Two major California multiple listing services, including the nation’s largest, are among the 56 MLSs representing more than 642,800 agents nationwide that have signed up to offer their members N-Play’s Internet Data Exchange (IDX) listings search application for agent and broker Facebook pages.
Jacksonville, Fla.-based real estate app company N-Play launched the Facebook IDX listings app in October with 20 MLSs on board prior to the launch.
In November, the company announced it had doubled its MLS customer base to 40 MLSs, including Metropolitan Regional Information Systems Inc. (MRIS); Midwest Real Estate Data (MRED); Georgia MLS (GAMLS); My Florida Regional MLS (MFRMLS); the Miami Association of Realtors MLS (MLS of MIAMI); and the Arizona Regional MLS (ARMLS).
San Dimas-based California Regional MLS (CRMLS), which has more than 72,000 members, and San Diego-based Sandicor, which has 17,800 members, are among the latest additions. The deal with Sandicor was just signed Wednesday, said N-Play CEO Mark Bloomfield.
"We are not live with (Sandicor) in our platform as we just received approval. We should be live for agents to add the service within the next couple of weeks," Bloomfield told Inman News.
The other additions include Long Island MLS, St. Paul, Minn.-based NorthstarMLS, Shrewsbury, Mass.-based MLS PIN, Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors MLS, Greater Fort Lauderdale MLS, and Sandy, Utah-based Wasatch Front Regional MLS.
The cost of the app for agents is $9.95 per month or $49.95 per year. Depending on the MLS market, once a broker approves an IDX request electronically, property search is automatically activated on an agent’s Facebook business page complete with the agent’s MLS listings, N-Play said.
"More and more agents are realizing Facebook connects them with buyers and sellers, which is great for their business," said Jeff Gellman, director of MLS Services for N-Play, in a statement.
"Accordingly, MLS executives are pleased to learn that our solution is indeed, IDX compliant — allowing their members to market themselves through social media while still meeting both (the National Association of Realtors’) and their own policies for IDX."
In November, NAR passed a new social media policy allowing individual MLSs to determine their own rules for listings display on social media sites. Many have developed and implemented their own policies.
That same month, N-Play announced a new real estate marketing platform that integrates with Facebook’s ad platform and automatically generates listing ads for agents when they post listings to their Facebook profile pages.
In order to have access to either the Facebook IDX app or the marketing platform, agents must first join N-Play’s free Real Estate Agent Directory on Facebook and create a profile. In 2011, N-Play rolled out an app that allows consumers on Facebook to search directory profiles for agents by location and expertise.
More than 160,000 agents from more than 10,000 cities have joined the directory and linked to their Facebook pages, the company said. Thousands of real estate-related pages throughout Facebook, including 350 Realtor association pages and more than 1,000 broker pages, host the directory, the company added.