Overview
Highlands Properties is a real estate firm specializing in luxury homes and land listings in the Highlands–Cashiers region of North Carolina. Their previous website had become outdated, lacked mobile responsiveness, and was not fully integrated with modern listing, CRM, and lead-tracking systems.
Aktiv Studios was engaged to design and develop a new digital platform that reflects the charm and sophistication of the Highlands region while significantly improving usability, performance, SEO, and integration with the firm’s kvCORE real estate platform.
Project
The project focused on creating a scalable, search-first real estate experience that supports both buyers and sellers.
Key objectives included:
- Designing a modern, fully responsive website optimized for mobile, tablet, and desktop users
- Creating an intuitive, expandable navigation and content architecture
- Integrating kvCORE IDX for live listings, map-based search, and CRM-driven lead capture
- Establishing a cohesive visual design system using refreshed photography, typography, and calls-to-action
- Implementing a secure WordPress CMS for easy content management and long-term scalability
- Laying a strong foundation for SEO, analytics, and ongoing marketing efforts
Solution
The website was developed on a custom WordPress theme using Timber/Twig templating, Zurb Foundation, and Sass, resulting in a clean, maintainable, and performance-focused front-end codebase.
A private staging environment and Git-based deployment workflow were implemented to support ongoing development, testing, and maintenance. The kvCORE IDX platform was fully integrated to power real-time listings, map-based search, and CRM-connected inquiry forms.
Special attention was given to accessibility, page speed, and mobile usability to ensure the site performs well across devices and meets modern web standards.
Impact
The redesigned website delivers a seamless, mobile-first experience centered on intuitive home search and regional discovery, while elevating the Highlands Properties brand.
Key Outcomes:
- Improved User Engagement
Visitors can now browse listings, communities, and content effortlessly across devices, supported by clear calls-to-action and optimized property layouts. - IDX-Integrated CRM Workflow
kvCORE listings and lead forms are fully synchronized, streamlining marketing efforts and client communications. - Optimized Performance & Security
The site runs under SSL, passes W3C validation, and leverages Redis caching and Nginx optimization for fast load times and reliability. - Scalable, Future-Ready Platform
A modular design and component-based system allow new content, features, and communities to be added without re-engineering the site. - Ongoing Partnership
Aktiv Studios provides managed hosting, maintenance, and analytics reporting to ensure the platform remains secure, performant, and adaptable over time.
