You update the price of a property, mark a listing as under contract, and make sure all the details in the MLS are accurate. Hours later, you check your website or consumer portals like Zillow and Realtor.com, and the old information is still there. It looks like nothing has changed.
This is one of the most common frustrations agents, brokers, and teams deal with. Clients expect listings to be accurate in real time. They do not understand why a home can show as available online when it already has multiple offers.
From their perspective, it feels like outdated data or sloppy management. The issue is almost always related to how MLS feeds and integrations work.
How often do WordPress IDX plugins update listings?
It depends on where the listings live. Your MLS also controls when its website feed sends a change, so never assume a feed is instant. Ask your vendor for its update schedule and its cleanup schedule for your MLS, in writing.
| Type of IDX | Where the listings live | How they stay current |
|---|---|---|
| Framed or hosted IDX | The vendor’s servers | The vendor updates them on its own clock. |
| Import plugin, like MLS Import | Your own WordPress site | Your site checks your MLS on a schedule. MLS Import checks every hour for listings that changed in the last two hours, then updates price, status, photos and every field you picked. |
With an import plugin, “every hour” depends on the WordPress clock. WordPress only runs its schedule when someone opens a page, so a quiet site can fall hours behind. A real server cron fixes that. See how the hourly auto update works.
To test a site, pick a known price change and a known sold home and follow each one from the MLS record to the feed, the import log and the public page. If it stays stale, check the status mapping and send support the MLS number.
Do IDX plugins remove sold and expired homes on their own?
Most do, but check how. Hosted IDX drops a home when the vendor’s copy changes. An import plugin needs a cleanup job on your own site. If that job stops, sold homes stay up as active.
Here is how MLS Import handles it:
- Once a day, a cleanup pass compares every listing on your site with the full list in your MLS. That also catches homes the MLS deleted without sending an update. See how daily reconciliation works.
- A home still in the MLS stays only if its status is one you picked for that import task. If it moves to a status you did not pick, like Closed or Expired, it comes off at the next daily pass.
- A home that has left the MLS comes off, unless its status is on your Protected Statuses list. New setups protect Active, Active Under Contract, Coming Soon and Pending, so a home that drops out of the feed while still marked Active stays until you remove it.
- If the MLS sends back less than 80 percent of the listings your site holds, the pass deletes nothing that day. That stops a broken feed from wiping your site.
Why does the delay happen
MLS data does not move across systems instantly. Most websites, CRMs, and consumer portals rely on IDX feeds or the RESO Web API to bring MLS listings. These feeds refresh on a schedule controlled by the MLS and the vendor.
Some MLSs publish updates every 15 minutes, while others only push data once or twice a day. If your market uses a slower refresh cycle, you can expect a consistent delay between making a change and it showing up online.
Even when the MLS pushes updates quickly, integration lag is a factor. Your IDX vendor, CRM, or website plugin may process the data more slowly. Sometimes systems cache data for performance reasons, which can cause information to appear stale.
Temporary failures in the connection to the MLS can also cause the system to skip an update cycle.
The result is familiar. A buyer sees a home listed as available when it is already under contract, and a seller complains that a price change is not reflected online. These problems are not always errors. They are a direct result of how MLS technology works today.
Steps to minimize syncing problems
While you cannot eliminate every delay, you can take specific steps to reduce the problem and keep your listings accurate across platforms.
Know your MLS refresh rate.
Each MLS has its own schedule for publishing data, known as the MLS refresh rate. Some provide near-real-time updates, meaning data is updated almost immediately, while others only update nightly. By knowing your MLS refresh rate, you can set proper expectations with clients and troubleshoot when you see inconsistencies.
Use the RESO Web API when available.
The RESO Web API is a modern solution designed for faster and more consistent updates. If your market supports it, ensure your IDX vendor uses the Web API instead of an outdated RETS feed. The RESO Web API can significantly reduce the delay in listing updates, providing a more accurate and timely experience for your clients.
Check your vendor settings.
Many IDX and CRM systems allow you to configure how often they pull data. If your refresh interval is too low, updates may appear slowly even if your MLS publishes new data more frequently. Review these settings and increase the frequency where possible.
Watch out for caching.
If the home is sold in the MLS and still shows active on your WordPress site long after, the cause is usually on your site and not the MLS. Here is how to find why sold homes still show active. Check the feed, auto update and the saved page before you change settings.
Server-side caching can make pages load faster, but it can also hold back fresh data. Ask your vendor if caching is involved and whether it can be adjusted or bypassed for listing updates.
Understand the portals
Sometimes it works the other way: a new listing is on Zillow but never shows up on your own site. That is usually not a delay. Here is why a listing can be on Zillow and not on your website.
Websites like Zillow, Realtor.com, and Trulia operate on refresh cycles. Even if your MLS and vendor update every 15 minutes, those portals may only refresh a few times daily. Knowing this helps explain to clients why their changes are not showing up on every site immediately.
Consider instant update tools.
Some brokers choose to invest in third-party tools that push updates to websites the moment they happen. These tools cost more, but they cut much of the lag.
Slow updates aren’t only awkward with clients. If a sold home stays up past your board’s window, you can get a notice or a fine. Here’s what boards fine for and how to stay safe.
Managing client expectations
Technical fixes are essential, but so is communication. Most buyers and sellers assume that the Internet works in real time. They do not know that feeds refresh on a schedule or that third-party portals update at different speeds.
When you explain the process to clients upfront, you set clear expectations. Let them know that updates on your website will appear sooner than on national portals. Emphasize that your site is the best source for accurate, up-to-date information. This builds trust and positions your brand as the authority.
The bottom line
Mistakes rarely cause delayed updates. They are a normal consequence of how MLS data is distributed and processed across multiple systems. By understanding your MLS refresh schedule, working with vendors who support the RESO Web API, reviewing refresh and caching settings, and exploring real-time tools, you can reduce delays and provide a better client experience. This reassures you that you have the tools and knowledge to manage this issue effectively.
Keeping listings accurate is not just a technical issue. It is also about credibility. Buyers and sellers judge your professionalism based on the information they see online. Taking control of your feed setup and being transparent about what clients should expect will put you ahead of the many agents who ignore this problem.
FAQ
Why does my MLS listing update in the MLS but not on my website or portals for hours?
Because MLS data does not move across systems instantly. Most websites, CRMs, and consumer portals pull listing data through IDX feeds or the RESO Web API on a schedule controlled by the MLS and the vendor, not in real time.
Even if you change a price or status immediately in the MLS, it may take until the next feed refresh cycle for that change to be exported, ingested, processed, and displayed on your site or on portals.
How often do MLS feeds refresh, and how much delay should I expect?
Refresh rates vary by MLS. Some MLSs publish updates about every 15 minutes, while others only push data once or twice a day, and some markets may update nightly.
If your MLS uses a slower refresh cycle, you should expect a consistent delay between making a change in the MLS and seeing it reflected online.
If my MLS updates quickly, why can my IDX site or CRM still show stale information?
Even with frequent MLS publishing, integration lag can slow things down. Your IDX vendor, CRM, or website plugin may process incoming data more slowly than the MLS publishes it.
In addition, systems sometimes cache data for performance, which can make listing pages appear outdated until the cache expires or is refreshed. Temporary connection failures to the MLS can also cause a system to miss an update cycle.
What practical steps can I take to reduce MLS syncing problems across platforms?
Start by confirming your MLS refresh rate so you know the baseline timing and can troubleshoot inconsistencies realistically. Then review your vendor settings, because many IDX and CRM systems let you configure how often they pull data, and a low pull frequency can create delays even when the MLS publishes frequently.
Also ask your vendor about caching, since server-side caching can hold back fresh listing data. Where available, prioritize the RESO Web API over older RETS-based approaches, because the RESO Web API is designed for faster and more consistent updates.
Why do Zillow, Realtor.com, and Trulia still show the wrong status even after my website looks correct?
National portals operate on their own refresh cycles. Even if your MLS and your vendor update every 15 minutes, those portals may only refresh a few times daily.
That difference in timing is why your website may reflect a price change or an under-contract status sooner than Zillow, Realtor.com, or Trulia.
