RETS, the Real Estate Transaction Standard, has been in active development for over 8 years signaling the industry’s, as well as the National Association of REALTORS®, vision to simplify data access of Real Estate listing information. Although RETS intended effect on the industry is apparent on many levels, its impact on it has only started. However, over the past 6 months, RETS has seen a major transition in every aspect of its development - ranging from leadership down to the aesthetics of the website. This marks its transition from infancy to adolescence.
First and foremost, Mark Lesswing, Chief Technical Office of NAR, has been commissioned as the Chairman of the RETS Governing committee. Mark has been an active leader within the RETS community for the past 5 years since joining NAR to spearhead the formation of the Center for Realtor® Technology. His guidance and understanding of technology as it pertains to the Real Estate industry will bring a fresh perspective to the upcoming RETS initiatives.
In mid 2006, the RETS 2.0 specification was adopted. RETS 2.0 is a complete overhaul of the specification, with emphasis on security, simplification and customization. This step forward should yield robust client and server applications which will help consolidate the data diversification that the industry sees today. As we move forward into 2007, the specification will continue to mature and reshape into the final working version.
Finally, the rets.org website was given a much anticipated new look and feel. Going forward, rets.org will be more frequently updated with news, utilities and community information as well as be enhanced with a wiki-style user contribution area and a project management system.
All these changes will begin to converge throughout the next year as the RETS standard matures and becomes more of a dominant force in helping the Real Estate industry easily access and maintain listing data. To couple this, an increased marketing and awareness initiative will begin to help inform the industry and the members of the benefits and simplicity of using RETS. Through this, the Center for Realtor® Technology hopes to guide and support more Multiple Listing Services as they begin to implement RETS services for their member community.
RETS is sponsored by the National Association of REATLTORS® and is supported by community involvement. For more information about the RETS committee, implementing RETS, joining the community or for a general overview, please visit www.rets.org.
Thank you very much for this update. I wish I would have known Mark was commissioned as the Chairman of the RETS Governing committee a few days ago…I would have enjoyed a RETS conversation very much. I had the opportuniy to speak with Mark on a Technology Task Force con-call during the Texas Association of REALTORS winter meeting. He is very ‘in the know’ and his thoughts are a refreshing reminder that we do have talent on our side.
Keep up the good work, Bloodhound is the very first blog I read. Thanks.
I am looking into developing a RETS web interface, and would love to use an opensource product or even a sample application to help jump start this process. The fact that most Open Source Clients are not 2.0 enabled makes me wonder how well 2.0 is supported. Is there any place that a RETS developer can point me to in order to get this process started quickly.
Thanks
David
David - RETS 2.0 is far from being mainstream. There are very loose
server implementations, and no one is really working with clients yet.
RETS 1.5 is really still the defacto out there. I’d suggest you make
some friendly inquiries over at forums.rets.org about RETS 2 and what
people are currently working on in terms of open source
libraries/projects