How to build a real estate website in Lebanon

A good real estate website in Lebanon is a set of listings, each with honest photos, a price in US dollars, the key facts at a glance (type, sale or rent, bedrooms, bathrooms, area, location, floor, parking) and a quick way to ask about it, by WhatsApp or a short form. It does not need a cart or online payment: people ask, you answer, and the visit happens in person.

This guide covers what to put on each listing, how to photograph it, how to handle inquiries without losing any, and when a website is worth it for a single owner.

Who needs a listings website

• Agencies and brokers with more listings than an Instagram grid can show. A website lets people filter by sale or rent, type and area instead of scrolling.
• Developers selling apartments in one or two projects, who need a page per unit type with floor plans and prices.
• Owners of rentals and chalets who rent the same places again and again and want one link to send.

If you are selling one apartment once, a website may be more than you need. A clear post, a listing on a property portal and a good set of photos can be enough. A website pays off when you have listings coming and going every month.

The facts every listing needs

Buyers and tenants compare listings in seconds. Put the same facts in the same order on every one, so they can:

• Type: apartment, villa, duplex, land, office, shop, chalet.
• Deal: for sale or for rent, and for rent, monthly or yearly.
• Price in US dollars. If you prefer not to publish a price, say "price on request", but know that many people skip listings without a price.
• Bedrooms and bathrooms.
• Area in square metres. Say whether it includes terraces and common areas.
• Location: the area and the town, such as Achrafieh, Beirut or Broummana, Metn. You do not need the exact building.
• Floor, and whether there is an elevator.
• Parking: how many spaces, covered or not.

Then add what Lebanese buyers always ask about, as extra lines:

• electricity: hours of state power, the building generator and its subscription, solar panels
• water: municipal water, a well, tanks
• the view, the orientation, the terrace
• the building's age, and any monthly charges

Answering these on the listing saves a phone call per question, and shows you know the property.

Photos that make people call

Photos decide whether anyone reads your facts. A few rules:

• Shoot in daylight, with every light on and the curtains open.
• Hold the phone level at chest height, in landscape, from a corner of each room.
• Show every room once, then the view, the terrace, the building entrance and the street.
• Start with the best photo, usually the living room or the view.
• Do not edit the truth. A brighter picture is fine. A sky replaced with a blue one, or a crack painted out, costs you the visit when the buyer arrives.
• Add a floor plan if you have one. Developers almost always do.

Ten good photos beat thirty similar ones.

Make it easy to ask

Every listing should end with two buttons: one that opens WhatsApp with a message already written ("Hi, I'm interested in the 3-bedroom apartment in Achrafieh", with the link), and one that opens a short form for people who prefer to leave their name and number.

The WhatsApp button is the one most people tap. The form matters for the evening browser who wants you to call tomorrow, and for listings shared with someone who does not want to message a stranger.

One inbox for every question

The real cost of a listings business is the question nobody answered. Inquiries arrive on WhatsApp, Instagram, the phone and the form, often about the same flat.

• Answer within the hour when you can. The first agent to reply usually gets the visit.
• Keep a list of open questions, and mark each one handled when you have replied.
• Reply with the listing link, so the conversation stays about the right property.
• Record what people asked for (area, budget, bedrooms), so you can call them back when something matches.

Keep listings current

A listing that was rented two months ago, still shown as available, damages trust in every other listing. When a property is sold or rented, mark it so the same day, or remove it. Keep a sold or rented badge on recent ones for a while: it shows that your listings move.

Building it with Mahallat

Mahallat has a template made for this, Estate. A new store on Estate starts in catalog mode: no cart and no checkout, only listings and ways to ask.

• Listings with their facts. In the product editor, "Add listing facts" inserts the property rows (Type, Deal, Bedrooms, Bathrooms, Area, Location, Floor, Parking), and you can add your own lines for electricity, water or the view. Cards show the price, the place and the key facts.
• For sale or for rent. Listings carry a For sale or For rent badge, rent prices show per month, and a listing whose stock reaches zero shows Sold or Rented. A price of 0 reads "Price on request".
• Search on the home page. Visitors pick buy or rent, the property type and the area, and browse by type through your categories.
• Ask about this. Every listing has a short form (name, phone, message) and a WhatsApp button that opens your number with the listing and its link already written.
• The Inquiries inbox. Every question lands in one list in your dashboard, with an email and a push on your phone. You reply on WhatsApp in one tap, with a ready message that names the listing, then mark it handled.
• Photos and pages. Photos are resized for phones automatically, and every listing has its own page that search engines can find.

You can import listings from an Excel or CSV sheet, use your own domain on the Pro plan, and add your agents as team members. See the Estate template, Mahallat for real estate, or try the demo agency in the live demo.

Every new store starts with a 14-day free trial, no card needed. After it, plans start at $20 a month: see pricing.