Standalone mode stores listings in two post types and sorts them into eleven taxonomies. Knowing which taxonomy holds which value tells you what you can filter, what gets an archive page, and where to edit wording.
The two post types
MLS Properties holds the listings. Each imported listing becomes one property post, with the address as the title, the public remarks as the content, and every imported RESO field stored on the post. RESO is the industry data standard your MLS publishes in.
Real Estate Agents holds agent profiles. Each agent gets a public page listing their properties, plus a profile metabox for the details the feed does not carry, such as specialties, languages and a hero teaser. You create these yourself, then point an import task at one; the import never creates an agent.
Both behave like ordinary WordPress posts. They have archives, they are visible to the REST API, and any plugin that can query a post type can query them.
The eleven taxonomies
Every taxonomy is flat, meaning terms sit in one list with no parent and child nesting. Terms are created from the values your MLS publishes, spelled exactly as published.
- Property Types comes from
PropertySubType, the specific type such as Condominium or Single Family Residence. - Listing Types comes from
PropertyType, the broad class such as Residential or Residential Lease. This is the one a for sale and for rent switch reads. - Statuses comes from
StandardStatus, so Active, Pending and Closed each become a term. - Cities comes from
City. - Areas is filled from
CityRegionandSubdivisionName, so neighbourhoods and subdivisions share one list. - Counties comes from
CountyOrParish. - States comes from
StateOrProvince. - ZIP Codes comes from
PostalCode. - High School Districts comes from
HighSchoolDistrict. - Features collects every amenity: appliances, interior and exterior features, view, heating, cooling, flooring, laundry, lot, community, parking and pool features all become feature terms.
- Labels is yours, not the MLS’s. Nothing in the import ever writes to it.
Every one of these has an archive page and can be offered as a search filter.
Labels is the taxonomy to use for editorial badges like Hot Offer, Price Reduced or Open House. The import never overwrites it, so a label you attach to a property survives every sync.
Why features are one taxonomy and not twelve
A dozen separate RESO amenity fields feed the single Features list. A listing with a pool, hardwood floors and central air ends up with three feature terms, and the search treats them as a set: pick two features and only listings carrying both are returned.
The original field is still stored alongside the terms, so a property page can show Flooring and Pool Features as separate rows while the search works off one list.
The search index
Alongside the posts, the plugin keeps one indexed row per listing holding the values people search on: price, beds, baths, living area, lot size, year built, coordinates, city, state, ZIP, status and type, plus a full text column carrying the address.
This is why a price range search over thousands of listings returns instantly rather than crawling post meta. It is derived data and can be rebuilt at any time with wp mlsimport reindex.
If a listing shows in the property list but never appears in search results, its index row is missing rather than its post. Rebuilding the index fixes that class of problem, and nothing else is affected because the posts themselves are the source of truth.
Editing terms
Each taxonomy has its own screen under MLS Properties. You can rename a term, give it a featured image, and write an HTML description for it. Renaming changes what visitors see without changing what the import matches on.
Deleting a term that listings still carry is temporary. The next import recreates it, because the values come from the feed.
Frequently asked questions
Can I add my own taxonomy?
Not from the settings screens. A developer can add one with the mlsimport_taxonomies filter, which every part of the plugin reads, so a taxonomy added there gains its archive, its per term settings and its place in the category widgets automatically.
Why do I have two property type lists?
Because RESO splits property type in two. Property Types is the specific kind of home, Listing Types is whether it is a sale or a lease. Most sites use the second one for a for sale and for rent switch and the first one in the search form.
Can I merge two terms that mean the same thing?
WordPress has no merge, and reassigning listings by hand does not hold, since the next import reattaches them to the term the feed names. If two spellings arrive from the MLS, ask the board to correct the data, or hide one term from your search form.
Do agents get created automatically from the feed?
No. Agent posts are created by hand. An import task either links its listings to an agent post you created, or shows the listing agent straight from the MLS feed, in which case no agent post exists and no agent page is generated.
Related
- Standalone mode: run MLSImport on any theme
- Category images and descriptions
- Understanding RESO fields
- The Search Form block
Send us the value you cannot find and we will tell you which taxonomy or field holds it.