IDX:MLS Data on the Internet
Internet Data Exchange, also referred to as broker reciprocity, is a method of increasing the value of the Multiple Listing Service (MLS). IDX also serves as the primary means of enhancing cooperation between REALTORS® to make the purchase and sale of real property easier.
As applications of Internet technology to the real estate business have increased in number, quality, and acceptance by the public, many residential real estate brokerage companies have sought to use their online identities to advertise property over the Internet. There is no question but that advertising property listings on such online identities is an increasingly integral element in the prospecting and marketing programs of many REALTOR® companies.
IDX gives MLS participants the tool they need to advertise each other’s listings on their Internet Web sites. Brokers first have to give their consent before other MLS participants may advertise their listings.
Under IDX, brokers exchange consent to display each other’s listings on the Internet. The listings of other brokers can be displayed either by downloading data from the MLS compilation and publishing it on their Web site or by framing the MLS’s publicly accessible Web site, if such a site exists.
Participants are free to withhold authority for such display, either on a blanket basis or on a listing-by-listing basis. A broker who prohibits the display of his or her listings by other participants, however, may not display on his or her own Web sites the listings of other brokers participating in the system.
The essence of the system is that it is voluntary, reciprocal, and mutual. Since any participant can opt out of IDX on a blanket basis, it is presumed that those participants who don’t opt out are willing to allow other participants to advertise their listings, except in such infrequent instances where a seller specifically prohibits the listing broker from sharing the display of a listing by other participants.
Through implementation of the IDX system, NAR has made available to all listing brokers the opportunity to advertise on their public Web sites property listings derived from their local MLS, in the same way that consumers can view such information on aggregators’ sites.
Despite the fact that brokers have always had the right to allow other brokers to advertise their listings on the Internet, the NAR IDX policy ensures more consistent and widespread access to this Internet marketing system under a set of consistent standards and regulations.
Updated: 8/30/04
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