Features of Your Feed
Posted Mar 9, 2007 @ 3:48 pm, Viewed by 796 Visitors, Read 812 Times.
Not all MLS data feeds are created equal. Some are free, and some charge exorbitant fees. Some feeds give you access to large amounts of well organized and high quality data, while others make it difficult for basic listings to be looked up.
MLS are provided through MLS boards. Multiple Listing Service Boards are usually comprised of Realtors from a multitude of brokerages who sit on a committee to help decide on the rules, fees, and spending for the board. Registered agents and/or brokers will have to have jurisdiction to have access to the MLS provided by a given board. The Realtor will have to get permission from the board to access the MLS data, often having to sign legal agreements to specify the intentions of use of the data, liability, and access rules. Some boards use outside companies to handle the technological part of the data access.
In general, getting access to your MLS can be an easy process or a difficult process, and the usual factors are involved - understanding the rules and knowing the players. Almost every board has different rules for accessing the MLS data, just as each State has different rules for handling real estate transactions. Understanding who your board is, what they do, and why they are doing it will help you get through the process of getting access to your MLS.
You will have to apply for the data feed. Contact your local MLS board for details on how to get access. If you don't know who your MLS board is, talk to your broker or someone in the brokerage. It shouldn't be difficult information to acquire. Do keep in mind that you might be able to access more than one feed and each feed could provide very different amounts of information. Digging deeper can really pay off here.
The data will often come in a few different forms. A lot of the real estate brokerages will supply a do-it-yourself template website for their Realtors. These provide a quick and inexpensive way of getting your web-presence out there, but often are quite generic, restrictive, and require a certain level of self-maintenance. One form of access to the data is in an iFrame form that is designed to fit into generic, brokerage-supplied sites or basic templatized websites. The advantages of the iFrame is the same as that of the brokerage-supplied site: minimalistic, cheap (or free), and not requiring a sophisticated level of technical know-how. The disadvantages are also the same - you get what you pay for. The result is often bland, the searches are often limited, and control of the iFrame element is in the hands of the MLS board or their technology provider.
The other means of data access is the IDX. An abbreviation of Internet Data eXchange, IDX allows for the advanced manipulation (within strict bounds) and display of MLS data. Here's where things get complicated though. IDX can come in various forms, some of the most common being RETS (Real Estate Transaction Standard), FTP (File Transfer Protocol) using CSV (Comma Separated Values), FTP using Pipe Delimited Values, FTP using Tab Delimited Values, and MSSQL (Microsoft Sequential Query Language) access. Each require a different approach to extract the data, and a database back-end to store the MLS listing information. There are also quite strict requirements on how often the data must be updated from the MLS source and the MLS boards will have stringent requirements on how to display the data obtained. It would be an understatement to say that understanding all of the details and how best to implement an effective website using them is a challenge.
To further complicate things, what happens if the feed changes? A good question to ask because this scenario will happen. All of a sudden your fantastic lead-generation tool is broken because your MLS board decided to reorganize the listing information in your feed.
In the end, all that really matters is whether using your MLS board's listings data will generate greater sales for your business or not. Would you think twice about making business cards? How about advertising in the newspaper, radio, television or even bus stops and billboards? Would you have an office and a receptionist? If you want to be successful, the answer eventually has to be 'Yes'. So, what is someone who wants to get the most out of our new digital age of connectivity to do? A lot of people will spend a great deal of precious time wading chest-deep into all of this technology only to find that others are coming out with better solutions in shorter time frames. If you ran a chain of restaurants, would you clean the carpets yourself? You would still get the carpets cleaned, wouldn't you? Meanwhile, every day you are not getting them cleaned means they are getting more and more dirty.
Do your research and hire a profession. Your business will prosper because of it.
MLS are provided through MLS boards. Multiple Listing Service Boards are usually comprised of Realtors from a multitude of brokerages who sit on a committee to help decide on the rules, fees, and spending for the board. Registered agents and/or brokers will have to have jurisdiction to have access to the MLS provided by a given board. The Realtor will have to get permission from the board to access the MLS data, often having to sign legal agreements to specify the intentions of use of the data, liability, and access rules. Some boards use outside companies to handle the technological part of the data access.
In general, getting access to your MLS can be an easy process or a difficult process, and the usual factors are involved - understanding the rules and knowing the players. Almost every board has different rules for accessing the MLS data, just as each State has different rules for handling real estate transactions. Understanding who your board is, what they do, and why they are doing it will help you get through the process of getting access to your MLS.
You will have to apply for the data feed. Contact your local MLS board for details on how to get access. If you don't know who your MLS board is, talk to your broker or someone in the brokerage. It shouldn't be difficult information to acquire. Do keep in mind that you might be able to access more than one feed and each feed could provide very different amounts of information. Digging deeper can really pay off here.
The data will often come in a few different forms. A lot of the real estate brokerages will supply a do-it-yourself template website for their Realtors. These provide a quick and inexpensive way of getting your web-presence out there, but often are quite generic, restrictive, and require a certain level of self-maintenance. One form of access to the data is in an iFrame form that is designed to fit into generic, brokerage-supplied sites or basic templatized websites. The advantages of the iFrame is the same as that of the brokerage-supplied site: minimalistic, cheap (or free), and not requiring a sophisticated level of technical know-how. The disadvantages are also the same - you get what you pay for. The result is often bland, the searches are often limited, and control of the iFrame element is in the hands of the MLS board or their technology provider.
The other means of data access is the IDX. An abbreviation of Internet Data eXchange, IDX allows for the advanced manipulation (within strict bounds) and display of MLS data. Here's where things get complicated though. IDX can come in various forms, some of the most common being RETS (Real Estate Transaction Standard), FTP (File Transfer Protocol) using CSV (Comma Separated Values), FTP using Pipe Delimited Values, FTP using Tab Delimited Values, and MSSQL (Microsoft Sequential Query Language) access. Each require a different approach to extract the data, and a database back-end to store the MLS listing information. There are also quite strict requirements on how often the data must be updated from the MLS source and the MLS boards will have stringent requirements on how to display the data obtained. It would be an understatement to say that understanding all of the details and how best to implement an effective website using them is a challenge.
To further complicate things, what happens if the feed changes? A good question to ask because this scenario will happen. All of a sudden your fantastic lead-generation tool is broken because your MLS board decided to reorganize the listing information in your feed.
In the end, all that really matters is whether using your MLS board's listings data will generate greater sales for your business or not. Would you think twice about making business cards? How about advertising in the newspaper, radio, television or even bus stops and billboards? Would you have an office and a receptionist? If you want to be successful, the answer eventually has to be 'Yes'. So, what is someone who wants to get the most out of our new digital age of connectivity to do? A lot of people will spend a great deal of precious time wading chest-deep into all of this technology only to find that others are coming out with better solutions in shorter time frames. If you ran a chain of restaurants, would you clean the carpets yourself? You would still get the carpets cleaned, wouldn't you? Meanwhile, every day you are not getting them cleaned means they are getting more and more dirty.
Do your research and hire a profession. Your business will prosper because of it.
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