Is there going to be a point where we start to get some more detailed search fields in our IDX panels without having to pay for custom work? I understand that every MLS integration is different but it seems odd that fields that are very simple aren’t natively included. Things like number of garage spaces, pool, new construction or existing resale, HOA or no HOA, senior community or 55+. Again, I can understand getting specific on these fields and how that can be a challenge. Example: In ground vs above ground pool vs pool(yes or no). High level search terms that seem pretty standard across MLS’s would be nice to see as built in standard with the base version of the IDX feed. I’ve held off on adding any extra IDX panels in fear of not being able to upgrade in the future. The user experience is a little diminished for some of my home buyers that can’t find what they are looking for.
I agree with you Matt! I’ve paid thousands for custom IDX work on my site. The main issue I have… when your local MLS changes something… it’s going to disrupt your IDX feed on your site. I’ve had this happen, and the REW charges me custom program hours to go in an fix it…
This hasn’t changed in 20 years because it DOES require hands-on work from a programmer. You might argue there could be a flat-rate offering that is based on a few hours of programming and the client/programmer work out a few essential things to tie into the IDX from that board. But it would still work out similarly and I don’t blame REW for keeping it simple: You pay for the programmer’s time. Once upon a time I looked for an alternate (non-REW) website platform and I was shocked to see how other platforms didn’t even offer IDX customization (at any price).
I suggest having confidence that if those changes are worthwhile for your website, then they are worth paying for. Easily half of my non-referred client base comes from people who said “I went with you because of your website”.
Then again, if your website is more of a “business card”, then it might be better to just leave the search in its boring native state, and use it as a conversation piece like “My site’s MLS search is terrible, so let me set you up on my board-provided one”.
In my area, the MLS and IDX feeds are not always reliable for additional information like you mentioned. Most fields are optional and most agents are lazy when entering a listing. If an agent doesn’t indicate a property is in a 55+ community, it won’t come up in search results. I created custom search pages for things like 55+ communities, condos with garages, single-level condos, single-level condos with garages, new construction, etc. This was time consuming, but it ultimately produced more reliable results. Of course my work was all based on my knowledge of the area I serve. I don’t know how big of an area you service, but you might want to try a similar approach.
@mattleicht agreed!
@GerryT completely understand that it’s been the norm just more of a curiosity of why. I also understand the costs associated with it. Lofty, although sites aren’t so great, provides this level of detail for their searches. It’s definitely a “where do I put my resources” type of decision and my post is really a curiosity post as opposed to saying that REW should do this. And I 100% get where you are coming from on the customization situation. I just worry more about down the line if upgrades become more frequent as newer technologies start to flood the ecosystem that we just end of paying an arm and a leg for the website search functionality that personally feels like there could be some sort of standardization across all IDX feeds they support.
@jhnyguitar I know what you mean as far as incomplete information in the MLS. That’s just the unfortunate part of agents not being detailed at their job. Hopefully it’s not a reflection of the level of service they provide their clients but this industry is filled with subpar agents just trying to make a quick check. I’ve done the same with building out pages to support certain search terms. It’s very time consuming but you really can’t get capture all of them that way as you’re either building snippets based off of a community or an area of the data. I have paid for custom idx search panels for pool data, etc but some fields are require in my MLS. Construction stage being one of them.
Maybe with the addition of a AI connectors into our sites traditional searching by checkboxes for specific data types will become a thing of the past. The AI will extract, cross reference and potentially suggest based on natural language based search. I know Morgan has talked about this in another post.
Again, I’m not bashing or even complaining. It’s me being curious as to why somethings are included in the panels and some aren’t.
Indeed, it’s so frustrating when we can’t use a certain search filter because it’s not “required” at the board level and lots of agents don’t use it! For example if I want to create a search for someone, showing all homes with an ocean view - but I can’t because they won’t see those listings where the agent didn’t bother to check that box (imagine paying big bucks to work with that agent).
Hi everyone!
The main limitation here is the lack of standardization across MLS/IDX feeds. Fields aren’t consistent from one board to another, and even when they exist, the way they’re populated can vary, which makes it hard to support them reliably at scale.
For that reason, we prioritize the fields that are broadly consistent, while more specific use cases usually require custom solutions tied to a particular board.
We are currently exploring ways to normalize more of this data so we can support a wider set of filters by default, but it’s not a simple problem and there’s still a lot to evaluate. 