Many years ago, real estate associations began offering data access to their agents so that they could build websites to promote their businesses. Their first go at this offered data access through a few (now) antiquated technologies, like FTP servers, SOAP web services, and later RETS. While RETS remains widely used, it’s rare to find real estate associations that still facilitate data access through FTP and SOAP. Increasingly, real estate associations are adopting newer technologies like RESTful APIs, which modern-day developers are much more familiar with, as well as adopting data dictionary standards (RESO) to make interoperability between different systems easier.
MLS Technology Providers
There are a number of technology providers that work directly with real estate associations to facilitate data access for their agents. Here’s a short list of some of the popular ones:
- Black Knight (www.blackknightinc.com)
- Bridge Interactive (www.bridgeinteractive.com)
- CoreLogic (www.corelogic.com)
- MLS Grid (www.mlsgrid.com)
- Rappatoni (www.rapattoni.com)
- Stratus Data Systems (stratusmls.com)
MLS Technology has improved, but the approach remains the same.
Data access feeds provided by real estate associations are intended for the purpose of data replication, meaning that agents are expected to use their access to create a copy of the data that they can use on their website. This involves creating processes that periodically connect to the MLS to check for listing updates, as well as processes that download and store images.
Most agents and small teams don’t have the resources to build the infrastructure that’s involved with having a sophisticated (reliable) website, leaving the digital part of the industry to be dominated by well-funded competitors. They’ll often settle for using the services of a vendor, which are well-priced, but ordinary.
Independent API Providers
There are a handful of independent API providers whose services offer an extra layer of features that the MLS technology providers don’t. You may want to consider using one of these providers to cut down on your development time, they help bridge the gap between you and your well-funded competitors. They may have features pre-built that would otherwise involve lots of time to reinvent and may not require data replication, further reducing overhead costs. Here are some popular independent API providers:
- Attom Data (www.attomdata.com)
- Data Rabbit API (www.datarabbit.io)
- Repliers (www.repliers.com)
- Spark (landing.sparkplatform.com)
A really simple example of why you may opt for an independent API provider is geocoding. Many real estate boards don’t provide latitude and longitude values for listings, leaving you to perform geocoding yourself, whereas geocoding is typically provided by independent API providers.
Comparison of Providers
The table below includes the independent API providers listed above, as well as a list of popular features that the MLS technology providers typically don’t support through their APIs:
In Summary
There’s a lot to consider when deciding what real estate technology will work best for your use case. It’s important that you have a comprehensive understanding of all the technology that’s available to you, and you make an informed decision that will optimize time and costs.
If you’re crossing this bridge and have questions, please feel free to book a meeting with me. I’d be happy to learn about what you’ve set out to build and provide guidance.
