SE Real Estate — User Guide

Version 1.3.4 · Joomla 5.x · PHP 8.1+

1. Requirements

Requirement	Minimum version
Joomla	5.0.0
PHP	8.1.0
Database	MySQL 5.7+ or MariaDB 10.3+

Note: SE Real Estate will refuse to install and display an error message if either the PHP or Joomla minimum version is not met.

2. Installation

Log in to your Joomla administrator panel.
Go to System → Install → Extensions.
Under the Upload Package File tab, drag and drop pkg_serealestate_v1_3_4_final.zip onto the upload area, or click Browse to select it.
Click Upload & Install.

Joomla will install the main component (com_serealestate) and the Featured Properties module (mod_serealestate_featured) in a single operation. A success message will confirm both are installed.

3. Initial Setup

After installation, navigate to Components → SE Real Estate. You will land on the Dashboard.

Load Demo Data

If you want to explore the component with sample content before entering your own listings, click Install Demo Data on the Dashboard. This populates the database with example properties, agents, and amenities so you can see how everything looks immediately. When you are ready to go live, click Remove Demo Data to delete it all cleanly.

Recommended first steps

Go to Components → SE Real Estate → Configuration and complete the Component tab (admin email, currency, map provider).
Create your agents under Agents before adding properties, so you can assign them at listing time.
Create your amenities under Amenities (pool, parking, gym, etc.) so they are available when editing properties.
Add your first property under Properties → New.
Create a Joomla menu item pointing to the Properties list view (see Menu Items & Routing).

4. Configuration Reference

Go to Components → SE Real Estate → Configuration (or via the top-right Options button in any SE Real Estate list view).

License tab

Field	Description
License Key	Enter the license key provided at purchase and click Activate. Required for automatic updates.

Component tab

Field	Description
Admin Email	Email address that receives property enquiries. Defaults to the Joomla global mail-from address if left blank.
Items Per Page	Number of property cards shown per page on the front end. Default: 12.
Default Currency	Currency used when no currency is set on a property.
Map Provider	OpenStreetMap (free, no key needed) or Google Maps (requires an API key).
Map Style	Visual style for the map tiles.
Google Maps API Key	Required only when Map Provider is set to Google Maps.
Google Places API Key	Required only for address autocomplete on the search bar.

Colours tab

Seven colour pickers let you match the component's front-end appearance to your site's design — primary, primary light, accent, accent hover, background, card background, text, muted text, and border. Changes take effect immediately without any CSS editing.

Listings tab

Field	Description
Hero Enabled	Show a full-width hero banner at the top of the properties list page.
Hero Image	Background image for the hero banner.
Hero Title / Subtitle	Text displayed over the hero. Supports plain text.
Hero Height, Overlay, Text Align/Valign	Fine-tune the hero appearance.
Featured Properties First	Always show featured listings at the top of the grid regardless of sort order.
Mortgage Calculator	Show an interactive mortgage calculator on each property detail page.
View Counter	Display the number of times a property page has been viewed.
Radius Unit	Unit used for proximity search radius — kilometres or miles.

Emails tab

Field	Description
Send Enquiry to Agent	Route the enquiry email to the assigned agent in addition to the admin email.
Enquiry Subject	Subject line template for property enquiry emails. Use %s for the property title.
Enquiry Body	Body template for enquiry emails. Available placeholders: {property}, {price}, {location}, {status}, {name}, {email}, {phone}, {message}.
Alert Subject	Subject line for saved search alert emails. Use %s for the search name and %site% for the site name.
Alert Greeting	Opening line of alert emails. Use {name} for the subscriber's name and {search} for the saved search title.
Alert Footer	Optional footer text appended to all alert emails.
Test Email	Sends a test email to the admin address to confirm your mail settings are working.

AI Chat tab

See Section 10 — AI Property Chat for full setup details.

5. Managing Properties

Go to Components → SE Real Estate → Properties.

Creating a property

Click New. The property edit form is split into tabs:

Details tab

Field	Notes
Title	The property listing title, e.g. "3-Bed Semi in Richmond".
Alias	Auto-generated from the title. Used in the SEF URL.
Status	For Sale, For Rent, Sold, or Rented.
Property Type	House, Apartment, Condo, Villa, Townhouse, Penthouse, Studio, Land, Commercial, or Duplex.
Price	Numeric value.
Currency	Per-listing override for the default currency.
Bedrooms / Bathrooms	Numeric counts.
Floor Area	Numeric value.
Area Unit	sq ft or m².
Featured	Tick to mark this property as featured (used by the module and the Featured First setting).
Published	Controls front-end visibility.
Expiry Date	Optional. The property will be automatically unpublished after this date.
Description	Full rich-text description. Supports the Joomla editor.
Amenities	Multi-select from your published amenities list.

Location tab

Field	Notes
Address, City, State, Country, Postcode	Standard address fields.
Latitude / Longitude	Used to place the map pin. If you have a Google Places API key configured, typing in the Address field will autocomplete and fill these automatically. Otherwise enter them manually (e.g. from Google Maps — right-click a location and copy the coordinates).

Media tab

Field	Notes
Featured Image	The primary thumbnail shown in listing cards.
Gallery	Upload multiple images. Displayed as a slideshow on the property detail page.
Virtual Tour URL	Paste a URL from Matterport, YouTube, Vimeo, or another embeddable provider. The component will render it as an embedded player on the detail page.

Agent tab

Either select an existing agent from the dropdown (which auto-fills their name, email, and phone), or manually enter agent details for a one-off contact.

Filtering and sorting

The Properties list view includes filter dropdowns for Status, Type, City, and Agent, plus a search box for the title. Use the column headers to sort by title, price, status, city, or creation date.

Bulk actions

Tick the checkboxes next to multiple properties and use the Actions dropdown to publish, unpublish, or delete them in bulk.

6. Managing Agents

Go to Components → SE Real Estate → Agents.

Click New to create an agent. Fields: Name, Email, Phone, Photo (media picker), and Bio (rich text). Set Published to Yes for the agent to appear in the assignment dropdown when editing properties.

Agents can be reordered by dragging the ordering handle in the list view.

7. Managing Amenities

Go to Components → SE Real Estate → Amenities.

Amenities are labels attached to properties — e.g. Swimming Pool, Parking, Gym, Garden, Pet Friendly. Click New, enter a name, and save. Amenities appear as a multi-select checklist on the property edit form and are displayed as tags on the property detail page.

8. Import & Export

Go to Components → SE Real Estate → Import/Export.

Exporting properties

Click Export CSV to download all current properties as a spreadsheet-compatible CSV file. Useful for backups or bulk editing.

Downloading the template

Click Download Template to get a blank CSV with the correct column headers. Use this as the starting point for a bulk import.

Importing properties

Prepare your CSV using the template as a guide. Required columns include title, price, status, property_type. All other columns are optional.
Click Choose File, select your CSV, then click Import.
The importer will process each row and report how many records were created or skipped.

Tip: If you are migrating from another system, export your existing data into a spreadsheet, map the columns to match the template headers, save as CSV, and import.

9. Saved Search Alerts

Registered front-end users can save their search criteria (type, status, price range, location) and receive email notifications when new matching properties are published or when a saved property's price changes.

How it works

A logged-in visitor performs a search on the front end and clicks Save This Search, giving it a name.
When the cron job runs, it checks for new matching properties or price changes since the last run and sends an alert email to each subscriber.

Setting up the cron job

The alert system requires a scheduled task to run regularly. There are two methods:

Method 1 — Joomla CLI (recommended)

php /path/to/joomla/cli/joomla.php serealestate:alerts

Method 2 — Direct PHP

php /path/to/joomla/components/com_serealestate/cli/serealestate_alerts.php

Add whichever command suits your host to your server's cron tab. A frequency of every 15–60 minutes is typical. In cPanel, go to Cron Jobs and add a new entry. In a VPS/root environment, run crontab -e and add:

/30 * php /path/to/joomla/cli/joomla.php serealestate:alerts > /dev/null 2>&1

Replace /path/to/joomla with the absolute path to your Joomla installation root.

Customising alert emails

The subject line, greeting, and footer of alert emails are configurable under Configuration → Emails tab. See Section 4 for placeholder reference.

10. AI Property Chat

The AI chat widget places a conversational assistant on each property detail page. Visitors can ask questions in plain language — "Does this property have parking?", "What's the nearest school?" — and receive instant answers based on the property data and, optionally, local area information.

Setup

Go to Configuration → AI Chat tab.
Set AI Chat Enabled to Yes.
Choose your AI Provider: Anthropic (Claude), OpenAI (ChatGPT), Google Gemini, or DeepSeek.
Enter your API Key for the chosen provider. This key is stored in your Joomla configuration and is never exposed to front-end visitors.
Optionally specify a Model name if you want to use a specific version (e.g. claude-sonnet-4-20250514). Leave blank to use the provider's default.
Set the Chat Position (bottom-left or bottom-right of the property page).
Save.

Getting API keys

Provider	Where to get a key
Anthropic (Claude)	console.anthropic.com
OpenAI	platform.openai.com/api-keys
Google Gemini	aistudio.google.com
DeepSeek	platform.deepseek.com

Testing

After saving your configuration, open any published property on the front end. A chat button should appear in the configured corner. Type a question to confirm the API connection is working. If there is an error, re-check the API key and ensure your server can make outbound HTTPS requests.

11. Featured Properties Module

mod_serealestate_featured displays a grid of featured listings and can be placed in any Joomla module position.

Publishing the module

Go to System → Site Modules.
Find SE Real Estate — Featured Properties in the list (or click New and select it from the type list).
Set a Title, choose a Position, and set Status to Published.
Configure the parameters (see below).
Under the Menu Assignment tab, choose which pages the module appears on.
Save.

Module parameters

Parameter	Description
Count	Number of properties to display (1–24). Default: 6.
Property Type	Filter to a specific type, or leave blank to show all types.
Status	Filter to For Sale, For Rent, etc., or leave blank for all.
Show Image	Display the featured image thumbnail.
Show Price	Display the asking price.
Show Beds / Baths / Area / Location	Toggle each detail on or off.
Show Status Badge	Display the For Sale / For Rent badge on each card.
Show Property Type	Display the property type label.
Show Agent	Display the assigned agent's name.
Columns	Number of grid columns: 1, 2, 3, or 4.

12. Menu Items & Routing

To expose SE Real Estate on your site you need at least one Joomla menu item.

Go to Menus → [your menu] → Add New Menu Item.
Click Select next to Menu Item Type and choose SE Real Estate from the list.

Available menu item types:

Type	Displays
Properties List	Filterable grid/list of all published properties with search bar and map toggle.
Property Detail	A single specific property (select the property in the menu item parameters).
Map View	Full-page interactive map of all published properties.
Saved Searches	The logged-in user's saved searches and alert management.

For clean SEF URLs, ensure System → Global Configuration → SEO Settings → Search Engine Friendly URLs is set to Yes.

13. Permissions

SE Real Estate respects Joomla's standard ACL. Go to Configuration → Permissions tab to configure per-user-group access.

Action	Description
Administer	Full access to configuration and all records.
Access Options	Ability to change component configuration.
Manage	Access to the component back end.
Create	Ability to create new properties, agents, and amenities.
Delete	Ability to delete records.
Edit	Ability to edit existing records.
Edit State	Ability to publish/unpublish records.

14. Uninstalling

Go to System → Manage → Extensions.
Search for serealestate.
Tick the checkbox next to SE Real Estate Package (pkg_serealestate).
Click Uninstall.

Joomla will remove the component, the module, all language files, and all database tables created by SE Real Estate. This action is irreversible — back up your database first if you want to preserve your property data.

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