A frequent request from Inspectors is to have ISN connect to an MLS database. An MLS, or Multiple Listing Service, is just a large database of information about properties that are for sale in a given county or region. This is a great resource for inspectors, as you’re able to use it to set prices for your services (year built, square footage, foundation type information, and other property info). So why can’t we automatically pull that into ISN?
Each given MLS Database contains a list of properties for sale in only a specific region. There are hundreds of different MLS’ in just the US alone, all built differently and with vastly different ways of enabling third party services (like ISN) to communicate with them.
In addition to having different programming requirements, in order for us to interface with a given MLS, we need to have an active member sponsor our connection and then we would need to pay for the data coming across.
Developing out and maintaining integration for each and every single one of the different types of MLS’ that exist would be a monumental task that would be very difficult to sustain and would end up increasing the overall cost for our end-users.
But Zillow and Trulia both have listings pretty much everywhere. Why can’t ISN do the same?
Zillow and Trulia are two online softwares that were designed with the sole purpose of accumulating MLS data to list properties that are available. They have teams that built their product specifically to interface with lots of those MLS databases. What’s great about this is we don’t have to re-invent the wheel, we integrate directly with Zillow! So often times you’ll see an option to pre-fill the year built or square footage information while you’re booking an order in your ISN.
If you have any questions about this information please let us know! You can reach us by chat, email at help@inspectionsupport.com, or phone at (800) 700-8112.