Property Manager RSS Feeds

Are you a landlord or property manager with many units for rent?

Do you want an easy way to list your available rentals on MoveFrog.com every day?

Do you want to be able to automatically keep your MoveFrog listings up to date?

Our property manager listing feed is based on the RSS 2.0 XML format. This is the standard format used for data publication and broadcasting on the Internet today. It is used by podcasters, media outlets, and other such organizations who regularly publish data to the Internet. As a property manager, you have data (vacancy listings) to publish, and this standard, along with the MoveFrog enhancements explained below, is an excellent way to do it. For more information about RSS, please review this article: RSS 2.0 at Harvard Law

In order to publish your feed to MoveFrog.com, you will need to meet the following requirements:

The ability to create a valid XML file in the appropriate format, using your existing database and systems. We are not able to provide support for all systems. This document explains the XML format, elements, and acceptable values, but does not explain generation of the file. Please consult with your IT professional about how to produce this file.
The ability to publish your feed to publicly available URL. Your file must be available at an http:// or https:// address for our system to periodically check it and update your listings.

Once your feed has been created and published, go to your Account Settings page (login required) to tell us where we can read your file.

MoveFrog.com Property Manager Feed Creation

Section 1: Compatibility with Google Base

We know that many property managers are already using the Google Base system to advertise their listings. For this reason, we have based our own XML format on the Google Base RSS 2.0 format.

In fact, a Google Base file could be used with no alteration to advertise on MoveFrog.com. If you have an existing Google Base RSS 2.0 feed, you may use that feed address to list on MoveFrog.com. However, the MoveFrog file format offers several additional features that will make it a better choice for most property managers. If you have already created a Google Base feed, it should be very easy to adapt it and expand upon it to create a separate MoveFrog feed using the MoveFrog format.

Besides all of the additional elements used in the MoveFrog format, there are a couple of significant differences that should be pointed out:

<g:location> vs. <mf:address> / <mf:city> / <mf:zipcode>
Google uses a single element to specify the address of the listing. The MoveFrog.com format uses three elements that are used to place your listing in the correct neighborhood in our listings. Of these, only the <mf:zipcode> element is required. The <mf:city> element can be used to clarify the exact location of the listing. The <mf:address> element is optional, since on MoveFrog, you can choose not to display the exact location of you vacancy. For more information on these elements, see the table of elements below.
<g:feature> vs. <mf:feature>
Google will accept any value in their feature elements and displays them as text. The MoveFrog format uses the feature elements to create a searchable list of the amenities and features of your listing, so the value of the <mf:feature> elements must be pulled from the list of available values. Any values that do not match an option from the list will be disregarded. See below for more information.

Section 2: Example Minimal File

Below is a sample document containing a single listing. This file includes the minimum required elements.

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<rss version="2.0" xmlns:mf="http://www.movefrog.com/ns/1.0">
<channel>

<title>Your Company's Listings</title>
<link>http://www.your-site.com/movefrog-feed.xml</link>
<description>A data feed for adding rental listings to MoveFrog.com</description>
<item>

<title>Spacious 2 Bedroom House</title>
<description>This 2 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath single-family house has all new appliances, new carpets, new paint, ceiling fans, network wiring throughout. Close to schools, shopping, and restaurants. Just 10 minutes from the beach and 15 minutes to downtown businesses.</description>
<mf:bathrooms>2.5</mf:bathrooms>
<mf:bedrooms>2</mf:bedrooms>
<mf:zipcode>90503</mf:zipcode>
<mf:price>1750</mf:price>

</item>

</channel>
</rss>

The first two lines specify that this is an XML document using the RSS 2.0 standard. The xmlns:mf specification in the second line specifies the namespace for the elements that are specific to the MoveFrog feed format and begin with "mf:".

The "channel" element, which wraps the rest of the RSS document holds one or more "item" elements. Each of these items represnts a listing and contains elements that specifies the details of the listing.

Section 3: Available Elements and Values