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. Optional: Create a zip archive file named supportFiles.zip containing all images, brochures and other resource files. Please keep image sizes under 100KB. Be aware our server is case sensitive. This archive file is not required if images, brochures and other resource files are already hosted on another site. The zip archive must not contain any folders.  Filenames must not contain spaces or characters other than numbers, letters, period, underscore and dash ( regex [a-zA-Z0-9-_.]). If you change to or from using supportFiles.zip, you must notify us. Please note using supportFiles.zip is not our preferred method for providing images, brochures and other resource files.
3. 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 details of the load.
4. 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.
5. FTP listings.txt and supportFiles.zip (if necessary) 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.
   

Changes to Procedure

As LuxuryRealEstate.com changes and grows, the procedure for uploading listings will evolve. We will maintain backwards compatibility for at least one year from the publish date of this specification so that you do not have to constantly work to keep up with us.

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 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.

Sample File

An example listings.txt file with a fictional listing.

List of 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.
mls_region	Text	32	Name of the MLS. Note: Only required if your listings span multiple regions.
city	Text	64	City name.
state	Text	64	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		ISO 3166 2 letter code for Country.
destination	Text		Destination. One of: Africa Asia Australia Caribbean Central America Europe Middle East North America South America
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.
contact	Text	65,535 (64KB)	Contact information (requires Name and Phone Number).

List of Suggested Fields

Field Name	Type	Valid Values / Max Size	Default Value	Comments
listed_by_override	Text	3 to 255 or blank		Who is listing the property.
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_mls_ids	Text	up to 32 characters per id		Pipe separated list of unique id's that represent the listing agent(s).
office_mls_id	Text	up to 32 characters per id		Single unique id that represent the listing office.
title	Text	from 3 to 128 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		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 1024 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_12	Text	128		One to twelve images of the property. One per field. Please provide either a url to this resource or its file name if you are including it in supportFiles.zip.
image_caption_1 ... image_caption_12	Text	255	Photo 1 ... 12	Corresponding descriptions for the images provided. One per field.
currency_code	Text	3 characters	USD	A currency code listed in ISO 4217. The list of currencies shown on luxuryrealestate.com can be found at http://www.luxuryrealestate.com/iso_4217.html.
price	Integer	up to 19 digits		Numeric price, no formatting, no decimal points or commas.
price_comment	Text	255		Additional information related to the numeric price to be displayed just after the price (when applicable).
price_override	Boolean	1 or 0		If set to 1, only the PriceComment will be shown.
category	Text	255		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

List of Optional Fields

Field Name	Type	Max Field Length	Default Value	Comments
address_one	Text	64		Line one of an address. Note: While this may be used internally, data is not displayed on our site.
address_two	Text	64		Line two of an address. Note: While this may be used internally, data is not displayed on our site.
county	Text	64		County. Note: Not currently used on our site.
neighborhood	Text	64		Neighborhood.
zip_plus_4	Text	4		Additional zip info (US only).
email	Text	255		Contact email address.
type	Text	15	Residential	One of the following: Rental Residential
status	Text		active	One of: active cancelled sold expired pending withdrawn note: cancelled, expired and withdrawn listings will only be viewable in the Lounge.
condo_fees	Text	2 to 255 characters		Condo fees.
associate_fees	Text	2 to 255 characters		Associate fees.
taxes	Text	2 to 255 characters		Taxes.
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.
map_1 ... map_4	Text	255		One to four images of maps. One per field. Please provide either a url to this image (not to a webpage) or its file name if you are including it in supportFiles.zip.
floorplan_1 ... floorplan_4	Text	255		One to four images of floorplans. One per field. Please provide either a url to this image (not to a webpage) or its file name if you are including it in supportFiles.zip.
brochure_1 ... brochure_4	Text	255		One to four brochures as .pdf files. One per field. Please provide either a URL to this PDF (not to a webpage) or its file name if you are including it in supportFiles.zip.
virtual_tour_1 ... virtual_tour4	Text	1024		One to four URLs to virtual tours of the property hosted on an external server. One per field.
foreclosure_status	text		unknown	(Available after Feb 9, 2009) One of: unknown non_foreclosure in_foreclosure notice_of_default lis_pendens notice_of_trustee_sale notice_of_foreclosure_sale reo_bank_owned