? Im sure I could hand tons of money over to one of these big companies and get a website like magic. But Id rather know everything about whats going on, and make sure Im getting the best deal. Am I being crazy?

Cant decide on an IDX provider

Im still looking for a reasonable website provider, and so far everything will cost thousands of dollars.

Ive been in talks with 'real estate webmasters', and their sample websites look good, but a bit cluttered. They dont list pricing on their website, and my quote was just for me, but lets just say it was over $2000. Thats way too much for a company Im not exactly blown away by.

Ive also been talking with 'inside real estate' which Im a bit more interested in. Their websites appear much cleaner and less cluttered. But they dont list their prices either! I contacted them, and after the setup and first year, Id also be looking at $2000+.

Whoever I go with, this will certainly have to be an investment in myself!

Back on track, but for how long?

OK I changed my Blogger address to http://torontomlswebsite.blogspot.com/. It works now, but this doesnt give me much confidence in my blog. What if suddenly its removed again later? Im not impressed Blogger!

I hate technology!

First I was having a hard enough time to find a good website provider, and now Blogger has removed my blog? I dont even know if this will post!