This Week’s Lockbox Activity
For the week of March 18-24, 2019, these charts show the number of times RMLS™ subscribers opened SentriLock lockboxes in Oregon and Washington. Activity decreased in both states this week.
For a larger version of each chart, visit the RMLS™ photostream on Flickr.
The RMLS™ Rules and Regulations Committee has requested that periodic reports are given to subscribers about the number and types of formal rules violations, along with information about informal violations and courtesy notifications by type. Read “If a RMLS™ Rule is Broken, What Happens?” for a deeper explanation.
Have you ever spotted something wrong in a property listing on RMLSweb? The Data Accuracy team is responsible for sorting things out whenever a RMLS™ subscriber contacts us—whether that is via the “Report Issue” button on a listing, by email, or contacting us directly by phone. In January and February 2019 our team handled 529 phone calls.
We track 30 specific issues in Listing Data Checker (LDC), the software that helps us spot and correct issues proactively. Six of these are courtesy notifications, but the other 24 are informal violations of the RMLS™ Rules and Regulations. In addition to our focus on education we also process formal violations throughout the year.
In January we saw quite a few instances of personal promotion in video/virtual tours that were branded, along with other forms of personal promotion in the public remarks field. As a reminder, personal promotion is not permitted in public remarks, photographs, video, or virtual tours. Personal promotion includes and is not limited to phone numbers, agent name, firm name, email address, and websites. Remember, when submitting data to a listing that the information should describe the property only.
In February we sent out a number of courtesy notices on listings that included more than one owner name in the first owner name field. This courtesy notice was created in 2018 to remind subscribers that there are two owner name fields in RMLSweb. Both owner name fields are provided to ZipLogix and when a subscriber uses MLS Connect or MLS Push to autofill information into ZipLogix, the information is auto filled as appropriate. This is not a rules violation but simply a way that RMLS™ is working to help educate our subscribers where we can.
The RMLS™ Rules and Regulations Committee reviews all formal complaints which allege a violation of the RMLS™ Rules and Regulations. The committee has the power to impose sanctions. In January and February 2019, no formal rules violations were filed by RMLS™ subscribers.
In January and February 2019, RMLS™ Data Accuracy staff reviewed 34,656 listings and found the following informal violations:
| Jan | Feb | Category |
| 686 | 723 | Listing Missing Tax ID |
| 151 | 90 | Incorrect/Missing Information |
| 113 | 73 | Personal Promotion |
| 53 | 64 | Year Built Description |
| 135 | 83 | Owner Name |
| 70 | 60 | Missing School |
| 0 | 0 | Incorrect Address |
| 0 | 65 | Duplicate Listing |
| 24 | 45 | No Showing |
| 26 | 23 | Incorrect 1st Photo |
| 21 | 31 | Concessions |
| 15 | 21 | Missing Condo Unit |
| 8 | 4 | Partial Bathroom 5+ |
| 11 | 9 | Listing Input in Incorrect MLS Area |
| 3 | 3 | City Unknown |
| 4 | 22 | HUD |
| 34 | 21 | Is Property a Condo |
| 9 | 6 | Duplicate Sold in Different Category |
| 0 | 0 | Photograph Omit Form |
| 0 | 1 | Short Sale Not Indicated |
| 0 | 0 | Fannie Mae |
| 0 | 0 | Duplicate Listing Different Agent |
| 0 | 1 | Inaccurate Lot Size |
| 0 | 0 | Missing SqFt by Level |
Following are the courtesy notifications sent to RMLS™ subscribers in January and February 2019:
| Jan | Feb | Category |
| 934 | 764 | Multiple Owners in 1st Owner Name Field |
| 199 | 139 | Listing is Still Pending |
| 0 | 29 | New Listing Input Over 24 Hours |
| 1 | 2 | Listing Status Change Over 72 Hours |
| 0 | 0 | Listing is Still Pending w/ Lease |
When we notice an uptick in a specific type of violation (perhaps a rule recently changed or market conditions lead to an increase in a certain type of issue) we may also put a notification up on RMLSweb, educating subscribers before one of their listings gets flagged and we need to contact them.
RMLS™ Data Accuracy can be reached via email or by phone at (503) 236-7657 if you ever have questions about the RMLS™ Rules and Regulations, if you wonder whether a specific listing has inaccurate data, or if you want to chat with us more about the above information.
This Week’s Lockbox Activity
For the week of March 11-17, 2019, these charts show the number of times RMLS™ subscribers opened SentriLock lockboxes in Oregon and Washington. Activity increased in both states again this week.
For a larger version of each chart, visit the RMLS™ photostream on Flickr.
Ask Technical Terry is a series RMLS™ aims to offer once a month. RMLS™ subscribers will drive the content—submit any question about RMLS™ to Technical Terry in the comments or by emailing communications@rmls.com. Don’t be shy—we won’t identify you by name.
Dear TT,
First—thank you, and thanks to RMLS™—for keeping subscribers updated with the latest in lockbox technology. In doing so though, it puts stress on us REALTORS® to make sure we have the latest phone, computer, or tablet, and sometimes that gets confusing. Take the new SentriLock Bluetooth lockboxes—while I’m sure they’re a nice piece of technology, I’ve had a few issues getting mine to open. Do you have any general troubleshooting advice you can give? Keep in mind I’m generally in front of clients when the lockbox won’t open! Darn that Murphy’s Law!
Confused in Coquille
Dear CC,
You’re spot on—the new SentriLock lockboxes are a better piece of technology overall, but they also require the user to familiarize themselves with basic Bluetooth troubleshooting tactics to avoid embarrassment in front of clients like what you’ve experienced. Here’s my advice:
In the big picture, you may need a bit more understanding about how Bluetooth works with your specific cell phone, including some routine maintenance tasks (closing apps and rebooting the phone on occasion) to make your usage of the new Bluetooth lockboxes more successful.
CC, I hope this was helpful! Don’t forget, you can always contact SentriLock at (513) 618-5800 or the RMLS™ Help Desk at (503) 872-8002 [toll free (877) 256-2139] for assistance.
Technical Terry
Dear Technical Terry,
One of my listings is a solid hour from my office—two hours round trip. Yesterday I made the trip in order to put a lockbox on the listing. Then this morning I received an email from SentriLock about updating the lockbox firmware! Do I really need to drive all the way back to do that before anyone can access the listing?
Yours in Real Estate,
Fern in Forest Grove
Dear Fern:
How frustrating it would be to get that email right after making a long trip! Rest assured, you don’t have to return to this listing before it can be shown.
Here’s the story: the Bluetooth lockboxes we received for the upgrade events last fall have the newest firmware that was available at that time. SentriLock did issue a new firmware version at the end of December, but it’s not a required update. In fact, none of the firmware updates that SentriLock has released are required! The lockboxes will still function without updates! These updates just fix issues with battery life and working with Bluetooth radios on newer phones. They are good to apply, but are not required for the lockbox to function.
If you do want to update the firmware on your Bluetooth lockboxes, there are two ways to do it. If you have easy access to the lockbox—say it’s sitting on your desk—I’d advise using SentriSmart™ as the lockbox owner or as an agent with ownership privileges (aka team members) and select the “update firmware” option under Lockbox Tools.
The second way to do it is through a passive update. Passive firmware updates happen when the box receives small pieces of the update every time a broker opens that box to show a listing. The incremental update could take 15 or more container accesses, since agents may walk away from the door while showing the property. When the update is initiated and stops prior to completion, the next agent to access the lockbox using the app will start the firmware update from where the prior connection left off. (Think of this as the torrent version of updating your lockbox.) Once again, updating this firmware manually is not required.
As you can see, firmware is nothing to fret about!
Yours at RMLS™,
Ask Technical Terry
This Week’s Lockbox Activity
For the week of March 4-10, 2019, these charts show the number of times RMLS™ subscribers opened SentriLock lockboxes in Oregon and Washington. Activity increased in both states this week.
For a larger version of each chart, visit the RMLS™ photostream on Flickr.