by G. Sax, Director of Growth Management, RESO
Welcome to “Three Questions,” an interview series that introduces you to real estate industry professionals, their businesses and how they interact with real estate standards with a goal of humanizing the tech side of the industry, fun included.
This week’s interview is with our very own T-RETS, a charming dinosaur who is about to be extinc– uh, let’s just call it a retirement. Our dinosaur pal is quite tired and literally deflated after a whirlwind tour of conferences last fall, but he still had enough class to speak with us about his legacy in real estate as the Real Estate Transaction Standard (RETS) and the new kid in town, the RESO Web API.
Q1: People are talking more about your eventual extinction, T-RETS. How do you feel about that?
T-RETS: Well, not to be too direct, but I was taken aback and a little offended by the fact that RESO started all this talk!
I was minding my own business one morning, stalking an Edmontosaurus in the region of the REALTORS® Association of Edmonton when I received a Twitter notification that I was trending in #REtech. It turns out that you had put up a RETS Extinction Countdown on the web, and organizations were openly displaying efforts toward my demise.
I thought it to be extremely rude behavior for an industry that I have served so well, but I have tried to take it in stride. Nothing lasts forever.
RESO: Sorry about that, T-RETS. Yes, it’s true that RESO is tracking the progress of MLSs as they migrate their data consumer customers from your old standard to the new standard of Web API. For those reading this, if your organization’s progress is not listed, please contact us directly to submit your progress.
Q2: Can you tell us a little about your legacy and what you understand is happening next for data transport protocols?
T-RETS: I suppose, though I’m still a little bitter about seeing my bones displayed all over the Internet. Super invasive behavior, RESO. Shameful even.
I am a tech protocol for the exchange of standardized real estate data between software systems. I am not a program or a language in the traditional sense. I am a framework that can be adopted by any computer system to receive data from MLSs.
I have served the real estate industry for more than 20 years. Billions of real estate transactions have used my protocol. I am an older standard that is proprietary to the real estate industry. I have already been deprecated, meaning that I am no longer being supported or improved at RESO. The industry is moving toward a more well-known technology standard.
My successor, the RESO Web API, represents a modern way to transport data. It uses open standards that are well supported in many fields.
Adherence to the new standards results in greater efficiency, cost savings and enhanced user experience, or so I’ve been told. (Visible, open-mouthed yawn.)
Q3: Are you ready to say goodbye to the real estate industry?
T-RETS: I have to say that all this talk of my extinction was worrisome at first, but I’ve grown to understand that it’s ultimately not meant to be hurtful. I am exhausted, after all.
I’ve been roaming the gray halls of random office buildings and hanging out near swampy culverts back behind those buildings – near where that picnic table is that nobody ever sits at – for the last 20-plus years now.
It’s time to let that young RESO Web API buck have a turn. It’s no secret that dealing with data nerds is a tough gig.
RESO: Oh, a parting shot. I suppose that’s fair. Thank you for all you’ve done for the industry, T-RETS. We’ll never forget you!
