Q: What is Listing Syndication?
A: When active listings are sent to online portals (e.g. Realtor.com, Broker Public Portal, etc.) by the Office Broker for the purpose of advertising. IRES provides ways for our subscribers to do this easily via our arrangements with ListHub, Broker Public Portal, Realtor.com, our own public site, ColoProperty.com®, and REcolorado.com. Listings can also be syndicated by your Office or Franchise outside of these options.
Q: How do I syndicate my listings?
A: With ListHub, Managing Brokers may opt to send their office listings to over 90 websites. To simplify syndication for our subscribers, after you register IRES will send your listings to ListHub and ListHub will syndicate them to the sites (Publishers) of your choosing.
- See the ListHub Publisher list
- See how the ListHub Dashboard works
- View more information about ListHub
- Sign up for ListHub
Q: How do I send my listings via Syndication?
A: On the Preferences screen in IRESis, Managing Brokers may choose to send office listings to Realtor.com, ColoProperty.com® and Broker Public Portal.
Q: As an agent, can I opt my listing out of syndication if my client does not want it?
A: Yes, when you add your listing you can choose to exclude it even if your Managing Broker has opted into syndication.
Q: As an agent, I don’t have the option to choose Yes for some of the Internet Display options above. What does that mean?
A: Your Managing Broker has opted out of syndicating to those sites. If you would like to the option to syndicate to those sites, speak to your Managing Broker.
Q: What listing information is available to ListHub?
A: All listing types. Active, Active/First Right and Active/Backup statuses. Approximately 50 fields.
Q: How often are listings updated on syndicated sites?
A: Sites fed by ListHub: As often as every four hours.
Q: Does IRES provide all listings to any syndicators?
A: No. IRES empowers brokers to make their own listing syndication decisions – for all sites including Broker Public Portal, Realtor.com and even ColoProperty.com®. We understand these are your listings, not ours, and how you market those listings is your call. IRES has simply streamlined the process if you choose to syndicate.
Q: Are Listing Syndication and IDX the same thing?
A: No. IDX gives brokers approval to display each others’ listings on their respective websites. (By default, all IRES subscribers are opted into IDX.) On the other hand, Listing Syndication sends listings to 3rd Party sites (e.g. Realtor.com) selected by the office broker.
Q: How can I measure if advertising via syndication is worth it?
A: View traffic and lead reports. Without viewing metrics, you cannot gauge whether or not your marketing strategy is working. ColoProperty statistics are available in ListTrac (under the IRESis Reports menu). For ListHub, watch this video to learn more.
Q: Should I opt out of Listing Syndication?
A: That is a business decision each Owner/Managing Broker must make.
Q: Does IRES make money selling listing data?
A: No. IRES does charge vendors for data licensing but only to cover administrative costs, bandwidth, legal fees and the maintenance of technical tools.
Q: If I have other questions, who do I contact?
A: Please contact IRES: RETS@ires-net.com or 1-800-596-4901.
Article updated August 18, 2021
IRES MLS: Come Home to Colorado 
What keeps a syndicate from out ranking an agent on their own listings and then selling any leads back to that agent? As you know vendors get a full updated set of data that we have to pay for and we are not allowed to profit on that date, only manage it for the agents site. I have been hearing a number of agents upset that Zillow and Trulia are outranking them on Google for just about every listings. Do a keyword search and they are usually the top two or 3. To me, this puts the Realtor(R) at a disadvantage when they are the ones supply syndicates with the listing data and in some cases they are the ones responsible for that listing not the syndicate who is the one making extra money of the listing.
As stated, the Managing/Owner Broker has full control of where their listings are sent online. If they do not want to send them to Zillow, Trulia, etc., they can choose not to do so.
So the best way would be for the brokers to opt out of syndication if they don’t want Zillow/Trullia to out rank them in Google for their listings.
That is certainly one tact brokers could take, but they can also opt out of specifics sites if they so choose. It is a business decision each broker should consider in conjunction with their listing syndication strategy. The traffic reports available through ListHub can help with those decisions along with asking, “Where are our (meaningful) leads coming from?”
Everyone needs to read the RE Commission’s revision of Rule E-8. It puts all of the responsibility on the Broker for third party listings. It was effective January 30, 2015.