Overview

The Sky Realty website does two jobs. On the public website, buyers and renters search your homes by price, beds, type and neighborhood, browse them on the town map, open a full photo gallery, work out the monthly cost and book a viewing or ask a question. Sellers ask for a free valuation. In the agency admin, your office turns every one of those requests into a lead, assigns it to an agent, books the viewing and keeps the listings up to date.

Everything lives on one server. There is no outside listing feed and no separate CRM: what you save in the admin is on the website at once.

How the pieces fit together

The office manager sets the agency up once. Visitors' requests arrive as leads, agents book and run the viewings, and published listings show on the website at once.

Who does what

These are examples. The office manager can give any person any mix of rights (8.3).

A lead from first click to closed

A viewing request becomes a lead for the listing agent. Saving the first note marks it Contacted; booking the viewing marks it Viewing booked.

1. Getting Started

1.1 Signing in

Click Staff sign in at the bottom of any page of the website, or go straight to /AdminLogin. Enter your user name and password and press Sign in.

The staff sign-in page.

• A wrong user name or password shows Wrong user name or password. After six wrong tries for the same user name within five minutes, sign-in pauses: Too many attempts. Please wait a few minutes.
• Your session lasts 8 hours and renews while you work. Press Sign out on a shared computer.
• If the office manager gives you a new password or switches your sign-in off, you are signed out everywhere.
• A person whose Can sign in box is off cannot sign in at all.

A wrong password shows a message under the fields.

1.2 The layout

Every admin page has the same frame: header, menu and the page itself.

• Search boxes suggest names and addresses as you type. Pick one from the list or keep typing; the list below updates by itself.
• Dates: Today, 7 days, 30 days and All set a period quickly, or pick your own From and To dates.
• Every list shows 20 rows a page. Use ← Previous and Next →.
• Windows (a lead, a listing, a viewing) close with Cancel, Close, the ×, a click outside, or Esc.
• Short messages such as Note saved. or Done. appear at the bottom of the screen for a few seconds.

1.3 Confirmations

Anything that cannot be undone, or that tells a client something, asks first. The question names the person or the home, and the safe button is on the left.

Deleting a listing asks first. Keep it closes the question and changes nothing.

1.4 What you see depends on your rights

Each person has rights per area: None, View or Edit, and for Listings and Leads one extra right (Publish and Assign). The menu shows only the areas you may open. With View only, buttons that change things are missing and windows open read-only, with View instead of Edit in the lists.

Agents usually see only their own listings and clients. Their Dashboard says showing your own listings and clients, and the Leads page adds You see your own leads and unassigned ones.

Daniel Ortega's Dashboard: only his listings, his clients and unassigned leads. Settings and Users are not in his menu.

1.5 On a phone or tablet

The admin works on any phone or tablet. On a narrow screen the menu folds behind the ☰ button at the top left, and lists turn into cards with the column names beside each value.

Dashboard, the menu and Leads on a phone.

2. Dashboard

The Dashboard opens after you sign in. It greets you by first name, shows today's date and sums up your day. Every panel depends on your rights: without Leads, for example, the lead tile and panel are not shown.

The office manager's Dashboard.

2.1 The numbers at the top

Click one of the first four tiles to open its list. Add a listing (if you may edit listings) and View site sit above the tiles.

2.2 Today's viewings and newest leads

• Today's viewings lists today's visits in time order with the home, the client, the agent and the status. Cancelled visits are left out. All viewings opens the Viewings page.
• Newest leads shows the six most recent leads with their type, home and how long ago they came in. Click one to open it on the Leads page.

2.3 Needs attention

Lower part of the Dashboard.

This panel lists only what applies today. Click a line to open the matching listings.

2.4 Most viewed

The five live listings with the most page views, with their price, neighborhood, views and saves. All listings opens the Listings page.

3. Listings

Every home for sale or rent, live or not. Drafts stay hidden from the website until someone with the Publish right puts them live.

Listings, newest first. Drafts come first in the default order.

3.1 Finding homes

• Search looks in the street, the headline and the listing number (for example L-1074).
• Deal: sale and rent, for sale only, or for rent only.
• Status: Draft, For sale (live), Under offer, Sold, Rented or Off market.
• Neighborhood and Agent narrow the list. Agents who see only their own homes have no Agent filter.
• Sort: newest or oldest first, price high to low or low to high, or most viewed.

Status set to Under offer.

Each row shows the cover photo, street, listing number, neighborhood, type and bedrooms, the price, status (and Featured), the agent, page views and saves, and the day it was listed. Press Edit (or View with view-only rights) to open the listing.

3.2 Details

The listing window opens on Details.

1. Press Add a listing, or Edit on a row.
2. Fill in the Headline (for example Bright condo near the river path) and the Street address.
3. Choose the Neighborhood, the Deal (For sale or For rent), the Home type (House, Townhouse, Condo or Loft) and type a Style.
4. Enter the Price: the asking price, or the monthly rent for a rental.
5. Enter bedrooms (0 = studio), bathrooms, interior and lot size in square feet, year built, parking spaces and HOA per month.
6. For a sale, enter the Property tax per year; the monthly-cost estimate on the website uses it. For a rental this field becomes Available from.
7. Choose the Agent. Viewing requests and questions about this home go to that person.
8. Press Save. Open on the website shows the public page in a new tab.

The server checks the form and names the first problem: Enter the street address., Write a short headline…, Enter the asking price. (or monthly rent), Enter the interior size in square feet. or Check the year built.

A new listing starts as a Draft. The button reads Add listing.

3.3 Description and features

• Description: leave an empty line between paragraphs.
• Features: one per line. They show as ticks on the listing.
• The website's Must have filters look for these words: Garage, Garden, Pool, Waterfront, Fireplace, Balcony, In-unit laundry and Home office. Use them exactly so the home is found.

3.4 Photos

• The first photo is the cover on cards and on the map. Use the arrows under each photo to change the order, and the bin to take one off.
• Upload a photo: JPG, PNG or WebP. Large photos are made 1600 pixels wide in your browser before upload.
• Or pick from the library: click a picture to add it.
• A listing holds up to 24 photos. The Dashboard warns about live homes with fewer than 3.
• Photos are kept when you press Save.

3.5 Map pin

Click the map where the home is. Drag the pin to move it and scroll to zoom. The position appears above the map. The pin shows on the website's map with the price on it.

3.6 Floor plan

The floor plan shows on the listing page as a 3D view that visitors can turn, and as a 2D drawing. Sizes are in feet. Each floor is drawn on its own.

1. Press Create from beds & baths for a starting layout. It uses the home type, bedrooms, bathrooms, size, parking and features from the Details and Description tabs. Two-storey houses and townhouses get a Main floor and an Upper floor.
2. Click a room to select it. Drag it to move it, or drag the small square in its corner to make it bigger or smaller. On the right you can change its Name, Type and exact size.
3. To add something, pick Add room, Add door, Add window or Add opening (a gap with no door), then click the drawing. Doors, windows and openings go on the wall closest to where you click.
4. Select a room, door or window and press Delete on the keyboard or the red button on the right to remove it.
5. Press Show 3D preview to see it the way visitors will, then Save.

• + Floor adds a floor (up to 4). With no room selected you can rename the floor or remove it.
• Fit to view centers the drawing again. Clear empties the plan; a listing with no rooms shows no floor plan section.
• Room types set the floor color: wood for living areas, tile for kitchens and baths, carpet for bedrooms, steps for stairs and a glass rail for balconies.
• The website notes that the layout is approximate and asks the visitor to contact the agent for the measured plan.

3.7 Open houses

1. Press Add an open house.
2. Pick the day, the start and the end time. The × removes a row.
3. Press Save.

Open houses show on the listing and as a badge on the cards (for example Open Thu 1 PM) while the home is live. Past dates drop off by themselves. Each one needs an end time after its start, or you see Each open house needs a start and an end time after it.

3.8 History and status

History of a home that was listed, cut in price and went under offer.

The History tab appears once a home has been live. It is written for you when you save, and the website shows it as Price history:

Listing statuses and the history line each change adds.

• Status and Featured on the home page need the Publish right. Without it they are greyed out with the note Status and Featured need the Publish right. New listings start as drafts.
• Putting a draft Live writes Listed and starts the days-on-market count from that day.
• When you close a sale or rental, type the final figure in Sold or rented price; the history uses it. Choosing Sold on a rental saves it as Rented, and the other way round.
• Featured homes appear under Homes we love this week on the home page. Featured switches off by itself when a home is sold, rented, taken off market or back in draft.

3.9 Deleting a listing

Press Delete in the listing window and confirm. You need the Publish right. The listing leaves the website and the admin; its leads and viewings stay. To keep the record, choose Off market instead.

3.10 Agents and their own listings

An agent edits one of their own homes. Status and Featured are locked.

An agent limited to their own records sees only the homes where they are the agent. New listings they add are theirs automatically, and the Agent field is fixed to their name. Trying to save another agent's home is refused: That listing belongs to someone else.

4. Leads

Every request from the website lands here: viewing requests, questions about a home, valuation requests from sellers and messages from the Contact page and agent profiles. The menu badge counts leads still marked New.

Open leads, newest first.

4.1 The four kinds of lead

If the agent is hidden or there is no match, the lead arrives Unassigned.

4.2 Finding a lead

• Search by name, email, phone or home.
• Type: all types or one kind.
• Status starts on Open (not closed). Choose one status, or Everything to include closed leads.
• Agent: everyone, Unassigned, or one person.
• The period buttons and From/To filter by the day the lead arrived.

Type set to Valuation.

The Asked for column shows the requested viewing time, the question, or the seller's timing.

4.3 Opening a lead

A new viewing request.

Press Open. The window shows the type and status, when it arrived, email and phone (click to write or call), the home with its price and status (click to open it on the website), the time asked for, the agent, and the visitor's message.

A valuation: the address and the home's details as the seller typed them.

4.4 Status

The admin moves a lead forward for you; you can always set it by hand.

Click New, Contacted, Viewing booked or Closed in the window. The message Marked contacted. confirms it. You need Edit on Leads, and the lead must be yours unless you see everyone's.

4.5 Assigning

• With the Assign right, choose a person (or Unassigned) and press Assign. A note Assigned to … is added to the lead.
• An agent without Assign sees Take this lead on unassigned leads. It makes the lead theirs. If someone was faster: Someone already has this lead.
• Until an agent takes an unassigned lead, they can read it but not change its status or add notes: Take the lead first, or ask the office manager.

An agent sees their own leads and the unassigned ones, and has no Agent filter.

An agent opens an unassigned message.

4.6 Notes

1. Type in Add a note (up to 500 characters).
2. Press Save note.

Notes list newest first with who wrote them and when. The first note on a New lead marks it Contacted. Assigning, booking and finishing viewings add their own notes, so the lead tells its whole story.

4.7 Booking a viewing from a lead

On a lead about a live home, press Book a viewing. The Viewings page opens with the form filled in from the request: home, agent, the day and time asked for, the client's name, phone and email.

The banner repeats what the visitor asked for.

When you press Book viewing, the lead becomes Viewing booked, gets the agent if it had none, and receives a note with the day, time and agent. The button needs Edit on both Leads and Viewings.

4.8 Deleting a lead

Press Delete lead and confirm. You need the Assign right. The contact details, message and notes are removed for good; booked viewings stay on the calendar. To keep the record, mark it Closed instead.

5. Viewings

Booked visits to homes, grouped by day. The menu badge counts today's booked viewings.

The next 7 days, day by day.

5.1 The day-by-day list

• The list starts on Next 7 days. Use Today, Next 30 days, All or your own dates.
• Search by client or home; filter by Status and Agent.
• Each day has a heading (TODAY, TOMORROW, then the date). Each row shows the time and length, the home, the client with phone or email, the agent and the status.

5.2 Booking a viewing

1. Press Book a viewing (or book from a lead, 4.7).
2. Choose the Home (live homes) and the Agent who shows it.
3. Pick the Day, the Time and the Length: 15, 30 or 45 minutes, 1 hour or 1 hour 30.
4. Enter the Client name and, if you have them, a Phone and Email. Add a Note for the agent if useful.
5. Press Book viewing. The message reads, for example, Booked Sat, Oct 17 at 10:15 AM.

The server refuses a booking without a home (Choose the home.), without an agent (Choose who shows the home.), without a day and time, with a time that has already passed, without the client's name, or with a wrong email.

5.3 Time clashes

An agent cannot be in two places. If the new time overlaps another Booked viewing of the same agent, the form says so, for example Daniel Ortega already has a viewing at 10:00 AM that day. Change the time, the length or the agent.

5.4 Done, no-show or cancelled

Each booked row has four buttons:

If the viewing came from a lead, the lead gets a note such as Viewing done. or Viewing cancelled: …

A finished viewing shows Reopen instead of the four buttons.

Reopen puts a viewing back to Booked. If another viewing of that agent now uses the time, you see Another viewing now uses that time. Edit the time first.

5.5 Agents and their own viewings

Agents limited to their own records see only their viewings, can book only their own homes, and are always the agent on what they book. Changing someone else's viewing is refused: That viewing belongs to someone else.

6. Neighborhoods

The areas of your town. They feed the search filters, the labels on the map, the neighborhood cards on the home page and the About the neighborhood part of each listing, in the order shown here.

Six neighborhoods, each with its map colour and number of homes.

6.1 Finding and ordering

• Search by name or text; Status shows shown, hidden or both.
• The arrows on each row move a neighborhood up or down. They are hidden while a search or filter is on, so the order is always set on the full list.
• Homes counts the listings in each neighborhood.

6.2 Adding or editing

1. Press Add a neighborhood, or Edit on a row.
2. Type the Name and pick the Colour on the map.
3. Write the Short text (cards and filters) and About the neighborhood (shown on its listings).
4. Click the map where the name label should sit.
5. Choose the Picture on the home page.
6. Leave Show on the website ticked, and press Save.

6.3 Hiding or deleting

Untick Show on the website to take a neighborhood out of the filters and the home page without losing anything. Delete works only when no listing is in it; otherwise you see, for example, 8 listings are in Old Harbor. Move them first, or hide the neighborhood instead.

7. Agents

The people shown on the website's Agents page and on their listings, in this order. Switch someone off to hide them without losing their history. If you call your team Realtors, Brokers or Advisors (10.2), the menu, the website and this page use that word.

Each row shows the neighborhoods covered, the sign-in name and the number of listings.

7.1 Profile and photo

1. Press Add a person, or Edit on a row.
2. Fill in the full name, job title, years in real estate, phone, email, license number, languages (separate with commas) and a short bio.
3. Tick the Neighborhoods they cover. Valuation requests go to the first shown person who covers the area, in the order of this page.
4. Pick a Photo: one of the portraits, Initials only, or upload one (JPG, PNG or WebP).
5. Leave Show on the website ticked, and press Save.

7.2 The Sign-in section

Office managers see a Sign-in section at the bottom of the window. It gives the agent their own admin account in one step:

• Type a User name (3 characters or more) and a New password (8 or more), keep Can sign in ticked, and save.
• The new account gets the agent defaults: Listings, Leads and Viewings Edit, Neighborhoods View, and own records only. The line under the fields says so.
• To change those rights, follow Change rights in Users (8.4).
• A new password, or unticking Can sign in, signs the person out everywhere. You cannot switch your own sign-in off.

7.3 Order, hiding and removing

• The arrows set the order on the website (hidden while a search or filter is on).
• Untick Show on the website when someone leaves: their profile disappears, their history stays, and new requests about their listings arrive unassigned.
• Remove works only when the person has no listings: … still has 7 listings. Give them to someone else first, or switch … off instead. Removing makes their leads unassigned. Their sign-in, if any, stays but is no longer linked to a profile.

8. Users & Rights

Everyone who signs in to the admin. Only office managers open this page.

Each user with their login, a summary of their access and whether they can sign in.

8.1 Adding a user

1. Press Add a user.
2. Type the Full name, a User name of 3 characters or more, the Job title and a Password of 8 characters or more.
3. Tick Office manager (every right) for someone who runs the office, or set the rights below.
4. Keep Can sign in ticked and press Save. The message says Saved. Changes apply on their next click.

The user name cannot be changed later. The server refuses a taken user name (That user name is taken.) and short passwords. The site holds up to 60 users.

8.2 Changing or switching off a user

• Press Edit on a row. Leave New password empty to keep the current one.
• Untick Can sign in to stop someone signing in without deleting their history.
• A new password or switching off signs that person out everywhere.
• You cannot remove your own office manager rights or switch yourself off. Ask another office manager.

8.3 Rights by area

Rights per area, and what "own records only" limits.

Everyone can see their own actions under My activity and change their name and password in My account.

8.4 Agents and “own records only”

Daniel Ortega's account with the agent defaults.

1. In Is this person one of the agents? choose their profile. The rights fill in with the agent defaults.
2. Tick Only sees their own listings, leads and viewings for an agent. Leave it off for office staff who work for everyone.
3. Change any right you like: an agent can also run the office, or have Assign on Leads.
4. Press Save.

9. Activity & My Account

9.1 Activity log

Everything staff and the website do, including actions the server refused: sign-ins, saved listings, status changes, notes, viewings and uploads. Each line shows when, who, the action, the item and the result (Done or Refused).

• Filter by Person (with suggestions, including Website), Search, Outcome and the period.
• People without the Activity log right see My activity: their own actions only.
• The newest 5,000 entries are kept.

9.2 My account

1. Change your Name if needed.
2. To change your password, type your Current password and a New password of 8 characters or more.
3. Press Save.

A new password signs you out on your other devices; this one stays signed in. A wrong current password shows Your current password isn't right. What you can do on the right sums up your rights.

10. Settings

Agency details, website text, mortgage defaults and office hours. Only office managers open this page. The buttons at the top jump to each section; one Save settings button at the bottom saves them all.

10.1 Agency

Name, Town, Tagline, Office address, Phone, Email and the License line shown in the footer. They appear in the website header, top bar, footer and Contact page.

10.2 Look and words

• Accent colour: buttons, links and highlights on the website.
• Website theme: Light or Dark for new visitors. Visitors can switch with the moon button; their browser remembers it.
• One agent / Many agents: call your team Agents, Realtors, Brokers or Advisors. The menu, the website and the filters follow.

10.3 Website text

The home page headline and introduction, the About us headline and text on the home page, and the headline and text of the Sell page.

10.4 Mortgage calculator defaults

The numbers every estimate starts with: Interest rate, Loan term (30, 20 or 15 years), Down payment, Property tax when a listing has none, Home insurance a year and Mortgage insurance below 20% down. The Note under every estimate appears under each figure on the website. Visitors can change the numbers for themselves; your defaults stay.

10.5 Office hours and viewings

• Tick each open day and set its hours. The website's top bar says, for example, Office open today until 6:00 PM, and the Contact page lists the week.
• Viewing length (15, 30, 45 minutes or 1 hour) sets the step between the times visitors can pick.
• First viewing and Viewings end by set the viewing window.
• Time zone shows the office's current time; every date and time in the admin and on the website follows it.
• 24-hour clock shows 14:30 instead of 2:30 PM.

Times start where both the office hours and the viewing window are open, step by the viewing length, end so the visit finishes in time, and begin at least 2 hours from now.

The website offers up to the next 14 open days. A day with no time left is skipped.

11. The Public Website

What buyers, renters and sellers see. Knowing it helps you answer their questions and check your listings.

11.1 Home

The top bar shows whether the office is open, the phone and the email. The big search takes Buy or Rent, a street or neighborhood, a maximum price and beds. Below come the counts of homes for sale and rent, neighborhoods and agents.

Homes we love this week: the listings marked Featured.

Further down: the neighborhood cards, the map, the monthly-cost teaser, your About us text, the newest rentals and the selling section. The heart and moon at the top open saved homes and switch between light and dark.

11.2 Search and filters

• Buy / Rent, a search box for street, area or listing number, minimum and maximum price, beds and home type.
• More filters: baths, size, neighborhoods, Must have features, and Show: open houses only, homes under offer (on by default) and recently sold or rented.
• List, Split (list and map side by side) or Map, and a sort order.
• Cards show badges: New for homes listed in the last 7 days and Open … for an open house in the next 7 days.

11.3 The map

Every live home sits on the town map with its price on the pin. Visitors zoom with the buttons or the mouse wheel and drag to move. Search this area limits the list to what is on screen. A click on a pin shows a small card with the photo, price and facts.

11.4 A listing

• Show all photos opens the gallery full screen. Arrows, the thumbnails or the keyboard move between photos.
• The price, with Est. …/mo for homes for sale, the beds, baths, size and lot, Save and Share.
• The description, the features as ticks, Facts, Floor plan, Open houses, Location with the neighborhood text, Monthly cost, Price history (Rent history for rentals) and Similar homes.

The 2D plan shows first. 3D view lets visitors drag to turn the home, use + and − to zoom, and tap a room to see its size. The room buttons below and the floor buttons work in both views.

Monthly cost starts from your mortgage defaults and the listing's property tax and HOA.

11.5 Viewing requests and questions

1. The visitor picks Book a viewing or Ask a question in the agent's card.
2. For a viewing they choose a Day and a Time (10.5), then type their name, email, an optional phone and an optional message.
3. Request this time sends it. The card thanks them and says the agent will confirm by phone or email.

The request arrives in Leads at once. Homes under offer, sold or rented offer only Ask a question.

11.6 Mortgage calculator

Monthly payment works out principal and interest, property tax, home insurance, HOA and mortgage insurance, with a chart of each year's payments. How much can I afford? turns income, debts and savings into a price, with a button to see the homes up to that price.

Based on the common 28/36 rule. Your note from Settings appears under the figures.

11.7 Agents, Sell and Contact

The Agents page lists the shown agents in your order, with a filter by neighborhood. Each profile has the bio, languages, license, homes on the market, recently sold and rented homes, and a Message … form that becomes a Message lead for that agent.

The Sell page asks for the street address, neighborhood (or Not sure), home type, beds, baths, size and when they would like to sell. It becomes a Valuation lead for the agent who covers that neighborhood.

The Contact page shows the office, phone, email and opening hours, and a form with a topic (buying, renting, selling or letting, something else). It becomes an unassigned Message lead.

11.8 Saved homes and new-listing emails

• The heart on a card or listing saves the home in the visitor's own browser; no account is needed. The heart at the top opens Saved homes. Each save also counts in the listing's saves.
• The New listings by email box at the bottom of each page stores the address in data/subscribers.json. The site does not send email itself: use the list with your own mailing tool.

11.9 On a phone

Home, the menu and a listing on a phone.

On a phone the map fills the screen; List switches back to the cards.

12. Installation & Setup

For the person who puts the site on your server and the office manager who signs in first.

12.1 The first sign-in

A new site fills in the starting office-manager account and shows a hint.

1. Open /AdminLogin. On a new site the fields are filled in and a hint lists the starting accounts.
2. Press Sign in.
3. Open My account, type your name, the current password and a new password of 8 characters or more, and press Save.

From then on the sign-in page is empty and the hint is gone:

Locked out? Another office manager can give you a new password in Users. If nobody can sign in, stop the site, restore data/staff.json from a backup, and start it again.

12.2 Your own agency

1. Settings: name, town, address, phone, email, license line, accent colour, the word for your agents, website text, mortgage defaults, office hours, viewing window and time zone.
2. Neighborhoods: rename or replace the areas, their colours, pictures and label positions.
3. Agents: add your people with photos, neighborhoods and bios, and give each a sign-in.
4. Listings: add your homes, upload photos, place the pins and publish. Delete or take off market the sample homes.
5. Leads and viewings: delete the sample ones in the admin.
6. The map: images/map/ashby-harbor.svg is the town drawing (1000 × 700 units). Replace it with your own of the same size, then move the pins and labels in the admin.

Sample dates move to the day the site first runs, so badges and today's viewings look right. This happens once.

12.3 Folder permissions

The site writes to three folders. On IIS, give the application pool identity (for example IIS AppPool\RealEstate) Modify rights on them.

12.4 HTTPS, privacy and backups

• Use HTTPS. Sign-in tokens travel with every request.
• Check private files. Open https://your-site/data/staff.json and https://your-site/appConfig/application.cfg in a browser: both must answer 404. If not, block those folders in the server settings.
• Back up data/ and images/uploads/ every day. Together they are the whole agency.
• Check your local rules for fair-housing wording, listing disclosures and how long you keep client contact details. Delete leads you no longer need.

12.5 Redeploying

Turn off Remove additional files at destination so temp/ and images/uploads/ are not deleted. Staff stay signed in as long as temp/ survives.

13. Reference

13.1 Statuses

13.2 Rights at a glance

13.3 Good to know

14. Quick Answers