Tell me about your RETS please....

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I'm currently having my website developed using Custom PHP and they are developing a custom IDX Solution. My developer is using Retsconnector by Corelogic. While the total website is not complete, they have completed the IDX Solution . While explaining how the IDX Solution works, they mentioned I would have to download the MLS data locally, then upload it to my web server, manually and daily. This seems odd to me. When speaking to a west coast colleague, he mentioned that his data is automatically updated in the cloud every 15 minutes, which is more appealing. Please respond to as many of these questions as you can, all answers appreciated:

1. Is having the website administrator update manually normal? If so, how often?

2. How is your website or IDX solution updated, and how often?

3. Is your IDX solution automated?

4. Which RETS connection service do you use, is it better than RETS Connector, why?

Thank you.