Most MLS boards approve a brokerage website feed in a few days to a few weeks, some take months, and people review these requests, not software.
Nothing on the MLSImport side speeds this up. What you can control is submitting an application that has nothing missing, and knowing which question to ask when it stalls.
How long does an MLS take to approve a feed for my website?
Usually a few days to a few weeks. MLSs that follow NAR policy must act on an IDX feed request within five business days of getting it. IDX is the program that lets you show other brokers’ listings on your site. “Act on” can mean yes, no, or “here is when we expect to decide.” It does not mean your listings show up in five days.
| What happens | How long | What decides it |
|---|---|---|
| NAR deadline for the MLS to act | 5 business days | NAR Policy Statement 7.58 |
| Complete application, fast board | About 2 days | One staff person reviews it |
| Board that decides at meetings | Weeks to months | Inman reported in 2015 that some committees approve feeds only at monthly or every-other-month meetings |
| Application missing a step | Weeks, often with no message | Usually the broker hasn’t signed, or the domain is missing |
The five-day clock has an exception. If the MLS needs to check whether you qualify, or how you will use the data, it can take longer. Then it must give you an estimated date.
The slow end is real. WAV Group reported in 2014 and 2015 that some brokers waited three months or longer, and up to six months in some markets. Those reports are old. Ask your own board for its normal turnaround when you apply, so you know when yours is truly late.
Write down the date you applied. If five business days pass with no reply at all, ask your MLS for its estimated decision date, in writing. Under NAR policy, they owe you one.
What is actually being reviewed
- Your membership standing. Whether your account is current and entitled to a data feed.
- The agreement. The data licence covering what you may display and for how long, which often needs more than one signature.
- Your broker’s participation. On most boards the designated broker signs or enables the access.
- The domain. The site the data will be displayed on, recorded in the application.
- The dataset request on the platform. A separate step from the agreement, made in Bridge, Trestle, or whichever platform your MLS uses.
People miss the last one most often. Signing the agreement and registering on the platform are not the same as requesting access to the dataset itself, and an account with no dataset request returns no data.
Submit the application with the live domain, even if the site is not built yet. Approvals are recorded against a domain, and changing it later can mean a new review rather than an edit.
Where applications commonly stall
- The broker has not acted. The single most common cause. The request cannot proceed until they log in and sign or enable it.
- The wrong agreement type was chosen. Boards offer several, including separate member and third party vendor routes. A member who picked the vendor route is often waiting in the wrong queue.
- The intended use description is blank or vague. Several MLSs require it and return the application without it.
- The dataset shows Pending, not Approved. This is on the MLS side. The platform is waiting for them.
- Missing broker or domain details. An application can be accepted and then sit unreviewed because a required field was left incomplete.
What to ask when it has been too long
Contact your MLS rather than the platform first, because most of these decisions are theirs. Ask three specific questions instead of asking for a status.
- What is the current status of my Web API application?
- Is anything missing, in particular broker or domain details?
- When will credentials be issued, and is anything waiting on me?
If the platform account exists and the dataset shows Pending there, say so in the message. It tells them exactly which step you are stuck on.
If your trial is running out while you wait for an approval, tell us before it lapses. We can extend the trial or help you cancel and restart when the credentials arrive, so you are not paying for a connection you cannot make yet.
How long after MLS approval until our listings show up on the brokerage site?
If your site is already built, your first real listings can often show up the same day your login details arrive. The first full import of your office’s listings, or the whole market, takes longer. Our FAQ puts it at a few hours, depending on how many listings you pull and how strong your hosting is.
Here is where the time goes once your broker has the approval in hand:
| Step | Who does it | How long it takes |
|---|---|---|
| MLS sends the login details | Your MLS | Varies by board. Some send them with the approval, some later. |
| Your MLS shows up in the plugin’s list | Us, only for some MLSs | Open a ticket. We usually reply within one business day. |
| Setup wizard: connect, pick fields, set filters | You | Six screens. Most people finish in one sitting. |
| Test import of 5 listings | The plugin | Usually under a minute once it starts |
| First full import | Your server | A few hours for most sites. Big feeds take longer. |
| Hourly auto update | The plugin | Starts once a task has finished its first import |
A few things can stretch that timeline:
- The login works but no listings come back. Your approval may still say Pending on your MLS’s side. Ask your MLS to confirm your access is active, not just that an account exists.
- Weak hosting. A full import runs as one long job. Shared hosts that cut jobs off early can stop it partway. See Memory, batch size and large imports.
- A very big feed. One import task brings in at most 10,000 listings. Bigger markets get split across several tasks, by city or county.
- Display rules. Your board’s rules on broker credit and disclaimers still apply. Check them before launch day, not after. See MLS/IDX Compliance Rules for WordPress Sites.
Want only your office’s listings first? Make one import task with your office ID in the office filter. It pulls far fewer listings than the whole market, so it finishes fast. You can add a market-wide task later. Steps are in importing one agent’s or one office’s listings.
Will someone walk us through it on launch day?
Yes. Every account can book a one-hour live onboarding call to get your MLS connected and importing. See Onboarding calls and support tickets.
Do we have to click import again to keep listings current?
No. Turn on auto update on the import task and it checks your MLS every hour. A daily pass removes listings that left the MLS. See How the hourly auto update works.
What to do with the waiting time
The MLS connection is the last step of a build, not the first. Everything else can be done while the application sits.
- Install WordPress and the theme you will use, and install MLSImport. Neither needs credentials.
- Build the pages that are not listings: home, about, agent, contact, area pages.
- Decide your import scope. Which cities, which price range, which statuses. This decides how many import tasks you need.
- Check your hosting limits, particularly memory and maximum execution time, so the first real import is not the moment you discover them.
When the credentials arrive, connecting and running a test import takes minutes on a site that is already built.
Frequently asked questions
Can MLSImport chase the MLS for me?
No. We have no visibility into your application and no standing to ask about it. What we can do is tell you which platform and credentials your MLS uses, so your message to them is specific.
Should I subscribe before my access is approved?
Only if you want the site built in the meantime, and tell us if the trial is going to expire before your credentials arrive. There is no advantage to holding an active subscription against an unapproved application.
My application was rejected. What now?
Ask the MLS for the reason in writing. Rejections are usually procedural, such as the wrong agreement type, a missing broker signature, or a domain that does not match the brokerage. All of those can be corrected and resubmitted.
Related
- Who needs to hold the credentials
- Bridge Interactive credentials
- CoreLogic Trestle credentials
- Requirements before you buy
If your application has stalled and you are not sure which step it is on, send us what you have and we will tell you who to ask.
