Real Estate API Questions

How do I integrate a real estate API?

Quick Answer

Sign up and add a payment method to enable your API key, send the key as a Bearer token in the Authorization header, then call the endpoint that matches how you identify properties — address, parcel ID, owner name, or location. Responses are JSON. Most first integrations take under an hour.

Summary

Realie follows ordinary REST conventions, so integration is mostly about choosing the right lookup path and handling volume sensibly. Pick the endpoint that matches the identifier you already hold: /property/address when you have a street address, /property/parcelId when you have a county APN, /property/owner when you are working from a name, /property/location for a coordinate and radius, and /property/search for filtered queries. Premium endpoints add fuzzy owner matching and comparables. Beyond the first successful call, the work that matters is batching, caching, and respecting the rate limit.

Step by step

  1. 1

    Create an account and enable API access

    Sign up, add a payment method in Billing, then open Usage > API access to generate your API key. The free tier is available without a sales call.

  2. 2

    Authenticate

    Send your key as a Bearer token in the Authorization header: Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY. Keep the key server-side; never ship it in client-side code.

  3. 3

    Choose the endpoint that matches your identifier

    Use /property/address for street addresses, /property/parcelId for county APNs, /property/owner for name searches, /property/location for coordinate-and-radius queries, and /property/search for filtered queries.

  4. 4

    Make a first request and inspect the schema

    Run one lookup against a property you already know and read the full JSON response, so you can map fields deliberately rather than guessing at names.

  5. 5

    Batch your requests

    A single request can return up to 100 parcels. Batching reduces both latency and token consumption compared with looping one property at a time.

  6. 6

    Handle errors and rate limits

    Handle non-200 responses explicitly and add retry with backoff so a transient failure or a rate-limit response does not drop records from your pipeline.

  7. 7

    Cache what does not change

    Parcel geometry and structural characteristics change rarely. Caching them locally and refreshing on the county cycle cuts both cost and response time.

Beyond the first call

Two decisions determine whether an integration stays cheap as it grows. The first is batching: because one request can carry up to 100 parcels, a loop that fetches properties individually can cost far more than the same workload batched. The second is caching. County records refresh on a county cycle, not continuously, so re-fetching unchanged parcel geometry on every page load spends tokens for no new information.

For terminal and coding-agent workflows there are two alternatives to writing HTTP calls yourself: the Realie CLI, which supports a --json flag for piping into other tools, and an MCP server that connects the data directly to IDE agents like Claude, Cursor, and VS Code.

Frequently asked questions

How do I authenticate?
Send your API key as a Bearer token in the Authorization header. Generate the key under Usage > API access after adding a payment method in Billing.
How many properties can one request return?
Up to 100 parcels per request on every plan. Batching is the main lever for reducing both latency and token spend.
Is there an SDK or a way to use this from an AI agent?
Yes. There is a CLI for terminal workflows and an MCP server for IDE agents such as Claude, Cursor, and VS Code, in addition to the REST API.
What format are responses in?
JSON, with a consistent schema across every county.