App builder

Put your inventory in a real estate search app
people can filter, map and save.

Describe your homes, lots or rentals and Netiva’s AI builds a web app with property filters, a map from your maps provider and saved searches that email new matches — in code you own.

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Starter prompt

Build a property search web app for a company that sells and leases about 300 homes and apartments across six areas. Store each property with address, area, type, beds, baths, features, a description and map coordinates, and each time it comes on the market with sale or rent, price or monthly rent, status and available-from date. Search shows only Coming soon and Available listings, with filters for buy or rent, price, beds, pets and parking, and a map from my maps provider’s API that refreshes when people move it. Signed-in visitors can save a search and get a daily or weekly email listing only new matches.

Build it in Netiva Paste the prompt into a new workspace and adjust it to your business.
Overview

Who this real estate search app is for

Brokerages, rental companies and developers often post their own inventory as one long page of cards. Renters can’t narrow it to two bedrooms with parking, buyers can’t see where anything sits and your team answers the same “anything new near the park?” email every week. Real estate search apps, also called finder or map apps, fix that. One built with Netiva puts every available home, lot or unit behind filters and a map, lets visitors save a search after signing in and emails them when a new match goes live.

Key features

What your real estate search app can do

  • Filters shaped by your inventory

    You tell the agent which fields searchers filter on, so a leasing company can lead with move-in date and pets while a brokerage leads with price and property type. Results and the match count update as people change them.

    • A buy or rent switch that swaps asking price for monthly rent
    • Beds, baths, property type and features such as parking or step-free entry
    • Sorting by newest, price or available-from date
    • Filters kept in the page address, so a search can be bookmarked or shared

  • A map view from your maps provider

    The app calls your maps provider’s API with a key stored securely. Each address is turned into coordinates when a property is saved, and every listing that matches the filters appears as a pin beside the result list.

    • Price-labeled pins that open a small result card
    • A “search this area” button after the map is panned or zoomed
    • List and map that stay in step, with a toggle on phones
    • Nearby pins grouped into clusters until you zoom in

  • Saved searches and new-match emails

    Visitors sign in, save the filters and map area they’re using and choose how often to hear about it. A scheduled job looks for listings that went live since the last email and sends only those — and nothing when there’s nothing new.

    • Each visitor sees and manages only their own searches
    • Daily, weekly or paused, set per search
    • A “save a search like this” button on every property page
    • Pause and delete links in every alert email

  • Results your team keeps current

    Your team updates price and status in the collection grid, and search shows only what’s Coming soon or Available. Saved views bring up listings nobody has checked lately, before a renter asks about a unit that leased last week.

    • A saved view of Available listings not verified in 14 days
    • Leased, Sold and Off market listings dropped from results once the status changes
    • The collection assistant tidies area names and fills empty feature fields
    • Properties still missing map coordinates listed for a fix
Data model

The collections behind it

Netiva keeps your records in built-in collections. Here’s a starting structure — the agent adapts it to your prompt, and you can change it any time.

Properties

The homes, lots and apartments you own or represent, with the facts searchers filter on.

  • Address (required) Turned into map coordinates through your maps API when saved Text
  • Area (required) Relation to Areas
  • Property type (required) Single-family, Townhouse, Condo, Apartment or Land Text
  • Bedrooms (required) 0 for studios and land Number
  • Bathrooms (required) Half baths count as 0.5 Number
  • Features Pets allowed, Parking, Elevator, Step-free entry or In-unit laundry; each is a filter Text
  • Description Listing copy for the property page; describe the home, not who should live there Paragraph
  • Map coordinates Latitude and longitude filled from the geocoding result Text

Availability

Each time a property comes on the market, with the price and status that search depends on.

  • Property (required) Relation to Properties
  • Listing type (required) Sale or Rent Text
  • Price (required) Asking price for sales, monthly rent for rentals Number
  • Status (required) Coming soon, Available, Pending, Sold, Leased or Off market; search shows the first two Text
  • Available from Move-in or possession date Date
  • Went live at (required) Compared with each saved search’s last alert to find new matches Date & time
  • Last verified (required) When the team last confirmed price and status Date
  • Cover photo Shown on result cards Image

Areas

The neighborhoods, towns or communities you cover, used as a filter and to position the map.

  • Name (required) Text
  • City (required) Text
  • Center latitude (required) Where the map recenters when a searcher picks this area Number
  • Center longitude (required) Number
  • Map zoom How closely the map zooms in on the area Number

Saved searches

What each signed-in visitor asked to hear about, and when they last heard.

  • Name (required) Chosen by the visitor, such as “2-bed rentals near the river” Text
  • Searcher (required) Filled in from the signed-in visitor Text
  • Area Blank searches every area Relation to Areas
  • Max price Asking price or monthly rent, depending on the listing type Number
  • Min bedrooms Number
  • Other filters Listing type, property type, features and map area, kept as the search page’s query string Text
  • Alert frequency (required) Daily, Weekly or Paused Text
  • Last alerted at Only listings that went live after this time go in the next email Date & time

Required field. Types are Netiva collection field types.

Screens

Pages and screens to start with

A typical first version. Ask the agent for more, or annotate the preview to change any of them.

  • Search

    Filters on one side, results and a map on the other; on phones, a toggle switches between the list and the map. The match count and pins update as filters change.

    Public

  • Property page

    The cover photo, price or rent, beds, baths, features, available-from date and the description, plus a small map and a button that saves a search for similar homes nearby.

    Public

  • New this week

    Listings that went live in the last seven days, newest first, with a prompt to save a search so the next ones arrive by email.

    Public

  • My searches

    Each visitor’s saved searches with their filters and alert frequency, and buttons to run, pause or delete one.

    Signed-in users

  • Inventory check

    Available listings not verified recently, properties without coordinates and a count of listings by status, so the team knows what to fix first.

    Your team

  • Search demand

    Saved searches grouped by area, max price and bedrooms, next to how many available listings match each group, to show where demand outruns supply.

    Your team
How it works

From prompt to a live real estate search app

  1. Describe your inventory

    Tell Netiva whether you sell, lease or both, which areas you cover and which filters your searchers ask for. The agent drafts collections for properties, availability, areas and saved searches.

  2. Connect your maps provider

    Add the API key from your maps provider account, where it’s stored securely. The agent wires geocoding into the property form and places pins on the search page.

  3. Load properties and test the search

    Enter properties in the collection grid or have the collection assistant draft and clean them, then try the filters and map in the live preview and annotate anything that feels off.

  4. Publish and switch on alerts

    Publish in one click, connect your own domain on the Starter plan or higher and turn on the scheduled new-match job. Every change is checkpointed, so a filter tweak that misbehaves is easy to roll back.

Why Netiva

Netiva vs a traditional build

Building a real estate search app with Netiva compared with a traditional build
Criterion With Netiva Traditional build
Map search Describe the map you want and the agent connects your maps provider’s API, with your key stored securely A developer integrates a maps SDK, writes the geocoding step and maintains both
New-listing alerts Saved searches checked by a scheduled job that emails each visitor only the new matches Agents copy matching listings into emails for each client by hand
Getting started Describe what you need in chat and watch it take shape in a live preview Hire developers, or stitch together templates, plugins and a hosting plan
Content and data Built-in collections with nine field types, bound straight to your pages Set up and connect a separate database or CMS
Making changes Ask the agent; every change is checkpointed and reversible File a ticket, wait for a sprint, redeploy
Hosting and domain Global hosting and automatic SSL; connect a custom domain from the Starter plan Buy hosting, then install and renew SSL certificates yourself
Code ownership Clean production code you own and can export Locked into a template, plugin or agency setup
Examples

Ways teams use it

  • A rental company with several apartment buildings

    Renters filter by move-in date, bedrooms and pets, then save a search. When the leasing team marks a unit Available, it shows up on the map and in the next morning’s emails; marking it Leased takes it out again.

  • An independent brokerage with its own listings

    The brokerage’s site searches only the homes its agents represent. Buyers who save a search come back through the weekly email, and the demand report shows which areas and price bands are short of listings.

  • A home builder releasing a community in phases

    Homes in the next phase go in as Coming soon, so anyone with a saved search for that community hears about them first. Each home then moves to Available and Pending without anyone editing a web page by hand.

Good to know

Before you build

  • Fair housing applies to filters too

    Filters, tags and listing text should describe the property, not who you picture living there — no “family-friendly” or “adults only”. An assistance animal isn’t a pet, so “no pets” isn’t a blanket refusal. Read copy the assistant drafts or translates before it publishes.

  • The map is advertising too

    You bring the maps provider account and key. Keep layers to the property and what’s around it; leave off school-rating, demographic or crime overlays that steer people toward or away from an area. A shape a visitor draws is fine; boundaries your team draws and labels are ads.

  • Coming soon starts an MLS clock

    The app searches only the properties your team enters; Netiva doesn’t supply listing data. And Coming soon is public marketing: if your agents are MLS participants, showing a listing that way on your own site starts the MLS clock — usually one business day to submit it.

  • Alerts people asked for

    Send new-match emails only to visitors who saved a search and chose a frequency, and keep the pause and delete links in every message. Netiva apps send email, not text messages or push notifications.

Compliance note

Treat filters, map layers, pin labels, result cards and property descriptions like any housing ad under fair housing rules. Let people filter by what the property offers — price, bedrooms, pets, step-free entry — never by who should live there, and avoid tags such as “great for families”, “adults only” or “safe area”. Offer an age filter only for communities that qualify as housing for older persons, and check your state and local rules as well.

FAQ

Questions about building a real estate search app

How does the map work in a real estate map app built with Netiva?

The app calls a maps provider’s API with your own key, stored securely. When your team saves a property, its address is geocoded into latitude and longitude, and the search page shows each matching listing as a pin. Moving the map can bring up a “search this area” button, and phones get a list and map toggle. You choose the provider and pay for your usage — providers bill by map loads and geocoding beyond a free allowance, and some require their attribution on the map.

Can the search include MLS listings from other brokerages?

Not on its own. This app searches the inventory you enter — your own homes, lots or rentals — and Netiva doesn’t supply MLS data. If you’re an MLS member with a licensed IDX or RESO feed, the app can call that feed’s API, but you’ll need to follow the MLS’s display, attribution and refresh rules. That setup is covered on the MLS real estate app page.

How do saved searches and new-match emails work?

A visitor signs in, sets filters and taps save. The search is saved with its filters, area and alert frequency, and only that visitor can see it. A scheduled job runs daily or weekly, finds listings that went live since the search’s last alert and emails them with links back to each property. Searches with no new matches get no email.

Which filters should a real estate finder app leave out under fair housing rules?

Leave out anything that describes people instead of the property, such as “family-friendly”, “ideal for singles” or “adults only”, and labels or map layers based on race, religion or national origin. Price, bedrooms, pets, parking and accessibility features such as step-free entry describe the home. Age filters fit only communities that qualify as housing for older persons. Ask your broker or counsel to review the filter list before launch.

Can buyers and renters use the search app on their phones?

Yes. Netiva builds web apps that open in the phone’s browser, so there’s nothing to install. The search page switches between the result list and the map on small screens, and signed-in visitors can manage their saved searches from any device. Netiva doesn’t build iOS or Android apps, so a phone’s home-screen bookmark is the closest thing to an app icon.

Which Netiva plan do I need to put my search app on my own domain?

You can build and test the whole app on the free plan in the live preview. Connecting a custom domain needs the Starter plan or higher, and higher plans add capacity and features. Calling your maps provider’s API works on every plan, though the provider bills you separately. Check Netiva’s pricing page for the current plans before you publish.

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Drafted with AI assistance from Netiva’s product pages and reviewed by the Netiva team. Example data models, screens and prompts are illustrative starting points, not customer projects.

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