The Bel Air Theme designed by WP-Realtor is targeted for Real Estate business people who wish to run a Wordpress powered website. “Bel Air”, I’m assuming is picked up after the prominent city of West Los Angeles California: Being “Bel Air” implies “royalty” or “upper-class”, same as a “Cadillac” for cars or “Cordon Bleu” for a dish. Well, the theme certainly does look “wealthy”. But is it “worthy”?

Stuff I liked:

First off, let me go through some of the things I found is good about Bel Air:

• Category drop downs– this I find many clients go “goony gaga” over. Once they see a drop down list, they drool. Real Estate people are no different. Bel Air has a selection of drop downs, each containing sub categories to what seems to work for agents: “By Price”, “By Location” and “By Type”. As soon as an entry is selected, it triggers search results instantly. In addition, I like that it is very accessible, present in all pages, and encompassed in a rounded corner container along with a keyword search form on the left.

• Property Details – Note that the home page contains a “Feature Property” section – similar to feature articles in many blog websites which I find very handy. The detail page however, is tailored particularly for a house listing. It consists of a main image on the left with a tabbed container directly to the right of it. These tabbed containers are arranged to contain common property details including a photo gallery. This gallery is geared with an image slideshow effect known as a “lightbox”. This is where when you click on a thumbnail – a larger version hovers smoothly atop of the current page (not a pop-up), including next and previous buttons.
• Realtor Details – the same as an “About the Author” section in many blogs. In this case it’s “About the Realtor” which shows up in the sidebar with a corresponding detail template. This template holds additional information about the realtor, including all listings by him/her.

• The Search Results, Archive and Category pages– Although I’m not that crazy about the sidebar (discussed below), I do like how these pages are presented. Notice the thumbnail images (noted above) have that fly paper effect with rounded corners. Very subtle and done well.
• The Blog– After all, what’s a website without a blog. This is where your clients will say: “Creating a Post is the same as creating a Property entry! That is Sweet!”

Stuff I’m not crazy about

• The Sidebar – with a theme such as “Bel Air”, one would expect more from a sidebar. I feel that the designers could’ve spent more time deciding on its aesthetics and content. For instance, even though I liked the “About the Realtor” section – I’m not that crazy about the paper clipped notepad look. It’s a little too much. In addition, the remaining area in the sidebar could have included RSS feed buttons or a query from their latest blog posts.
• The Footer– it’s a lot too plain. The page starts out strong in the header and in the mid areas. When you get to the bottom – you see just a bland bar with a single line of credits. I would like to see it used some of the header design incorporated in the footer as well.
• Smaller details – For instance, in the property detail page you will notice that under “More Properties” – the same listing appears twice. In addition, the backgrounds for the main image (the stacked photos look) – I’m not fond of, as well as the tabbed containers could have used the same rounded containers – like the thumbnails and the category navigation bar. I guess in lesser words – it lacks consistency in the design.

Conclusion

One thing good about Wordpress is that designers modify it in such a way that it will match your clients’ requirements for their business. This is the case with the Bel Air Theme. It really doesn’t matter if it doesn’t have the ability to switch from single or multiple columns; or if can’t insert tracking codes from the admin panel; or upload a new header image in one click. Is your client really going to need it? For Real Estate Agents – it’s a little overkill. They just want the ability to edit listings, upload pictures and their information. And with Wordpress in the back end – they will find that it’s the best in the web by far.

The Bel Air sells for $59.99 for single agent and $187.49 for Developer (Price as of 1/13/2009). Additional bundle package licensing and discount information available at WP-Realtor.com