MLS Data to Your Website

IDX vs. RETS

There is some confusion among developers and Realtors® alike as to what the difference of RETS and IDX are. So I figured that I would write a short blog entry on this, to help clear up the confusion. First, lets start by looking at IDX and what that term means. IDX stands for Internet Data Exchange, and was a mandate from the National Associations of Realtors® that said the “Associations of REALTORS® and their Multiple Listing Services must enable MLS Participants to display on Participants’ public websites aggregated MLS active listing information subject to the requirements of state law and regulation.”

Typically this mandate was answered by providing the MLS participants with access to a FTP feed of the data, which is commonly now referred to as the IDX feed. The other method used to meet this mandated was to provide a link that the participants could frame into their own site. Both of the above solutions pose problems for Realtors® and their website developers. Almost every single MLS’s FTP feed is different, requiring custom coding or custom configuration for each MLS. FTP feeds are also generally only upated once per 24 hours. The framed solutions on the other hand povide little to no customization in looks or services differentiation between Realtors. Framed pages also have negative impacts on a websites search engine ranking, causing it to be very difficult to market a website.

RETS has been getting so much attention lately. RETS stands for the Real Estate Transaction Standard. RETS is an attempt by NAR and the MLS vendors, to standardize the way that IDX and other real estate data is provided. Why still not a perfect solution, it does offer many benefits over providing the IDX data via FTP. First, RETS is typically setup as a near real time access to the MLS data, meaning that when Realtor® Rodney enters a listing into his MLS, it is provided out almost instantaneously to REALTORS® via the RETS server. RETS also provides a standardized way to determine what data the MLS is providing you, allowing for easier an less time consuming setups for website developers. The RETS standard is still maturing however NAR realizing the potential for RETS to improve their members access to the IDX data has mandated that all Realtor® Associations and their MLSs adopt RETS in 2009. So if your MLS does not yet have RETS, they will in the near future.

Although RETS is still in the early stages, the ability to standardize the method of transferring MLS data is important. Standrdazation allows a unified method of transferring data to Web sites making it easier for vendors and programmers to design sites with a uniform method of providing MLS data to real estate sites. Standards can eliminate some overhead for Real Estate professionals by allowing vendors a standard in the way the data is transferred, which means less code and "hacks" to be needed. Also allowing real-time updating for member sites.