The four price bands

  • DIY builders ($10–$50/mo): Squarespace/Wix with an IDX widget. Fine as a business card; effectively invisible to search and AI.
  • Template IDX platforms ($100–$300/mo): Real Geeks (~$299/mo), AgentFire entry tiers (from ~$129/mo). Real functionality, shared templates, rented.
  • Premium platforms ($300–$1,500/mo + setup): Sierra Interactive, Luxury Presence. Custom-designed fronts on SaaS backends; independent reviews put typical Luxury Presence first years at $7,000–$23,000 all-in. Still rented.
  • Custom builds you own ($3,000–$15,000+ once): Agent Image and similar shops, or bundled with marketing (our builds are included with Local Hero at $3,999/mo, or standalone projects). Highest upfront, only band where the asset is yours.

All figures are mid-2026 market ranges from vendor sites and independent comparisons — confirm current quotes.

What actually drives the price

Four things: design depth (template reskin vs. real custom work), IDX/MLS integration (live listing search adds platform costs and compliance work), content architecture (neighborhood pages, guides, and schema are labor — and the part that makes a site findable), and who does the marketing after launch. A site is a printing press; most quotes don't include anyone writing the newspaper.

The rent-vs-own math nobody shows you

A $500/month platform costs $18,000 over three years and leaves you with nothing portable. A $9,000 owned build costs half that over the same period and leaves you holding a ranking, cited asset — plus every dollar of authority it accumulated. Platforms win on month one; ownership wins on every month after the first year.

The exception: if you genuinely need a full CRM/app suite and will use it, a platform's bundle can pencil out. Just price the exit before you sign — the rebuild-and-redirect cost is part of the platform's true price.

What we charge (since we're arguing everyone should publish pricing)

A custom, schema-first, AI-citable site is included with our $3,999/month Local Hero retainer (which also covers GBP, local SEO, 15 neighborhoods, content, and social guidance), available as a standalone project if you're on the $999 plan. You own the site outright either way. That's the whole answer — no discovery call required to hear a number.