MLS Update's Blog: General Discussion

The San Francisco Association of Realtors, MetroList Services Inc. and Bay Area Real Estate Information Service Inc. (BAREIS) recently announced a plan to consolidate their IDX and MLS services in the form of a unified database, called Quattro.

Some real estate agents and brokers will be able to subscribe to a single MLS and share data across all three.
Read Full Post

MLS Boards have some of the strictest rules to govern the storage and display of their listings. We understand the reasoning behind this: control of the MLS data is power in real estate. They will require specific verbiage on their listing pages. They will only allow approved, licensed brokers access to the raw data (in a lot of cases). They will insist that your download of listing data be done religiously every day.

It seems funny then when an MLS Board doesn't update their data. Someone in their technology department doesn't transfer the files, or they just forget. A technology company like ourselves, who provides custom IDX solutions to hundreds of Realtors (R) across North America, starts pulling out our proverbial hair trying to figure out if our… Read Full Post

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… Read Full Post