IDX or VOW or Both?

[MaxSinclair]

Does anyone care to share your experience with using VOW (Virtual Office Web) versus a straight forward IDX solution in your web site home search? I know there's been some controversies about VOW. But the new VOW + IDX or VOW2 solutions seem to have overcome that somewhat.

[JoePesci]

Hi Max,
This would be of interest to me as well as I do not have any experience with VOW but am not impressed byIDX here in NJ.
Where could I go to to find out more re: VOW or VOW2??

[MaxSinclair]

JoePesci, check your PM. I've sent you some VOW2 providers. For IDX, I've checked a good number of them in terms of speed, price and service. I find that IDXBroker (http://www.idxbroker.com) is very good and I'm using them now. Check out the speed at my site. Ask for Jeff.

[San Diego Real Estate]

Max...the IDX solution is only one piece of the pie! The CMS on the backend is just as if not more important if you want the highest conversions IMHO! ;)

[JoePesci]

Thank you Max

[frobn]

JoePesci, check your PM. I've sent you some VOW2 providers. For IDX, I've checked a good number of them in terms of speed, price and service. I find that IDXBroker (http://www.idxbroker.com) is very good and I'm using them now. Check out the speed at my site. Ask for Jeff.

Max,

Look at the monthly cost of IDXBroker. Now consider that you don't own the data you lease it month after month. I have created several IDX sites using open-realty which has many advantages over commercial IDXs. One major advantage is that you OWN the data and can display and manipulate it in any manner that is consistant with your MLS rules.

I no longer offer IDX conversions as a service so I have no vested interest. If anyone is interested I can provide an outline of how oepn-realty-IDX conversions are made.

[La Jolla Real Estate]

Al,

(CMS?) contact manager?

Do you mind sharing who you use?

What do you think of mls wizard?

Thanks.

G&S

[MaxSinclair]

Frank, I don't quite understand. What's open realty?

[frobn]

Frank, I don't quite understand. What's open realty?

Let me go back and explain OR.

Open Realty (OR) from http://open-realty.org is a complete FREE real estate web application with multiple features that are controlled from an admin area. The admin area has different level users starting with the administrator who has full rights or permissions, permissions for agents and members are set by the administrator. You can add pages from the admin area with the built-in visual editor. In my sites I separate the menu, which is a simple unordered list, from main.html so I can add and change items as needed without disturbing the main.html file.

The admin area is also where you add listings, agents and images. If you have agents you can give them permission to edit and add images to their own listings.

The design architecture in version 2 is search engine friendly css/xhtml (I know because it is my design and structure concept) The design is called a template, but do not confuse the term 'template' with commercial templates as in 'Monster Templates'. The OR template is a shell for the content. You can use any design with OR, the major requirement being that the content area in the template/shell has a width sufficient to display the browsing and listing displays. There are several people in the OR forum who contribute and work on OR templates. There are some free templates and you can purchase an OR template for as little as $5.00. Check posts in the support forum by awddesign, awt and jared (forum names). http://open-realty.org/support

Why do I advocate for OR? Because of superior value from features, design architecture, SEO friendliness and support. Compare these features to what you get in commercial products such as AA, Home finder, etc. Even if you were to hire someone to do the work of customizing and installing OR for you the total cost is likely to be less than what you would pay for one year of hosting with a commercial product.

Back to your original question about IDX. You can integrate IDX into OR which will give you total control over the listings. You do not lease the IDX, you own it along with the other brokers in your MLS.

[llaflamme]

First I have heard of it, any info on VOW is helpful.
Lori

[MaxSinclair]

Frank, things don't seem to be working very well at the site you mentioned.

[frobn]

Frank, things don't seem to be working very well at the site you mentioned.

Which site and in what is not working?