No nothing deleted at all. I'm concerned that I can't find the post either.
Anyway to quickly answer your question without going into great detail I'll say this. Open Realty is my choice only because I have bridging solutions for everything related to it. I can bridge registrations, urls, and even links without the need to use CMS Realty.
Second, everyone knows my attitude on integration. Not a single professional site that isn't built by a hobby enthusiast or novice developer uses integration at all. The only thing I've ever seen a professional commercial entity use is micro apps integrated. Those micro apps include little trivial things like newsletter and maybe submission forms. BRIDGING is what professionals use.
Why Use EZ Realty?
EZ Realty is super easy to use and its simply a great product.
The developer is one of the most decent people you will ever encounter and she is generous, fast and informative in her support.
EZ Realty is also relatively easy to integrate an MLS import from either RETS or IDX using some custom PHP. I've done this on two occasions with great success. However, keep in mind that each of these projects I did were for MLS's that were very small, well under 2500 listings.
EZ Realty is also generous on features that make its integration with Joomla clean and effective. The display of featured property, agents and other real estate related features is super easy.
Why NOT Use EZ Realty?
EZ Realty is dependent on Joomla to operate and because of such its dependent on Joomla URL and structure and out of box Joomla is not ideal for search engine ready sites.
EZ Realty has a lofty learning curve for novice site managers. Although EZ Realty is an effective tool, everyone I've ever shown the demo to on my server thinks its too complex. Right or wrong, for the novice who has little experience with Joomla would likely see that. However, those who are familiar with Joomla can quickly navigate and use EZ Realty.
EZ Realty has not been tested with large databases to the best of my knowledge.
URL issues is a big one. Although many things in Joomla can have the URL's corrected as we do with our version of Joomla, the out of box solution makes URLs essentially worthless to search engines.
Lets look at Open Realty next.
Why Use Open Realty?
Open Realty started out as a small application built custom for a real estate client of Jon Roig and then one of the founding forum members named Ryan Bonham eventually ended up with the rights to the product for a song as I understand it.
The product sat stagnant for many months until user contributed code started to turn up in each successive releases until the product came alive again. This prompted the new developer and user community to build a version called 2.0 which introduced a template system among other things.
Open Realty solves many issues for a modern Real Estate site yet leaves many things unsolved likely by design. Open Realty URL's are generally SEF friendly and the use of WYSIWYG editors makes adding content and media elements very CMS like.
Open Realty also has a huge advantage over EZ Realty with the ease in expanding the product via the addon system. Customization of Open Realty for any competent programmer is a snap and many things you want the application to do within the realm of real estate listings is pretty straight forward.
Open Realty is essentially a gallery script with some search features and minimalistic member management features that is easily developed and designed for.
Open Realty is also better suited for IDX and RETS integration out of box with NO modification to the core. Products like
vieleRETS for example are distributed with native features for updating an Open Realty database with
RETS listings. IDX solutions however are usually done custom by first mapping the source data fields and then writing a CRON script to populate the Open Realty database automatically as I've done on literally dozens of these types of sites. Now that RETS is a Realtor.org national mandate, every MLS provider will likely adhere to the mandate and offer a RETS solution as well. This DOES NOT mean that IDX is going away. IDX is simply faster and more efficient in the long run and MLS providers know this.
Open Realty is also relatively easy to integrate with Joomla and other CMS's because of its MD5 and session handling is pretty much as basic and standard as it gets. Now that Open Realty features file uploads and RSS the application will likely continue to be a favorite choice for small to medium sized real estate offices.
Why NOT Use Open Realty?
THE #1 REASON
Support stinks period! Open Realty support is "dictated" and "controlled" by three people who are arguably the absolute worst forum managers of any forum on the internet. We have seen arguments about the REW conduct here and abroad in regard to banning of members and editing of posts. That is a joke by comparison.
Open Realty suffers tragically in this area making it the only real big reason to NOT use the product if you are not experienced in its use. The powers to be like pbflash and mick or even the_sandking will ALMOST NEVER deliver an intelligent response to your questions. When you do get a response and it fits their model of censorship you can actually get good information but it is too sparse to mention or offset the tragic opposite. I liken their conduct to internet terrorism as they frequently abuse members for asking questions and usually deliver short, pointless, and un-intelligent post spam.
If you ever want to examine the model of what a socialist censorship of posts look like, visit the Open Realty forums.
Ryan Bonham (Greengiant) however is the exception. When he does poke his head in the forums he is clear and to the point, an effective and intelligent support resource. Ryan is the developer and spends a great deal of time and patience with members as I believe him to be truly compassionate about his product and the users of his product. Unfortunately there is no reliable way to deliver your support questions directly to Ryan.
#2 Reason
There isn't really a number 2 reason. Every reason NOT to use Open Realty centers around its lousy support. Open Realty in the hands of someone who knows the product can make it sing and dance. I have no fewer than a half dozen free plugins for Open Realty, WordPress and Joomla that make the marriage between the applications seamless and effective. If you don't know the product then plan on a lofty learning curve and prepare yourself for some rude pointless answers to your questions in the forums.
I'd really love to list some that I've seen in the past 6 months but I'll restrain myself.
SUMMARY
I love EZ Realty, love the developer and love the support. EZ Realty is suggested to people anytime they want to list their offices listings and manage links to those properties on an individual basis with things like our OpenSEF (security patched recently) which makes it a breeze. But EZ Realty would not be my choice to import large MLS data feeds as it is painfully dependent on Joomla which at current does not handle such things to well.
YOU NEVER ONCE heard me say that Joomla or EZ Realty were bad products but I deal with reality and reality dictates that we use the tools that work for the situations in hand. Sites with MLS data are not well suited for this marriage.
However there is an alternative. Mack and I have built demo sites with Joomla, EZ Realty, Open Realty, WordPress and the UltimateIDX and I'd have to say that IF a person has chosen Joomla / EZ Realty as a solution that our integration of UltimateIDX for MLS listings would be the ideal choice as we have tested it with all the above successfully.
A person, agent, office or whatever could use Joomla and EZ Realty for the office "Opens" or those they wish to promote with extensive details not provided in most MLS feeds. I'd thus suggest that an agency wanting to offer MLS search in their site should use UltimateIDX for MLS data and the Joomla / EZ Realty solution for those listings featured by office agents where those listings can be used in the site to better market their own properties.
However again? If a person wanted to have just a raw MLS search site then I'd suggest that IF you don't use the UltimateIDX that Open Realty would be ideal as I have personally tested it on sites with Google Maps, pre defined searches, imported photos, and large data base configurations to the tune of 50 thousand listings. (server dependent naturally)
Open Realty would be my ideal choice in situations where people wanted to control many facets of their sites listings particularly with regard to URL's, content and ease of customization.
Given the tools I already provide FREE as plugins for Open Realty, WordPress and Joomla, creating a site which features each "bridged effectively" would benefit a great deal more where large databases are concerned.
I'd finally conclude and suggest that maybe this forum feature a support area dedicated to this type of configuration where a CMS / Blog / Listing Manager (Open Realty) be provided because its NOT a supported facet in the Open Realty forums at all. Here at least you wont be treated like an idiot when you ask about core hacking a product or changing something regarding a feature above and beyond the intelligence of those natzi moderators at Open Realty.
I think I've answered all of your questions above;
~ Jared