How to Create a Property Management Website: A Practical Guide

Two audiences, one site

A property management website is read by two very different people. An owner is deciding whether to trust you with a building. A renter wants to know what is available, what it costs and how to see it. A good site serves both without making either one wade through the other's page.

One thing to settle first, because it decides which tool you need. "Property management" covers two jobs: the front door (the website, inquiries, applications, showings, keeping owners informed while a unit is on the market) and the back office (rent, deposits, trust accounting, maintenance, leases, owner statements). This guide is about the website, which is the front door.

Step 1: Decide what the site is for

Write down the two or three things a visitor should be able to do. For most small property managers that is: see available rentals, apply or book a showing, and, for owners, request a rental valuation or get in touch. Everything else on the site should support one of those.

Step 2: Choose how to build it

You have three broad routes:

• A general website builder (Wix, Squarespace, WordPress). Full design freedom and your own domain. Listings, applications and showings are yours to bolt on.
• The website that comes with your property management software. Tied to your listings and accounting. Check whether you can edit it yourself and how it handles applicants.
• A listings website with the applicant side built in, such as Loftfolio. The site, the applications and the showings in one place, and nothing on the accounting side.

A closer comparison of the builders

Step 3: Brand it

Your name, logo, one accent color and a typeface, used the same way everywhere. Add a short line that says who you are and where you work, for example "Rentals across North Portland, managed by a team of three." Specific beats clever.

Step 4: Add the listings

Every listing needs good photos, the price, the key facts (bedrooms, bathrooms, area, availability date, pet policy) and a description written for the person who will live there. This photo order checklist covers what to shoot and in which order.

Step 5: Make the next step obvious

On every listing: apply, and book a showing. For owners: a valuation request form and a plain explanation of what you do for them. Ask for what you need to make a decision and nothing more.

Step 6: Add the owner-facing pages

Owners want to know how you find renters, how you keep them informed and what you charge. If you publish your fees, say what is included. If you don't, say how an owner gets a quote.

Step 7: Cover the legal basics

A privacy policy that matches what you actually collect, cookie consent if you use non-essential cookies, and whatever your local rules require a listing to state. If you work in the UK or EU, our GDPR post is a starting point. It isn't legal advice, and neither is this.

What Loftfolio covers, and what it doesn't

Loftfolio is the front door. You get a branded site at yourname.loftfolio.com with a page per property, an application form and self-booked viewings on every listing. Every application made on your site arrives on one board with status, notes and messages; for inquiries that reach you by phone, email or a portal, reply with the listing's link and they apply there. You can ask applicants for photo ID, proof of income or a reference, and they upload it to their application. A valuations board and a valuation form for your website come on every plan. On Pro and Agency, owners get a read-only portal showing their own properties, with applicants by stage and never by name.

It does not collect rent, hold deposits, keep a trust ledger, run maintenance, produce owner statements or handle leases and e-signature. If you manage properties, keep your accounting or property management software for that side and use Loftfolio for the front. Here is everything it doesn't do, and a buyer's guide to the software side.

Launch checklist

• A name, logo and color set
• Your available properties published, each with its own page
• Apply and book-a-showing on every listing
• A valuation form for owners
• Privacy policy linked
• Tested on a phone
• The link in your email signature and your Google Business Profile

For the business side of starting out, see the agency launch checklist.

→ See a finished example in the demo agency

Related: Property management website templates, page by page.