Enhanced NAR Application Will Streamline Real Estate Transactions New server application will provide lower costs to Multiple Listing Services and brokers
RISMEDIA, July 10, 2006—The Center for REALTOR(R) Technology of the National Association of Realtors(R) has launched an enhanced version of its VARIMAN server software that allows the real estate industry to more efficiently and economically provide and exchange real estate information. The new VARIMAN server application will provide lower costs to Multiple Listing Services and brokers and improve listing information available to consumers.
CRT's VARIMAN Server version 2.1.10 allows Realtors(R) to receive listing information using the Real Estate Transaction Standard. This standard enables Realtors(R) to receive property listing information from multiple sources without having to develop and maintain multiple interface programs.
"When RETS is used, access to property listing information becomes simpler and easier and costs are reduced," said NAR President Thomas M. Stevens from Vienna, Va. "This is one more example of how CRT works to develop tools that enhance our members' profitability. Such systems also help them deliver cost effective, timely and accurate property information to consumers."
If a program receives data, such as property listings, from multiple MLSs that don't use the same format, then that program must be able to communicate with those multiple sources in various ways. However, if various MLS systems use RETS, only a single interface is needed, as all listings can be combined more easily because they use the same format for the data.
Since its introduction, the use of RETS continues to grow among MLSs. CRT's 2006 MLS Technology Survey showed that the number of MLS that offer RETS has increased from 43 percent in 2005 to 54 percent in 2006. RETS is increasingly used by real estate brokers, especially to support consumer-oriented Web sites with current, accurate and economical property listing information.
CRT developed the new software release in collaboration with a major Midwest MLS, MLS of Northern Illinois of Lisle, Ill. "Since NAR champions the use of open source software in real estate, we benefit from development contributions such as this from others in the industry," said NAR Vice President Mark Lesswing, director of CRT. "Following the initial development, the new software is now in use by several regional MLSs like MLSNI. This adoption by one of the country's major regional MLS shows that Variman, with enhancements that utilize J2EE technology, has become the state of the art for RETS delivery in our industry."
J2EE technology refers to Sun Microsystem's Java 2 Enterprise Edition development environment. |
