“Is it possible to get national MLS data?”
The most common question real estate startups ask me.
Running a real estate API company (RetsRabbit.com) I’ll often get this common question/request from eager real estate technology startups.
“Hi we’re trying to create a real estate portal, how can we get access to all of the listings in the United States. Can your API provide us with this data?”
If you’re not familiar with the real estate industry in the United States, it doesn’t sound like an unreasonable request. In 2016 there HAS to be a way to get all of the listings right?
Sorry to bust your bubble but . . .
There’s no national multiple listing service (MLS), and there probably won’t be one anytime soon.
There are between 700–800 MLSs in the United States and no national MLS. To get all of the listings in the United States, you’d have to find and contact each MLS to get access one by one.
There’s been some progress made towards consolidating MLSs into larger regional databases. It’s harder for smaller real estate associations to keep up with the cost of maintaining their own systems, and the industry is pushing hard for more centralized data. But it’s going to take time to consolidate because . . .
Each MLS has their own rules for data licensing and their own fee structures
Every MLS requires a data licensing agreement before you can access and distribute the real estate listing data. This agreement usually outlines the following:
- What the data can or cannot be used for
- What data can be shared or available for public display
- Required disclaimers or notices that have to be displayed with the listing
- Any fees due to the MLS (either by the vendor, brokerage, or both)
These conditions vary from MLS to MLS. One MLS might only allow active listings for public display, while an different MLS might be okay with active & pending listings. Also the fees can vary wildly as well. Some MLSs charge a one-time fee, others monthly (that might scale depending on the # of customers you add), or a combination of both.
You must work on behalf of a member of the MLS (brokerage, agent)
In addition to signing a data licensing agreement yourself as a vendor, you will usually have to have a brokerage or other member of the MLS sign the data licensing agreement as well. To get access you’ll need to be working with a brokerage or agent already before an MLS will even consider giving you access to the real estate data. MLSs don’t want to see their data distributed to third parties without oversight. Afterall, much of this data includes private addresses, contact information, public and private remarks and other sensitive info that could cause real harm if distributed in the open.
The data is in different schemas
Each MLS keeps their data in different schemas. Fields for listings, photos, and other data stored in the MLS can vary widely. Thankfully the industry is starting to move towards a common schema called Data Dictionary (www.reso.org), however with 700+ MLSs it will take a while for the Data Dictionary standard to become widely adopted.
What about ListHub? Realtor.com? Zillow? They have national data right?
ListHub has a lot of data, about 600 MLSs but only if brokers explicitly choose to share their listings.
ListHub has a lot of data, about 600 MLSs but only if brokers explicitly choose to share their listings. ListHub does provide data in a common schema and it’s the closest option to a national feed at present. ListHub’s pricing varies, but they typically charge $7k/mo for a national feed. There is regional or by-MLS pricing available at a much cheaper cost.
Realtor.com probably has the most listings (800 MLSs), but its strictly for their site; their parent company Move, Inc (now owned by News Corp) does not distribute the data. Realtor.com has been around since 1995 and has had connections w/ MLSs farther back than some Y-combinator backed startup founders.
Zillow used to source their data from ListHub, now they’ve had to go to each MLS directly for data since they ended their contract w/ Move Inc in April 2015 (http://www.housingwire.com/articles/33482-d-day-arrives-for-zillow-and-listhub). They’ve signed on quite a few MLSs including Georgia MLS, but they don’t have nationwide coverage.
So how does Rets Rabbit get the data?
We get the data from either brokerages or customers who have their own RETS access to their MLS, or we’ve secured a data license because we’re working with a specific brokerage. We may have the data for the MLS you’re looking for, but per the MLS licensing rules we can’t give that out to a third party.
There’s good news . . .
Just because there’s no easy way to get nationwide MLS data that doesn’t mean you can’t build a great business in the real estate industry.
The advice I give startups is to build their MVP first in a large real estate market. Considering the work and cost it takes to get access to data to an MLS you’re better off concentrating on a larger market with over 100K listings rather than trying to scoop up a lot of smaller MLSs. California Regional Multiple Listing Service (CRMLS), Arizona Regional Multiple Listing Service (ARMLS), and North Texas Information (NTREIS) all have 100K+ listings.
A second option is to establish a good relationship with the MLSs closest to you and the brokerages/agents in that MLS. Some MLSs are more favorable to startups/vendors than others, but if you’ve got a compelling service that you can demonstrate would be a benefit to the members of an MLS you should be able to get access.
Once you get RETS access (the common standard for connecting and pulling real estate data from MLSs) we can import your listings and serve them through the Rets Rabbit API. We’ve got experience working with almost all of the major MLS software providers and we can save you thousands of dollars and months of effort on data importing. We can even normalize listings across MLSs to the Data Dictionary standard and geocode listings if that’s not provided by your MLS. If you’re interested in our API you can contact me here.
Patrick is the owner of the real estate API service Rets Rabbit. He writes articles and guides for agencies and startups about real estate technology and productivity at PatPohler.com.
