Having the search capability is the most important feature on our website which generates a ton of business for us.  I suppose it depends on your purpose for a website.  Is it simply to be a business card for you, telling consumers who you are and what you do or is it to generate business and capture consumers so they come back again and again?  You can find that following on a blog with good content, but in the end a buyer is going to want to search for homes and if they aren't on your website they will be on someone else's and when they find a home they are interested in they will call the number next to it.   My personal opinion is that blogging will get them to your site, the IDX and search capability will keep them there. -Kasey

The ability to search for homes is a key website element.

To be perfectly honest and IMHO I would not have a website without IDX because buyers and sellers are coming to the site to see what you have to offer (listings, homes for sale, etc.) ... not just to see a pretty face promising to help them with all their real estate needs.  Without IDX we missed the boat for real estate.  Hope this was helpful.  Great Question!

I really don't see how you can keep the prospect on your website without an MLS search tool.  Without it you are offering little more than a business card.

I know it is hard to compete with Zillow or Redfin, etc. But if they leave your website to search on another site they may never return.

I think an MLS is critical to drive potential clients to the website and to keep them there.

The MLS is the one thing that still keeps us Professional.WE start droping it and we are almost history at that point!

I can't imagine having a website without the IDX search - worth every cent it costs!

People come to real estate sites for two primary reasons:

1. To look at/for homes.... you kind of need IDX for that.

2. To get local community information.

Getting an IDX feed is so simple and inexpensives these days, I wonder why anyone even asks if it should be there.

I think the duplication of having a personal IDX seems expensive and unneccessary, but those who have them find them to be great for collecting leads.

website must have to have a good idx for smart phone and desktop.

These days smart phone searching is popular than ever.

We need MLS to provide our listing feed. 

Good question, but it seems to me that the main thing most buyers, and perhaps sellers too, are looking for online is listings. You need to provide that through an IDX in order to be competitive- there are a number of solutions that are not expensive

They could - and usually do - just go to Zillow or REALTOR.com. But I like to provide the option because they won't be inundated with other agents, they can contact me directly, they can sign up for auto-emails, etc.

I can't believe you are asking that question. What is the #1 thing that buyers want on a site? They want to look at listings - if you don't have any, they will click off to somewhere that does.

You can get a complete WP package for $59 per month if you check hard enough. (Do not use Placester) That will take you in the direction that you want to go. OR .... don't even use a site.  Do a blog & a landing page search. There are so many options available to you. 

You have to make it as easy as possible or visitors will just click away & go elesewhere. Put yourself in the buyers/sellers shoes.

I agree with Kasey & John Boles 

I agree in principle with what Ryan Huggins - Thousand Oaks, CA was saying. Asking Active Rain if you "Need" an MLS is asking for each agent to perhaps share what THEY are using the MLS for. I think the second part of your query is relevant. Has it been/can it be successful? 

The single best investment that a real estate agent can make IN MOST CASES is owning their own website, learning SEO and IDX optimization and slowly over time escalating returns and traffic through the cconsistent application of blogging and website promotion. I have seen agents/brokers sell websites for more than they paid out in marketing dollars ON TOP of generating hundreds of sales from the website lead generation.

You need both a website and MLS AND IDX to do these things. You also need to own the website. 

HOWEVER: In many cases, the knowledge you would have to acquire or the time and money you would have to spend might make it impractical, for YOU to pursue this strategy. It would take 6 months to a year to hone a DIY approach to blogging and SEO and 10-15K over the span of a year (at a minimum) to have a marketing company build the value for you. 

The questions aren't whether or not an MLS website or IDX system is valuable. The question is are you ready to sink the time and money into website knowledge so YOU can realize the value.

Yes it is.

       Keep people on YOUR website, at all costs. 

       If they have go to another Broker's site to search IDX or MLS, or if they go to Zillow to look for properties, you have lost those potential clients/customers.

Sounds like the MLS on your website wins!

No, but it doesn't hurt to have it in some form. When I think about many buyers I worked with, I can tell you that the majority have their favorite place to search which includes Zillow, Redfin, Listing Book, Public MRIShomes (formerly homesdatabase), Trulia, realtor, remax, etc. The only way you can know for sure it to test 2 websites ( one with and one without) and see which one generates the most traffic. The bottom line is, buyers will choose some company to use for search, so your website should be one of their choices. Also, sellers also look at your website, and they like to search for other properties on market that are similar to theirs, and if they plan to sell, then buy, they will most likely use your website for search.

Yes.

Roy Kelley nailed this one!

Yes.

Dante Lee - if you monitor your buyer's behavior and choices, yes.

I have so many people still look at homes on it.

I think the only reason the public finds my site is to view homes, so absolutely would keep the ability to search for homes.

Yes, positively!!!

You need an IDX feed and that can be through a Wordpress plug in. That is what the consumer wants so give it to them.

I could not say it any better than Kasey & John Boles 

If you don't have the information available they will go somewhere else to get it.

It's never been NEEDED.  I'd ask yourself how much business have you gotten from it.  If the answer is "zero to not much" then you definitely don't need it.  Also ask yourself, do you work more with buyers or sellers?  If sellers, you don't need it.

I've never seen it as a value add.  With sites like Realtor.com and Redfin out there and MLS systems having portals you can set buyers up on, why have one on your site?  The only value I've seen is when people spend serious money to drive people to their search page and have a forced registration to get leads.  If the IDX you're using is indexable, then your website could show up when people search an address... of course the ones I see out here are on page 2 and 3 of Google and no one is going beyond the top couple results.

yes, you need an MLS search tool for visitors to your site....if you don't have it, you'll not have many visitors....

If you don't have the MLS how are you going show properties?

MLS is just one of the tools in Real Estate. Use as needed

yes for sure

I wish we knew.

I don't operate an MLS.