Resources

What is IDX?

Learn how we help you grow your real estate business with IDX search and the power of iHomefinder Max.

IDX Explained

For over 20 years, thousands of agents and brokers have relied on our online marketing technology to accelerate their growth. You can easily add our service to your own website or get a ready-to-use, hosted real estate website that we maintain for you. Many of the benefits we offer agents and brokers revolve around IDX, which is an acronym for Internet Data Exchange. This enables real estate professionals to display the most comprehensive and up-to-date property listing data on their own real estate websites. iHomefinder maintains trusted relationships with more than 480 associations across the U.S. and Canada to provide licensed, accurate, and timely listing data for thousands of agent and brokerage team websites using IDX. Established by the National Association of REALTORS®, IDX is a policy under which brokers exchange permission to display one another’s listings on the internet. Although IDX is a policy, the term is commonly used to refer to the data feed of listings provided by an MLS® System.

The Max Difference

Property search makes the power of iHomefinder Max possible. By combining the best IDX property search with advanced behavior tracking and automation, iHomefinder Max helps agents and teams close more deals and thrive.

Learn More About Max

What is an MLS®?

MLS® is an acronym for Multiple Listing Service®, which is a proprietary database created, maintained and paid for by real estate professionals to help their clients search for, buy, and sell property. MLS® Systems are the source of IDX listing data and can serve one association or board or multiple associations or boards. Our IDX Coverage page provides detailed information about the different MLS® Systems for which we currently provide service. The National Association of REALTORS® website provides more information about MLS® Systems.

How Does IDX Work?

MLS® Systems make property listing data available to IDX vendors, such as iHomefinder, through an IDX data feed. We use the industry standard RETS protocol in most of the MLS® Systems we serve. All property listing data and other content provided with our service is indexed directly on your domain, without using subdomains or framing. IDX vendors typically download property data from an MLS® System several times per day, store it in a database, and make it available for search and display on their clients’ websites. IDX is only available for members of real estate board MLS® Systems for display on their websites. When you sign up for a paid account, we’ll provide you with the licensing instructions required by your real estate board’s MLS® System.

How is IDX Different from Zillow & Trulia?

IDX allows you to show listings from your board on your own website through an IDX data feed that automatically updates. Companies like Zillow and Trulia do not use IDX. Instead, they receive listings from various sources and aggregate them on their portal websites. The listing information on portal sites is often not as comprehensive or as up-to-date as IDX data — studies have shown that upwards of 30% of the listings on Zillow and Trulia were no longer for sale. IDX is designed to allow you to get the leads from all listings on your site, and to encourage consumers to contact you for information about available properties.

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