RESO Web API to Replace RETS

Big changes are coming to real estate technology in 2018 as the Real Estate Standards Organization announced it is shutting down RETS.

In a notice on its website,  RESO said it aims to retire RETS, or the Real Estate Transaction Standard, in June 2018 and to replace it with the long-planned RESO Web API.

“MLS, brokers and technology partners should put all their effort into converting to the RESO Web API as soon as possible,” RESO said.

The announcement marks the largest evolution in rules governing MLS and IDX data in nearly two decades.

First created in 1999, RETS was long considered the gold standard, for real estate technology.

In the absence of a nationwide MLS, the standard provided a set of guidelines to conform electronic property listing storage across industry stakeholders.

But as more and more real estate activity moved online, RETS resulted in massive duplication of property listing databases across the web.

This placed a burden on agents and brokers to provide the hosting and security capable of handling the large data loads.

RESO believes the new Web API “makes everyone’s life simpler” by providing a streamlined process.

Under the new data transfer guidelines, agent and broker websites will be able to call MLS directly for property searches.

This limits the hosting and security needs for agents and it reduces the amount of coding for technology providers to serve their clients with IDX.

The new standard also is based on the OData protocol, which RESO says will help push the real estate industry deeper into mobile and social applications.

For MLS and IDX providers the change means a race to update products and procedures.

In October, Bridge International, a Zillow brand, announced it received platinum certification under the new RESO Web API specification.

Realtyna has said it expects to pursue its own certification under the new standard.

Meanwhile the National Association of Realtors is[reportedly clamping down on MLS, that have not transitioned to RESO Web API.

RESO says the effort will further coordination within the real estate industry and accelerate technology developments.

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Disclaimer

The opinions or information expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official views, policy, or position of Realtyna. The information on Realtyna’s Website is general, for informational purposes only, and is not to be relied upon or interpreted as real estate, legal, accounting, or other professional advice or a substitute. Please discuss anything related to the certification process, professional advice or legal procedures with your MLS providers.

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4 Comments
  • Alon Deva
    Posted at 20:30h, 31 March

    whats going to happen to Realtyna MLS Addon ? Is it going to be impacted?

    • Marvin Sanderson
      Posted at 10:12h, 09 April

      Hi Alon,
      We will migrate our MLS Add-on users from RETS to RESO API with their valid support license.

  • RICHARD MCCAY
    Posted at 16:15h, 22 August

    Will I be able to call raw data so I generate my on reports? For example, I want to generate a report that show what properties sold in a given zip code, in a specific price range , with 3 beds within the last 9 months.

    • Morgan Taylor
      Posted at 08:56h, 29 August

      Hi Richard! Great question. Neither RESO Web API or RETS plugin will give you the raw data out of the box, however, they both connect to raw data, so both solutions can be customized in such a way to generate reports like this. If you have any other specific questions, you can get it answered by our tech team by opening a ticket at support.realtyna.com 🙂