Where’s the feed?
I recently made the transition from freelancing and consulting to full-time employee, taking a marketing communications position with Prudential Northwest Properties, here in Portland. While I was looking for a full-time gig, I relied almost exclusively on RSS feeds to help me get the jump on any new job postings. I even wrote a post about how to do this on my personal blog.
To sum it up though, most of the major job sites (Monster, Hotjobs, craigslist, etc.) offer full RSS feeds of their listings. By using a feed aggregator (I recommend Bloglines) you can easily pull all the newest listings into a centralized location where you can begin to sort through them all. There are even job site metacrawlers like Simplyhired.com and Indeed.com that go out to all of these job sites, find what you’re looking for and create a brand new, unique feed based on your search criteria. Beats the heck out of scanning the classifieds pages every morning, that’s for sure.
Does anybody else see a clear parallel with the online real estate sites here?
I want my RSS feeds. Move.com, why can’t I subscribe to my search results? Redfin, you too. Trulia.com, you’ve got the right idea… but, you’re not live in Oregon yet. Boo. Point2Homes I like your minimalist design and use of XML and Google Earth feeds (more on this later), but you’re a closed ecosystem and your inventory is limited, so you’re not much good to me.
And finally, where’s the Simplyhired for real estate, someone that’s going to search all these sites automatically and report back to me on what it’s found.
There’s a huge opportunity here for someone to take the lead. Just remember I told you so.
Technorati Tags: RSS, Real Estate Search, Real Estate Marketing, Real Estate Blogging, Real Estate Blog, Real Estate Blogs, Real Estate, Realty Blogging
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Robbie | May 13, 2006 | Reply
I feel the same way, which is why I did something about it!
I’m the developer of Rain City Guide’s NWMLS search tool and I hope that my tool can take advantage of this and many other opportunites in the MLS search space. My tool provides RSS 2.0 & Google Earth feeds of ALL generated searches, in addition to many other cool features. I am actively seeking out real estate professionals across the country, who are willing to provide me with access to their MLS feeds and purchase my product. If your interested in helping me take your MLS search to the next level, give me buzz.
Regards,
Robbie Paplin
Caffeinated Software
realestatemarketing | May 15, 2006 | Reply
Hey Robbie,
Thanks for your comment, I’ve checked out the RCG search tool in the past and I dig it - some very cool things you have going on there. Expect a post about it shortly.
Joel
Galen | May 17, 2006 | Reply
Good call on feeds. We’re working on implementing something along those lines at ShackPrices.com. It makes a world of sense. Robbie’s search and Trulia also have feeds right now, but neither will help you in the Portland area. Windermere has feeds for registered users.
Do you need a simplyhired when you have the MLS? If so, isn’t it Trulia?
I am concerned that feeds might violate the MLS rules - you are essentially allowing others to post the data on their sites which is strictly forbidden. I predict it will come to head when someone gets fined for RSS feeds in the near future.
Brendan King | Jun 7, 2006 | Reply
Hi Rob, thanks for the kind comments on P2homes. The P2homes marketplace is really simply a reference implementation. All the listings on P2homes are broker/agent entered. While the listings tend to have far more data then typical MLS listings we do not yet have all the data. We use P2homes to aggregate listings from our members for syndication to Google Base, Yahoo Classifieds, Trulia, Oodle, Propsmart, LiveDeal, Edgeio, and Realestate.com. More syndication partners are in the works.
I like your ideas, keep up the good work.
Brendan
Charlotte | Jan 29, 2007 | Reply
Hi,
I am setting up my own new website as an agent and I would like to use a really cool and interactive feature which will allow me to keep track of who goes on to use it and which will allow for lots of useful information/searches. I have yet to check out Robbie’s search tool, trulia etc. but I am open to ANY suggestions that would work for CT.