Every year in America, over 5.6 million homes are bought and sold. In fact, experts say that if more inventory were available, that figure could easily climb closer to eight million.
Of course, numbers like these are only possible through close cooperation within the real estate industry. You’ve no doubt heard of the Multiple Listing Service, which connects every real estate agent with all current property listings.
But what about IDX? It’s a lesser-known real estate tool, but it’s just as powerful.
Keep reading to learn about IDX and how it enables simple listing integration.
What Is IDX?
IDX is an acronym for Internet Data Exchange. In a nutshell, it allows real estate agents to display up-to-date, comprehensive property listings for their area.
Established by the National Association of REALTORS, IDX is essentially considered an NAR policy. The idea is to allow brokers to exchange permission to display each other’s listings on their own websites.
You might also hear IDX referred to as “broker reciprocity” because of how it works.
How Does IDX Work for Realtors?
Since we’re on the subject, let’s briefly explain how IDX works. Essentially, it creates a data link between your website and the MLS, allowing you to import other listings and display them on your site.
Here Are the Four Main Types of Technology Behind IDX:
- RETS: Allows servers and individual websites to “speak the same language”
- FTP: File Transfer Protocol enables communication between computers
- IDX Framing: An HTML feature that enables simple copy-and-paste code
- RESO Web API: An efficient access point for apps and websites to query and return listings
If you focus on Tennessee real estate, for instance, Showcase IDX is an easy-to-use plugin option. It displays all current listings in middle Tennessee and gives visitors more options to choose from — and more opportunities for realtors to sell a home.
What Are the Benefits of Using IDX?
Why would a real estate agent want to integrate IDX into their website? Aren’t they helping the competition? Not exactly.
With so much emphasis on user experience (UX), realtors need to provide the smoothest home-buying process available. IDX delivers by boosting user engagement and giving buyers more choices. In turn, this generates more leads for every real estate broker involved — and ultimately, more closed deals.
Another factor to consider is search engine optimization (SEO). Adding an IDX application to your website actually improves search engine visibility.
In a world where everyone is competing to land on the first page of Google, IDX is a simple tool that can bring you one step closer to that goal.
Harness the Power of IDX & Other Real Estate Tools
The real estate market runs on tools like the MLS and IDX. If you weren’t familiar with this tool before, we hope this article has shed some light on how the real estate business works.
Now that you understand more about these common real estate tools, what’s next? Our website is packed with informative articles like this one, so stick around and keep browsing!
