Canadian Realtors, It's Quick and Easy to Setup Syncing for Your Listings
If you're not syncing your listings to listing portal sites, you're missing a large audience and doing your clients a disservice. We'll start with the basics and add a few bonus ideas too.
What's a Portal Site?
Portal sites or listing portals are websites designed to search and display listings. In Canada, Realtor.ca is the most well known with dozens of others working on creating a niche in the market. There are about a dozen listing portals that the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) has designated as 3rd Party Destination sites which allows them to integrate listing data from CREA. It is these 3rd Party Destination sites that you are able to sync your listings to using CREA.
To find out which listing portals are available to sync to, you'll need to login to your RealtorLink.ca dashboard.
How do I sync my listings?
There's only one thing to do - get your managing broker to turn it on.
Yes, CREA set it up so brokerages have to opt in to the service first. By default, once the brokerage turns it on, all Realtors in that office will have their listings synced as well. Once the managing broker has opted in for the office, each Realtor will have the option to opt out if they decide.
Here's a quick set of instructions for managing brokers to turn on syncing to 3rd Party Destination sites.
3 Tips to Get the Most Out of 3rd Party Destination Sites
- Take a look at each of the sites and make sure each aligns with your brand and is a site you'll be proud to publish your listings on and show your clients. You know your clients will be obsessed with researching their listing once it's active.
- 3rd Party Destination sites have expenses like all businesses. If you appreciate the exposure they're offering, I recommend buying some premium options from them to help ensure they'll be able to keep marketing your listings. Not only will you be supporting a valuable business partner, you'll get additional premium options and exposure.
- Put the sites you sync to in your listing presentation and list them on your site. You want to be the expert with all the resources for your listing clients. If your clients find a good quality site you're not using, that can undermine your credibility with the client.
It's easy, so what are you waiting for?
