New N.C. program to share real estate listings on Internet

The four largest realtors networks in the state are joining forces to share their public data across the state, they said in a statement Friday.

The listing services for the Asheville, Charlotte, Greensboro and Raleigh areas are part of the program, called the North Carolina Data Share.

NCDS, as the program is known, expands the Internet Data Exchange programs of the four listing services.

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The Internet Data Exchange is essentially the public version of a listing service, which is typically restricted to real estate brokers. Using the data exchange, a potential home buyer can log on to a broker's Web site and see all of the publicly available information about real estate listings in an area.

Now, those Web sites will contain information about homes in all four of the regions that are part of NCDS.

"Our four MLSs have taken steps to improve access to real estate information in North Carolina for brokers and consumers," said Richard Renton, executive vice president of Triad MLS. "Broker Web sites in North Carolina can now compete with Web sites of national aggregators as comprehensive sources of listing information."

The Wilmington Regional Association of Realtors is still deciding whether to join the program.

Susan Lacy, president of the Wilmington realtors, says the program is a good idea. It will be particularly good for consumers, she says, who will be able to more easily access real estate listings.

Issues with approval hinge not on any dislike of the program but on concerns about how the data would be displayed on Web sites. Each Multiple Listing Service has different rules for what can be displayed on the Internet Data Exchange, and the Wilmington group wants to be sure that it's comfortable with a statewide program, Lacy says.

"It's a good idea," she says. "It's a matter of everyone having a chance to digest the implications."

The Wilmington Regional Association of Realtors' board is set to vote on the program at a meeting later this month.