Hello, I am a professional web developer from the US with almost 10 years' experience. I have read your project description and provided creative/functional recommendations below as requested:
- Technically this is an excellent use case for Drupal; it is an extremely popular, well-trusted content management system that can fulfill every requirement you listed, including the wish-list (by way of modules). I have extensive experience in configuring, theming, writing custom module code, and deploying multi-site Drupal projects such as yours.
- I recommend that we engage in a 3-7 day process of eliciting a formal set of requirements so that I can document an information architecture for the website and design mock-ups. Once the specification is documented, we can iteratively arrive at a final draft that will drive the implementation phase of the project.
- My approach is to minimize risk to you using established, supported technology (e.g. Drupal and modules that fit your needs such as LiveChat, Search_Autocomplete, Simple_GMap, Mailing_List, etc...).
- Regarding tailoring the design to your target demographic, I will examine successful designs of sites similar user experience goals, and provide you with several different design concepts to select from.
If interested, please let me know and I can provide a detailed proposal/roadmap. I am open to negotiate the terms of my bid. I hope to begin a discussion with you regarding next steps soon.