In my “day job” as a trainer and consultant to real estate agents and brokerages, I have been researching vendors that provide IDX search tools. IDX is Internet Data Exchange and it is a set of rules that allows brokerages to display listings from other brokers on their web sites.  IDX provides the ability for a consumer to search for active listings on a broker’s web site.

There are a number of ways that a website can display a search function ranging from free methods provided by a brokerage’s Multiple Listing Service (MLS) to paid solutions offered by third party vendors who take a “feed” from the MLS and package it for resale to brokers.

I have been curious for some time about the effectiveness of these search tools on an individual agent’s website.  The recent “2009 Survey of Home Buyers and Sellers” from the National Association of REALTORS® has renewed my curiosity.

Here is what they had to say (in part) that sparked my renewed interest:

“First-time and repeat buyers largely agreed on the websites that provided them with the greatest value in their home search. Sixty percent of home buyers used multiple listing services (MLSs) websites, the most frequently used online resource. Different age groups use MLS websites with varying frequencies ranging from 64 percent of buyers 25 to 44 years old to 50 percent of buyers 65 or older. Buyers also frequently use real estate company websites. First-time buyers are however somewhat less likely to use REALTOR.com® than repeat buyers. Other websites with property listings were visited by almost one-third of buyers, although first-time buyers frequented these sites notably more than repeat buyers.”

This got me to wondering if IDX sites on agent websites were worth the money that agents have been pouring into them as it seems to imply that consumers are looking elsewhere for their property search.  So, I decided to do my own survey and I hope that you will help in the research by taking the survey I created at SurveyMonkey.  In order to take the survey you need to be an agent who has a an IDX search facility on your own blog or website.  Or, if you are a consumer who has bought or sold a home in the past 12 months or who is presently in the process of doing so, I’d like your input as well.

If you wish to receive a copy of the survey results when I am finished gathering results, please leave your first name and email address when you complete the survey, otherwise you can remain anonymous.

I am not sure what results I will get, but I am sure that they will be interesting to any agent who is spending money on IDX or who is contemplating doing so!

Please go here to take the survey: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/RBT67CK If you are having trouble taking the survey, please email me by using the contact form at http://realtytechbytes.com/contact-me/ and let me know.