For Carly & the HURE Team

You're Building Something Really Special

A nationwide network of independent brokers who trust each other—not because of a franchise fee, but because they've been vetted by peers. That's a big idea, and we want to help you build it right.

We appreciate you taking the time to review this. You provided your "back-of-the-envelope" sketch—this is ours. In all honesty, this kinda turned into a "Hold my beer" moment.

Please enjoy the show...

We Get What You're Trying to Do

The real estate industry is dominated by franchise networks that charge fees and impose restrictions. You're building the alternative: a network where independent brokers can refer clients to each other, knowing they've been vetted by reputation rather than by corporate gatekeepers.

3,000+ Counties

Every US county mapped and ready for broker claims

Vetted by Peers

Trust built through reputation, not franchise fees

Relocation Referrals

Seamless handoffs between hometown brokers

"I want to build a network where hometown brokers can trust each other for relocations—without the franchise politics."

— The vision we heard in your handoff document →

With that vision in mind, we took a close look at your current setup. Here's what we found—and more importantly, here's what we built to fix it.

What We Found

An honest assessment of hometownusarealestate.com

Airtable Rate Limits

Your data lives in Airtable, but you've hit the monthly API limit. The map breaks when this happens.

Slow Page Loads

WordPress + Elementor + WooCommerce + 8 plugins = 4+ second load times and poor mobile performance.

Hidden Costs

Elementor Pro ($59/yr) + WooCommerce hosting ($30/mo) + Airtable ($20/mo) adds up quickly.

Email Mismatch Bug

Footer shows one email, but mailto links to a different address. Confusing for potential brokers.

Missing Contact Form

Contact page mentions a form that doesn't exist. Potential leads have no way to reach you.

Missing Favicon

Returns 404 error. Small detail, but signals lack of polish to potential brokers.

Side-by-Side Comparison

Your current WordPress site vs. our modern rebuild mockup

hometownusarealestate.com
Current WordPress site screenshot
Current: WordPress + Elementor
hure.supported.systems (mockup)
Modern Astro rebuild mockup screenshot
Proposed: Astro + Tailwind

Performance That Speaks for Itself

Real metrics, measured from identical network conditions

First Contentful Paint

2.3s
WordPress
84ms
Astro
27× faster

Network Requests

69
WordPress
53
Astro
23% fewer

DOM Content Loaded

340ms
WordPress
58ms
Astro
6× faster

Metrics captured using browser Performance API under identical network conditions. FCP measures time until first content is painted on screen.

The Modern Alternative

Replace the bloated WordPress stack with purpose-built technology that loads in under 1 second.

Astro + Static Generation
Pages pre-built at deploy time. No server processing, just instant delivery from CDN.
FastAPI + PostgreSQL
Your own database. No Airtable limits, no monthly API fees, data you actually own.
Self-Hosted Infrastructure
Run on a $6/month VPS. No WP Engine, no Elementor, no plugin subscriptions.

This isn't our first county map. We've built similar territory management systems before—check out idaho.septic.report for another 3,000+ county implementation.

tech-stack.md
# Frontend
Astro 5.x        # Static site generator
Tailwind CSS     # Utility-first styling
Leaflet.js       # Interactive maps

# Backend
FastAPI          # Python async API
PostgreSQL       # Your data, forever
SQLAlchemy       # Type-safe ORM

# Infrastructure
Docker Compose   # One-command deploy
Caddy            # Auto HTTPS
Hetzner VPS      # €4.50/month

Before Writing a Single Line of Code...

We start every project by asking questions, not by firing up the IDE.

WHY does this need to exist?

"Why do you need a WordPress map?"

"Because I want to display brokers on it."

"Why?"

"Brokers need a way to find each other for relocations."

"Why can't they use existing networks?"

"Vetting 3,000+ brokers is painful. Franchises aren't the answer for hometown brokerages who'd rather work together."

Now we understand the story.

HOW will it actually work?

  • How will brokers discover the network?
  • How will referrals flow between them?
  • How will billing and territory fees work?
  • How do you handle delinquent brokers?

WHO are we serving?

  • Who is the ideal broker persona?
  • Who is the competition? (Cartus? GMAC Relocation?)
  • Who are potential allies or partners?

Only then do we propose a solution.

This approach means fewer surprises, less rework, and a product that actually fits your business—not just a spec.

Two Working Solutions

We built both so you can see what's possible—and make an informed choice.

Recommended

Modern Platform

Astro + FastAPI + PostgreSQL

25 production-ready features
Natural language county search
Stripe billing + webhooks integrated
Admin dashboard + broker portal
84ms page loads (27× faster)
$87/year 5,179 database records 3,222 counties mapped
Explore All 25 Features

Legacy WordPress

WordPress + Custom Plugin

Familiar WordPress admin
Interactive county map
Stripe enrollment ready
No natural language search
Plugin ecosystem limitations
$1,145/year Proven technology Easy to maintain
See WordPress Build Journey

Modern Platform Highlights

Click any feature to see it in action with screenshots

Your Data, Already Extracted

We pulled all 3,145 counties from your current site. Here's what we're working with:

3,145
Total Counties
2,074
Assigned to Brokers
1,071
Open Territories
4
Active Brokers

Broker Coverage

Karen
866 counties
Payson
670 counties
Dsrey
430 counties
Coleman
108 counties

Cost Comparison

Annual operating costs, broken down honestly

Current WordPress Stack

Higher Cost
  • WP Engine Hosting (Startup) $300/yr
  • Elementor Pro $59/yr
  • Airtable (Plus plan) $240/yr
  • WP Google Maps Pro $99/yr
  • Google Workspace (6 users) $432/yr
  • Domain + SSL $15/yr
Total Annual Cost $1,145/yr

Modern Self-Hosted Stack

92% Less
  • Hetzner VPS (CX22) $72/yr
  • Astro (Open Source) $0
  • PostgreSQL (Self-hosted) $0
  • Leaflet.js (Open Source) $0
  • Email + Calendar (Self-hosted) $0
  • Domain + Auto SSL (Caddy) $15/yr
Total Annual Cost $87/yr

Save $1,058/year while getting faster page loads, unlimited API calls, full data ownership, and self-hosted email/calendar.

Having run the largest digital affiliate network at Clickbank in the early 2000s, I know what broker networks actually cost to operate at scale.

Original Brief

The developer handoff document that started this proposal

More Relevant Work

InterNACHI Certified Home Inspector • Full-time B2B since 2008

Let's Start with Why

30 minutes to understand your business. Then we'll show you options.

Your data is already extracted. The WordPress demo is live. Now let's talk about what you actually need.