Changes to RMLS Rules and Regulations Effective January 6, 2022

by | Dec 3, 2021

Acting on recommendations from the RMLS Rules Committee, the RMLS Board of Directors has approved changes to the RMLS Rules and Regulations. These changes affect Availability for Showing (Rule 3.27), Consideration of Alleged Violations (Rule 4.1), and Sanctions (Rule 5.1) and will be effective as of January 6, 2022.

To review the upcoming changes, you can review the redline version of the updated RMLS Rules and Regulations here, or refer to the highlight summary below.

Availability for Showing

The changes to Rule 3.27 add an exception to the requirement that all active listings be available for showing immediately upon entry into the RMLS system by excluding situations involving uncooperative tenants:

For listings that are tenant occupied and where the tenant is uncooperative and will not grant access to the property, the Participant shall submit within the RMLS system the Uncooperative Tenant Unavailable for Showings form or equivalent document signed by the owner or an asset manager for REO listing to RMLS within 24 hours after all necessary signatures have been obtained.

The “Uncooperative Tenant – Unavailable for Showings Form” (Document 1265) is a new form that allows the Seller’s Agent to acquire a written statement from the owner or asset manager for REO listings to state that there is an uncooperative tenant who is not allowing showings.

Consideration of Alleged Violations

As a REALTOR®-owned MLS, RMLS strives to align with the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) MLS Model Rules. Language within Rule 4.1 has been updated to reflect that alignment:

The Rules and Regulations Committee of the RMLS Board of Directors shall give consideration to all written complaints from Participants, Subscribers, and RMLS Staff alleging violations of the Rules and Regulations. By becoming and remaining a Participant or subscriber in this MLS, each Participant and subscriber agrees to be subject to these rules and regulations and any other MLS governance provision, the enforcement of which are determined by RMLS staff, Rules and Regulations Committee, and the RMLS Board of Directors.

Sanctions

Several changes, including a formal cycle of discipline and increased sanction amounts, were made to Rule 5.1 in order to assist enforcement of MLS regulations. These changes include:

      • Language was added to denote the type of discipline that can be imposed by the RMLS Rules and Regulations Committee / Hearing Committee in accordance with the NAR MLS Model Rules.
      • The individual sanctions list, with an updated format for readability, now outlines the allowable discipline for rules violations and other MLS governance provisions:

RMLS may, through the administrative and hearing procedures established in these rules, impose discipline for violations of the rules and other MLS governance provisions. Discipline that may be imposed may only consist of one or more of the following:

        • letter of warning
        • letter of reprimand
        • attendance at MLS orientation or other appropriate courses or seminars which the Participant or subscriber can reasonably attend taking into consideration cost, location, and duration
        • appropriate, reasonable fine not to exceed $15,000
        • suspension of MLS rights, privileges, and services for not less than thirty (30) days nor more than six (6) months, except suspensions for failure to pay appropriate dues, fees, or charges
        • expulsion from MLS and termination of MLS rights, privileges, and services with no right to reapply for a specified period not to exceed one (1) year.
  • Individual sanction amounts were reviewed and adjusted, with all sanctions now being at least $100. The most significant changes are:
      • Lockbox Access sanction – maximum fine has increased from $2,500 to $15,000
      • Password sanction – maximum fine increased from $2,500 to $15,000
      • Marketing of Listing Prior to RMLS Publication – maximum fine has increased from $1,000 to $1,500
      • Showing a Property in Coming Soon-No Showing Status – maximum fine has increased from $1,000 to $1,500
      • Marketing of Coming Soon-No Showing – maximum fine has increased from $1,000 to $1,500

If you have any questions about these changes, please contact the RMLS Data Accuracy department at dataaccuracy@rmls.com or 503.395.1916.

Ask Technical Terry: How Do I Adjust Listings for ShowingTime?

Ask Technical Terry: How Do I Adjust Listings for ShowingTime?

by | Aug 4, 2021

Ask Technical Terry Silhouette

Dear Technical Terry,

I’m so frustrated! While I realize that software that allows me to control showings of their listings should be beneficial, I have such a hard time with ShowingTime! It seems like it should be such a time saver, but I get confused as to how to set it up. It seems like you should be able to either turn it off for all listings or select specific listings to turn it off for. 

I’ve also heard that there might be another tool coming online at some point down the road for showing control – is that true and what can you tell me about it?

-Challenged in Camas

Hi CC,

I hear you! You CAN control the use of ShowingTime for your listings, either individually or collectively (meaning all of them). This question is common at the Help Desk so please don’t feel like you’re alone in your challenges. We have a great guide (document #1783) available on RMLSweb that covers how to turn off ShowingTime in either scenario mentioned above. 

If you find you still have questions after reviewing the doc, give our Help Desk a call at 503.872.8002 or toll free at 877.256.2169.

As far as future plans for showing software, you may have read this announcement a few months back:

MLS Aligned, a partnership of five forward-thinking Multiple Listing Services that includes RMLS, has announced the acquisition of Agent Inbox technology and intellectual property. MLS Aligned will build upon Agent Inbox in order to offer an integrated tool for messaging and scheduling showings to agents and brokers.

MLS Aligned believes that the Agent Inbox system “will bring tremendous benefits to consumers due to the platform’s speed and enhanced showing system capabilities.” MLS Aligned plans to integrate Agent Inbox capabilities into their respective MLS systems, including RMLSweb, to “provide for seamless agent-to-agent and agent-to-client communications.”

Kurt von Wasmuth, President and CEO of RMLS, said, “With Agent Inbox’s ability to seamlessly integrate into our existing MLS, the communication and showing features will provide an enticing enhancement to our current list of features.”

Read the Full Press Release

Here’s the MLS Aligned website if you’re interested in learning more: https://www.mlsaligned.com/ 

In closing I’d like to point out the very tangible benefits of belonging to RMLS that is in this group of five MLSs. The opportunity to share concepts, programming costs, and other economies of scale is a huge benefit, and one that RMLS is proud to participant with. 

Thanks for writing in CC, hope this info is helpful!

-TT

The Lifecycle of a Reported Issue (Part 4)

The Lifecycle of a Reported Issue (Part 4)

by | Jul 1, 2021

In Part 1 of this series, we covered how to report issues and inaccuracies to our Data Accuracy department. In Part 2, we discussed how issues are reviewed and processed. In this edition, we’ll cover how issues are resolved and how to check on the status of a specific matter. In Part 3, we covered how issues are resolved and how to check on the status of a specific matter.

For Part 4, we’re looking at how some of the recent statistics stack up to each other. In comparing 2019 to 2020 data, we’ve noticed some interesting trends.

  • Missing Tax ID, Personal Promotion, and Incorrect/Missing Information were the top three issues in both 2019 and 2020.
  • Total reported issues decreased 8.1% from 2019 to 2020 (15,574 down to 14,309). The sub-category of reported issues submitted via the ‘Report Issue’ button decreased 5.7% (5,387 down from 5,715).

Data Accuracy department staff run proactive audits to look at common potential data inaccuracies. It is interesting to compare these two years because you can see the way the pandemic has impacted different categories. 2020 had fewer listings and subsequently fewer issues than 2019. On the other hand, our Data Accuracy team handled a significant increase in the number of calls.

  • In 2020, staff reviewed almost 332,000 listings that resulted in 36,800+ issues being resolved, a decrease from the 394,000+ listings reviewed and 37,600+ issues resolved in 2019.
  • There was a 34.7% increase (3,451 in 2019 vs 4,650 in 2020) in the number of phone calls handled by the Data Accuracy team.

When we compare the first 5 months of 2021 to the same period in 2020, we see some interesting takeaways.

  • Two of the top three issues are the same, Missing Tax ID and Incorrect/Missing Information, but other top three spot is currently Missing School. This may have to do with changes that various school districts are making regarding school names.
  • In 2021 we are ahead on Reported Issues (2559 vs 2224) and Violations (6338 vs 4883) but are behind on Courtesy Notices (7169 vs 8686) and calls (1749 vs 1799).
  • We are slightly behind the 2020 monthly average of 6847 new listings added per month with 6685 new listings added per month so far for 2021.

Ultimately it will be interesting to see at the end of this year how 2021 compares to 2020. Our Data Accuracy team continually examines statistical trends to improve issue resolution and improve accuracy.

The Lifecycle of a Reported Issue (Part 4)

The Lifecycle of a Reported Issue (Part 3)

by | Jun 25, 2021

In Part 1 of this series, we covered how to report issues and inaccuracies to our Data Accuracy department. In Part 2, we discussed how issues are reviewed and processed. In this edition, we’ll cover how issues are resolved and how to check on the status of a specific matter.

Step 3: Status & Resolution

Our subscribers are able to check the progress of the issue at any time through the RMLSweb dashboard.

Under ‘Back Office,’ look at the options below ‘Listing Issue.’ ‘Reported by Me’ provides status information on listings you reported, the current status of the report, and any available notes.

‘My Violations’ displays resolved violations for your listings, while ‘My Open Violations’ displays violations with your listings that are currently open. Both screens list the violation notes that have been reported. Principal Brokers can view this information for their agents as well.

The ‘My Notifications’ section tracks notices about your listing violations. You can see when the notifications were sent and to whom they were sent. If you click the link under ‘Sent Date’ you can read the notice that was sent.

Any issues that were discovered by our data checking software or staff will also appear in ‘My Notifications.’ The data is available for 18 months from the date the issue was closed. This does not mean that you cannot report an issue on a listing older than 18 months.

One factor that could affect whether an issue can be reported is if the Seller’s Agent or firm are no longer RMLS subscribers. In that event you would receive an error and to report the issue you would need to use one of the previously mentioned alternative methods.

Should you ever have a question about an issue that you submit or about a notice that you received on one of your own listings please reach out to us and we will be happy to answer any questions.

The Lifecycle of a Reported Issue (Part 4)

The Lifecycle of a Reported Issue (Part 2)

by | Jun 15, 2021

In Part 1 of this series, we covered how to report issues and inaccuracies to our Data Accuracy department. In this edition, we’ll cover how matters are reviewed and processed.

Step 2: Review

Our Data Accuracy team will begin processing these submissions in the order they are received. Sometimes we receive several notifications about the same issue at different points in the resolution cycle – these are grouped together and handled collectively.  

After reviewing the particular issue, we reach out to the Seller’s Agent and sometimes their Principal Broker to determine if the listing data is accurate. For example, a listing that says ‘waterfront’ may in fact only be ‘water view.’ If the data needs to be changed, we request that the Seller’s Agent either make the change or give us permission to make the change for them. Once the change has been made, we mark the reported issue as corrected in our tracking system.

Issues in the system will show as Active (review ongoing), Corrected (information adjusted), Reviewed and Already Corrected (report sent after information already corrected), Not a Violation (no adjustment required), Duplicate (this issue is already in the process of being reviewed), or Agent Asked (agent-submitted question instead of reporting an issue).   

In Part 3 of this series, we’ll cover how issues are resolved and how to check on the status of a specific matter.