Regional Multiple Listing Service of Florida, which operates in the Palm Beaches and Treasure Coast region, is putting participants’ property listings up for public review at a new Web site, HomeToFlorida.com.
Based in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., RMLS has about 12,700 subscribers who operate 2,535 real estate offices in the region. The new Web site features about 40,000 property listings.
ENeighborhoods LLC — a company that developed national Internet-based property search solutions for national real estate franchise companies including RE/MAX and Help-U-Sell and is also developing a national system for franchiser and brokerage giant Realogy — teamed with RMLS in building the public search site.
Andy Woolley, vice president of enterprise services for eNeighborhoods, said that the company scaled the technology it used for the national sites to the regional level for the RMLS effort.
Data at the site will be updated six times each day, he said, and consumers who request more information at the site will be directed to listing agents.
There is a lead-management system on the back-end of the new search site, he added, and agents and MLS officials can view Web visitor statistics for the new site.
Woolley noted that there has been some debate in the industry on whether public MLS sites are good for brokers, as some brokers question whether the public sites will be in competition with their own sites.
"The climate has changed in the past year. More (MLSs) are interested in it now than I’ve ever seen before," Woolley said.
The new search site features property listings in Indian River, St. Lucie, Martin, Palm Beach, Broward and Dade counties. Consumers can select a city or ZIP code and set a minimum and maximum price, number of bedrooms and number of bathrooms to customize the search, or they can click on an interactive map.
The site also features tabs that allow users to find an agent, find a school or get neighborhood information, and a "Resources" tab features a real estate guide with answers to common real estate questions, a real estate glossary with real estate and legal terms, a selection of real estate articles, and a mortgage calculator.
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