Requirements before you buy

Five things have to be true before MLSImport can put listings on your site: a feed your MLS approves for your website, an MLS on a platform the plugin can read, your own login values from that MLS, a theme the plugin can write listings into, and hosting that can carry the import. Four of them depend on your MLS and your access to it, and one depends on your hosting. Check them in this order, because the first two are the ones that stop a setup dead, and no plugin can do them for you.

These are the checks before you pay. Before buyers see listings, use the brokerage WordPress launch checklist to test listing facts, updates, removals, and leads.

Already paying for MLS access? Your website still needs an approved feed. Read why your brokerage website cannot show every local listing just because you pay for MLS access.

Checks before you leave your current IDX provider

Test listing updates, lead delivery, board rules and old links before you cancel your current IDX service. Getting the feed connected is only part of the move. Use the hosted IDX to WordPress risk checklist to plan the work with your website team.

1. Your MLS offers RESO Web API access

MLSImport reads listings over the RESO Web API, the industry standard feed format. It does not work with the older RETS protocol, and it does not scrape public websites, so copying homes off Zillow or Realtor.com is not a route either. New to the term? See what RESO Web API access is and what each platform issues.

Ask your MLS directly whether they provide RESO Web API access to members, and whether your membership type qualifies. Some MLSs offer it to brokers only, some require a broker’s written authorisation for an agent, and some charge for it separately; see what an MLS plugin setup really costs for real board fees.

2. Your MLS runs on a platform MLSImport supports

RESO Web API access is delivered through a data platform. MLSImport supports the platforms most MLSs use, and most have their own credential guide here: Trestle, Bridge, Spark, Rapattoni, Paragon, ConnectMLS and Realcomp, MLS Grid, Realtor.ca and PropTx. BrightMLS, RMLS, UtahRealEstate and Navica are supported and have no separate guide yet. Several MLSs run their own servers, and those work too.

You can check your own MLS before you pay. It takes about five minutes:

1. Ask your board whether it offers a RESO Web API website feed. Then open the RESO MLS list and find your board.
2. Search your MLS by its exact name in the RESO certification directory, in a normal browser (the page needs JavaScript).
3. Find the line called Web API Server. It names the platform that sends your MLS data.
4. If it names one of the platforms above, MLSImport already connects to it. If it names a different server, we integrate any RESO certified Web API server for active clients at no extra cost, usually in a couple of days, and the free trial counts as active. See my MLS runs a server you do not support yet.

Supported is not the same as approved: a certified, supported server tells you MLSImport can read the feed, not that your account may. Your MLS still has to approve your own feed. You can also look for your board in our MLS integration guides, or open one of the live sites by MLS and theme. After you subscribe, the search your MLS box on the plugin’s account step shows every board already switched on.

3. You have your own API credentials, or can request them

The credentials are issued to you or your brokerage, never to us. What you receive depends on the platform: a client ID and secret for Trestle, Rapattoni, Paragon, Realtor.ca and similar, a server token for Bridge, a username and password for a few others.

Requesting them takes time. Some MLSs answer in a day and some take several weeks, and many require a signed data licence agreement first. Start that request before you subscribe, not after. Showing listings from two or three boards? Ask every board at the same time; see connecting two MLS boards to one website.

What to ask your MLS for

Ask in one email, in the order your board will want them. The exact form names vary by MLS.

1. The website feed application for IDX or RESO Web API, approved for your real web address, not a staging one.
2. The broker authorisation form. On most boards the broker has to sign, or log in and approve, before anything moves, and this is the step that stalls most often. A developer can supply site and technical details, but the agent or broker submits and signs. See who needs to hold the credentials.
3. The fee schedule, in writing. That bill goes to the board, not to us.
4. The display rules: the listing credit line, disclaimers and logos, how fast price and status changes must show and sold homes must come off, and what you may not show, such as listings a seller kept off the internet. See MLS display rules.
5. When credentials will be issued, and whether the board reviews the site first.

4. A theme MLSImport can write into

Imported listings have to be stored somewhere your site knows how to display. There are two ways to satisfy this.

1. A theme with a dedicated adapter. WpResidence, Houzez, Real Homes, and Wpestate each store property data in their own meta keys, and MLSImport maps RESO fields onto them. Property pages, search, and agent pages come from the theme.
2. Standalone (any theme) mode. MLSImport supplies its own property templates, search, archives, and design settings, so the listings do not depend on the active theme at all. This is the option when you run a theme that is not on the list, including a general purpose one.

You choose between them during setup, in the theme selector on the account step. Not sure which group your theme is in? See compatible themes. Site built with an AI tool? If it runs WordPress, the same two options apply; if not, see how to add homes for sale to a website built with AI.

5. Your server can carry the import

The first screen of the setup wizard shows a System Requirements Check, and the plugin repeats the memory and execution time warnings in the admin if either falls short later.

1. WordPress 5.2 or newer and PHP 7.4 or newer. These are the plugin’s declared minimums. The wizard’s requirements table checks the running PHP version and passes from 7.2 up.
2. Memory limit of at least 256MB. The wizard flags anything lower, and the plugin repeats that warning on its admin screens, because import runs hold listing batches in memory.
3. max_execution_time of 0 for unlimited, or as high as your host allows. The wizard passes at 120 seconds or more. The admin warning is stricter: any positive value under 600 seconds is flagged, because an import that hits the limit stops part way through a batch.
4. A supported theme, or Standalone mode. The wizard also reports whether your active theme is one of the four with a dedicated adapter.

Shared hosting is fine for a few hundred listings. Tens of thousands of listings need a VPS or a dedicated server, mostly because of what the import and sync runs do rather than what visitors do. The wizard’s thresholds above are minimums; the memory we test against is higher, 512M. Send your host the hosting requirements, with the hosts and listing counts we have tested, and ask them to confirm your plan’s limits. For a large feed, see site speed with MLS listings and how many listings you can import.

How do I verify that a website provider supports my MLS integration?

Ask them to confirm eight things in writing, before you pay anyone. A provider who genuinely supports your MLS can answer all eight in one email. A provider who answers in brochure language on any of them has told you something.

1. Your MLS by name, and the data platform it runs on. Not “we support all major MLSs”. The name of your board, and which platform or board-run server its feed comes through.
2. The credential type they need from you. A client ID and secret, a server token, or a username and password. If they cannot name it, they have not connected to your board.
3. Which data rights the setup relies on. IDX display is not the same permission as a RESO Web API feed, and an MLS can grant one without the other. Ask which one they are building on, and who signs the data licence agreement.
4. The update cadence, as a number. How often the feed is pulled and how quickly a price or status change reaches your pages. Then check that number against your own MLS’s rules: boards publish both a maximum pull frequency and a maximum staleness, and the two are not the same limit.
5. Who owns the listing pages, and what leaves with you. Whether listings are stored in your own database or rendered from theirs, and what you take away if you leave: the posts, the URLs, the leads, or nothing.
6. Whether it works with your theme. Either the product has an adapter for the theme you run, or it supplies its own listing templates. Anything vaguer means a rebuild you have not been quoted for.
7. The server requirements, in figures. PHP version, memory limit, and max_execution_time, plus the listing count those figures assume. A provider who will not put numbers on this cannot tell you whether your hosting plan is enough.
8. What happens when you cancel. Whether the listings stay, disappear, or become an unrendered post type, and whether your URLs survive. Ask before you buy, not on the way out.

Our own answers to all eight are on this page and the pages it links to. For the first item, look up your MLS platform yourself with the five-minute check in section 2, then confirm it with your MLS before you sign anything.

The RESO field on the order form

The order form has a required field asking for your MLS’s RESO Web API connection details. It only checks that the field is not empty. Any text gets you through it, and you do not have to paste real credentials into a checkout form.

The field is required on purpose, to make sure nobody subscribes without knowing that RESO Web API access is what makes the plugin work. Your real credentials go into the plugin on your own site, after installation.

The card is taken at signup but not charged for 30 days, and we email you a reminder 3 days before the trial ends. The account you create while ordering has a username: the plugin logs in with that username, not your email, so write it down. See what the username means.

Frequently asked questions

Can I start the trial while I am still waiting for my MLS to approve API access?

You can, but the trial clock starts on subscription, not on approval. Until your feed is approved you can only work with the Test MLS of sample homes the plugin connects on first sign-in, and if your MLS takes several weeks, most of the free period goes by before your own listings show. Request access first and subscribe once approval is in sight. Already subscribed and still waiting? Ask us to extend the trial before the end date; it does not stop on its own. See MLS approval processes that take time.

My MLS says they offer IDX. Is that the same as RESO Web API?

Not necessarily. IDX describes what you are permitted to display, while RESO Web API describes how the data is delivered. An MLS can grant IDX rights and still deliver the data by a method MLSImport cannot read. Ask specifically for RESO Web API access.

Do I need a separate subscription for each of my websites?

Yes, for each website. One subscription covers one WordPress site, and a second website needs its own. A second MLS on the same website does not: multi-MLS plans connect up to 3 or up to 7 boards on one site. See pricing.

Can you request the MLS credentials on my behalf?

No. MLSs issue credentials only to their own members and to the brokerage those members belong to, so the request has to come from you. We can tell you which platform your MLS uses and what to ask for.

Does my MLS have to approve MLS Import as a vendor?

Not on the member route. Your MLS approves a feed, not a plugin: the feed is issued to you or your broker for your own website, and MLS Import uses the login values you hold. Approved vendor lists matter when a vendor holds the feed for you. If the form still asks for your IDX vendor, ask the board which option fits a member using their own plugin on their own site. See is an IDX plugin approved by my MLS?

Related

1. What MLSImport is and how it works
2. How MLS websites work: import vs live IDX
3. Why a compatible theme (or Standalone mode) is needed
4. Direct feed versus IDX vendor
5. Onboarding calls and support tickets
6. Checking an IDX vendor’s support

Send us your MLS name and your API platform before you subscribe and we will confirm exactly what you need for that MLS.