A RESO White Paper
Released: 2019, Last Reviewed: 2024
Most MLSs today have some green fields within their MLS software, yet many have not migrated to the RESO standard green fields formatting – the collections of fields for Green Verification (GV) and Power Production (PP) as found in the RESO Data Dictionary.
The reasons for such are likely vast and varied; however, it is likely that most could be boiled down to strategic or tactical. Let’s start with the strategy.
Making the change to the RESO standard format for GV and PP field collections is important for a common schema and interoperability.
A common schema means that the fields are named the same, are of similar field structure and are set up the same way within different databases and across various platforms.
This is critical for interoperability, which is the ability of computer systems or software to exchange and make use of information.
Do you receive data into your MLS software from another source, such as public records? What about sending your data out via data feeds to other software products that your members use? This is the function of interoperability.
When using standardized fields, it greatly improves the implementation time, resources needed, efficiency and cost for the transfer of data in and out of databases.
Not having the standardized fields may also limit your ability to work with certain companies due to the time and effort required to map data from one system to another, as it is becoming more cost prohibitive.
Because the RESO data standards are being more widely adopted, more vendors are only accepting data feeds with the standard fields in place.
There are now millions of homes in the U.S. that have installed solar panel systems for power production (Photovoltaics or PV).
More than 2.5 million homes have obtained a HERS (Home Energy Rating System) score, with many others having an energy rating or other building certification.
There are also more ways to source this data. It can be sourced directly from the installer or certifier, and it can be sourced in aggregate from companies that are collecting this data to make it available to the MLS industry.
These factors make having the RESO standards for GV and PP collections of fields in place even more important. Companies have built their databases on these RESO standard field collections and are waiting for MLSs to catch up to be able to easily auto-populate this data into a new listing.
Data auto-population is an important consideration, because real estate practitioners are evolving their knowledge of and recognized importance of these data elements. There is a liability concern resulting from uncertainty.
Having the standard GV and PP field collections in place with the ability to auto-populate this data into a new MLS listing provides a more comprehensive data set and reduced liability for the listing entity.
This data is also critical for the appraisal and financing of properties with these attributes.
PrimeMLS can auto-populate PV data (PP) into a new listing for Vermont and Massachusetts, and building certification data (GV) and PV data is auto-populated on New Hampshire listings.
PrimeMLS chose to bring this data into its public records database with CRS Data, as they already had the auto-population functionality built in here.
Utilizing this path provided a streamlined user experience and allowed the “source” to be identified as public records (helping with liability concerns).
The April 2019 REALTORS® and Sustainability Report from the National Association of REALTORS® indicated that nearly 70% of respondents found value in promoting energy efficiency in their listings, and nearly 60% of respondents found that clients (consumers) were at least somewhat interested in sustainability.
We know that consumers want to live in a home that is comfortable, safe and affordable. Including GV and PP data in a listing helps bridge that gap, increasing consumer confidence.
An Appraiser Analysis of Pearl National Home Certification has shown that listings where these features are included spend less days on market and sell for a higher price, which is a win for MLS users, sellers and buyers!
Tactical Implementation of the RESO Standard GV and PP Field Collections
Chances are good that some elements of these two collections can already be found within your database. So how do you map the data into the GV and PP field collections?
The information below should help make data mapping a less daunting process.
This information is provided as a case study of how PrimeMLS converted to the RESO standard Green Verification and Power Production field collections.
Getting Started
On the left-hand side of the screen, you should see a search box with a list of resources. You may need to scroll down the list to links for the following resources:
- PropertyGreenVerification Collection
- PropertyPowerProduction Collection
Select PropertyGreenVerification Resource.
This will provide you with a list of the fields related to building certifications.
For the purpose of adding or data mapping new PropertyGreenVerification fields, the focus will be on the fields highlighted in the blue box.
You may wish to add these fields to a spreadsheet in a row, like this:
Save this document.
Note: The fields on the wiki are listed in alphabetical order and you may wish to order them differently for listing input.
Below is an example of how PrimeMLS organized the fields – with the addition of a New Construction indicator field, as some programs are specific to only New Construction properties.
At the time of this writing, PrimeMLS was also in the process of adding in the Green Verification Version after the “Year” field, as that was a newer addition to the collection since they built this out in their MLS software.
Next, select the PropertyPowerProduction Resource link on the left of the screen. This will provide a list of fields related to Power Production. Again, the fields are listed alphabetically in the wiki, and you may wish to reorder them for input.
For the purpose of adding or data mapping fields, the focus will be on the fields starting at “PowerProductionAnnual Field”.
Add these fields to a spreadsheet in a row like you did before, like this:
Below is an example of how PrimeMLS organized the fields – with the addition of “Mount” fields, as they had this data, and Ownership (as of Data Dictionary 2.0).
It’s time to evaluate the green fields you have available for input in your MLS today.
Make a list. Example: In the PrimeMLS database, they had the following:
The first list of building certifications is what they had in 2009. The second list is what they added in 2010.
You likely have various enumerations/selections of other green options within your MLS database, which is great. You are looking for fields like the above examples that would get mapped into the GV or PP collections.
If you have none, that is fine – and easier for you, as you don’t have to create data-mapping instructions.
If you don’t have any fields or selections that would need to be mapped into the RESO GV or PP collections, then you may want to do some research to find out what types of building certifications are being utilized in your service area.
Many building certification programs (GV) are available nationally, while some may be specific to your local market area. PP related to PV is pretty much seen nationwide now.
The nice thing about the RESO standards is it takes the guesswork out of setting up new fields. Check with your MLS software provider (or in-house developers) to see if they have any of these collections built into your database metadata already – meaning they are there already but not exposed to you.
If they are there, expose them. Some vendors have these fields already built but in a table that does not support the ability to auto-populate into these fields. That is something you’ll want to ask about, because this is important for obtaining a common schema.
Another consideration is the number of collections for each you wish to implement. After doing some market research, PrimeMLS found that there were enough properties with up to three building certifications that they implemented three sets of the GV collection of fields to be able to support as much of this data as they could.
For the PP collection, they implemented two sets. If your MLS software is designed to handle this dynamically, then this won’t be a concern.
Whatever your path to implementation and need for data mapping ends up being, below is a “cheat sheet” of how PrimeMLS implemented these fields.
Figuring out the GV program information and mapping can be overwhelming. They broke it out into sections:
- programs with ratings
- programs with metrics (scores)
- programs with both ratings and metrics
- other programs that incorporate some local GV program offerings
Ideally, the individual fields should be programmed conditionally so that the appropriate fields are available and restricted to the related program.
Once PrimeMLS identified the programs that they were going to add and collected the information they needed to effectively represent the enumerations for each of the fields in the collection, they sent a spreadsheet to their vendor to build the fields to the RESO standard.
Unlike the PP collection, the GV collection does not specify enumerations for some fields.
Another way to look at a couple of the GV fields with enumerations would be the following example:
A similar process could be followed for the PP collection of fields, which is likely a much simpler undertaking due to there being fewer fields and fewer potential enumerations. You may wish to consider tackling that field collection first.
Getting the infrastructure in place is just the first step. It’s important to also make sure that these fields are available for search, display on flyers or property reports, and in data feeds going out of your system. This will help share this data across the marketplace.
There are additional resources published by the Council of Multiple Listing Services (CMLS) that you may also wish to review as part of your implementation process called the CMLS Quick Start Guide to MLS Fields and the CMLS Green Data Best Practices Guide.
As real estate data standards continue to become more comprehensive and mature, and as they quickly gain adoption momentum in the marketplace, it is important that MLSs keep up.
The presence of a common schema is critical for interoperability and technology advances in the marketplace.
Adopting RESO standards like the Green Verification (GV) and Power Production (PP) field collections can help reduce perceived risk for MLS members, provide more comprehensive data to the market, increase buyer confidence, shorten days on market, increase potential for a higher selling price, and provide critical information for the appraisal and financing of these properties.
Author
At the time of this writing, Meg Garabrant was the Director of Marketing & Communications for PrimeMLS, a regional MLS based in New Hampshire.
Sources
Solar Energy Industries Association®. (2019, June 18). U.S. Solar Market Insight.
Residential Energy Services Network. (2019, August 16).
National Association of REALTORS® Research Group. (2019, April 19). REALTORS® and Sustainability Report.
Adomatis, S. (2017, October 30). Appraisers Analysis of Pearl National Home Certification Sales Premiums.
