In an effort to provide consumers with the most current information, Trulia is now updating the listing data it receives directly from multiple listing services (MLS) on a continuous basis, the company said today.
In 2012, Trulia began updating its direct MLS-sourced data four times per day, after moving to once-a-day updates in late 2011. Now, Trulia checks in with the MLSs it gets direct feeds from every 10 minutes, and updates listings on its site accordingly.
Large MLSs providing Trulia with direct feeds include the Houston Association of Realtors, Midwest Real Estate Data LLC (MRED), Boston area MLS Property Information Service Inc., Bay Area Real Estate Information Services Inc. in the San Francisco Bay Area, and Connecticut MLS.
“Our new data processing framework is far more efficient and reliable, allowing us to update more feeds and more listings on a continuous basis throughout the day,” said Alon Chaver, vice president of industry services at Trulia, in a statement.
“It is an obvious advantage to consumers and to our listing brokers to display only the most current information in Internet advertising,” said Russ Bergeron, CEO of MRED, in a statement. “These changes help the real estate practitioner throughout our Chicagoland market to more effectively market their properties and ensure consumers receive the most up-to-date information while searching for their new home.”
Data accuracy and timeliness — like price and for-sale status — have been a headache for third-party portals like Trulia and Zillow. Unlike Realtor.com, which thanks to its ties to the National Association of Realtors gets listings directly from most of the nation’s MLSs, third-party portals rely on data from a variety of sources, including MLSs, brokers, agents and listing “syndicators” like ListHub and Point2.
Trulia CEO Pete Flint told the audience at Real Estate Connect New York City this month that the company’s focus on data accuracy is “intense.”
In 2011, Trulia launched the Trulia Direct Reference program, in which MLS data takes precedence over other sources when discrepancies are found.
Increasingly, Trulia and Zillow are looking for ways to secure access to accurate data directly from MLSs and brokerages and to sidestep their reliance on getting listings via ListHub and Point2. Those companies have recently tightened their data licensing agreements, restricting how the data can be used, challenging the listing portals’ business models.
In 2012, both Trulia and Zillow launched programs where, in exchange for enhanced listing presence, brokerages provided a direct feed of their listings to the portals.
Last July, Zillow made a play for direct data feeds from 50 of the 200 MLSs that Zillow was receiving data from via ListHub, which is owned by Realtor.com operator Move Inc.
