There are several useful fields and features available in the SimplyRETS API to assist you in meeting any IDX display requirements from your MLS. For example, in many areas it’s required to show the timestamp of when the data was last updated in a disclaimer.

Sections

Last update timestamp

The timestamp of the last listing refresh can be found in one of two spots:

  1. The X-SimplyRETS-Last-Update header in an API response.

    $ curl -I simplyrets:simplyrets 'https://api.simplyrets.com/properties'

...
X-SimplyRETS-Last-Update: <timestamp>

  2. The API response from making an OPTIONS request to the API root.

    $ curl -XOPTIONS simplyrets:simplyrets 'https://api.simplyrets.com/properties'

{
  ...
  "lastUpdate": <timestamp>
}

IDX display requirements

In many MLS’s, sellers are able to “opt-out” of displaying a listing or its address on the internet. The details of a listing’s display requirements are provided in the API response, in-line with the rest of the property data. The SimplyRETS API also provides an idx query parameter to control exactly what requirements you query. Here’s how these features work:

The idx query parameter

The API supports an idx query parameter that can be used to specify exactly which requirements the listings you get back are meeting or ignoring. These are the values you can use to query, along with their result:

Query internetAddressDisplay internetEntireListingDisplay
idx=null (default) must be true must be true
idx=listing ignored must be true
idx=address must be true ignored
idx=ignore ignored ignored

IDX fields in the API response

Each listing in the API response has two fields you can use to determine the display requirements: internetAddressDisplay and internetEntireListingDisplay. Both of these are top-level boolean fields in the API response

{
  ...
  "internetAddressDisplay": true,
  "internetEntireListingDisplay": true,
  ...
}

Note that a value of null is considered the same as true, and a listing is only opted-out if the value is explicitly false.

Agent/office contact information

In some cases it may be required that you show the contact information for the listing agent and/or listing office. This data is provided in the API response with every listing, if available in the RETS feed:

Agent information

{
  ...
  "agent": {
    "lastName": "string",
    "contact": {
      "email": "string",
      "office": "string",
      "cell": "string"
    },
    "firstName": "string",
    "id": "string"
  },
  ...
}

Office information

{
  ...
  "office": {
    "contact": {
      "email": "string",
      "office": "string",
      "cell": "string"
    },
    "name": "string",
    "servingName": "string",
    "brokerid": "string"
  },
  ...
}

Read more about these fields (and others) in the interactive API docs.