After reading some of these latest reviews, and spending several months using this component, it is hard to believe we are using the same component.

Some of these reviews claim the component is overly complicated, while others say it is too simple. Some say it is full of bugs.

Well I'm here to tell you that none of this is true. I'm not going to discuss the features, as these are well documented already. EZ Realty is a feature packed component that is extremely simple to use. Yes it calls home, and yes there are a few (4 I think) encrypted files. Without getting into the whole Open Source debate, software piracy is a fact.

There are 100's of commercial components and modules for Joomla, and a developer is entitled to protect their work. These encrypted files in no way impact on the functionality or reliability of the software.

There are few, if any, customisations that cannot be done using all of the files that aren't encrypted. The developer goes out of her way to help with these customisations. She works above and beyond the service that many software companies provide. I work for a mainstream software company in the UK, and am ashamed to say although we are quite a large million pound company, our support isn't a patch on that provided by Raptor Sevices.

EZ Realty is used by customers all over the world. A quick look at the free support forum will tell you that. The person who was unable to use American addresses perhaps didn't spend enough time testing this.

I have been using the component for 6 months, and have seen at least 2 bug/security fixes in that time. Bugs are a fact of software development. The difference between Raptor Services and other developers and software companies is that this developer goes out of her way to fix these bugs extremely promptly.

EZ Realty is a fantastic feature rich component, at a great price. No it's not free, but is not designed for a quick hobby site. It is designed for somebody wishing to run a Real Estate site as a business, and does that fantastically.

More importantly, the support provided by Kathy at Raptor Services is second to none, and I for one will be using her components for many years to come!

does not support Community Builder - instead uses its own user management/contact system - this was changed in later versions of EZ Realty yet the Community Builder integration remains within the description on Joomla.org.

this plugin sounds great until you actually try to use it. EZ Realty is overly simplistic. Most freely available open source software has much better features which you don't have to pay for.

1) the software "calls home" AFTER you've paid for the license - this means your license can be deactivated at any time - this was addressed by another reviewer.
2) After one month you pay for support services including the forum for questions which may already be answered - also addressed by another reviewer - $30/month? - for what?
3) in the version I used, there was no image handling/dynamic resizing - EZ keeps the native size of images and uses HTML rescale - how can you efficiently run a site like that?

Why should a user pay for something which is mostly available for free and has community support that is also free?

In my opinion, steer clear. You're better off using FREE, community supported software like CMS or Open Realty rather than paying for something which is overly buggy, has critical features missing and offers far less.

Like previous post tell, you cant get the help you need. Too many bugs.
The script became complex but with unnecessary fields or options.

when you need some decent URLS, I mean sef urls, not something like ...1.html, 2.html...is better to hire a programmer and maybe you have some luck.

I've had plenty of time to use this component and this is my thoughts:

pros:
- easy to install
- load of features
- tweakable: but only basic stuff, and only if you know about programming and html
- nice customer support (but with catch)

cons:
- expensive
- encrypted core code
- not polished and slightly buggy: Even with claimed multilingual functionality, some main parts remain untranslated.
- no subcategories
- slow development: programming and user support is done by one person.
- need to pay for support after 1st month of purchase,
- need to pay for their forum access, even if some already reported bugs aren't resolved under one month. It is OK to charge for user support, but only if support is needed. Charging access to already answered stuff is greedy.
- image manipulation could be better: lacks image ordering system

In the beginning, EZ Realty looked like excellent stuff.
1st core got encrypted, than it's price went up. Then owner removed user support forum. Wtf? Than forums went back. BUT only if you paying 30$ monthly subscription fee. Yes, they stated that is support fee, but IMO it is ridiculous to charge forum access to customers who spent their time to fill those forums with their suggestions and advices to other customers. We cant see if current bugs are resolved unless we don't pay monthly fee.
With core files encrypted we cant repair some bugs or extend basic functionality such as adding extra images per property, for example.

EZR could be excellent product if programmer ever decide to hire help, to leave code unencrypted and to leave forum access free.

This software is excellent! If you are serious about setting up your own real estate listing site, this is the software you should use! It factors in almost every possible thing you could ask for. And Kathy is always working on improving the software and adding new features.

The support truly is legendary. Kathy has gone out of her way to help me with some problems I was having. She is GREAT!

Now, with that said, I should mention that tinkering may be necessary depending on your situation. I live in Canada and had to change a lot of the language files to suit my needs. Was it hard? No. But, as a person fairly new to web design, and PHP, it took me awhile to figure things out.

There were other things I customized that caused me some distress, but that was because I was inexperienced. People skilled in wed design will have no problem. And noobs like myself need not be afraid...you just have to be willing to get your hands dirty and learn some new tricks! And if you need help, the forum is great for answering questions.

I give Kathy 5/5 stars! well done!

Wow. The software is excellent, it covers an incredible array of choices, templates and possibilities. Very yummy stuff. The couple issues I had were taken care of admirably, customer support is exemplary. I'd suggest this software any day.

EZ Realty looks good in the demo, but a look under the skirt tells you not to go there. The licensing situation (Zend and Ioncube) with a "call home" function is ridiculous when you consider it is being sold with the greatest open source script on the web. One transfer only to a different host (how difficult is this to handle) and if you want to make changes to the search mechanism, forget it as it is encrypted and the developer is too busy to make the change or supply you with the code to do it yourself which I might add, is simple to do. Purchase this and end up with a lame duck like mine. The fact that the developer is recommending Mambo over Joomla should get the alarm bells ringing.

After taking an extensive tour through the demo site, this component/extension really looks the goods for a real estate site until you get into the details.

First of all the biggest disappointment was the lack of a demo area for the backend. As a developer I need to get my potential client to play with a backend area to make sure it suits their needs. I'm not a real estate agent, so I can't make this judgement.

The fact that the extension is encrypted is also a problem because it's never going to be upgraded to a 1.5 Version because of licensing issues. I believe that Joomla's development will proceed further down the 1.5 track and that sooner or later 1.0 will become archaic and consequently the extensions that don't move will also fall into that category.

The licensing situation with this component obviously also has a "call home" function and the vendors gratiously allow you to transfer it to a different IP/Host "once only". That's a pretty dramatic and restrictive statement in my view.

From what I have seen of the frontend, this looks like a great extension. It's just a great shame that it can't be investigated further prior to purchase and that the licensing is so restrictive.

I like the look and the support but the component is not open source (not good). can't do any hacks or custom work on it. It is what it is.

This component is not USA (America) compatible. It does not offer State, City and zip code compatible to the U.S.

State is ok the way it is but City and zip code must be a blank text field not an option.

Too much money. The price when way up and the developer got greedy now I'm not interested in the component anymore. Way too high, not worth the money anymore.

As a journalist and content editor, I'v managed more then 100 projects in the last 12 years.

I saw many good ideas, very good software. Sometimes we have to choose not the best software, but the one that.. works.

We (the editors) care about one single thing: it must work and integration has to be done fast. And when we have a problem, we do have to get tech support right away, not the next day. It must be «now».

So, I am not going to tell you about EZ Realty features, as you may look that on their demo or in our site. It's OK for our needs.

My review its about support. Concerning support, this is the best experience I had in the last 12 years.

I feel security working with this guys (it's a lady, Katty). I wonder when she (they) sleep, as we have contact them for support more then 20 times (20!!) and allways had a strait and clear answer. And a great help. And very, very polite.

And this means business for us.

Thank you, EZ Realty. Its a pleasure doing business with you.

Jorge

Having a few clients who are realtors and focusing on picking up several more, I've looked at all of the real estate listing modules and have implemented a few of the more popular ones.

From what I've experienced with other systems and what I've seen of EzRealty, this system is well ahead of the competition in terms of overall design, features, and support. Not to mention that the price is well worth the investment for anyone professionally listing real estate. Additionally, my pre-sales questions were promptly answered by the author.

That being said, there are serious licensing, security, and ease of customization issues which need to be taken into account before choosing this software. The biggest issue is in licensing. EzRealty's licensing system requires that your server call home every 15 days to re-validate. If it fails to do so your license will be invalidated and the back-end software will cease to function; however, the front-end website will still work. Additionally, the software is distributed in an encrypted form, thereby requiring ioncube or zend php modules, and the source code is not available from the developer. This presents security and customization issues that may be an issue for some people and also means that there will not be a version of this software made available for Joomla! 1.5 or higher since the Joomla 1.5 license prevents it.

At the end of the day we had to pass on this great looking module. Despite all it's pros, the risk of a one-person-show disappearing, thereby rendering all of our client sites unusable, is too great. However, if you're just managing one real estate site, this module may do very well for you.

If you'd rather stick to open source software with out the licensing headaches, be sure to check out Estate Agent Improved and, if you don't mind getting your hands a little dirty, CMS Realty.

I have had zero problems with this extension and Kathy goes out of her way to help.

This was my first time Estate Agency Website and I was very apprehensive. I choose EZRealty after reading the reviews here and I am so glad I did. Installation was easy and without any problems. As I am located in UK I did have to change many field names/entries (e.g Zip to postcode etc) and this was easy to do by simply changing the text in the language files. Next came some additions to the software requested by my client and was out of my experience. I contacted Kathy and she guided me through changes I could do myself and between us came up with a list of changes she had to do on a commercial basis at 'very' reasonable rates. All support questions were replied to more or less instantly and with the greatest professionalism, she could teach alot to many of us!

In summary this software has suited my needs perfectly in setting up a Sole Estate Agency website. The software has a lot more features but I didn't need a lot of them on this occassion. I would highly recommend this software to you with the confidence that if you do run into difficulties or need some bespoke changes Kathy is there for you.

This is a great software with stellar support. I have found the folks at EX Realty to be far more supportive and helpful than the folks at hot property (who NEVER seem to answer support questions). Kathy, on the other hand, is a jewel when it comes to helping.

I struggled for months with Open Realty, so many unsolved problems, even using the very rude and unfriendly forum and a very poor documentation, NO SEF WHATSOEVER, constant little glitches with agent, members sync with Joomla, contact agent not working, email to friend not working...miles of copyright in the code...well, it's free.

I finally decided to take the risk and invest in EZrealty. All the reviews are so good about the component and Kathy's support.

I bombarded her with millions of presale questions, all answered right away. So I bought it.

That was probably the best decision of my professional life! The component is fantastic. Easy to set up, no more glitches...everything is in sync as soon as it's installed and the look is so much more professional! Very easy to customize. A Great find at an incredible FAIR price for what you get. A bunch of modules, extra functions, world maps for properties...everything is there and WORKING!

Another important point: programmers are not always the best designers. Kathy is a programmer AND a great designer. The templates are really nice, some of them don't even need customization to look very pro. A rare fact!

I had some issues, small details - Kathy answered ALL my emails within hours. I suppose she never sleeps, considering that she is in Australia and I am in US...but I never waited more than may be 2 or 3 hours before I got a reply, and she really really work hard to solve the problem. She will not let you down until problem solved. Kathy is PHENOMENAL! I've never seen such a dedicated and fast support even with much more expensive software. And always with a smile!

Tons of Help files and videos tutorials so well done included in the package. Every question you could have are answered right there.

I repeat what I've read in some of the review...I cannot say it better:

- Beyond GREAT support and an awesome product!

it may cost a litle but you get so much! And at least, nobody send you the "it's free! So get lost"

Kathy, thank you so much for your very very hard work, a fabulous product and such a friendly, always with a smile, inconditional support.

The absolute best component outthere.`

Happy Holidays!