The problem

Agents and leadership both felt it. The old website didn't match our new branding, and it didn't feel like the company we were becoming. We wanted to be seen as a luxury brand, and the site was working against us.

Who the site was for

The site had to work for renters, buyers, agents, landlords and developers. We knew our main audiences were buyers, renters and agents, and that a lot more people came to the site to find a home or rental than to sell one. That shaped every decision. Leadership and agents also gave input as we went.

What we changed

We knew the first thing to update was the search bar. It had always been in the same spot, but the old one split "find a home" and "sell your home," which wasn't how most of our visitors used it. The new one put everything in one search, so you could look for agents, homes and neighborhoods without choosing a path first.

Right under the listings we put the three departments people needed most: Sales, Property Management and Rentals. We also added individual neighborhood pages.

From prototype to build

Development took some back and forth. We wanted translucent tags on the listings, and it took a few rounds with the developer before they looked the way I'd pictured. I kept at it because on a luxury site, the small stuff is what makes it feel polished.

The result

Leadership and agents loved the look and how easy it was to use, and the agents were excited to send their clients to it. It also gave us a site we could feel confident recruiting with, including the Join Our Team page, so we could compete with other brokerages in Chicago. Agent numbers kept growing after the rebrand and the redesign.