The Real Estate Standards Organization, or RESO, has recently approved a draft of the updates to the standardized data format for distributing real estate listing information know as RETS, or the Real Estate Transaction Standard. RESO was started as a collaborative effort to promote standards in listing information across databases.
The new standards have been designed to let Multiple Listing Services and other industry organizations, including Zillow, Google and others, to more easily and effectively share property information and get that information to consumers more efficiently. The idea is to have the same information available for use on multiple real estate sites thus saving both time and money for the industry and the consumer.
Some of the partner organizations to the RESO will begin implementing the new standards immediately and then deliver feedback to the partners in August, when it is expected that a vote for final approval on the RETS will take place.