Break Time Away From This Business.

Posted on March 29, 2010
Filed Under Announcements | 1 Comment

Why is your site partly offline?

Its offline because I’m simply taking a break away from this business to work with a social media company not affiliated with real estate or real estate scripting.  By taking a break away from all the very strange and bizarre attacks from members of the OR forums I’m able to reduce my stress level by not partaking in their antics.

More than a year ago I was bitten by a nasty spider that caused some very serious infection issues and the break will allow me to recover faster as well.  I do still map out and build MLS integrated solutions using either RETS or IDX applications. I’m just not active in the freelance side of the business as it relates to doing design work at this time.

Now a few people have made comments about this little assault by the OR crew as a few months back I had to deal with reckless accusations about some of the products we publish. Any and all products we design specifically for use with Open-Realty® were pretty much put under attack. The reasons are still rather bizarre and not fully clear to me but what many tend to agree with is that jealousy is a painful emotion not easily overcome by those who are truly insecure. The assault, threat to sue (which I still laugh my ass off about) and the attempt to hijack all my code just burned me out and opened my eyes to some of  “People” in this industry.

Had we developed a half dozen tools specifically for use with WordPress, Drupal, Joomla or any other open source application we would likely have received some level of praise and appreciation by the community. However, with the Open-Realty® team this has proven not to be true as it does appear they do not share the spirit or ideology of the open source community.  Giving credit where credit is due is not really appear to be a concept they are willing to embrace.  In my eyes and from my perspective you don’t open up an application for contribution, ideas and member oriented support only to spit in their face because you fail to monetize it properly. So I decided to just quit for a while and regain perspective.

More on the big motivating factor.

It is interesting to note that the individual whom started these events a few months back is proving our point rather boldly.  Chad, the owner of WPRealty, had refunded a person their money after he realized it wasn’t just impossible to help this person, it was counter productive since the guy had literally zero experience in web development or management.  For that reason I wasn’t really surprised to read the frustrations from Ryan (aka the_sandking)  regarding this individual.  To me, its 100% clear when you have to respond to this loose cannon in a public forum whereby threatening to ban him if he didn’t listen to direction affirms our position for sending him packing.  Now maybe the OR team gets the point.  After all, this is the same crap we had to deal with before calling no joy and refunding the guys $30 which netted us brutal or should I say LIBEL abuse at the hands of the Open-Realty® forum administrators.

I’m keeping my blog until I figure out what to do with it and in the mean time removing all reference to Open-Realty® in terms that would even casually lead someone to believe that any post made is defamatory in nature.

I am taking a break from freelance

Posted on January 27, 2010
Filed Under Announcements, Joomla CMS, WordPress Wisdom | Leave a Comment

I’ve decided that I need a break away from freelance work for a while.  Mounting distractions with my relocation and my parents retirement I’ll be spending a lot of time helping them close their sporting goods shop before spring.  Although my move will be much better for future business when I return, there are those little things that make me dread the move. Packing the U-Haul truck, dealing with mail forwarding and phone number changes as the list goes on.  During this period away I will be maintaining all the writing and service maintenance contracts I’m obligated to.  I will continue to accept writing project for the time being since most of the instruments of the trade will be with me most the time.

Recommended IDX RETS MLS providers for WordPress, OpenRealty, Drupal and Joomla

For anyone interested in having their MLS feed for either IDX or RETS installed in their sites you should contact the following people depending on your needs.

WordPress MLS Integration with IDX or RETS

If you need to have your real estate listings put into WordPress I would suggest contacting WPRealty.org which is fully capable of providing this as a service for an exceptionally affordable price.  Alternatively UltimateIDX has a solution that will marry into almost any solution known including WordPress and how UltimateIDX differs is predominantly in the area of CRM related features for contact and lead management. UltimateIDX is only in 8 primary markets at this point but they map and add new markets with greater frequency now that they have moved the company to Las Vegas Nevada. Currently they are mapping for most southern states and California in addition to their existing markets.

OpenRealty MLS Integration with IDX or RETS

To put MLS listings into OpenRealty 2.5.6 – 2.5.8 you should contact WPRealty.org because they have the widest collection of scripts designed for this purpose that I’m aware of. Since WPRealty frequently builds open source real estate websites they are better suited in my opinion to handle your custom IDX / RETS solution.

Drupal Integration with IDX or RETS

For integrating your Drupal site with the IDX or RETS feed again I’d suggest WPRealty.org if your desire is to have your own stand alone solution where you are not obligated to a proprietary solution.  UltimateIDX is ideal for this. You get integration and full CRM features for sales and lead management.

Joomla Integration with IDX or RETS

Joomla is a great solution for Real Estate Websites and a few people come to mind when it comes to components specifically designed for Joomla 1.5.12+  The first component is our own which is titled JRealty and you can acquire a free copy by contacting the WPRealty group.   If however you require the integrated sales and lead management then again, I suggest UltimateIDX.

Each company has their strong points, two of them I know of intimately because I’ve been on their development team for years.  One thing strange about this business is the underlying loyalties that most people are not even aware exist.  Its the kind of business where everyone knows something about the other guy. Well here is the contact details list of those recommended solution providers I know something about.

UltimateIDX IDX / RETS Solutions
The UltimateIDX literally works with any solution I’ve encountered ideally suited for open source applications including those above mentioned along with Drupal, B2 Evolution and even Type Pad. UltimateIDX has a pretty good position in a niche market that provides MLS empowered type back office integration with most open source solutions. I’ve personally built dozens of sites using UltimateIDX and have yet to find a single client that regretted it. UltimateIDX is a paid solution requiring you to host on either their servers or those they have tested to support real estate type websites. UIDX is a grade 1 option.
http://www.ultimateidx.com

WPRealty WordPress Joomla OpenRealty Solutions
WPRealty is branded and serviced under many different titles and company site headings.  The team has many different product variants and has been building OpenRealty, Joomla and WordPress sites since the birth of each of those applications.  The team members are strong supporters of open source applications and can provide professional grade solutions at a fraction of the cost for similar proprietary ones. WPRealty is a grade 1 option.
http://www.wprealty.org

I’ll be back in full swing sometime in June 2010.


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