MLS Insight is a series about how things work at RMLS™.

RMLS™ is now the fifth MLS in the nation to be certified on the RESO Data Dictionary.

Yes, I’m yelling—because this is a major accomplishment, and it’s very hard to convey how much of an achievement it is because so many of the terms have to be defined. It’s not like saying we won the World Series or the Preakness or sold the most real estate, which most people would immediately understand and relate to.

• RESO is the data standards organization for real estate, whose mission is the standardization of both the process and real estate data that is shared throughout the industry.
• The Data Dictionary provides a common standard that defines real estate data in consistent terms and data structures across hundreds of MLSs, so that data can be more readily shared and understood.
• NAR requires that all affiliated MLSs adopt the RESO Data Dictionary January 1, 2016.

Kim Hutchinson, RMLS™ Data Quality Technician, worked for many hours to analyze and map RMLS™ data to the RESO Data Dictionary 1.3, making sure that there was congruence without compromising the accepted meaning of the data collected and to make changes under the hood to conform with data length and type requirements.

Our Distribution Services staff has begun the process of reaching out to providers of services and products to our real estate community to let them know that the Data Dictionary filters are available for RETS feeds. We expect this will expand the availability of cost-competitive products useful to our subscribers in the future. The idea is that using a common standard will foster innovation and help to create more of a “plug-and-play” environment, where REALTORS® will be able to purchase software and use it with data from any MLS operating on the RESO standards.

I deferred my planned post focusing on our Training Department to share this news. If you have questions on any RMLS™-related topic that you would like to have answered, I encourage you to post a comment.