Matrix: user guide

A Your account and approval

Sign up at matrixbelize.com as an agent, either joining an existing brokerage or creating your own. Every agent account is checked by our team before it unlocks.

1. Sign up as an agent. Add your details and a professional photo (a clear head-and-shoulders picture, JPG, PNG or WebP, up to 5 MB). Then choose your brokerage: Join an existing brokerage (its owner must approve you) or Create a new brokerage (you become its owner and can invite other agents; ownership is verified, and you can add a logo and your FIU registration).
2. Confirm your email using the link we send you.
3. Wait for approval. Until a team member approves you, you see a Pending approval page with three steps: Application received, Team review, Dashboard unlocked. We email you the moment it is done.
4. Answer requests for information. If we need more, the pending page shows We need a little more information. Type your reply, then use Attach a file or Take a photo (handy on a phone), and click Send reply.

B Your dashboard

After approval you land on your dashboard. The blue bar across the top is your map of everything in this guide: there is no side menu.

Notifications. The bell in the top bar counts new leads and updates on your title checks. Click it to see what needs you.

On the dashboard, Market Watch counts new, for-sale, sold, rented, under-contract and building listings over the last 24 hours (or another period you choose). Listings by moderation shows how many of your listings are approved, pending approval or rejected, and Recent listings lets you View, Edit or Mark as Sold straight away.

C Listings and title verification

Add a property under Properties. Before a listing goes live, its title is checked against the government land records.

Add a listing

1. Open Properties and click Add.
2. Fill in the address and district, price, photos and details, and the title reference (for example the parcel and block).
3. Click Save. The title is checked against the land records automatically.

If the title is not found: manual verification

If the government record cannot be found (or cannot be reached), a window opens when you save. Attach 1 to 3 pictures of the title (a photo or scan of the title document) and send them. The listing is held as Pending while our team reviews it.

Follow the review under Property verifications (or the bell). Our team can approve it, reject it, or ask for more information. You get a bell notification and an email each time, and approved listings go live.

List under a colleague (brokerage agents)

If you belong to a brokerage, the last step of saving a new listing asks which agent to list it under. Pick yourself or a colleague. The listing then shows that agent’s name and leads, and you can still edit it because you created it.

Keep listings current

• Renew a listing before it expires.
• Mark as sold when the deal closes so it leaves the active inventory.
• Photos on the public site carry the listing’s MLS number (BMLS-########) in the corner.

Spotted a mistake on a listing? Contact us and we will review it.

D Your brokerage

My Brokerage is where an owner manages the agents and details of the brokerage.

• Invite an agent by email. The number of agents you can invite depends on your seats (“Unlimited” or a number).
• Approve or decline requests from agents who asked to join.
• Remove an agent who has left. Their access to the brokerage ends.
• Upload your logo. It appears on your reports and pages.
• FIU registration. Your brokerage’s FIU registration number and document are kept here. If our team asks you to update it, a banner reads An update of your FIU registration was requested. Click it, enter the FIU Registration Number (format F0000-0000), upload a PDF or photo, add an optional note and send. You get an email once it is reviewed.

E MLS search and saved searches

Search the whole inventory, not only your own listings.

1. Open MLS → MLS Search and type an address, MLS number or keyword. Use the filters for sale or rent, beds, baths, price, status, category, cities, features, size and listed since. Radius search and Use my location find homes near a point.
2. Sort by newest, price or days on market, and open any result for its details (and lockbox information where it applies).
3. When the results show what you want to be told about, click Save this search (next section).

Create a saved search, step by step

A saved search remembers your filters and tells people when new homes match them. It is the easiest way to keep a buyer informed without searching again.

1. Build the search. In MLS Search, set the filters for your client: for example For sale, 3+ beds, Cayo, a maximum price. Check that the results look right.
2. Click Save this search. A window titled Save this search opens.
3. Name it so you recognise it later, for example Maria: Cayo homes under BZ$400k.
4. Choose Email alerts:
   • Instant: an email as soon as a new listing matches.
   • Daily digest: one email a day with new and changed listings.
   • Weekly digest: the same, once a week.
   • Off: no emails. The search is only saved for you.
5. Click Save. You see Search saved.
6. Share it with a client. Open MLS → Saved Searches, edit the search and tick the clients under Share with clients, then Update sharing. You are asked Email the client as well?: choose Yes, email them to send their private listings link now, or No, just share. (Add the client first under MLS → Clients.)

Manage your saved searches

• Edit a search to rename it, change its alerts, or change who it is shared with (Save changes).
• Pause stops alerts without losing the search; Resume turns them back on.
• Delete removes it.
• The Activity column shows how many listings your clients liked and how many notes they left on it.
• There is a limit on how many saved searches each agent can keep (25 unless our team changes it). Delete one you no longer need to add another.

What the alert emails look like

The people a search is shared with get the emails below, signed with your name. Each has a button that opens their private client portal, where they can browse the matches and react to them. You also get a short notice of your own for instant matches.

1. Instant alert (to your client)

2. Daily or weekly digest (to your client)

3. Instant notice (to you)

F Clients, the client portal and referrals

Clients

Add buyers and sellers under MLS → Clients. For each client you can email a portal link: a private page where they see the searches you share with them and can react to listings (like or dislike) without creating an account. You can regenerate a link or revoke it at any time, and archive clients you no longer work with.

Referrals

Refer a client to another agent under MLS → Referrals → Refer a Client: enter the client’s name, email, phone, their needs and the referral fee (%), then Send referral.

• The receiving agent sees the client’s details masked until they accept, so do not put identifying details in the notes.
• The receiving agent can Accept (the client is added to their Clients) or Decline. You can Cancel a referral that has not been answered.
• The page has two tabs: Referrals received and Referrals sent.

G Market analysis (CMA)

A comparative market analysis shows your client what a property is worth, based on similar properties.

1. Market Analysis → Create CMA Report. Give the report a title and the client’s name and email.
2. Subject property. Choose Sale or Rent first (only listings of that type are used), then pick one of your listings or enter the address, price, size, bedrooms and bathrooms by hand.
3. Search criteria. Set the number of comparables, price and size variance, search radius, bedroom and bathroom tolerance, the statuses to include and (optionally) a category.
4. Select comparables. Click Search Comparables and tick the ones you trust.
5. Review & Save. Check the estimated value and written analysis (you can Regenerate Analysis), choose the map zoom, then save.

From the report list you can view the web report, download the PDF, email it to your client, edit it or delete it. Your logo and photo appear on the PDF.

H Seller’s Net and Buyer’s Expense calculators

Two quick calculators sit under the MLS menu. They are available to licensed agents.

• Seller’s Net estimates what a seller takes home after selling costs.
• Buyer’s Expense Estimate estimates what a buyer must pay beyond the price, such as closing and transfer costs.

Enter the price and the other numbers, read the result, and use Email to send it to your client. A lookup helps fill details from an existing listing.

I Contracts and e-signatures

Prepare a contract, send it for signature and track the whole deal in one place, under Contracts. Access depends on your plan: Plan & usage shows what you have.

Transactions

The Home screen is your pipeline, with Volume, Commission, Pipeline and Closed totals. Switch between Board view and List view, and filter by Buy or Listing and by date. Click New Transaction and enter the name, address (or link one of your listings), side, stage, price, commission %, client details and the contract and closing dates. Move a deal along its stages: Upcoming, Active, Under contract, Pending, Closed, Cancelled.

Send a document for e-signature (an “envelope”)

1. Click New Envelope. Name it and choose Start from a template (for example the Belize purchase agreement) or a blank document, and attach it to a transaction.
2. Fill in the details. The form asks for the fields and sections the document needs. Anything the system knows is filled in for you, and you can edit the document freely, inserting fields, saved clauses and signature spots with the toolbar.
3. Add recipients with name, email and role (pick from contacts if you like), and choose the signing order: everyone at once, or one after another.
4. Add an optional message, Preview, then Save draft or Send for e-signature.

Each recipient gets an email with a private link, signs on any device, and cannot see anyone else’s link. You can follow each recipient’s status: Waiting turn, Sent, Viewed, Signed, Declined. The envelope itself moves from Draft to Awaiting signatures to Completed (or Declined, Voided, Expired).

• Send reminder nudges whoever can sign right now.
• Void cancels an envelope (you give a reason). Duplicate copies it for the next deal.
• Download signed PDF once it is complete.

The rest of Contracts

J Service Providers directory

A local directory of trusted professionals (interior designers, contractors, property managers, developers and more) at matrixbelize.com/services. Use it to send your clients to reliable help.

Find a pro for your client

1. Click Find a Pro in the top bar, then search or browse a category tile.
2. Open a provider’s page to see their services, reviews and photos, and share the link with your client.
3. Your client (or you) can send a message with Request a quote. The provider is emailed and the sender gets a confirmation. After the job, leave a review.

Property pages can also show a box of local pros near that listing.

If you also offer services: join as a provider

Providers have their own sign-in, separate from your agent account. Click Join on the Services page and create a provider account. Our team approves each provider before the profile goes live. Then sign in at /services/login to reach the provider dashboard, which has:

• My services: list what you offer.
• Profile: your business details, photos and password.
• Leads: open each request, update its status and keep notes.
• Reviews: read reviews and post a public reply.
• Analytics: views, clicks and leads over time.
• Ads and billing: if enabled, promote your profile on nearby property pages by choosing an ad package and paying. Ads are reviewed before they go live.

K Plans, MLS license and invoices

Under MLS → MLS License you see your current plan, its seats and expiry date. There are Individual agent plans and Brokerage / association plans, billed monthly or yearly. At the moment MLS features are unlocked for every agent at no cost, and the plans apply only if paid licensing is turned on.

• Switch plan. You see the price, the credit for unused time and what is due today before you confirm.
• Cancel plan. You keep access until the end of the paid period and it will not renew. Keep my plan undoes a cancellation.
• Brokerage plans. If you downgrade or cancel, agents invited to your brokerage lose access.
• Invoices lists every bill, and you can open or download each one.

Before you start

You need three things. The plugin itself is free to install; what it can do depends on your matrixbelize.com plan. The plugin imports the listings published on matrixbelize.com, so there is no separate MLS account or MLS token to set up.

• A matrixbelize.com account with a plan that includes the Matrix plugin.
• A WordPress site (WordPress 5.2 or newer, PHP 7.4 or newer) where you can install plugins, and an administrator login on it.
• A Matrix API key for your account. You create it yourself in step 1 below; it takes a minute.

1 Get a plan

Your plan decides whether the plugin is included and how many of your websites can use it.

1. Sign in to matrixbelize.com (or create a free account).
2. Open My Profile → MLS → License and choose a plan.
3. After you subscribe, open My Profile → MLS → MLS plugin sites. It shows how many websites your plan allows, for example "Using 0 of 2 sites on your plan". If it says your account has no plan that includes the plugin, contact us.

Create your API key

The plugin signs in with an API key instead of your password. Each key is for your account, and you can make up to five (for example one per website) and revoke any of them at any time.

1. Sign in to matrixbelize.com and open My Profile → MLS → MLS plugin sites.
2. Under API keys, type a label (for example "My brokerage website") and click Generate API key.
3. Copy the key right away. For your security it is shown only once and cannot be viewed again. Paste it into the plugin in step 3 below.

2 Install the plugin

1. Download the plugin: Download matrix-1.7.1.zip (version 1.7.1, about 2 MB). The same address always gives you the newest version.
2. In WordPress, go to Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin.
3. Choose the zip, click Install Now, then Activate.

After activating, a new Matrix menu appears in your WordPress sidebar, and the setup wizard opens automatically.

Updating later. When a newer version is released, WordPress shows an "update available" notice on the Dashboard, on the Plugins screen and on the Matrix screens. Click Download the update, then go to Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin, upload the zip and choose Replace current with uploaded. Your settings and imported listings are kept. Each download has its version in the file name, and your sites page on matrixbelize.com shows which version each site runs.

3 Run the setup wizard

The wizard has six short steps. You can leave and come back at any time.

Step 1: Welcome

The wizard checks that your server is ready (PHP version, memory, upload limits). Fix anything it flags, then click Continue.

Step 2: Account & MLS Connection

1. Paste your Matrix API key (see "Create your API key" above) and click Save API key. The key replaces a password, so your matrixbelize.com password is never stored in WordPress.
2. Click the Your MLS box. A dropdown lists every available MLS, so just pick Matrix listings (you can also type to narrow the list). If it is missing, contact us.
3. Click Save MLS. There is no MLS token to enter: the plugin simply connects to the listings on matrixbelize.com.
4. Click Continue.

Step 3: Field Mapping

Choose which listing details to bring in (price, bedrooms, photos, remarks and so on) and where they go on your site. The defaults are a good start; you can refine them later under BP MATRIX → Listing Details.

Step 4: Import Configuration

Describe the listings you want, so you do not import the whole MLS. Pick the places (see "Choosing places in Belize" below), a status (usually Active), property types, and optionally a price range. Two more filters are there when you need them: Agent ID (only one agent's listings, using the agent's matrixbelize.com account number) and Exclude agent ID (leave an agent's listings out). To import a single property, enter its Listing number.

Choosing places in Belize

Belize listings are organised by district, then town or village. The plugin has two place filters with the same names:

• The dropdowns come from matrixbelize.com. Select Districts lists the districts that have listings (for example "Cayo District"), and Select City, towns or villages lists the towns and villages that have listings right now. Picking "Cayo" works as well as "Cayo District".
• Village or place not in the dropdown? It only appears once a listing there exists. You can still type it in Add extra City, towns or villages (or Add extra Districts for a district), separated by commas, spelled exactly as matrixbelize.com spells it.
• Start with one district (for example Cayo) and add more Import Tasks later, instead of one huge task for the whole country.
• No postal codes, ZIP codes or states. Belize does not use them, so the plugin has no postal code filter and does not show State or ZIP on your website: not in search filters, not in addresses, not on the property page.
• Prices are imported exactly as listed on matrixbelize.com (Belize dollars, BZ$) and the currency is stored with each listing. The Belize dollar is fixed at BZ$2 to US$1.

Step 5: Test Import

Click Run Test Import. The wizard imports a handful of listings so you can check them before importing everything. Open one to confirm the photos and details look right. When it works you will see a green "Congratulations" message.

Step 6: Success

Click Complete Setup. Your connection is live, and the plugin now syncs your listings automatically every hour. You can reopen the wizard any time with Restart Setup.

4 Import and manage your listings

After the wizard, everything lives under the Matrix menu in the WordPress sidebar: your connection and settings, your Import Tasks (the saved searches that bring in listings), and the import history.

What an Import Task is

An Import Task is a saved search plus a few settings. It tells the plugin which matrixbelize.com listings to bring to your site and how to publish them. You can have as many tasks as you like (for example one per district), and each can run by hand or keep itself up to date every hour. The wizard creates your first task for you; this chapter covers everything you can do with tasks afterwards.

Create a task and run your first import

1. Go to BP MATRIX → Import Tasks and click Add new Import Task.
2. Give it a title you will recognise, such as Cayo active homes.
3. Fill in the parameters (see the field list below). The page tells you how many listings match, for example "We found 13 listings".
4. Click Publish (or Update on a task you already saved). The import will not work correctly until the task is saved.
5. Click Start Import below the fields and watch the progress bar. When it finishes, open Properties in WordPress to see your listings.

Every setting on an Import Task

The filters are combined: a listing must match all of them. A filter left empty does not restrict anything. Some settings you may see in other real estate import plugins (state, postal code, subdivision, office filters) are not shown, because matrixbelize.com listings do not use them.

Examples

Running, watching and stopping an import

• Start. Save the task with Publish / Update, then click Start Import. The status line reads "Starting the import. Please stand by!" and then shows progress.
• Stay on the page or leave it: the import keeps running in the background. Come back and open the task to see where it is.
• Stop. Click Stop Import. The status line reads "Import stopped!". Listings already imported stay on your site.
• Many listings? Imports of hundreds of listings need your server to allow long-running PHP scripts. If the task page shows a red notice that max_execution_time is low, ask your host to raise it (0 for unlimited, or at least 600 seconds). Take a database backup before a very large first import.
• Test small first. Set How many to import to a small number such as 5 for a first trial, check the result, then set it to 0.

Keeping listings up to date

Switch on Enable Auto Update every hour on a task and the plugin checks matrixbelize.com every hour (through WordPress's scheduler, WP-Cron). On each check it:

• Adds new listings that match the task.
• Updates listings whose details, price or photos changed.
• Removes homes that were sold, rented, withdrawn, expired or taken off matrixbelize.com. This happens in the daily clean-up (see below), not in the hourly check.

Auto-update starts once the first import has finished. The Import Tasks list shows Auto-sync off or the time of the Last import for each task. If your host disables WP-Cron, ask them to run it from a real cron job. After you change a task's settings, press Update again so the new settings are used, then Start Import if you want to import right away.

What happens to sold or removed listings

A home that is no longer for sale should not stay on your website. BPX works this out once a day:

• matrixbelize.com sends a list of every listing that is still on the market (Active or Coming Soon).
• Any imported listing on your site that is not on that list is deleted. That covers homes that were sold, rented, withdrawn, expired or taken down by the agent.
• Photos and details of a deleted listing are removed with it. Your other listings are not touched.

Because it runs once a day, a home that has just sold can stay on your site for up to a day.

Checking what happened: Import History

Open BP MATRIX → Import History for a log of the last 30 days. Each row shows the date, whether the listing was Added, Edited or Deleted, its title, MLS number, status and the task that did it. Use the search box and the Action and Import Task filters to find one listing. A short summary of the last 24 hours also appears at the top of the Matrix screens.

Listings that matrixbelize.com reports as unchanged are not logged again, so a re-run that changes nothing shows no new rows.

Managing your tasks

• Edit a task from the Import Tasks list, change the settings, press Update, then Start Import.
• Several tasks are fine: give each a clear title (one per district or per agent works well).
• Extra tasks from the wizard. If you ran the wizard more than once you may see several tasks with the same title. Keep the newest and Move to Trash the others.
• Removing imported listings works like any WordPress listings: Properties → select → Move to Trash.

Import problems

5 Show your listings on your website

Importing brings the listings into WordPress. This chapter is about what your visitors see. If your site uses a real estate theme such as Houzez, Real Homes, WpResidence or Wpestate, the theme shows the listings on its own pages. If it uses any other theme (for example Twenty Twenty-Five), Matrix gives you the pages below.

Where your listings live

• The listings page: yoursite.com/listing/ shows every imported listing as a grid, with a search form (property type, status, city, town or village).
• One page per listing: yoursite.com/listing/the-listing-name/, with the photos, price, beds and baths, and details.
• You can change the word listing in the URL in the Design settings under BP MATRIX → Design ("Property URL base").

The Listings page is created for you

On a site without a real estate theme, Matrix creates a published page called Listings as soon as your first import has finished. It contains the listings grid and search form. You will see a green message at the top of your WordPress screens with buttons to View the Listings page, Edit the page and read how to add it to your menu.

• It is created once. If you rename it, edit it or delete it later, Matrix leaves it alone and does not create another.
• If you already have a page that contains the listings shortcode, Matrix uses that and does not add a second page.

Add the Listings page to your menu

Block themes (Twenty Twenty-Five and other recent themes):

1. Go to Appearance → Editor → Navigation and open your main menu.
2. Click the + at the end of the menu, choose Page Link, and pick Listings.
3. Click Save.

Classic themes: go to Appearance → Menus, tick Listings under Pages, click Add to Menu, then Save Menu.

To feature the listings on your home page, add a link or button there that points to the Listings page, or use the shortcode in the next section.

Put listings on any page: the shortcode

Add a Shortcode block to any page or post and type [mlsimport_listings]. You can narrow what it shows with options in the same brackets:

Other options you can use: price_min, baths, sqft_min, sqft_max, keywords, features, label, listing_id, page.

With Elementor

If you build pages with Elementor, open the widget panel and search for Matrix. The Matrix widgets (listings grid, property sections and more) can be dragged onto any page and styled like any other Elementor widget.

With a real estate theme

If the plugin detected Houzez, Real Homes, WpResidence or Wpestate during setup, your listings are saved as that theme's own properties. Use the theme's pages, search form and widgets exactly as you would for properties you typed in yourself. The Listings page above is only for sites without such a theme.

Maps

On a site without a real estate theme, the maps on listing pages and in the "Map with Listings" block are OpenStreetMap maps. They are free and need no key or account, and they do not use Google Maps.

• Faster map tiles (optional): under BP MATRIX → Design, in the Maps section, you can paste a MapBox API key. The same OpenStreetMap-style map is then drawn with MapBox tiles. With the field empty, the free OpenStreetMap server is used.
• "Access blocked" tiles: if the map shows grey squares that say Access blocked: app is not following the tile usage policy, OpenStreetMap's free public servers have refused the request. It can happen when your site hides which website is asking for the tiles, or when a site or visitor makes a lot of requests. Update to the latest version of the plugin first. If it still happens, or your site is busy, paste a MapBox API key (above): MapBox is built for live websites and does not have this limit.
• Map zoom: the Default Maps zoom (1 to 20) setting in the same section sets how close the map starts.
• On a real estate theme (Houzez, Real Homes, WpResidence or Wpestate), the theme draws the map, so it uses the theme's own map settings, including its Google Maps key if you set one.

If visitors cannot see the listings

6 Manage your sites

Each WordPress website that signs in counts as one site against your plan. To move to a new domain, or free up a slot (your API keys are managed on the same page):

1. Sign in to matrixbelize.com and open My Profile → MLS → MLS plugin sites.
2. Click Remove next to the old site. It stops importing immediately.
3. Sign in to the plugin on the new site.

Troubleshooting

Still stuck?

Tell us the exact error message and the address of your WordPress website, and we will help.