Hello, SimplyRETS!

Welcome to the SimplyRETS Blog! SimplyRETS is a service which connects to your RETS or RESO Web API IDX feed to offer a vastly simplified and modern REST API. We are helping developers building real estate software save time and money so they can focus on what’s importand; innovation. SimplyRETS makes it easy for developers with little or no experience in real estate data to get started quickly.

Our Goals

• Offer a simplified, modern, and familiar API (Application Programming Interface) to developers which will help them iterate quickly on real estate software.
• Allow agents unbranded access to their data. We don’t require our feeds to carry any SimplyRETS branding. Of course, your data is still subject to MLS rules. However, SimplyRETS wants to enhance and promote business applications built around lead generation.
• Help developers and agents save time by not worrying about MLS compliance issues. We prioritize accurate and up-to-date data feeds. We also work with developers to make sure their application or website remains compliant with little to no maintenance or upkeep.
• Build on a strong core data service, influenced by the RESO Data Dictionary. This core data model makes it possible for apps to interface with multiple MLS vendors out-of-the-box. This workflow is baked directly into our API and does not carry any extra recurring charges.
• Distribute more free and open material for developers and agents to learn about their real estate data and how it works. All the code on our Github is free and open-source. We will also be working on tutorials, examples, and how-to’s to promote more innovative real estate development.

The REST API (Not to be confused with RETS)

Our REST API is the core of our service. You can see how it works by checking out our documentation. A simple example, using our trial data, would be to use curl:

$ curl -u simplyrets:simplyrets 'https://api.simplyrets.com/properties'

[
  {
    "address": {
      "city": "Katy",
      "country": "HARRIS",
      "full": "1234 SimplyRETS Dr",
      "postalCode": "77430",
      "streetName": "SimplyRETS Dr",
      "streetNumber": 1234
    },
    "property": {
      "style": "Traditional",
      "area": 1959,
      "bathsFull": 3,
      "bathsHalf": 2,
      "fireplaces": 1
       ...
    },
  ...
]

Why do I need this?

We often work with developers who are completely capable of working with the raw RETS data themselves. Up front, they often ask why they need such a service. We generally respond with:

Lower Maintenance and Upkeep

We can significantly lower the maintenance and upkeep time for developers. The cost of using our service usually pales in comparison to a developer spending even a few hours a month maintaining a feed.

Hosted

The cost of maintening a replicated RETS database is often simply too high to be practical. Developers working with RETS feeds often can’t control some of the long-term factors which degrade their service and it deters them from picking up new projects period.

Thats where SimplyRETS comes in. We take care of these issues. We host the database and backend integration systems.

We are serious about maintaining an extremely robust and reliable service which has a high uptime and extremely fast server response time. We do everything in our power to keep these promises and have built-in customer protection in our Service Level Agreement

Tooling and Documentation

We have free and open-source tools built around our API. Our Python and Ruby SDK’s, which can be found on Github, are the latest additions to our fleet. We also have plans for upcoming mobile SDK’s which will make it easier than ever to produce software for iOS and Android with real estate data.

We also offer up-to-date documentation on our service including our interactive documentation.

Experience

Even seasoned developers will have to go through a learning curve with RETS. Most vendor software we work with has quirks that do no follow the RETS standard to the letter. Other times, there are MLS issues such as bandwidth, throttling, and other technical hurdles that are learned through experience.

Our team specializes in RETS software and we work regularly with some of the largest vendors in the United States and Canada.

If you’re interested in learning more, feel free to shoot us an email at support@simplyrets.com. We are happy to answer any questions you may have.

You can get started prototyping immediately by creating an account and using our freely available test listings.

Best,

—Christopher @ SimplyRETS

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