IDX is an acronym for Internet Data Exchange. IDX is the policy instituted by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) to govern how MLS member participants can display active MLS listing information on their websites. In simple terms, IDX is the means of extracting the data from a Multiple Listing Service and delivering it to a website for public consumption. IDX is sometimes called Broker Reciprocity or IDD.

This depends on the rules established by your local board and/or Multiple Listing Service. Since your board/MLS is independently governed, these rules might be different than rules of another boards and MLS’s. Normally all Broker members (Participants) may participate in IDX/Broker Reciprocity. Agents (Subscribers) may, or may not, participate in Broker Reciprocity program depending on the rules. Sometimes individual agents can display IDX data directly on their personal websites with permission of their Broker, sometimes they cannot. Our staff can help you determine if this is the case, we just need to know the name of your local board/MLS.

A “Participant” is the Broker member, or Principal Broker member of a Multiple Listing Service.

A “Subscriber” is the non-Principal Broker member of a Multiple Listing Service (I.E. an Agent).

Real estate websites from NSIGNIA come in two options: DIY Website Builder or Managed WordPress.

DIY Website Builder sites are easy to setup and can be published with a minimal initial cost. While these sites aren’t completely customizable, you can personalize your site to make it your own, and your NSIGNIA Business Consultant will walk you through every step of the setup process.

Managed WordPress sites are full featured custom websites, and you will get access to many options. A custom designed, hand built website will give you and the home buyers a richer, fuller experience. Your NSIGNIA Business Consultant will work with you to design a website that fits your needs and budget.

You are probably already participating since your listings are being displayed on other websites. The next step is to add IDX to your website to start capturing leads much like your competitors have been doing. We can work with you or your website developer to get IDX delivered to your website. If you really want to get a jump on the competition, consider signing up for our “Small Office IDX” service. This multi-user account can help boost the number of leads managed by your Agents and help you generate a greater sales volume as a result.

While construction of a site on your own is likely to be the least expensive option, we recommend sticking to what you do best: selling real estate. Leave the web development to the people who design and build websites for a living – us.

While we are generally only required by the various MLS’s to refresh the data every 12 hours, we strive to get new data sets hourly. Because of the automated email service we provide, it is important to maintain the quickest turnaround time possible.

FTP (File Transfer Protocol) and RETS (Real Estate Transaction Standard) are the two types of data feeds third-party vendors, such as IDX Broker, use to aggregate MLS data and display it on approved real estate websites.

About FTP:

FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol. This is an older method of moving files around. FTP is tried and true, but has its limitations. With FTP, the entire file has to be moved all at once. MLS/IDX data we receive via FTP is typically of decent quality, but can lack a lot of fields. Generally speaking, FTP provided data from your MLS is going to be fairly simple data.

About RETS:

RETS stands for Real Estate Transaction Standard. RETS is a relatively new means of requesting and receiving data, specific to the Real Estate industry. In most cases, we are able to connect to your MLS’s RETS server, request certain data, and that request is then available for us as a download. What’s nice about RETS, is that we can get pieces of data, rather than a giant file. Also, it is possible get pieces, or chunks of data at many different times of the day. Also, because there are fewer limitations on data accessed via RETS, the data tends to be far more robust when compared to data received via FTP.

The Difference:

The primary difference between FTP and RETS, from a REALTOR perspective, is that the RETS data is designed to match each MLS’s unique practices so it typically resembles the field names and option values more closely to what you see when logged in to the MLS itself. RETS is also easier for third-party vendors to troubleshoot than a FTP feed, so any issues can usually be diagnosed and corrected quickly. Overall, RETS is more robust, typically contains more fields, is easier to access and is easier to support.

Which should you use?

In some cases, your MLS might offer data access in both manners. If this is the case, we always recommend that you choose RETS as the method for which we access and receive data for you. However, we do realize that some MLS’s have different fees for you to get approved for the different data resources. If this is the case, please consider RETS, even though it might have higher costs associated with your approval and/or data license.

Think of it as free advertising. The more exposure for your listings the better! The more places your listings show up, the faster they are likely to sell. The bottom line is that no one gets paid until the property closes. The Internet has taken a once closed MLS system and opened it up for consumers to make faster and better informed buying/selling decisions. IDX opened the door for free advertising on tens of thousands of websites.

When you display these listings on your site, you give consumers one more reason to keep coming back to your site. Your site, and thus you, become a tremendous resource for home buyers in your area. Additionally, home buyers today are looking for specific information and adding IDX to your website can help answer some of the questions about what homes are available in the MLS.

Most boards/MLS have already included all member Brokers and Agents by default. It is likely you were automatically opted-in the Broker Reciprocity program some time ago. In most cases, a Broker must explicitly ask to opt-out and sign the official paperwork to do so. Brokers who have opted-out may opt back in by submitting the proper paperwork from their board. Only in a few rare cases has the board/MLS chosen to have opt-out as the default. In these rare cases, we can help provide you, or your Broker, the paperwork to opt-in to the program.

Brokers (and supporting Agents) who decide not to participate in Broker Reciprocity may submit the opt-out form provided by their local board/MLS. However, opting-out is not a great idea because your listings will not be displayed on the Internet at all. Opting out will greatly decrease exposure for your listings, and in our opinion, should be seriously reconsidered. Furthermore, opting-out of the Broker Reciprocity will decrease the ability getting the benefit of this powerful marketing tool, which will decrease sales.

Broker Reciprocity allows for the greatest amount of exposure for property listings. The power of the Internet, combined with the power of IDX has seriously leveled the playing field and helped to maximize the visibility of listings. If you don’t display IDX on your website, potential buyers are probably not going to frequent your site. Instead, they may in favor of a competitor, who does provide these search tools. Broker Reciprocity has given the “little guy” some of the same marketing potential as the “bigger guys”.

Broker Reciprocity is governed at the national level by NAR. Each local board/MLS also has a set of policies of their own.

The NAR Board of Directors originally approved the policy on May 22, 2000. Since that time the NAR has made several revisions. IDX has been around for a few years, but recently it has become critical to the online marketing successes of real estate professionals.

Participation in any IDX program varies greatly. We have seen some cases where participation is below 50%, or as high at 100%. Participation is on the rise as more Brokers across the country choose to be involved in the program. Based on experience, we believe the average participation rates nationwide are somewhere in the 70-75% range.

No. The IDX data fields available for display to the public are approved by the board/MLS and do not contain confidential information.

Most of the time some information that identifies the listing firm is required. This is usually some combination of the listing agent name and/or phone, or the listing office and/or phone. Every board/MLS requires a different combination. The “rule of thumb” is that we are required to display the listing Broker or Agent name. Because of this we attempt to place this information at the very bottom of the page in an inconspicuous location.

VOW is an acronym for Virtual Office Website. VOWs are an effort to distinguish property listings on the Internet from the displays governed by the IDX policies. The primary feature of a VOW is the requirement that visitors register by entering an email address and receive a password prior to accessing MLS listing data. Some MLS participants also post terms of use on their VOW’s and require visitors to agree to those terms. In contrast, IDX allows brokers to include each others listings on their websites, with the consent of the other broker. The MLS data presented by IDX is slightly less detailed, and viewers of the data can choose to remain anonymous.