Client Documentation - Buy Real Estate and FSBO Data

BRD Client · Plugin Guide

BRD Client puts your BuyRealEstateData subscription on your own WordPress site: searchable property archives, agent directories, detail pages, a featured carousel, and lead capture — all with simple shortcodes and no code.

Overview

BRD Client is the official WordPress plugin for BuyRealEstateData subscribers. Install it on any WordPress site, connect your account, and the data you're subscribed to — for-sale listings, rentals, FSBO, and agent contacts — renders directly on your pages.

Shortcode-driven: drop a shortcode on a page and it becomes a property archive, agent directory, search hero, or carousel.
Always current: data is fetched live from BuyRealEstateData (with smart caching), so your site shows what's in the feed — no imports, no stale listings filling your database.
Your branding: pick your colors once and every button, badge, and link follows.
Lead capture built in: contact forms on property and agent pages email inquiries to the agent, to you, or both.
Works before you subscribe: in preview mode the plugin shows up to 100 sample properties so you can build and style your pages first.

Requirements

A WordPress website where you can install plugins (administrator access).
An active BuyRealEstateData subscription — or none yet, if you just want to explore in preview mode.
Your site should be able to make outgoing HTTPS requests (virtually all hosts allow this).
Your API key is bound to your site's domain. Decide which domain the plugin will run on — staging and production count as different domains. See Troubleshooting if you're moving sites.

The plugin works with any properly coded WordPress theme. It ships its own styles for grids, cards, and forms, and adapts to your brand colors.

Installation

Download pdm-client.zip from your BuyRealEstateData dashboard.
In your WordPress admin, go to Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin, choose the zip, and click Install Now.
Click Activate. A new BRD Client menu appears in your admin sidebar with Dashboard, Settings, and Setup Wizard.

Updating to a new version

Upload the new zip the same way (WordPress will offer to "Replace current with uploaded") — or deactivate, delete, and reinstall. Either way your connection, settings, and page mappings are preserved; they live in your site's database, not in the plugin files.

Connect your account

Connecting links your site to your subscription so the plugin can fetch your data. There are two ways — the wizard is the easy one.

Option A — Setup Wizard (recommended)

Go to BRD Client → Setup Wizard.
Click Connect with BuyRealEstateData. You'll be sent to buyrealestatedata.com to log in (if needed) and approve the connection for your domain.
You're returned to your site automatically with the connection active — no copying keys.

Option B — Paste your API key

In your BuyRealEstateData dashboard, copy your API key.
On your site, go to BRD Client → Settings, paste the key into the API Key field, and save.
The plugin verifies the key immediately. When the status shows Active, you're connected.

Domain binding. A key works only on the domain it was authorized for. If the status says the key is invalid on a site where it used to work, check whether the domain changed (new domain, www vs non-www, staging copy) and reconnect from that domain.

Disconnecting

Use the Disconnect button on the Settings page. This removes the key from your site and releases the connection on our side. Your pages fall back to preview mode until you reconnect.

Create your pages

The plugin doesn't create pages for you — you decide where things live. A typical setup takes five minutes:

Create a page called Properties and put [pdm_properties] in its content.
Create a page called Property Details with [pdm_single_property]. Visitors never browse to it directly — property cards link to it.
Create a page called Agents with [pdm_agents].
Create a page called Agent Details with [pdm_single_agent].
Go to BRD Client → Settings and map the Property details page and Agent details page to the two detail pages you just created (see Detail page mapping).
Optional: add [pdm_hero_search] and [pdm_properties_carousel] to your homepage.

You can place shortcodes with the block editor (Shortcode block), the classic editor, or any page builder that renders shortcodes — Elementor, Divi, Beaver Builder, etc.

Shortcode reference

Shortcode	What it renders	Typical page
`[pdm_properties]`	Searchable property archive: filter bar, card grid, pagination	Properties
`[pdm_single_property]`	Full property detail page with gallery, facts, and contact form	Property Details
`[pdm_agents]`	Agent directory with name/location filters	Agents
`[pdm_single_agent]`	Agent profile with listings and contact form	Agent Details
`[pdm_hero_search]`	Large search box with live suggestions	Homepage hero
`[pdm_properties_carousel]`	Sliding carousel of featured properties	Homepage / landing pages

[pdm_properties]

The main archive. Visitors filter by state, city, ZIP, price range, beds, baths, and square footage; results load instantly without a page reload, and filters are reflected in the URL so searches can be shared and bookmarked.

It accepts one attribute, type, which selects the data category. It defaults to for-sale listings; if your subscription includes other categories you can build a page per category:

[pdm_properties]                    Shows for-sale listings (default)
[pdm_properties type="for_rent"]   Shows rental listings
[pdm_properties type="fsbo"]       Shows For Sale By Owner listings

The type must be included in your subscription — a category you haven't subscribed to returns no results.

[pdm_single_property]

Renders whichever property the visitor arrived for (cards pass the listing automatically). Sections include the photo gallery, price and key facts, description, features, and a contact form. You control which optional sections appear — estimates, price history, mortgage calculator — under Display & content.

[pdm_agents] and [pdm_single_agent]

The directory lists agent cards (photo, name, brokerage, location) with filters for state, city, ZIP, and name. Clicking a card opens the agent's profile on your mapped Agent Details page, including their contact form.

[pdm_hero_search]

A prominent search field with type-ahead suggestions for cities and addresses. Submitting sends the visitor to your Properties page with the search applied.

[pdm_properties_carousel]

A self-loading, swipeable strip of featured listings — ideal under a homepage hero. It takes no attributes and uses your branding colors automatically.

Detail page mapping

Property and agent cards need to know where your detail pages live. That's the mapping in BRD Client → Settings:

Open Settings and find the page-mapping selectors.
Set Property details page to the page containing [pdm_single_property].
Set Agent details page to the page containing [pdm_single_agent].
Save. Cards across the site now link to the right places.

If cards do nothing when clicked (or reload the same page), this mapping is almost always the missing piece.

Branding & colors

Under Settings → Branding you'll find two color pickers:

Primary color — used for buttons, links, badges, active filters, and accents throughout every widget. A slightly darker hover shade is generated automatically.
Button text color — the text color on primary buttons, so you can keep contrast right whether your primary is light or dark.

Save and the entire front end follows — no CSS required. If you don't see the change immediately, your caching plugin or CDN may be serving an old copy of the page; purge it once.

Display & content

The Display & Content card in Settings controls how listings look and behave:

Setting	What it does
Properties per page	How many property cards load per page (default 12, up to 100).
Agents per page	Same for the agent directory (default 16).
Grid columns	2, 3, or 4 columns for both property and agent grids on desktop. Grids collapse responsively on smaller screens regardless.
Default state	Pre-selects a state and applies it on first load — perfect when your business serves one market. Visitors can still change it.
Show on property cards	Toggle the status badge, beds, baths, and square footage on cards individually.
Detail page sections	Show or hide the Estimates, Price history, and Mortgage calculator sections on property detail pages.
"No results" message	Replace the default text shown when a search matches nothing.
Preview banner message	Customize the banner wording shown in preview mode.

Lead emails

Property and agent pages include contact forms. When a visitor submits one, the inquiry is emailed according to your Lead Routing settings:

Recipient mode	Behavior
Agent	Goes to the listing's agent email when the data includes one; otherwise falls back to your admin email so no lead is lost.
Site admin	Everything comes to you. Good when you want to qualify leads before passing them on.
Both	Agent and you each receive a copy.

You can set a dedicated admin email for inquiries; leave it blank to use your site's admin address. Replies go straight to the visitor — their address is set as the Reply-To.

Email delivery uses your site's normal sending. If your WordPress emails generally land in spam, an SMTP plugin (e.g. WP Mail SMTP) fixes it for these messages too.

Caching & performance

To keep your pages fast and your request quota low, the plugin caches API responses on your server. A search that was just performed is served from cache instead of hitting the API again.

Cache duration — default 60 minutes, adjustable under Settings → Performance. Shorter = fresher data, more API requests. Longer = fewer requests, slightly older data.
Clear cached data — the button next to the setting wipes the cache instantly. Use it when you want changes (new subscription scope, fresh listings) to show right away.

Rule of thumb: a busy public site is fine at 60 minutes. While you're actively building and testing, drop it to a few minutes or just use Clear cached data liberally.

Dashboard — plans & usage

BRD Client → Dashboard is your monitoring home. It shows your connection status and an Active Plans grid: each plan you're subscribed to, its scope, and how much of its monthly request quota you've used.

Refresh re-pulls your plan and usage figures from BuyRealEstateData on demand.
Quotas reset on your billing cycle. If a plan is exhausted, requests for that data type are declined until reset or upgrade — the archive shows the "no results" message rather than an error.

Test Connection

The Test Connection button on the Dashboard runs a live, three-part check and shows the results inline:

Check	What a failure means
Host reachable (with latency)	Your server can't reach buyrealestatedata.com — usually a host firewall blocking outgoing requests, or a temporary outage. The latency figure tells you how snappy live (uncached) loads will be.
API key valid & active	The key is missing, revoked, bound to a different domain, or the subscription is inactive. Reconnect via the wizard or check billing.
Requests remaining this minute	Informational — your live per-minute rate-limit headroom. Normal sites never come close to it thanks to caching.

Diagnostics

Below the plans grid, the Diagnostics card summarizes the technical state of the integration: the API endpoint in use, connection status, the time of the last successful call, your cache duration, the plugin version, and — when something has gone wrong — the last error with its message, code, and endpoint.

Opening a support ticket? Paste the Diagnostics card contents into it. It answers nearly every question we'd otherwise have to ask, and usually cuts resolution time to a single reply.

Preview mode

Before a key is connected, the plugin runs in preview mode: every widget works, using a live sample of up to 100 properties, and a banner on archive pages explains that sample data is shown (you can customize the wording).

Use it to build and style your entire site before subscribing — pages, colors, layouts all carry over unchanged when you connect.
Preview browsing is capped (a few pages of results); full data, all filters at full depth, and agents unlock on connection.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Likely cause & fix
"Preview Mode" banner shows although I subscribed	The site isn't connected (or the key isn't active). Run Test Connection; reconnect via the Setup Wizard if the key check fails.
Admin warning: "data connection is currently inactive"	Your key is present but the subscription is no longer active — usually a lapsed payment. Check billing in your dashboard; listings resume automatically once active.
Clicking a property/agent card does nothing	The detail pages aren't mapped in Settings. See Detail page mapping.
New data isn't showing	You're seeing cache. Click Clear cached data (Settings → Performance) or wait out the cache duration.
"No results found" for searches that should match	Either the filters are narrower than they look (clear them with Reset), or the state/category isn't within your subscription's scope — the plugin can only show what your plans include.
Colors didn't update after changing Branding	A caching plugin or CDN is serving the old CSS. Purge your site cache once.
I moved my site to a new domain and data stopped	Keys are domain-bound. Open the Setup Wizard on the new domain and reconnect.
Lead emails not arriving	Test general WordPress email first (e.g. password reset). If those fail too, install an SMTP plugin. Also confirm your Lead Routing recipient and check spam.
Search feels slow on first load	The very first query after a cache expiry is fetched live; everything after is cached. The latency figure in Test Connection shows your server's round-trip time.

Frequently asked questions

Is my API key exposed to visitors?: No. The key is stored in your WordPress database and used only in server-to-server requests. It never appears in your pages' HTML or JavaScript.
Will the plugin slow my site down?: No — responses are cached on your server, so most page views involve zero external requests. Listings also aren't imported into your database, so your site stays lean no matter how large the feed is.
Can I show rentals and for-sale listings on different pages?: Yes — create one page per category using the type attribute: [pdm_properties] for sale, [pdm_properties type="for_rent"] for rentals, [pdm_properties type="fsbo"] for FSBO. Each category must be part of your subscription.
Why don't results re-order when I choose a sort option?: Server-side sorting isn't currently supported by the data feed, so results come in the feed's default order. It's on the roadmap; this page will be updated when it ships.
How fresh is the data?: Two factors: how recently the feed itself updated, and your cache duration (default 60 minutes). For the freshest view at any moment, clear the cache.
Can I limit the site to one state?: Set a Default state under Display & Content — every archive pre-filters to it on first load. Note this is a convenience filter; what's actually available is governed by your subscription's coverage.
Where do contact-form leads go?: Wherever your Lead Routing says: the listing's agent, your admin email, or both. The visitor's address is the Reply-To, so you can answer directly from your inbox.
Do I lose settings if I deactivate or update the plugin?: No. Settings, the connection, and page mappings persist through deactivation and updates. Only the explicit Disconnect button removes your key.
Can I use it with Elementor / Divi / my page builder?: Yes — anywhere your builder renders shortcodes. Drop the shortcode in a text/shortcode widget and style the surrounding section however you like.
Does it work on more than one of my websites?: Each connection is bound to one domain. Contact us about licensing additional domains for your subscription.
How far can visitors paginate?: Up to 100 pages per search. For huge result sets, encourage narrower filters — that's a better experience than deep pagination anyway.
Something else?: Include your Diagnostics card contents and contact support — we answer quickly.

BRD Client documentation · Updated June 2026 · Looking for the developer REST API instead? See the API Documentation.

BRD Client Documentation