Getting Started
| What is RETS? |
The Real Estate Transaction Standard is a common language spoken by systems that handle real estate information, such as multiple listing services. A common language enables computers like the one on your desk to receive information from many different real estate systems or MLSs without being specially "trained" to understand the information from each.
Standards like RETS exist in many different fields. Sometimes, the standard simply adopts one of many pre-existing languages that everyone agrees to use. For example, air traffic controllers at international airports all speak English, no matter what their native language, so pilots are guaranteed that they need learn only one language to fly anywhere in the world.
RETS, like many computer standards, is a language that was built for a specific purpose, but the goal is the same: to have all computers that deal with real estate information "speak" the same language, so that you can use the same desktop computer program with any MLS that has adopted RETS.
For software developers and for providers of services like IDX sites, RETS means having to write programs to use only one language, the common language of RETS, in order to work with many different MLS systems. This means lower costs, more products, more competition among vendors, and faster implementations of new systems, all of which directly benefit people who work with real estate information as a living.
We offer a comprehensive overview for anyone who would like more information. The overview covers RETS from many different perspectives. |
| What do I do to get these benefits? |
If you use a data access program provided by your MLS, the answer might be "nothing" -- RETS happens "under the covers", in the same way that HTTP and HTML, the standards that drive the Web, happen "under the covers". You see the results without having to grapple with the underlying technology.
If you work with an MLS provider who allows you to select your own tools, though, you may have your choice of tools, including some that are completely free. Others are available at discounted prices from some vendors who are completely new to the real estate marketplace, for example HP's Real Estate Marketing Assistant, which will use RETS to help produce marketing materials quickly and automatically. More vendors are adopting RETS every month -- see the Compliant Products list on this site for a list. |
| How do I get started? |
Again, if your MLS provider also provides your access program, you might already be started. But if you want to use MLS data in more specialized ways -- say, for creating management or statistical reports -- you can try the free RETS Excel Plug-In, which uses RETS to import MLS data directly into an Excel spreadsheet.
If you have a specific application in mind, discuss it with one of the consultants listed in the Consultants Directory. They may be able to help turn your idea into a competitive edge for your business.
Frequently Asked Questions |
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