All the RETS buzz these days seems to be about the new RESO Syndication standard. It promises to make the lives of syndicators (Google, Zillow, Yahoo, Trulia etc), aggregators (ThreeWide, Point2), brokers and even MLSs easier. With a common data format to use, the workload of everyone will go down significantly. But right now there is one actor in that list that will be left with a syndication tool gap; the broker. What is needed is a simple easy to use tool that can allow the broker to create a syndication file reliably, even if they don’t have their own listing database.
Syndicators, aggregators and MLSs are all technology companies that already share data online with various parties. Moving to a new common standard is fairly easy and once done will help improve their efficiency. However, many brokers are small operations with little or no IT staff. What they need is a tool that can run without a database, on a desktop machine. It needs to be able to read from a RETS source, and output a syndication file. That file can then be uploaded to a syndicator or aggregator, or put up on a web site to be pulled down by same. At the April RETS meeting in Philadelphia I demoed a proof of concept tool at the RETS Exhibition that did just that, called the RETS Proxy (I even won a prize!). While this tool is not ready to fill the tool gap, the design I showed has serious limitations, it is basically that idea that I am going for.
With such a tool, brokers can make effective use of the standard. We at CRT will look into filling this tool gap, I for one plan on taking my proof of concept and expanding it to fill the above requirement. We also look forward to others stepping up, maybe filling in the gaps that we missed. The more tools the broker has, the easier it will be for them to use the standard; a standard that would be useless without their data.
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