Real estate technology and data services firm Constellation1 has become the industry leader in implementing the Real Estate Standards Organization’s (RESO) new standard, webhooks. This standard is designed as an improvement to the delivery and availability of data across the real estate industry, the company said.
Data updates are currently requested using a method known as polling, which takes place at timed intervals. Clients must also request new data from the provider’s server, whether new data is available or not. When polling was implemented in the industry more than 15 years ago, the standard was polling every 15 minutes. Since then, polling has become a strain on providers as the need for real-time data has skyrocketed.
Webhooks instead offers clients automatically-generated push notifications. These notifications are sent through the API whenever new data, such as a new listing or price change, is available. This eliminates the need for clients to frequently request if new data is available.
“Webhooks let clients access real-time MLS data and sets a new standard for reliability and scalability the industry hasn’t seen before,” said Andrew Binkley, president of Constellation1. “As a center of data excellence, we’re pleased to bring this new RESO standard in data delivery to the industry.”
“RESO creates efficiency for all participants in real estate transactions,” said Sam DeBord, CEO of RESO. “The development of push notifications and webhooks will decrease costs and increase speed for consumers and professionals alike. We are grateful for our member organizations like Constellation1 who move the industry forward with these kinds of standards-based innovations.”
The implementation of webhooks will allow for faster data speeds, fewer errors due to request overload, access to self-serve subscription models, cost savings on infrastructure, and better data delivery and service to customers.
Constellation1 initially launched webhooks as a pilot project.RE/MAX was one of the organizations that took part in that initial test phase.
“When Constellation1 reached out to me and described what they were testing, I was intrigued,” said Dan Troup, director of Data Operations and Strategy for RE/MAX. “Webhooks and Simple Notification Service (SNS) are nothing new, however, applying them to real estate data replication is. I was happy to test this proof of concept with Constellation1 and validate that event-based communications could have a future as a RESO standard.”
For more information, visit https://constellation1.com/.
