How our CRM sync actually works: polling, backoff and scale

Home connects to 18 CRM systems. Each one has its own integration route: API feed, SFTP, or push. Agents often ask how the sync behaves, particularly whether a price change will appear on Home in minutes or hours. This post explains the mechanics.

The three connection types

API (polling). Home calls your CRM's API on a schedule and retrieves any listings that have changed since the last call. This is the route used by Street.co.uk, Rex Software, Apimo, Apex27, XML2U, Jupix, Alto, and Loop Software.

SFTP. Your CRM places a file on a secure transfer server and Home picks it up. This is the route for 10ninety, Brightlogic, Estatesit, FAB+, and Homeflow. File-based feeds have a slightly different cadence because they depend on when your CRM generates and deposits the export.

Push. Your CRM sends a notification to Home when something changes. Home receives the event and processes it. This is the route for DezRez/Rezi, Reapit, Expert Agent, agentOS, and MRI Software. Push connections are generally the fastest because there is no polling interval to wait for.

Intelligent backoff on API feeds

For API-polled feeds, Home uses an adaptive polling schedule rather than a fixed interval. When a feed is active, producing frequent changes throughout the day, Home checks it every 15 minutes. When a feed goes quiet, the interval extends gradually. The maximum interval is two hours.

This backoff serves two purposes. It reduces unnecessary load on CRM servers when nothing is changing, and it conserves processing resources across a large number of feeds. The backoff resets the moment a change is detected: if a previously quiet feed suddenly has a price update, the next poll runs at the 15-minute cadence.

In practice this means a busy agency with frequent listing changes will see near-continuous 15-minute sync cycles. An agency that makes changes once or twice a day may see a slightly longer gap between a change in their CRM and it appearing on Home, but not more than two hours.

What triggers a reset

The backoff timer resets when the polling response contains any changed or new listing data. Specifically: a new listing, a price change, a status update (to sale agreed, under offer, let agreed, withdrawn), new photos, or an updated description. Minor metadata changes may or may not trigger a reset depending on what the CRM includes in its API response.

Push connections: a different model

For DezRez/Rezi, Reapit, Expert Agent, agentOS, and MRI Software, the CRM initiates the communication. When you change a listing, the CRM sends an event notification to Home. Home processes it and updates the listing.

The gap between your change and it appearing on Home is therefore much smaller with push, typically seconds to a few minutes rather than up to 15 minutes. That said, delivery still depends on the CRM dispatching the event promptly and server processing time on both ends.

The backoff timer resets when the polling response contains any changed or new listing data.

Setting up your integration

All 18 integrations have a self-serve setup wizard inside the Home agent dashboard at home.co.uk/agents. Each wizard covers the steps specific to your CRM: where to find API credentials, how to configure the push endpoint, or where your SFTP deposit details are. Most agents complete setup in under 15 minutes. If you use Street.co.uk specifically, we cover the Street integration in more detail here, including field mapping and common setup errors.

Home is currently tracking 1,249,531 live listings across sale and rental, so a sync delay of even a few hours on a busy branch is a lot of stale data for buyers to see. That's the reason the backoff schedule leans towards frequent checks rather than a lazy fixed interval. For a broader look at how those listings reach buyers once they're synced, see how property listings work on Home.

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Sync intervals described here reflect standard operating conditions. Actual timings depend on feed activity, CRM export schedules, and server availability.