Category Archives: MLS

After the latest attempt at publishing MLS sales statistics for real estate agents in a public forum went down in an inglorious blaze, many people inside and outside the industry are still interested in the possibility of a second try.  It may be an outside 3rd party that creates such a service, but I’d be more inclined to believe that a push from within the industry would lead to the creation of a more comprehensive database.  That may or may not happen, but it makes sense to … Read More »

I’ve noticed an interesting trend developing; agents are adding MLS Widgets to their Facebook page. Some of the Apps being developed for Facebook are complete websites onto themselves that using clever scripting to shoehorn themselves into the Facebook Platform. Others offer sophisticated lead capture capabilities. One thing is for certain, IDX Vendors are beginning to provide Agents with a way to tap into Facebook’s 500 Million+ user base and providing home buyers with new tools to find homes inside their favorite Social Media platform. In … Read More »

Realtors hold all the cards (MLS data), but are aggregators squeaking out the win? - photo credit Recently, a Hawaii MLS company (who asked to remain anonymous) audited Hawaii Life Real Estate Brokers and informed me of a few RETS rules and regulations we were violating. The MLS technician assisting me (we’ll call him Kimo) was very helpful, clearly explaining the fixes needed. Once in compliance, my competitive nature had me checking to see if other Hawaii real estate websites were also following RETS rules and regulations. Some … Read More »

“This is not my Locker” I know it is inevitable that I will be asked (perhaps 100′s of times) “What did you learn from Inman Connect SF this week”? or “What was the most interesting thing you learned at Inman Connect SF”? or some variation of that general question. In years past I may have made something up to illicit a response like “That’s Nice” or “Wow, that’s great!”, but NOT this year! This year something very accidental, yet incredibly enlightening happened and it all … Read More »

When Eric Bryant wrote the original Kiss Your “RSS” Good-bye, he was referring to RSS feeds being a thing of the past as social networking sites like Twitter provided a filter for really good articles, “Kinda like a ‘Human Aggregator’”. I thought this was a smart observation, but Eric’s post had to do with RSS feeds as they pertain to blogs and the reading of real estate articles. Today, I’m here to talk about RSS feeds as they relate to MLS data. RSS Feeds + … Read More »

I got some great news the other day. One of my local MLS’s finally became RETS compliant. I could now get new properties updated to my site every few hours. I was stoked. The call to the MLS was made shortly after hearing the news, hoping to have RETS up and running within the week. My sales rep picked up the phone and I asked if I could cancel my FTP and XML feeds, and replace it with RETS. “But we don’t offer a RETS … Read More »

In the latest episode of the GeekEstate podcast I had the opportunity to speak with Matt Cohen of Clareity Consulting regarding RETS, the Real Estate Transaction Standard. I recently had the opportunity to represent Zillow at the HAR REIS conference. One of the speakers referred to RETS in his presentation. I was surprised to find there were a number of folks around me asking what RETS is. When explaining RETS there is no better source than someone that has been there from the beginning in … Read More »

Back on December 23, I wrote an article here on GeekEstate Blog about a WordPress plugin that Diverse Solutions was developing that would allow IDX listings to be fully indexed by search engines. Earlier this week, the plugin came out of beta testing and has been released for general availability. Here is part of the Diverse Solutions press release (full release): Diverse Solutions announced today that they have released a new IDX product called dsIDXpress. The product allows agents and brokers using WordPress to get … Read More »

For those of you in countries/markets without a MLS, you know your real estate market does not operate in the same way as it does in the US where a Multiple Listing Service is the norm.  At first glance things may appear the same – there are ‘real estate agencies’, ‘listings’, ‘property registrations’ and so on – but dig a little deeper and you’ll find it to be quite different.  This article looks at how the market works for Nicaragua real estate, but much of … Read More »

Michael Wurtzer has a great post relating to the question of whether the costs of an MLS coverting to a standard format is worth the long-term benefits over at the FBS Blog that I thought many of you would probably find interesting — check it out.