Our latest project with Noozhawk1 was to augment the “Homes” portion of their “Homes and Lifestyle” section with a fully customized real estate feature: a searchable, dynamic property map of MLS listings. For a site that’s already a frequently referenced local resource, real estate search fits naturally alongside the local news and community coverage Noozhawk provides. Since launching, the Real Estate section has generated 12,228 pageviews!
Rather than displaying static listings, the custom WordPress plugin lets the site pull live MLS property data and presents it as both an interactive map and a card grid of listings. Visitors can search by address, city, or ZIP code; filter by sale or rental status, price range and number of bedrooms and bathrooms; and click any property to see a detailed pop-up with photos and agent contact information.
To deliver this functionality most seamlessly, we developed a custom WordPress plugin that delivers a full real estate search experience within Newspack — the WordPress platform designed specifically for news organizations.
Building the Feature
On the editorial side, we developed a custom WordPress block powered by a dedicated API layer—a Property Search Map Gutenberg block that any editor can drop onto a page. It can be configured using simple settings such as results per page, default map center, and zoom level — all without touching any code. Once placed, the block handles the full frontend search.
When a visitor applies filters, the property search map block communicates with the custom WordPress REST endpoints in the plugin, which validate inputs, retrieve MLS property listing data, standardize inconsistent fields, and return clean results to both the searchable property map and listing grid. Keeping that logic centralized makes the WordPress plugin easier to maintain and keeps templates clean.
Performance and Reliability
Performance and stability were priorities throughout. Search results are cached to reduce repeated MLS API calls and keep load times down. Map-point data is kept separate from full listing details, so the interactive property map remains responsive even when many properties are displayed. The team at Noozhawk have seen an impressive uptick in their Weekly Home Showcase listing submissions, an encouraging metric that highlights the value and usability of this new feature.
The WordPress plugin’s admin panel gives editors full control over the MLS API token, cache settings, and connectivity testing — all sensitive actions are protected with standard WordPress security checks. No developer involvement needed for day-to-day management. Administrators can manually clear the cache when they need an immediate real-time MLS data refresh, but this should rarely be necessary.
This project is a good example of what’s possible with Newspack even if off-the-shelf plugins don’t meet the need. Custom plugins deliver functionality beyond what’s available in the standard WordPress plugin library. If your site needs functionality that isn’t available in your CMS out of the box, reach out to us to explore how Hop Studios can make your website work exactly the way you want with a solution built specifically for your business needs.
1 Noozhawk delivers 24/7 breaking news and community coverage for Santa Barbara. Hop Studios has been working with Noozhawk for 15 years, supporting their award-winning Santa Barbara journalism team through a WordPress website migration from ExpressionEngine, adding newsletter automation, and supporting them with ongoing WordPress website maintenance. It’s a partnership we truly value.
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