How to create your own MLS database for FREE (without access to the MLS)

[Cory Land]

This is geared for anyone who is tech savy and maybe even a software engineer. This whole thing took me about 40 hours to write. I am not expecting anyone to actually do this but I am interested to see the feedback I get - techies or not. I also didn't create this to market and sell but to be able to run statistics and analytics for my own real estate investing purposes. We are in a new age and finding a competitive edge using technology is extremely important and necessary. Disclaimer: access to MLS through your licensed real estate agent will be a much better resource but this at least let's you get to play with the data. This does not update when houses are sold which sucks but I have not found any way around this 1) sign up for access to Redfin.com 2) create general search for area your market (I do city of Philly and all surrounding suburbs from $0-$500k) 3) find link for RSS feed for your saved search 4) write program to absorb the RSS feed every minute or so 5) parse MLS data and store on database 6) create front end to view data 7) optional: create notification service for your specific search criteria - mine also generates comps using zillow and google map images automatically (both sites have RESTful api which handle MLS data nicely)

[Jay Thompson]

Originally posted by @Gretchen Roberts:

So this is really interesting, and makes me wonder what is on MLS that you can't get on Zillow and Trulia and Redfin exactly? People talk about having or needing access to the MLS, which makes me think that these programs are only able to pull some of the feed instead of all of it.

There is actually quite a bit of difference between what's on your typical MLS and what you will find on publicly accessible sites such as Zillow and Trulia. Even what Redfin (a brokerage site -- Zillow and Trulia are not brokerages) displays is different than the MLS. Sites like Zillow and IDX based sites like Redfin all display a smaller subset of data than an MLS has. There were about 50 data fields that had to be completed to enter a home on my MLS and public sites typically display half of that, at best.

Some MLS only data is private\confidential -- like gate codes, owner contact info and showing instructions. Other is just more granular data of what you'll see displayed on public sites. For example, within the MLS I could search for 3 bedroom 2 bath homes that have a block fence, have had the roof replaced since 2007 and have a bidet in the master bath and laundry hookups in the garage. And I can filter that by areas with home owner association fees of less than $X.

Then there is the whole localized MLS rules thing. Some areas prohibit the public display of sales data. So in restrictive non-disclosure states, sometimes the only way to get data on past sales prices, type, financing etc is via the MLS.