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Installation Guide

Welcome aboard! 🎉 Let's get your RealHomes theme up and running.

Before you dive in, make sure your hosting environment meets the official WordPress requirements. RealHomes works seamlessly on most hosting types—shared, reseller, or dedicated—as long as WordPress runs properly.

✅ Before You Begin

You'll need a working WordPress installation first. Most web hosts offer one-click WordPress installs. If you’re installing manually, follow this WordPress Installation Guide.

Once WordPress is set up, download the “All Files and Documentation” package from ThemeForest and extract it. Inside, you'll find the key file: realhomes.zip.

Download Theme

Important: Upload the Correct File

You must extract the main package you downloaded from ThemeForest first. Do not upload the entire package directly to WordPress. The file you need to upload is realhomes.zip, which is found inside.

Step 1: Upload and Activate

  1. Go to Appearance → Themes → Add New.
  2. Click Upload Theme.
  3. Select realhomes.zip and click Install Now.
  4. Once installed, click Activate.

Add New Theme Upload Theme Select ZIP Activate Theme

Step 2: Select a Design Variation

After activation, you’ll land on the RealHomes Welcome Page. Select your preferred design variation (Ultra, Modern, or Classic), then click Save Changes.

Welcome Page

For a breakdown of each design, visit Design Selection

Step 3: Activate Your License

To unlock the full potential of RealHomes:

  • Enter your Item Purchase Code.
  • Click Verify.

This step enables access to demo import, plugin installation, and auto-updates.

Need help finding your code? Check out our guide: 👉 How to Get ThemeForest Purchase Code

Purchase Verification

Step 4: Install Required Plugins

After license verification, you'll be prompted to install the plugins that power your theme. This is a two-part process: first you install them, then you activate them.

  1. Click Begin installing plugins.
  2. On the next screen, select all plugins, choose Install from the dropdown, and click Apply.
  3. Once the installation is complete, click Return to Required Plugins Installer.
  4. Now, select all plugins again, choose Activate from the dropdown, and click Apply.

Install Plugins Select Plugins Return to Installer Activate Plugins

For clean, SEO-friendly URLs, navigate to:

Dashboard → Settings → Permalinks Select Post name and save.

Permalinks Settings

Step 6: Elementor Initial Settings

To ensure Elementor uses the theme's beautifully designed styles instead of its own defaults, navigate to: Dashboard → Elementor → Settings

On the General tab, enable both:

  • ✅ Disable Default Colors
  • ✅ Disable Default Fonts

Elementor Settings

🛠️ Alternate Installation Method: FTP

If you're facing upload issues, try FTP:

  1. Connect to your server via an FTP client (e.g., FileZilla).
  2. Navigate to the wp-content/themes/ directory on your server.
  3. Extract realhomes.zip on your computer and upload the resulting realhomes folder to this directory.
  4. Go to your Dashboard → Appearance → Themes and Activate the RealHomes theme.
  5. After activation, proceed with Step 2 (Select Design), Step 3 (Activate License), and Step 4 (Install Plugins) from the WordPress Dashboard method above to complete the setup.

If you plan to add custom CSS or modify theme files, you should use the child theme. This ensures that your custom changes are safe and will not be overwritten when you update the main RealHomes theme in the future.

The realhomes-child.zip file is included in your download package. You can install and activate it just like the main realhomes.zip theme.

⚠️ Common Installation Issues

These are the most frequently encountered issues and their fixes:

Theme is missing the style.css stylesheet error

Happens if you upload the full download package. Make sure to upload realhomes.zip. 👉 Fix it here

The link you followed has expired

Your server's PHP limits are too low. 👉 Learn how to fix it

Broken or missing styles

Usually caused by incorrect file/folder permissions. 👉 Fix broken styles

Missing temporary directory

A server misconfiguration. 👉 Learn more

❓ Need Help?

If you face any issue not listed above, submit a support ticket and our team will be happy to assist you. Don’t forget to sign up or log in first.