RealTown's RealTalk

John wrote:
Does anyone have a recommendation for the best web hosting site?
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John, you'd need to be more specific about what you need for me to give
your question a well-informed answer. However, for basic web hosting,
I've used Pair.com for many years. Pair has a variety of plans ranging
from $5.95/month to $49.95/month.
http://www.pair.com/services/web_hosting/

Suzanne
--
Suzanne Hathcock Stephens
Point2Agent Qualified Web Site Designer
http://www.SuzStephens.com
360-666-0881

I've been very happy with AllWebCo.com. They have great plans that offer statistics on traffic to your website. They also offer lots of great templates to build your site from. The support team has always been fast to answer my questions.

Shari Peterson

OneDayFunding.com

Suzanne,

I thought it was interesting to see that you are a certified Point2 designer but you are advocating pair.com. I am currently using Point2 but there is a lot I would like to change - I have found the editing feature to be difficult to use. Would you recommend a change to pair.com?

Thanks,

Alan Dusman

Alan Dusman wrote -

"I thought it was interesting to see that you are a certified Point2 designer but you are advocating pair.com. I am currently using Point2 but there is a lot I would like to change - I have found the editing feature to be difficult to use. Would you recommend a change to pair.com?"

I think there is some confusion here. When you have a templated web site being provided by a certain vendor, that vendor does the hosting of those templates for all subscribers, ie., Point2, AA, Z57, etc. As a subscriber, you don't have the ability to pick up your templated site and go elsewhere. They are not selling you the template at all, but are merely "renting" it to you along with the rest of their system. They are giving you "soup to nuts" service, but if you don't like what they offer, you will have to "dine" elsewhere. :-)

Now there are sites on the web where you can actually purchase a complete template site (anywhere from free to around $100 or so) - meaning buying all of the HTML coded pages and graphics - where you can "flesh" it out on your own computer at your leisure or hire someone else to do that for you. (They are not truly custom sites, as this template can be purchased over and over by others too.) Once bought, you will have to know how to customize it (without breaking it) and much more to bring that template "skeleton" to life. When you have it the way you want it, then you will need to find a host web server to now put your new site up on so that it can be visited by others. This is where some place like pair.com or even Internet Crusade's hosting would come into the picture.

Hope that helps. Feel free to contact me if you have more questions.

Win

************************
Win Singleton, CRB, e-PRO
Summit Web Design
(703) 536-7631
wins@summitweb.com
http://www.summitweb.com
"Custom web site design that gets results!"
************************

Currently, I use MediaTemplate for all my hosting. I've been with them for almost a year after switching from Godaddy. They off fast service and hosting is always up. They also have a huge forum with lots of helpful info.

Hi...I use "Real Pro" Systems, and am very satisfied with it. The cost is $99/month & approx. $1,000 to set up. The site is user-friendly and I have had a very good response from my website. Good luck! Shari Postel, Broker Associate, Re/Max Northwest, Spring, TX

ajdusman wrote:
I thought it was interesting to see that you are a certified Point2
designer but you are advocating pair.com. I am currently using Point2
but there is a lot I would like to change - I have found the editing
feature to be difficult to use. Would you recommend a change to pair.com?
____________________________________________

Alan, please note that in my response yesterday, I wrote, "you'd need to
be more specific about what you need for me to give
your question a well-informed answer." Had John asked specifically for a
recommendation of a real estate site system, then I would have
recommended Point2Agent, not Pair.

Pair provides hosting only and is geared toward professional Web
developers. It is not a template based real estate site system like
Point2. Using a hosting service like Pair requires Web development,
design and coding skills. While I use Pair for my own web site, my
husband's guitar business site, and other non-real estate sites, I
definitely would not recommend it to the average real estate agent and
would recommend Point2Agent instead. In fact, when I am creating custom
forms for my Point2Agent clients, I host them on Pair and i-frame them
into my clients' Point2 sites.

Suzanne
--
Suzanne Hathcock Stephens
Point2Agent Qualified Web Site Designer
http://www.SuzStephens.com
360-666-0881

I am curretnly using Alamode, product is Agent Xsites. There is much I like about the templated site and my ability to control much of it. The only thing it does not do is allow me an IDX feed from my MLS...a big miss. It allows me a link to Realtor.com from which potential buyers ortsellers can search but not quite the right thing.

I hate the thought of switching everything again, while they don't host my domain name they do host my email address and changing it all makes me cringe. Does nayone have any suggestions as to whom might allow this software to get an IDX feed?

Lea Van Winkle

lea@pleasantvalleygroup.com

Lea,

Regarding Agent Xsites and their IDX feed from your MLS... we have the same problem, but I understand all MLS Systems are supposed to be moving to a common background called "RETS". Ours is currently an FTP, which Alamode does not recognize. Anyway, my guess is that when your MLS begins using the RETS system, as I understand NAR has mandated, you should be able to do what you want. I have heard that there is an intermediary that can take care of you in the meantime at a charge of $35/month... it may have been homes.com??? (just for the IDX link)

Randy Hoffine
Coos Bay, OR