Who can use MLSImport (agents, brokers, teams)

Eligibility for MLSImport has nothing to do with the size of your business. It comes down to one question: does your MLS give you RESO Web API access, and are you allowed to use it on the website you are building?

This page covers who qualifies, who does not, and how the answer changes when you are building the site for somebody else.

Who qualifies

1. An individual agent. Most MLSs grant Web API access to agents, and many require your broker’s written authorisation on top of your own membership. Ask your MLS which applies to you.
2. A team. Access is issued to a member, not to a team, so one member’s credentials carry the feed and the import tasks filter down to the team’s listings.
3. A brokerage or office. The broker holds the access, and office level filters keep the site to the brokerage’s own inventory.
4. An MLS area site. If your access permits displaying other members’ listings, you can import beyond your own office, subject to your MLS’s display rules.

Who does not qualify

1. Anyone without MLS membership. Investors, lenders, portals, and marketing agencies cannot obtain a feed on their own account. There is no version of MLSImport that supplies data without member credentials.
2. Nonprofits and housing education programs, on their own. The organisation cannot get a feed in its own name either. It can run MLSImport when a licensed agent or broker who works with it requests the feed in their own name and holds the MLSImport account. Licensed non-profits and educational housing programs get 30% off; see pricing.
3. Members of an MLS that offers no RESO Web API. Membership alone is not enough. The MLS has to publish a RESO Web API feed and be willing to give you access to it.
4. National aggregators. One site connects to up to seven MLS boards, so a national search pulling hundreds of MLSs together is outside what MLSImport does.

Narrowing the feed to the listings that are yours to show

Whatever your role, an import task can restrict listings by the identifiers your MLS publishes for people and offices.

1. Listing agent, by agent key or by agent MLS ID.
2. Buyer agent, by agent MLS ID, which is how sold listings you represented on the buy side are captured.
3. Listing office, by office key or by office MLS ID.
4. Excluded offices, by office key or office MLS ID, for the case where you want a market view with certain offices left out.

An agent site is usually one task filtered to your agent ID. A brokerage site is usually one or more tasks filtered to the office ID. A team site is a task per member, plus a market task if you want the whole local market in search; see MLSImport for teams.

Building the site for a client

If you are a developer or an agency, the credentials belong to your client, because the MLS issues them to the member. The practical arrangement is that your client requests API access in their own name, and you enter those credentials into the plugin on their site. Who asks, who signs and what to collect from your client first are in who needs to hold the MLS credentials.

The MLSImport account goes in your client’s name too. Our terms grant a personal, non-transferable license, and the data runs on the account owner’s MLS connection details, so the account owner should be the agent or broker whose credentials go into the plugin. Either of you can pay the bill; if you want to handle it, ask us how to set that up before you buy. It is your client’s data licence agreement with their MLS that governs what the finished site is allowed to display.

Whose name is on the account matters because the plugin signs in with that MLSImport login on every hourly update. If the plan behind it is cancelled or the card fails, updates stop and the homes already on the site freeze: a home that sells next week keeps showing as active at its old price. Put in your contract who pays for MLSImport, who pays the MLS fee, and what happens to the plan if the client leaves you. If you do pay, every charge is listed under Related orders on the subscription, for re-billing.

Building sites for several clients? Each WordPress site needs its own subscription, and one client’s credentials never cover another client’s site. Volume discounts start at five sites on one account; see MLSimport at scale and using MLSImport on more than one website. Reusing one build, white-labeling and running many client sites are covered in how freelancers and agencies run MLS Import across client sites.

Before you quote the job:

• The full price. Your client pays the MLS feed fee, hosting, a theme and your work on top of the plugin. See what an IDX setup actually costs.
• What the site runs now. Still choosing between hosted IDX and an import plugin? See which one fits a client’s site. Replacing a hosted IDX, or listings on a vendor subdomain like search.clientsite.com? See the migration guide and why the listing pages live on a subdomain.
• The theme. A theme does not bring MLS listings by itself, and your client can keep the theme they have; see standalone mode on any WordPress theme.
• The lead forms. If the client wants inquiries in their CRM, see sending leads to a CRM.
• A live example. Open one of the 66 live client sites, labeled by MLS and theme, on your client’s MLS.
• The free brokerage site question. See agent pages on the brokerage site or the agent’s own website.

Handing the site over to your client

If you held the plan, it cannot be passed on: your client starts their own, you swap the login in the plugin, then you cancel yours. The MLS credentials, import tasks, field choices and every imported listing stay on the site, because they are WordPress data, not part of the subscription.

1. Your client signs up on the pricing page with their own email and card, and forwards the welcome email. It shows their username, which is not their email.
2. Swap the login. In MLS Import Settings, on the MLS/RESO Api Options tab, enter your client’s MLSImport username and password and save.
3. Clear the old account data. On the Tools tab, click Clear Plugin Cached Data and reload. Both banners should be green.
4. Run one import task by hand and watch it finish. Listings already on the site update; they do not double up.
5. Cancel your subscription under Subscriptions in your account. It keeps working to the end date you paid for, so swap the login before that date and the hourly updates never stop.

Your client does not apply to the MLS again. If the site moves to a new domain at the same time, tell the MLS the new address, since some boards name the website in the approval; see moving MLSImport to a new domain. Not sure which account the site runs on? Open a ticket with both account names before you cancel anything.

Frequently asked questions

I am a developer with no MLS membership. Can I set this up for a client?

Yes. The plugin does not care who installs it, and the credentials come from your client, as set out in Building the site for a client. What to ask the MLS for is in RESO Web API connection details, and the full setup is in how to integrate MLS and IDX into WordPress. Rather not do it yourself? Hire the MLSImport team or book an onboarding call.

Can several agents in the same brokerage share one website?

Yes. Create an import task per agent so each one’s listings arrive with their own filter. Agents in different MLSs can share it too: one site holds up to seven boards on a multi-MLS plan, each with its own approval. See connecting more than one MLS.

My MLS says I need broker authorisation. Does MLSImport handle that?

No. Authorisation is between you, your broker, and your MLS, and it happens before any credentials exist. MLSImport only comes into it once the MLS has issued you the connection details. Paying for the plugin yourself while your broker signs is normal.

I already have MLS access as an agent. Why can’t I just show the listings on my website?

Your MLS login is for your own work with clients, not for a public website. A website needs a separate feed that your MLS approves, usually with your broker’s signature, because the broker holds the IDX rights. That feed also leaves out what may not go public: listings a seller kept off the internet, and agent-only remarks and showing notes.

Can I display listings from agents outside my own office?

That depends on your MLS agreement, not on the plugin. The filters can pull the whole feed your access allows. What you may publish is decided by the IDX or Web API terms you signed, so check them before importing beyond your own listings. See the rules most boards use, and importing only some listings if you plan to show part of the market.

Related

1. Requirements before you buy
2. What MLSImport is and how it works
3. How many listings can you import
4. Building a Zillow or Redfin style site: what is realistic

Tell us your MLS name and your role in it through a support ticket and we will confirm what access you need to ask for.