by RMLS Communication Department | Apr 24, 2012
By Nick Church
As a Multiple Listing Service we often get the question: “Which Smartphone is the best for Realtors®?” There’s no easy answer to that question. The predominant phones on the market, which currently have most of the features a Realtor® might need, are:
- Android (which has many different models)
- iPhone (which has a couple different versions, 3, 3GS, 4, 4S)
- Win7 (which also has different models)
The availability of a particular smartphone is completely dependent on your service provider (ex. AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile or Verizon.) Some sources will try to tell you that as a Realtor® you need a specific device or operating system to do your business. This just simply isn’t true. It really depends on your preferences and how you want to use your phone for business.
We’ve made RMLSweb available in an abbreviated mobile version, rather than an app, so that it can be used on any smartphone or tablet. It’s important to note that at this time you will not have access to Listing Load on a mobile device.
As for the smartphone and your Supra key service – there are many different options of approved devices and you can you read more here. All of the phones mentioned above require the purchase of a fob to work with the Supra eKey system.
While RMLS™ cannot recommend a specific phone or carrier over another, our general suggestion is that you go into your local store (when you have no intention to purchase) and simply “try them out.” Many carriers have versions of their devices that you can explore, navigating to the Internet, finding various links, seeing how you’ll type in messages, etc. I think you’ll find being able to experience the device will help you find that “perfect fit.” There isn’t a “best phone for Realtors®.” There’s simply a best phone for you.
If you have questions on how to utilize your new smartphone with our system, feel free to email RMLS™ Training or the RMLS™ Help Desk You can also call Help Desk at 503-872-8002 or 877-256-2169 (toll-free). We’re happy to answer any questions you may have.
Photo Credit
![INFOGRAPHICS: Distressed Properties for January – June 2011]()
by RMLS Communication Department | Sep 22, 2011
See a visual representation of distressed properties in our market!
Last May, we debuted new infographics to show how distressed properties identified as Short Sales and Bank Owned were represented in the 2010 housing market. Now, we’re pleased to present new infographics on distressed properties for the first two quarters of 2011! When compared with the data from 2010, these stats offer a more comprehensive picture of how the local housing market has changed in the past year and a half.
(Click the image to enlarge.)
The above infographic shows a visual representation of the number of Bank Owned and Short Sales in all areas of the RMLS™ system during the first half of 2011. The top half shows new listings and sales from January through June 2011, while the bottom half shows new listings and sales by quarter. To download or print the infographic, click here.
Below are links to additional infographics for some of our larger areas*:
Portland Metro
Clark County, WA
Lane County, OR
Douglas County, OR
*If you want information on percentages of distressed sales in other areas not represented by our infographics, please contact us at communications@rmls.com.
As can be seen from the above infographic, the percentage of distressed sales in the overall housing market increased for closed sales compared with new listings. However, the amount of short sales decreased as a percentage of closed sales versus new listings, while the amount of bank owned properties greatly increased.
The quarterly trend shows a decrease of new listings that were distressed, when comparing Quarter 1 with Quarter 2. Distressed sales also decreased as a percentage of closed sales in a comparison of Quarter 1 and Quarter 2. This trend remains consistent with the data from Quarters 1 and 2 from 2010.
Here are some additional facts about distressed properties in the first half of 2011:
- In a comparison of the first half of 2010 with the same period in 2011, distressed sales as a percentage of new listings increased by 4.5% (20.9% v. 25.4%).
- In a comparison of the first half of 2010 with the same period in 2011, distressed sales as a percentage of closed sales increased by 9.9% (28.1% v. 38%).
- Short Sales comprised 13.4% of new listings and 10.1% of sales in 2011, up 2.1% and 1.1% from 2010, respectively.
- Bank Owned properties comprised 12.1% of new listings and 27.9% of sales in 2011, up 2.4% and 8.8% from 2010, respectively.
![INFOGRAPHICS: Distressed Properties for January – June 2011]()
by RMLS Communication Department | Jun 10, 2011
Available for purchase at the iTunes Store
Although June is not Realtor® Safety Month (September is!), it’s important to keep up-to-date with any safety resources that become newly available, whether it’s “Safety Month” or not. Often times, real estate professionals are left alone when showing an open house or when meeting a potential client. These occasions can be potentially dangerous. We’ve just stumbled across a mobile application that may help real estate professionals in the event of an emergency. We thought we’d share it with you!
Real Alert – The Safety App for Realtors®
Developed by Michelle Jones, an Austin Realtor®, Real Alert is a mobile application compatible with iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad devices. It is available in the iTunes Store for $1.99. This application has several key functions enabling users to get help quickly:
- Quick Tap Alarm Button
- Quick Tap Call 911 Button
- Locate Nearest Hospital Button
- Quick Tap Alert A Friend
- Built-In Flashlight
For more information or to purchase the mobile app, click here.
Other Resources:
National Association of Realtors® Field Guide to Safety. Visit NAR’s website for safety guides, handouts and tips. Click here.
Selling Safely Brochure. Home sellers need to learn safety practices, too. We have recently revamped the RMLS™ Selling Safely Brochure and it’s now available to download. This brochure is great for agents to give to their clients! It provides tips for clients on selling their home safely and has a place for the agent to provide their contact information! Click here to download the brochure.
Remember that old saying, it’s better to be safe than sorry!
![INFOGRAPHICS: Distressed Properties for January – June 2011]()
by RMLS Communication Department | Apr 18, 2011
Stay current with the RMLS™ Twitter and Facebook accounts!
Sometime during the last decade, the term “social media” grew more fiercely than wildfire. Social networking sites such as Facebook, Foursquare and LinkedIn were created. To go even farther, we began to see social media in the form of blogging (WordPress, Blogspot), micro-blogging (Twitter), online reviewing (Yelp), photo-sharing (Flickr) and smart purchasing (Groupon).
It’s difficult trying to keep up with the constant flow of new social media applications, trends and products that come on the market each day. Due to the fact that social media has started to play a more key role in the real estate industy, RMLS™ is making an effort at “keeping up with the Joneses.”
Here’s how you can benefit from our efforts:
Did you know you can check up on our Twitter feed, Facebook page and RMLS™ Updates blog, without creating an account of your own? Say there is an RMLSweb outage (which is not something we like to think about, but it has happened before) and you want up-to-date information, here is what you can do:
Twitter: Go to http://twitter.com/RMLSweb
This will take you to the RMLS™ Twitter account, where you can see all of our recent “tweets” and our Twitter profile (even if you don’t have a Twitter account of your own!). From here, you can choose to “follow” us if you have an account! We recommend you do so in order to stay current with our updates.
Facebook: Go to http://www.facebook.com/RMLSweb
Here, you will be directed to our Facebook page! A goal of ours for 2011 is to increase our fan base on our Facebook page. Since we’re on the hunt for new fans, make sure to “like” our page!
Blog: For those of you who may have stumbled upon a link to this blog, at any time you can access it by going to: http://rmlsweb.wordpress.com/
We plan on doing some cool contests and giveaways in the future for those following us on Twitter and Facebook. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to win some free stuff! Also, don’t forget to tune in for these weekly events:
- Tuesday Training Tip – Each Tuesday we post an interesting RMLSweb training tip to our Facebook and Twitter accounts regarding certain aspects of the RMLSweb system.
- Friday Fun Fact – Each Friday we post a humorous fact on Twitter and Facebook about a fact of the day and how it coincides with a statistic from RMLSweb!
Finally, if you are looking to become a more efficient social media user, check out tools such as Hootsuite and TweetDeck that allow you to view and post to your Twitter, Facebook and Blog feeds – all at once!
Happy social media adventures!
![INFOGRAPHICS: Distressed Properties for January – June 2011]()
by RMLS Communication Department | Mar 2, 2011
Congratulations to our winners and to the three schools that will receive gift certificates for art supplies!
A $100 gift certificate from RMLS™ is currently on its way to three schools in Oregon and SW Washington. Winners of our Spread the Word Contest were able to choose the school that would receive one of three gift certificates, which is to be used to purchase art supplies for students.
The Fair Housing Council of Oregon’s annual Fair Housing Poster Contest is underway, with submissions due March 17th. RMLS™ encouraged our subscribers to submit a plan for how they were helping to spread word of this contest for children. The first two subscribers who emailed us their “Spread the Word” plan won a $100 gift certificate for art supplies to donate to the school of their choice! However, we had three great plans emailed to us within a short period of time and decided to award three winners instead of just two!
Congratulations to our winners:
Sheila Done, Century 21 Wright & Assoc.
Wendy Wampach, RE/MAX Equity Group
Joy Hurley, Coldwell Banker Professional Group
Sheila Done chose Ladd Acres Elementary School in Hillsboro as the recipient of her $100 gift certificate for art supplies. Sheila has two children (in first and fifth grade) who attend this school and was happy to help get the word out about the poster contest. Her plan consisted of emailing teachers and parents of students at the school, in addition to posting the contest flyer on the school’s front doors. Below is a picture of students from Ladd Acres Elementary who will benefit from these art supplies!
Wendy Wampach chose to donate her gift certificate to Mill Plain Elementary in Vancouver, Washington, where she is the current Art Discovery Coordinator. She also teaches art classes to students at Mill Plain Elementary. Wendy sent the Fair Housing contest flyer to the District Coordinator and to the other Art Coordinators for the Evergreen School district. With a total of 21 elementary schools in the district and more than 300 art volunteers, this plan surely helped spread awareness of the poster contest. Here is a photo of some Mill Plain Elementary students engaged in artistic activities:
Joy Hurley serves as a Board Member for Yamhelas Community Resource Center (YCRC). YCRC is a local 501c-3 that organizes a preschool and after-school programs for at-risk youth in the communities of Yamhill and Washington Counties. The organization collaborates not only with the school district, but also with other local non-profits to provide resources for children. To help get the word out about the Fair Housing Poster Contest, Joy’s plan included distributing copies of the flyer to the YCRC art class and the local Girl Scout Troop. She also requested that the school district place the flyer on their website. Joy is excited to have won the gift certificate for YCRC, as she says its art program is in need of funds and will find this donation very useful. Here is an example of art done by some of the students:
Again, congratulations to our winners who took time out of their schedules to help spread awareness of the Fair Housing Poster Contest. They should also be commended for submitting plans to RMLS™ in an effort to win $100 for a school in need of art funds. Let’s also congratulate those who did not win, but who are helping to spread the word anyway. This poster contest is a great way to get kids involved in a fun community project. Hopefully the Fair Housing Council will see an outstanding turnout of poster submissions to their contest!
For more information on the poster contest, visit the Fair Housing Council of Oregon’s website. Or, click here for a copy of the contest brochure!
![INFOGRAPHICS: Distressed Properties for January – June 2011]()
by RMLS Communication Department | Nov 17, 2010
How does this affect Washington and Oregon?
A new Brookings Institute study predicts the future of real estate is in “walkable cities,” described as, “walkable, accessible communities with convenient transit linkages and good public services like libraries, cultural activities, and health care.” This is good news for Oregon and Washington, an area of the country particularly rich with interesting, walkable (and bikeable, of course) towns!
According to the report, the new real estate boom will come from the “Millennial” generation, or the kids of the Baby Boomers, born between 1977 and 1994, who amount to 76 million of our country’s population. (Full disclosure: I am one of those 76 million.) The report claims that Millennial aspirations “have been informed by ‘Friends’ and ‘Sex in the City’, shows set in walkable urban places, as opposed to their parents’ mid-century imagery of ‘Leave It to Beaver’ and ‘The Brady Bunch,’ set in the drivable suburbs.” (Unfortunately, the above examples of ‘Friends’ and ‘Sex in the City’ don’t quite match the ideal, walkable, transit-oriented neighborhoods described elsewhere in the report, since both shows were set in New York City. But that’s beside the point.)
Rest assured: this study does not mean that Millennials will flock to Portland and abandon Oregon’s smaller towns. In fact, the report uses as a prime example Utah’s preparations for the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. In addition to building up Salt Lake City, Utah built up the entire surrounding four-county area to create a large variety of “dense walkable neighborhoods built around transit stops.” Additionally, Portland is used as an example of transit directly benefitting real estate, stating that the city’s decision to spend $50 million on the downtown streetcar created $3.5 billion in private-sector development around the streetcar lines.
The best news in the report simply counteracts the onslaught of bad housing news the media seems to focus on these days. Simply put, when the Millennials begin buying houses, they will constitute the largest market of first-time homebuyers in history. This is good news for everyone. Similarly, with a focus on public transit and less of a reliance on personal cars, homeowners will have more cash on hand. The study cites an astonishing figure: Cutting one car out of the typical household budget can allow that family to afford a $100,000 larger mortgage.
Overall, this spells good news for Oregon and Washington, which contain a wide variety of interesting, green communities (both large and small) that greatly appeal to Millennials. As this generation begins to wade into the housing market, the future of the real estate market in the Pacific Northwest looks very hopeful.
