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WordPress IDX Plugin (kind of)
Filed Under (Marketing and SEO) by Lou Lynch on 08-01-2010
Tagged Under : IDX, mls, mls data, plugin, seo, wordpress
I used the acronym IDX because most of you guys would easily identify it but the truth is this plugin doesn’t use IDX at all (well not directly anyway). A company called RealShout has introduced a new plugin for WordPress that enables any WordPress blog to display real estate listings without the need for IDX. The quality (freshness) of the data isn’t as good as a direct feed but will more than likely improve with time. Apparently it has been out for a while now but the word hasn’t spread as widely and quickly as anticipated. I installed it in just a few minutes and had it setup to pull listings in my area in no time flat.
More about the plugin
The plugin uses Google Base’s massive pool of listings which is now being supplied with MLS data from almost every part of the country. The plugin can be setup to draw from a specific set of criteria creating a searchable inventory of listings that are market specific. It has simple and advanced search options on the front end that can be used on your side bar as widgets. The listing display is pretty good too, with multiple photos, neighborhood info, maps, etc. It has some lead management, but I haven’t gotten into that a whole lot. It even has SEO feindly URL rewrites for the listings. It is obviously in its infancy but a pretty good first run.
The underlying issue
What seems to be most interesting is not the plugin itself, but the concept behind it. Now real estate agents have the ability to circumvent the MLS (including any accompanying IDX agreements) when putting MLS data on their websites. The leverage once used by MLS systems to enforce IDX regulations flies out the proverbial window along with any of the associated fees. As the data and data tools get better, there will eventually be no need for an MLS at all.
Data can get better, but it can also get worse
The biggest kick in the pants is that the listing data we work so hard to collect and maintain is more available than ever without any controls on integrity. We now have bigger problems than Trulia or Zillow using our data to outrank us and sell us products, we now have to worry about every Tom, Dick and Harry using listing data entrusted to us by our sellers in ways that we can only imagine.
Hey Lou, I’m wondering about compliance if an agent put’s this on a site. Typically to get an IDX feed you need to get approval from the MLS and the site will often be reviewed to make sure it meets the local MLS guidelines. However as you state in your conclusion, someone who was not an agent could set up as many of these sites as they would like and for example, collect leads to sell back to agents and there is nothing the MLS associations can do.
.-= Carolyn Gjerde-Tu´s last blog ..What are buyers looking for? =-.
That’s just it. Compliance is gone. Without the threat of having the MLS yank the feed real estate agents are free to do what they want with the data. Even worse than that, affiliate spammers and the like will be able to manipulate listing data in ways that I can’t even think of. Just think, you had to sit across the kitchen table from your seller and look them in the eye as they trustingly signed a listing agreement giving you the right to use their data for marketing.
I see good and bad with the movement. The good side of the coin is that there is a good chance this will pave the road for not to have to be part of the REALTOR association to get access to data to run our businesses effectively online.
What really bothers me here…almost to the point of it being scary is how easily the data can end up being completely inaccurate. The information entered by agents is bad enough can you imagine what could possibly be dropped or added to these listings. The more I think about it, I really do not think the initial move towards making the data open available to everyone is going to be a benefit to consumers.
The best possible thing I can see for the industry is for a major organization of real estate agents and brokers to develop a national site filled with verified data that is made available to the public.
.-= James Wheelock@Houston TX Homes For Sale´s last blog ..Houston Contemporary Style Homes For Sale =-.
@Lou – Do you think you could post a link to where you have set the plugin up. I would like to see what it looks like. Or if you are not ready to do that please email a link to me if you feel comfortable doing that.
.-= James Wheelock@Houston TX Homes For Sale´s last blog ..Houston Contemporary Style Homes For Sale =-.
But I think that if an agent is a member of an MLS they could potentially be fined or some other punitive damage if they used a feed that was found to be “unapproved”. Of course agents do not have to belong to an MLS so this could give someone like that access to a lot of data for free.
.-= Carolyn Gjerde-Tu´s last blog ..What are buyers looking for? =-.
Lou (and Carolyn who pointed to this) thank you so much – this is NIIIIICE
Anytime Knox. Glad to finally get you over here at LouLynch.com. Hope all is well.
Thanks for blogging about this. A few points/quesions:
1) What type of lead capture does this have? It’s great to post listings, if the listings are part of a funnel that turns into leads.
2) Reproducing the content from Google Base w/o permission is, technically, IP infringement. For the same reason RE agents were pissed when Trulia was scraping IDX data, there could be issues with mass reproduction of Google Base content. This might happen if that content is altered to deemphasize the original publisher’s contact information, while emphasizing new information added to the listing (like the new webmaster’s contact info.)
Here are the Google Base TOS:
Your Rights
You, or a third party licensor, as appropriate, retain any intellectual property rights in the Content you submit.
I’m all for innovation, and I think that the lack of standardization in the RETS feed, and the restrictions many boards place on the feeds is ridiculous. However, in order to replace the RETS feed, we’re going to need some type of agreement (similar to IDX) in place.
.-= Eric Bramlett´s last blog ..Austin Ranked Fastest Growing Large Metro by Forbes =-.
Looks good Lou, thanks for pointing this out. While I agree somewhat with Eric as well as Carolyn, there are already feeds out there being taken from various places through out the internet which we have no control over.
There is a contact form for lead capture and requires a Google api code for the maps.
I guess time will tell if there will be an issue with this.
It is pretty easy to set up though
@EBram – The contact management is nothing more than a collection of inquiry data from the contact form along with the listing information they were viewing when they inquired. It is real basic, but the code is wide open, so you could do whatever you wanted with it.
Hi Lou…. I was not familiar with this plugin. It will be interesting to know how these issues will be handled. I think Carolyn is right in that members of a particular MLS will have to abide by NAR rules as well as the MLS rules. Which will leave it wide open for Newspapers, Online Magazines, and third party lead collectors.
Lead capture could be coded into it, I’m sure.
Obviously I’m biased b/c I have a competing product. However, I’m skeptical about the success of the project for a number of reasons. As stated above, I think there are big problems with relying on copyrighted data. Remember that the MLS & IDX are more than just data feed sources – they’re also agreements. The agreements that Base, zillow, trulia, listhub, or whoever have with the local boards typically have a “will not alter the content or allow the content to be scraped” clause. This plugin clearly violates those terms. I think it would be a VERY hard sell to get the content providers (realtors) to agree to allow their data to be reproduced & altered.
OpenRealty is another open source RETS client (started out as IDX) that has been around for years. In my opinion, open source IDX is an uphill battle b/c it’s difficult to get the widespread developer support for a real estate product that open source projects need to succeed. I have experience with poor/abandoned OS projects – oscommerce & pligg in particular. Under-supported open source projects are ridiculously frustrating to deal with – we’ve had more than one conversation that ended with “we should just rebuild this whole damn thing.” I’ve actually abandoned my pligg project & am moving my oscommerce site over to ubercart.
The best thing that could happen to agents from an IDX standpoint would be standardization of the data. To begin with, the feed fields vary from board to board. If the boards would at least adopt a standard schema, it would speed up development immensely, which would ultimately bring prices down & create better products – vendors would spend less time muddling through different data sets & more time developing cool products.
In my opinion, non-standardization is one of the culprits behind openrealty’s very slow adaptation (that and a relatively small population that has use for the product.)
.-= Eric Bramlett´s last blog ..Austin Ranked Fastest Growing Large Metro by Forbes =-.
Any of you have this live anywhere yet? I’ll have one on Tuesday to test – I don’t like the ‘contact’ “feature” going to the listing agent but….
.-= knox´s last blog ..Tenth Mountain Division =-.
@ Knox and James: I had it live for about 5 minutes then shut it down. It is pretty resource intensive and slowed up my blog a bit, so I yanked it. If anyone else has it running please post a link.
There is a contact form for lead capture and requires a Google api code for the maps.Hope all is well.!
antalya
I’m playing with it on http://www.ebaspace.com/ — I’m not impressed with the mapping feature, but it is pretty seo friendly and gives you a ton of pages.
.-= knox´s last blog ..Tenth Mountain Division =-.
I didn’t know about the plugin, It’s a great addition to be able to display real estate listings without the need for IDX, I would like to thank you for the information Lou.
Interesting…
I, like Eric, have a competing product, so I am a little biased. But, with so much controversy surrounding Google and Real Estate lately, this will be one to watch for sure.
-Jeff
.-= Jeff@THE WordPress IDX Plugin´s last blog ..Adding the IDX Map search to your site =-.
nice plugin
i think i’m going to use it into my blog
.-= Blog seo´s last blog ..Le plugin SeoQuake de firefox ou la magie du SEO =-.
I dont know if I like the fact that agents can get the MLS feed without having to go thru the local board. I pay a monthly fee to my board to have an IDX. Now since anybody can get it, will information ever be correct and will the information get into the wrong hands?
I heard about this a few weeks ago. Sounds like a pandora’s box with no compliance or guidelines. It looks decent, but contact going to the listing agent isn’t good.
When information is openly available it is always best. For example, having people have access to comparable sales at first brought the cries from some real estate agents. However,the best always rise to the top and the not so good ones had to find other work. Yes there will be growing pains,there always are. Yes, not the same situation but info freely available is always good. More options always good too. If the product is inferior it will be abandoned.