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Procedure for Mass Uploading Properties to LuxuryRealEstate.com

What you need to do:

  1. Create a data file named listings.txt containing information on the properties you wish to upload.
  2. Provide us with an email address to send load reports to. Each time we load one of your data files an email will be sent to this address with any errors or notifications generated by that load.
  3. E-mail initial listings.txt file to websupport@luxuryrealestate.com. 
After reviewing the file, we will create an FTP account and send you the login information.
  4. FTP listings.txt whenever updates are needed.

Requirements for listings.txt

Please ensure the following conditions are met:

  1. listings.txt must be either a tab delimited or CSV text file. Tab delimited is strongly recommended and may eventually be required.
  2. The first line must be a list of field names for which you intend to provide data. This line determines how many field separators are expected on subsequent lines, and must conform to the CSV or tab delimited format. Fields must be spelled and capitalized correctly.
  3. All subsequent lines specify data (in the correct order) for the fields specified on the first line. One line per property. As our server is running Linux please note that the character required to end each line is a linefeed (ASCII value of 10 in Decimals). Please ensure data does not contain any line splitting characters. Any lines containing the wrong number of field separators will be ignored (i.e. the property will not be loaded).
  4. Please maintain the correct number of field separators on each line - even for properties that provide incomplete data (i.e. contain no value for one or more fields).
  5. For Tab delimited files, \n must be used in fields such as Description instead of newline and carriage return characters.

Sample File

MDT Format Changelog

Log of changes to the MDT format over time. Current format has been stable since August 2012.

August 2012

  • We now accept up to 24 images, up from the previous max of 12.
  • The fields condo_fees, associate_fees, and taxes have been removed. Files submitted containing these fields will generate a notice in the run reports that the field is no longer used, but will not affect the success of the import run.

January 2012

December 2011

  • The price_comment field now only shows if the price_override field is set to 1.

September 2011

  • The listed_by_override field has been deprecated.

March 2011

  • New optional field hide_mortgage_calculator added. Passing '1' as data will hide the mortgage calculator feature on listings. '0' is the default and will display the mortgage calculator.

October 2010

  • The contact field has been deprecated and thus is no longer required.

August 2010

  • Floorplan, Brochure and Map fields have been deprecated in favor of Document fields.
  • Max length for some fields shortened.

June 2010

  • destinations has been removed. Destination is now automatically determined by looking at Country/State.

May 2010

  • type has been renamed to kind

April 2010

  • Addresses are now shown on luxuryrealestate.com, if you do not want your addresses shown, use the new field hide_street_address.
  • We have a new FTP server - mdt.luxuryrealestate.com. The old servers are still operational, but using the new ftp server allows you the option of uploading your listings.txt file in the lounge. We will be shutting down the old FTP servers once we have everyone moved to the new server.
  • agent_mls_ids has been renamed to agent_ids, office_mls_ids is now office_id

March 2010

  • On March 5, we deprecated mls_region. Your mls value is now checked for uniqueness in Country/State (ISO3166). So far, the only ISO3166 Country/State combination that we have found that has more than one multiple listing service, and those services have overlapping ids is the Virgin Islands. In rare cases like Virgin Islands, the best way to ensure that your mls values are unique is to concatenate the mls id and the mls. For example, instead of 09-123 for the mls, use 09-123:vir or 09-123:stj.
  • Added images_updated. This field is useful if you update your images without changing their URLs. Just put the last time any of your images were updated, any ISO or common date/time format should work.

September 2009

  • On September 23, we changed office_mls_ids to office_mls_id. You are only be able to specify one Office MLS id per listing, instead of a pipe delimited list (you can still specify multiple Agent MLS ids). If you do send more than one office MLS id, only one will be used. The old field name of office_mls_ids will still work until at least September 2010.

April 2009

  • renamed details to additional_details

March 2009

  • Added reports in the Lounge.
  • lot_size split into lot_size and lot_size_unit
  • Changed all CamelCasedFieldNames to underscored_field_names. The old field names will still work, but you will receive messages in the reports about the preferred new field name.

February 2009

  • Added optional foreclosure_status field

January 2009

  • Bedrooms changed from text to integer
  • Bathrooms deprecated, please use bathrooms_full and bathrooms_partial. We will attempt to parse the deprecated Bathrooms field, and if we are unable to do so, will place the data in details.
  • Removed optional Borough field
  • Country deprecated, please use country_code instead. We will attempt to determine the correct country_code if you send Country
  • Continent deprecated, please use Destination instead.
  • Added AssociateFees
  • ImageTitle1..12 and ImageDesc1..12 are now deprecated in favor of ImageCaption1..12
  • Added details field
  • SquareFeet deprecated in favor of living_area and living_area_unit. We will attempt to parse the deprecated SquareFeet field, and if we are unable to do so, will place the data in "details".
  • SalesStatus deprecated in favor of status. We will attempt to parse the deprecated SalesStatus field, and if we are unable to do so, will set the status to 'active'.
  • LotSize is much stricter on input. If we cannot parse LotSize, it will be put into additional_details.
  • Stricter parsing of CSV files. CSV files must conform to RFC 4180. Please only use CSV files if you cannot generate Tab delimited files. This may require changes to your MDT file, if it does not conform to the RFC.
  • Stricter parsing of URLs, which must conform to RFC 2396.

January 2008

  • currency_code field added, uses ISO 4217 currency codes.

September 2007

  • AgentMLSIDs and OfficeMLSIDs fields added.

List of Fields

Required Fields

The following table lists the fields for which we require data for every single property.
Field Name Field Type Max Length Comments
mls Text 32 MLS number OR some other unique identifier for the property.
Note: This number needs to identify properties uniquely between data loads. It is not sufficient to supply a unique number for each property in one load and then re-use the same numbers for different properties on subsequent loads.
city Text 64 City name.
state Text 48 For United States, please use 2 character abbreviations. For all other countries, enter the full name of the State or Province. Note: Only required if the country is the US or Canada.
country_code Text 2 ISO 3166 2 letter code for Country.
zip Text 10 Note: Only required if the country is the US or Canada.
description Text 65,535 (64KB) Text description of the property.
Please do not include contact information here.

 

Suggested Fields

Field Name Type Valid Values / Max Size Default Value Comments
bathrooms_full Integer 0 to 65535   Numbers of full bathrooms.
bathrooms_partial Integer 0 to 65535   Numbers of partial (half, three-quarter, etc.) bathrooms.
agent_ids Text agent_ids can be up to 32 characters per id, max 128 characters.   Pipe separated list of unique id's that represent the listing agent(s). For listings to connect with agents, these exact same agent_ids must also be entered in the Luxury Lounge on their respective agent profiles by the agents themselves or an account admin (see Assigning Listings to Agents). If you are a third party vendor, expect to have to work with your client to accomplish this. If you have a large number of agents and agent_ids to add in the Lounge, Websupport can do a one time mass import of agents and their respective agent_ids. To do this email Websupport websupport@luxuryrealestate.com a spreadsheet with the following columns: * first_name * last_name * email * phone_number (optional) * agent_ids * office_id (optional) After this one time set up, maintaining these agents and their ID's in the Luxury Lounge will be the responsibility of the account administrators, not Luxury Real Estate staff.
office_id Text up to 32 characters per id   Single unique id that represent the listing office. For listings to connect with offices, these exact same office_id's must also be entered in the Luxury Lounge on their respective office profiles by an account Admin (see Assigning Listings to Offices). If you are a third party vendor, expect to have to work with your client to accomplish this.
title Text from 3 to 80 characters, or empty Property #xxx A descriptive title for the property - not address.
bedrooms Integer 0 to 65535   Numbers of bedrooms.
living_area Integer max 10 digits    
living_area_unit Text sqft or sqm   For square feet enter sqft, for square meters enter sqm.
features Text 65,535 (64KB)   pipe (|) separated list of features/highlights. The maximum length of any individual feature/highlight is 255 characters.
additional_details Text 48 characters for labels, 255 characters for values, 64KB total.   key:value|key:value|key:value

pipe (|) and colon (:) separated list of key value pairs. Keys may be repeated for multiple values.

example:
pool:indoor endless|pool:outdoor heated|driveway:concrete with FIA curbing

might display on our site as:

  • pool: indoor endless, outdoor heated
  • driveway: concrete with FIA curbing
link_url_1 Text up to 255 characters, valid URL   URL to your site.
link_text_1 Text 3 to 255 characters Visit Our Website! Text for URL to your site.
image_filename_1
...
image_filename_24
Text 128   One to twenty four images of the property--one per field--as a url to the image.
image_caption_1
...
image_caption_24
Text 255 Photo 1 ... 24 Corresponding descriptions for the images provided. One per field.
currency_code

Text 3 characters USD A currency code listed in ISO 4217
price Integer up to 19 digits   Numeric price, no formatting, no decimal points or commas.
price_comment Text 64   A message that will show instead of price when price_override is set to 1.
price_override Boolean 1 or 0   If set to 1, only the price_comment will be shown.
category Text 128   One or more of the following values separated by a comma:
Apartment
Bed and Breakfast
Chateau
Condominium
CoOp
Corporate Retreat
Country Club Community
Country Home
Desert
Equestrian
Estate
Fly Fishing
Fractional Ownership
Golf Course
Historic
In-city
Island
Lake
Land-only
Mountain View
New Construction
Ocean
Private Islands
Private Residence Club
Ranch/Farm
River View
Ski Property
Skyline View
Suburban Home
Tropical
Villa
Waterfront
Water View
Wine Country
Yacht

Optional Fields

Field Name Type Max Field Length Default Value Comments
address_one Text 64   Line one of an address.
address_two Text 64   Line two of an address.
hide_street_address Boolean   1 1 to hide the street address, 0 to show it

hide_mortgage_calculator Boolean   0 1 to hide the mortgage calculator, 0 to show it
county Text 48   County.
neighborhood Text 64   Neighborhood.
zip_plus_4 Text 4   Additional zip info (US only).
email Text 128   Contact email address.
kind Text 15 Residential

One of the following:
Rental
Residential
LandOnly

status Text   active One of:
active
cancelled
sold
expired
pending
withdrawn

note: cancelled, expired and withdrawn listings will only be viewable in the Lounge.
lot_size Text Integer portion up to 12 digits, optional decimal up to 2 digits   Examples:
123
5324.56

If this field is set, lot_size_unit must also be set.
lot_size_unit Text       

unit of measurement must be one of:
acres
hectares
sqft
sqm
garage_size Text 40   Garage size.
document_url_1
...
document_url_12
Text 255   One to twelve binary documents (floorplans, maps, brochures, etc).
document_title_1
...
document_title_12
Text 255    
virtual_tour_1
...
virtual_tour_4
Text 255   One to four URLs to virtual tours of the property hosted on an external server. One per field.
foreclosure_status text     One of:
non_foreclosure
in_foreclosure
notice_of_default
lis_pendens
notice_of_trustee_sale
notice_of_foreclosure_sale
reo_bank_owned
images_updated Date/Time     If your image URLs change when you update images, use this field to let us know when you update them.
year_built Integer     The year the listing was built
num_parking_spaces Integer     The number of parking spaces that the listing has.
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