Wednesday, June 18th, 2008
I’m pleased to annouce that I am working on a RETS import script. Its almost finished. It has taken a good deal of learning the nuances of the RETS server standards. While I’m pleased with the data that RETS makes available, I’m quite disappointed in the RETS standard. I had the false impression that RETS would simplify things in setting up sites regardless of city or realtor associations.
The problem I have always had with IDX is that each association decides what is in their feed. The order of the fields and the names of the fields also changes per association. This makes creating an import for a new client tedious unless we already have another client in that area. I had hoped that RETS would standardize the naming of fields and get rid of the heavy customization that occurs per feed.
Unfortunately, it does not. While RETS does make updating easier (we can update every 15 minutes now and only have to retrieve new/updated listings since we last updated), RETS still allows heavy customization. The names of fields tend to be different per RETS Server provider and perhaps per association regardless of RETS vendor. (this remains to be seen, I will have to wait to see when I get more clients to work with)
An example of this. RETS has a recommended standard name for a listing id. It is called ListingID. Albuquerque’s RETS follows this standard name. Hawaii on the other hand calls it MLSNUM. This is just one example. There are dozens of fields in the RETS database. Of which only around 30 even have standard names. The rest of the fields have been determined by the realtor association or the RETS provider. (not sure which)
What does this all mean? It means that for every new client in an area where we have not scripted the import already, will have to have the data mapped from scratch. In WPRL, I have used as many standard names for my variables as I have found so far. So I am calling an mls number ListingID. I have to map the data I import from RETS so that MLSNUM = ListingID. A map has to be created for all the variables we wish to download. (I have over 100 setup for the Hawaii residential property feed)
It likely means I will need to relook at my pricing sheet. Setup of WPRL just isn’t going to get easier with RETS like I had hoped. Looks like it will be getting more complicated as the RETS feed data will need to be carefully analyzed and mapped into WPRL data fields.
Regardless of all this, RETS importation is coming to WPRL. This will let us meet the needs of many potential clients as the National Assocation of Realtors is pushing all Associations to provide RETS only by July 2009. (goodbye IDX, I will not miss thee)
Posted in WP Realtors | No Comments »
Friday, April 18th, 2008
I’ve now launched 2 sites that use my new wordpress realty plugin. 3 more sites are almost finished as well. Its proving to me that my first version of WPRL is ready to be used. It isn’t extremely rich in features. However, it does display listings quite well. Integrated google maps, a simple mortgage calculator, simple and neat image slideshow of each listing, and simple integration with cforms for visitors to send property requests. It also keeps a simple counter of listing views so you can track your properties. The backend is still a work in progress but it does let you manage listings and add tags to listings. (as well as showing the view count stat) Still to come is contact management, file library, saved searches, favorite properties, and newsletter integration.
Live demos are available
If you are interested in getting this plugin for your site, please contact me. While I realize wordpress is free, I can’t give this plugin away for free. It is a culmination of years of work. I would never have been able to make this without getting paid along the way. To ensure that clients that we use this for continue to benefit from new features, I must charge so I can continue to work on it.
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Friday, April 4th, 2008
I’m really excited about my latest project. I’ve worked with real estate and IDX for about 8 years now. I’ve written tons of code for IDX over the years. With my migration to everything wordpress, it was only logical to convert my work to wordpress. Its essentially a complete rewrite pulling bits of code from all over the place. I’m almost done with phase one of the migration. I’ll be launching a site soon that uses this plugin.
At the moment, I’m using IDX. However, with the news from National Association of Realtors that all MLS’s should have a working RETS solution by July 2009, I’ll be creating a RETS importer this summer. Until then, some work is required per MLS IDX solution since every MLS’s IDX feed is different. I’ve minimized how much work has to be done per market where my code is used.
Phase one of the migration will be limited to the following features.
- requires Wordpress 2.5+
- IDX Import
- easy creation of listing pages.
- embedded tags in posts/pages inserts listing data
- ex: [wprl_listing mls="123456"] would embed a summary view of listing #123456 into your post or page.
- ex: [wprl_search] would embed the search form into a page.
- manage listings in backroom - edit some features of the listings in the wordpress backroom. Useful for IDX feeds that don’t include things like property descriptions. (ya, some MLS’s are really out of touch with reality)
- Google Map of property
- tie in with CForms plugin for things like property inquiries or showing requests. This leaves you with full control of the form data.
- easy to modify templates in the same format as wordpress themes
Posted in WP Realtors | 1 Comment »