Do I need my brokerage’s permission?

Yes. Under CREA’s rules a salesperson takes part in DDF® with their brokerage’s permission, and you opt in yourself on the DDF® Dashboard. Most brokerages have already said yes; ask your broker or office manager.

Can my site show other agents’ listings too?

Only through the National Shared Pool, and only if you contribute your own listings to it. REALsite supports both kinds of feed; tell us which you want when you set up.

Will REALsite copy the listings off my old website?

Never. MLS® data is never scraped or copied from another site. Your listings arrive through your own DDF® feed, with the permissions and the display rules that come with it.

What if my board isn’t in DDF®?

Most of Canada’s boards participate. If yours doesn’t yet, manual listings get every page, map pin and marketing kit a feed listing gets; you type each one in once.

What does the feed cost?

Nothing extra. DDF® is included in the CREA membership dues you already pay through your board. REALsite adds nothing for it, and there is no line item on your bill.

DDF® Explained for Canadian Real Estate Agents

What it is

CREA’s pipe from your board to the web.

DDF® is the Data Distribution Facility, run by the Canadian Real Estate Association. When your listing goes into your board’s MLS® System, DDF® is the system that carries it out again: to REALTOR.ca, to advertising sites, to your brokerage or franchisor, and to your own website. It is permission-based. Nothing leaves your board until you, with your brokerage’s blessing, opt in on the DDF® Dashboard at ddf.realtor.ca.

Every reputable Canadian agent website runs on it. The differences between providers are what they do with the data once it arrives, and how quickly.

Which feed you need

Two of the six channels matter for your site.

What REALsite uses

Member Website Feed

A feed of your own listings, or all of your brokerage’s, for display on your website and in your marketing. This is the one that makes a listing appear on your site the day it lists, with the photos, room sizes and status changes that follow.

Optional

National Shared Pool

Every participating agent’s listings, so your site can offer a search of the whole market. To receive the pool you contribute your listings to it. Useful if you want a REALTOR.ca-style search under your own brand; unnecessary if your site’s job is to sell you.

Not your problem

The other four

Advertising sites, CREA partner tools, the national franchisor pool and the franchisor direct feed all send your listings out to someone else’s site. They don’t put anything on yours.

What the rules require

What your site has to do, and what REALsite does for you.

Refresh at least every 24 hours — and remove anything no longer current. REALsite syncs every 30 minutes.
Show the “Powered by REALTOR.ca” logo on every page that shows listings, linking to REALTOR.ca. Built into every theme.
Name the listing brokerage with the listing in readable text, not behind a click, plus whatever your province requires. Automatic.
Keep CREA’s photo watermarks on listing images. We never strip them.
Carry the MLS® and REALTOR® trademark statement, and identify you and your brokerage, on every page. Your name and your brokerage’s name sit in the footer of every theme, filled in from your settings.
Never scrape. Listing data comes through the feed or not at all. REALsite never copies MLS® data from another website, including your old one.

Setting it up

Three steps, once.

Open the DDF® Dashboardat ddf.realtor.ca (sign in with your REALTOR.ca account), and create a Member Website Feed. Your board may need a day to approve it.
Paste the username and password CREA emailsinto Your MLS® feed on your Listings page. That’s the whole integration.
Watch them arrivewithin the half hour: full spec sheets, photos, map pins, and a page for each. When one sells, you can keep it on your site as a sold, with your own details.

Questions agents ask

The fine print, without the fine print.

Do I need my brokerage’s permission?: Yes. Under CREA’s rules a salesperson takes part in DDF® with their brokerage’s permission, and you opt in yourself on the DDF® Dashboard. Most brokerages have already said yes; ask your broker or office manager.
Can my site show other agents’ listings too?: Only through the National Shared Pool, and only if you contribute your own listings to it. REALsite supports both kinds of feed; tell us which you want when you set up.
Will REALsite copy the listings off my old website?: Never. MLS® data is never scraped or copied from another site. Your listings arrive through your own DDF® feed, with the permissions and the display rules that come with it.
What if my board isn’t in DDF®?: Most of Canada’s boards participate. If yours doesn’t yet, manual listings get every page, map pin and marketing kit a feed listing gets; you type each one in once.
What does the feed cost?: Nothing extra. DDF® is included in the CREA membership dues you already pay through your board. REALsite adds nothing for it, and there is no line item on your bill.

The feed that puts your listings on your own site.