I really like Roost! I think they'll do well to grab some traffic from the established players.

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I agree on the speed aspect. Getting to what they came for on the site originally. I know at the broker end, they can buy ( we could if we want to pay the big dollars) the full data feed. On my MLS, I buy a portion of the data. Some MLS 's sell different levels of data. I personally do not need sales data on my site, but for a brokerage in keeping track of market share that would be important.

I don't know what the ajax code does, but recently have had problems with it on my REW site, such that Aaron is removing it if I recall.

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It really hangs up for me when I try to scroll down the listings (Using firefox) but some really nice layout ideas.

I am actually really interested in where they get their data from as well - It must be broker opt in, not IDX feed as no broker is allowed to submit all listings from an IDX feed in this manner - that would constitute advertising properties that you are not authorized to advertise on a third party site.

Pretty cool though - Got me thinking actually, I am an IDX vendor for like the top 100 MLS boards in the world, if there was a way to do it, I wonder if we could use something like that hmmmmm .... Nah! Was nice to dream for a second though - Instantly adding 5,000,000 active listings to REW in one day would be pretty crazy

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Holy Crap! I think Ryan is going to have a field day with this one:
From prudentialgeorgia.idx.roost.com/web/mls.action

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Webmasters who spend their energies upholding the spirit of the basic principles [Of Google] will provide a much better user experience and subsequently enjoy better ranking than those who spend their time looking for loopholes they can exploit. Google.com

So let me get this straight, for any agent or broker to say they provide access to search the MLS is an ethics violation to the NAR - but an IDX vendor with a data license agreement (With very strict rules about how they can distribute the broker owned data) can make a back door deal with an up and coming search engine that states

Something ain't right here folks. I am off to do some digging (Sweet, something to get my mind off Google for a while)

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Webmasters who spend their energies upholding the spirit of the basic principles [Of Google] will provide a much better user experience and subsequently enjoy better ranking than those who spend their time looking for loopholes they can exploit. Google.com

Well,

It appears that all you do is supply them the feed, they set it up and then push people back to your website. When someone leaves their site to visit the "brokering agents website", you get charged. Sort of a PPC.

Some slick features, but, nothing new here. you know, give them my listings so I can buy them back.

Again, I don't blame them, I blame us.

Right now, they don't exist in the SERPS here in Atlanta and I don't suspect that they will come up quickly although that could change with the blink of an eye.

Here in Atlanta where they have Prudential as a sponsor, they have to compete with homes.com, and all of the others for market share via search engines and they don't show up anywhere relevant.

I find this similar to what you are saying Morgan, and will likley throw my opinion up tonight. Greg Swann over at bloudhound did a pretty good investigation:

bloodhoundrealty.com/BloodhoundBlog/?p=2531

For the record, in real estate, "cool" doesn't get you many links. There are lots of "cool" real estate websites, but, essentially the info is the same so they will still need links and more than just commonly duplicated content found all over the web to to rise in rankings. Until they do that, it's just good forum fodder to gawk about.

Still burns me up that some more innovative web companies like PRU GA think this is a good resource and use of their time. They could invest this money in their own better search and eliminate companies like this.

Piss Poor Planning, IMO

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Ryan Ward, REALTOR® - Keller Williams Realty Consultants. (404) 630-3187
Atlanta Real Estate - My featured area is Alpharetta Real Estate and it is where I call home. Read my Atlanta Real Estate blog.

I was under the impression that a broker that agrees to participate in IDX agrees to follow the rules allowing the brokers listing data to display on another brokers/agents websites. Further it was my understanding that it is not to be used in any other manner.

Ryan, you should be all on top of KWLS and know that it was put in place so that listings could be syndicated to multiple sites with leads coming back to the listing agent. Many of the KW agents did not like the KWLS because they had additional data entry when they got new listings. The purpose though was so that KW owned the data put in by it's brokers and agents and was able to market the listings as it saw fit.

It seems odd to me that Roost is able to display my brokers listings on it's site. I think the brokers agreed to allow sharing of IDX data with other brokers/agents to be placed on the agents site and not to create a means of selling the brokers leads back to his agents.

Is this not a paid link scheme?

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