The Manhattan Association of Realtors (MANAR) has chosen a local vendor to power its multiple listing service — the only listing service to offer Internet Data Exchange (IDX) services in the New York City market, according to the trade group.
MANAR owns and operates Manhattan MLS, which has more than 450 Realtor and non-Realtor members in 60-plus offices. Over the next four to six weeks, the MLS will switch over to a platform provided by Manhattan-based real estate tech firm RealtyMX that will replace its current LIST-IT platform from Huntsvillle, Ala.-based Solid Earth.
“This change to RealtyMX is giving us a much more stable platform, run by a local vendor who understands the (New York City) real estate market and its unique characteristics,” Richard Mohr, Manhattan MLS’ director of operations, told Inman News.
Solid Earth did not return a request for comment.
The New York market is unusual in that it does not have a conventional, centralized multiple listing service. The majority of Manhattan’s brokers belong to the Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY), which has a database where brokers share their listings, the REBNY Listing Service (RLS). But the RLS does not syndicate listings to other websites or offer IDX services in which listing data for an entire market is pooled to allow all participating members to display one another’s listings.
REBNY broker members receive RLS data not from REBNY itself, but through several different private vendors, one of which is RealtyMX, Mohr said.
“Since the majority of our members also belong to REBNY, using one of these private vendors, RealtyMX, allows our members to have one platform to do all of their searches,” Mohr said.
“Since RealtyMX is approved by REBNY, our members can use one system for all of their data entry and searches (RLS and MLS), and allows Manhattan MLS to administer the syndication and IDX services from that same platform. The Manhattan MLS also polices its data and enforces the rules set forth by the MLS board.”
Manhattan MLS has had IDX since its inception in 2005 and, due to the “unique nature” of the New York City market, is the only provider of IDX services in Manhattan, Mohr said.
“IDX provides subscribers the ability to display seller’s listings on cooperating MLS broker and agent websites. The additional exposure is only available to MLS subscriber clients. It’s a big plus,” said Robb Pair, president of Harlem Lofts Inc. and the 2013 president of MANAR, in a statement.
In addition to IDX, RealtyMX will also provide listing syndication services, sending the MLS’s listings to more than 40 real estate portals, including Zillow, Trulia, realtor.com and StreetEasy, at members’ discretion.
Manhattan MLS subscribers receive a free subscription to Zillow’s collaborative home search tool, Agentfolio, and a discounted subscription to real estate data site PropertyShark.com.
In a statement, Zhann Jochinke, president of Manhattan MLS and chief operating officer of Keller Williams Realty New York City, said the partnership with RealtyMX will offer members a clean user interface and a subscription structure that is simple and straightforward. “(T)hat’s what our brokers and agents have been asking for,” he said.