Build a real-estate site on SGEN in 30 minutes

SG-Builder editing a Listings Starter single-listing detail page (title/price/beds/baths/sqft fields + Listing Agent sidebar)

⏱ 30-second summary below · full tutorial ≈ 12 min · skim the step headers to move faster.

In short. Start from the Listings Starter template, fill in three sample listings, two agent profiles, a location map, and a contact form — all in SG-Admin and SG-Builder. SGEN wires the relationships (listing ↔ agent, form ↔ inbox, map ↔ listings) automatically. By the end you have a published *.sgen.com preview site ready for real listings. This tutorial uses static sample data — no MLS or IDX feed needed.

On this page: Before you start · Where to find it · Steps 1-8 · What success looks like · Troubleshooting · Variations · Common pitfalls

Before you start

You need:

An SGEN account. No account yet? Run the 5-minute quickstart first.
About thirty minutes of focused time — done in one sitting.
A current browser (Chrome, Edge, Firefox, or Safari).

Sample listing photos, sample agent headshots, and sample data are all included — no real assets required.

Who this is for: real-estate agents, brokers, and agencies evaluating SGEN; single-broker shops wanting a listings site without a full MLS platform; developers building client previews. Not for live MLS/IDX integration (a separate engagement) or multi-office franchise structures (use SG-Dashboard with separate site records per office).

Where to find it

Every step starts from one of three URLs:

Step	URL	What lives here
1 (template)	`https://dashboard.sgen.com` → New Site	Template picker, naming, preview subdomain
2-7 (build)	`https://.sgen.com/sg-admin`	Pages, Menu Builder, Media, Settings
8 (view)	`https://.sgen.com`	The live public site

Keep all three open in tabs.

Steps

Eight steps. Each names a target time and the success signal. If a step runs long, you are over-customizing — accept the sample data and move on.

1. Pick the Listings Starter template (≤ 2 minutes)

Sign in to SG-Dashboard. Click Create Site. Pick Listings Starter — it ships with a Home page, listings index, single-listing detail template, agent profile template, contact page, and a real-estate-ready footer.

Name the site (e.g., "Your Realty Demo"), accept the suggested preview subdomain, and click Create Site. SGEN provisions in three to five seconds, then loads SG-Admin for the new site — Home, Listings, Sample Listing 1/2/3, Agent A, Agent B, Contact, all in Draft status.

Success signal: SG-Admin loaded with the Listings Starter template in place.

2. Customize the Home page hero (≤ 4 minutes)

Click Pages → Home. The page opens in SG-Builder. Replace the hero headline ("Find your next home") with something specific — "Family homes in [your neighborhood]" works. The hero block has three editable fields: headline, subhead, and CTA button. Leave the background image as the starter default for now.

Click Publish. The status pill switches to Published within five seconds.

Success signal: Home page shows a green Published badge; the hero shows your headline.

3. Add three sample listings (≤ 8 minutes)

Open Pages → Sample Listing 1. The Listings Starter ships with three sample listings using the single-listing detail template. For each one, fill in:

Listing title: an address or name ("123 Maple Street").
Price field: a number ($425,000) or "Contact for price."
Beds / Baths / Sqft: three numbers.
Description: two short paragraphs.
Featured image: click the image slot → Replace to pick from the sample library or upload a photo.

The template handles layout automatically — just fill the fields. Publish each one as you finish. Repeat for Sample Listing 2 and 3. Two minutes per listing max; shape beats finish on the first pass.

Success signal: three Published listings; the Listings index now shows three real entries instead of placeholders.

4. Add two agent profile pages (≤ 4 minutes)

Open Pages → Agent A. The agent profile template has slots for name, role, headshot, bio, phone, email, and a "Listings by this agent" list (auto-populated in step 5).

Fill in sample values (name "Sam Brooks", role "Lead Agent", two-sentence bio, sample phone and email). Click the headshot slot and use a sample image. Publish. Repeat for Agent B.

Success signal: two Published agent profiles; they appear in the footer's "Our Team" list and the Listings index sidebar.

5. Wire each listing to an agent (≤ 3 minutes)

Open each of the three listing detail pages. Each has a sidebar widget labeled Listing Agent — click it, pick an agent from the dropdown, and save.

This wires the listing-to-agent relationship. Agent profile pages now auto-populate "Listings by this agent." The listings index gets per-agent filtering.

Success signal: opening an agent profile shows their tagged listings; opening a listing shows the agent's contact card in the sidebar.

6. Embed a location map (≤ 3 minutes)

Open Pages → Listings. Scroll to the Map Block placeholder at the bottom. Click it → Configure. Set the office coordinate to a placeholder city center — sample listings will appear as pins around it.

The Map Block uses the SGEN Maps module. On starter plans without the Maps module, the block falls back to a static map image with a "Get directions" link. Either way, visitors see a map.

Success signal: the Listings page shows a map with listing pins; panning and zooming work on supporting plans.

7. Wire the contact form and the SEO basics (≤ 4 minutes)

Open Pages → Contact. The Listings Starter ships a form with name, email, phone, message, and a hidden "interested in" field (auto-fills from a listing detail page). Click the form → Settings, set the Recipient email to a monitored inbox, and save.

Then open Settings → SEO:

Site title: "Your Realty — Listings in [city]"
Meta description: one sentence, 150 characters or fewer.
Open Graph image: upload or accept the default.
Sitemap: confirm enabled (it is, by default).
robots.txt: confirm "allow indexing" is on (it is, by default).

Success signal: form recipient is set; SEO fields are populated; sitemap is reachable at https://.sgen.com/sitemap.xml.

8. Publish the site and view it live (≤ 2 minutes)

Walk through Pages. Every public page should show a green Published badge — Home, Listings, Sample Listing 1/2/3, Agent A, Agent B, Contact. Click into any Draft page and hit Publish.

Click View Site. Walk through the live site: Home → Listings → a listing → the agent sidebar → Contact → submit a test form.

Success signal: a fully working real-estate site at https://.sgen.com — Home, listings index, three detail pages, two agent profiles, an embedded map, and a working contact form. Total elapsed: ~30 minutes.

What success looks like

At the end of the tutorial you have:

A published *.sgen.com site with a customized Home page hero.
A Listings index that auto-populates from three published listing detail pages.
Three listing detail pages with price, beds/baths/sqft, description, featured image, and agent contact card.
Two agent profile pages linked to their respective listings.
An embedded location map on the Listings page.
A contact form wired to a real inbox.
Site title, meta description, OG image, sitemap, and robots.txt configured.

Quick smoke check: click a listing, see the agent sidebar; click the agent name, see their profile with listings; submit the contact form, confirm delivery to the recipient inbox; paste the preview URL in a social post, confirm OG image and description render.

What to do if it does not work

Listings index is empty even though you published three listings. Open each listing detail page → Settings → Tags. The index auto-pulls pages tagged listing; without the tag, the page is not picked up. Add the tag, save, and refresh the index.

Map Block shows a placeholder instead of a map. The Maps module is plan-gated on starter tiers. The static placeholder is the documented fallback — it includes a working "Get directions" link. Upgrade the plan to get an interactive map.

Contact form submits but no email arrives. Confirm the Recipient email field is set (Contact → Form → Settings). Check the submissions log at Modules → Forms → Submissions — the message will be there even if the email did not deliver. Some spam filters block noreply@sgen.com; add it to your allowlist.

Agent profile's "Listings by this agent" section is empty. The relationship runs from listing → agent, not the other way. Open each listing detail page, scroll to the Listing Agent sidebar widget, and confirm an agent is selected.

Sample data used in this tutorial

Listings

Title	Price	Beds	Baths	Sqft	Image
123 Maple Street	$425,000	3	2	1,640	sample-house-1.jpg
47 Oak Lane	$619,000	4	3	2,310	sample-house-2.jpg
The Garden House	$385,000	2	2	1,180	sample-house-3.jpg

Agents

Name	Role	Phone	Email
Lead agent	Lead Agent	(555) 123-4567	agent@yourrealty.example
Managing broker	Broker	(555) 234-5678	broker@yourrealty.example

Variations

Once the basic shape works:

Add per-listing photo galleries. In SG-Builder, add a gallery block to the listing detail page and point it at a Media library folder.
Add a market-news section. Posts → New Post, create a "Market Updates" category. The footer auto-pulls the latest three posts.
Add a multi-office structure. Use SG-Dashboard to create separate site records per office, then wire a shared header via SGEN Globals.
Add lead-scoring on the contact form. The Forms module supports hidden score fields and conditional routing. Full detail: Forms module reference (in docs).
Add a virtual tour embed. Drop an iframe from Matterport, YouTube, or any standard tour provider into the listing description body.
Add Fair Housing and agency disclosure text. Settings → Footer → persistent footer text. Add your jurisdiction's required language there.
Add an MLS or IDX feed. Requires a licensed feed agreement and the SGEN IDX module. Documented separately.

Common pitfalls

Pitfall 1 — over-customizing before the shape is in place. Real listing detail is the second pass. Accept the sample data, get the shape live, then refine.

Pitfall 2 — uploading low-resolution listing photos. The listing detail template displays featured images at 1600×900. Upload at 2000×1200 or larger; SGEN's media pipeline serves the right size per device.

Pitfall 3 — forgetting the "listing" tag on new listings. The starter listings ship with it pre-applied. Any new listing you create (Pages → New Page) needs the tag added manually under Settings → Tags, or it won't appear on the index.

Pitfall 4 — wiring the contact form to a personal inbox. Use a shared inbox the team monitors during business hours. A real-estate lead that sits for 48 hours is a lead that goes elsewhere.