Definitely do not take this guy's photo advice. But DEFINITELY hire a pro and let them do their work. The existing photos on the site are a huge turnoff. It should cost you a few thousand dollars to hire a top notch photographer - their work will pay you back tenfold at a minimum though.
"Large sensor, low f number, go wide angle" means absolutely nothing...don't go to a photographer saying some shit like that.
I regret dedicating my life to sitting behind a computer building things that don't exist and don't really matter to anyone - rather than making a real difference to real people in the real world. I also regret that that endeavor has severely limited my time spent with the people I love most, and exploring the world.
Sounds like it's been a LONG time since you looked at ColdFusion - I encourage you to re-visit. A lot has changed since the late 90's...it's a great language, not a nightmare at all.
This is definitely not a new language...it's been around since 1995. The website does not make it particularly clear that this is a CFML engine though haha.
Depends on what you are looking for and how much work you want to do. Booking.com is one of the easiest because you can simply refer to their "booking" page for purchase. With others you would likely need to have your own purchase page (http://rentalsunited.com/ for example...you'd want to get set up as a Channel Partner).
From a user perspective - I spent more time on the site than I do any other real estate site...because I was trying to figure out where to find things, and it took significantly longer to look at multiple areas than any other site.
I'm not sure time on site is a reasonable measure of success - but I also think 9 minutes is impressive regardless :)
You definitely have me thinking about doing some experimentation in minimalism (we, apparently, service a very similar niche).
I sort of like it. Basically a slightly nicer version of craigslist.
To be honest though... With my experience in this particular niche...I don't "get it".
The pages are printer friendly (a lot of realtors gripe about that). Pages load fast. Gallery/map view. It's challenging to integrate with that many MLS' as well...Some good stuff in there. It's obviously you put a lot of work into it.
Great job on doing something against the grain.
If the purpose is to make money...probably not the greatest site. Other than a very tiny sliver of the population who appreciates this sort of approach (ie. hackernews readers), most people are going to bounce right off the site.
The single biggest missing piece is any sort of search functionality. It's REALLY annoying to use the site for anything other than a bit of browsing.
That said - great work...I hope you got paid!
EDIT * The more time I spend trying to hate this website, the more I end up liking it. Mission accomplished :)
I get zero results for every search I try. EDIT : I think because I was searching outside of San Fran (looks like there are only 6 properties there, probably for your testing)
Either the site is super buggy or my browser is just barfing everywhere. Most photos don't load.
I think I'm getting the point now though - this seems like a GREAT way to provide proof of concept!
"Large sensor, low f number, go wide angle" means absolutely nothing...don't go to a photographer saying some shit like that.