6 ms·

zillow has a pretty decent api

• raghus 17y ago
  Zillow is a start but there is a ton of data that is tied behind MLS licensing and Realtor associations. That data should be free and public.
  • jonknee 17y ago
    Yes. I got hired to integrate MLS data and man was that a nightmare. Many are surprisingly low-tech and almost all use different formats. There is a half-assed attempt at standards (RETS), but that's for accessing the data not the data itself. Not to mention getting and presenting the data legally--each MLS group has different rules about what you're allowed to display (and it can be incredibly restricting). tl;dr the project went down in flames. I'd love to see Google get ahold of the data and make it available through Base.
    • paloalto80 17y ago
      I'm sure Google will get there eventually, as they're doing with all industries that traditionally make information inaccessible. Google just enhanced Google Scholar to be a major competitor to Westlaw, which should make a lot of frugal lawyers happy.