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by RMLS Communication Department | Sep 15, 2016
The RMLS™ Rules Committee has finalized revisions to the Office Exclusive/Authorization to Exclude Addendum. These changes—which will impact the form itself and the RMLS™ Rules and Regulations—were approved by the RMLS™ Board of Directors and will start rolling out next week.
Most notably, the form will have a new title: Authorization to Exclude from MLS Addendum. Clients listing a property who wish to exclude their property from RMLS™ will now need to initial their understanding of specific components. These components remind sellers about the value of listing their property on a multiple listing service.
The RMLS™ Rules and Regulations will see some slight adjustments due to this rollout, mostly related to the form’s title change.
View associated documents below:
Subscribers are advised to switch to using the new forms immediately. It will take some time for the changes to be reflected outside the RMLS™ system (for example, OREF zipForms), but RMLS™ is working hard to get changes reflected across all platforms as quickly as possible.
Questions about the revised Authorization to Exclude from MLS Addendum? Contact RMLS™ Data Accuracy at (503) 236-7657.
![Revisions to Authorization to Exclude Form, Policies Set to Roll Out Starting Next Week]()
by RMLS Communication Department | Jun 9, 2016
This will be the final entry in the series MLS Insight, about how things work at RMLS™.
Just over 24 years ago, I joined the RMLS™ staff as its seventh employee. I came on board when RMLS™ was just one year old! Today, RMLS™ is a vibrant organization celebrating its 25th anniversary, but I will no longer have a front row seat as I am retiring at the end of this month.
In 1992, I answered an ad for a part-time Administrative Secretary. My job was to staff the board meetings (take minutes, etc.) and to produce Market Action, which had just started publication. It was prepared much differently then. Reports were run from the old Stellar system and then the results were retyped into a Pagemaker file for publication. There was a lot of proofreading needed! Two people would sit and read numbers back and forth for a few hours each month.
I have not missed but maybe two or three board meetings in the last 24 years, and, if you know a current or former RMLS™ Director, I think you should say “Thank you!” I don’t think you could find a steadier, more thoughtful or dedicated group of volunteer leaders.
I will miss my workmates. The RMLS™ staff is a wonderful group. Over the years, I have had the opportunity to connect with many of our subscribers, and it has been my pleasure to serve the REALTOR® community. Best wishes to you all.
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by RMLS Communication Department | Apr 27, 2016
MLS Insight is a series about how things work at RMLS™.
As we celebrate 25 years of service to the real estate community in the northwest, it is interesting to look at some of the high-level numbers that describe the business and economics of the multiple listing service.
Let’s start with the number of subscribers. In March 1991, before service had even begun, there were over 3,400 Portland-area REALTORS® committed to participating in the new multiple listing service. This March, we had 12,472 subscribers from all over Oregon and southern Washington. The March with the most subscribers was 2007 with 14,178 active REALTORS®.
The chart below shows the rise and fall of subscriber numbers (as of March of each year) plotted against total numbers of closed residential sales for the year across the entire MLS. Sales peaked in 2005 with a total of 57,745, two years prior to the peak in subscriber numbers. The number of sales has been steadily rising since the recession low of 31,028 in 2008. The 55,979 sales in 2015 were the second highest number recorded in a year at RMLS™.
Due to a much higher overall average sales price, the total dollar volume of residential sales posted in RMLS™, 2015 achieved a new high water mark of $17,567,003,000 despite fewer total sales than 2005. The average sales price across all RMLS™ sales in 2005 was $268,300 compared to $313,800 in 2015.
If you have questions on any RMLS™-related topic that you would like to have answered, I encourage you to post a comment.
UPDATE: May 5, 2016
By subscriber request, here are the same graphs broken down by state:
![Revisions to Authorization to Exclude Form, Policies Set to Roll Out Starting Next Week]()
by RMLS Communication Department | Mar 24, 2016
MLS Insight is a series about how things work at RMLS™.
At their annual leadership retreat, the RMLS™ Board of Directors reviewed a list of potential projects and prioritized those they believe will have the best benefit for RMLS™ subscribers. Following is a brief description of the three projects that will get the attention of our software development team this year along with a fourth that will be scheduled if possible. The forms changes approved in 2015 are also in the works.
Watch List: This project will create a new feature on RMLSweb enabling subscribers to add individual listings to a “shopping cart” and receive push notifications when the status or a price change occurs. Potential scope includes ability to tag tax parcel records for notification when a listing is published.
Mobile Innovation Project: This project will utilize information available in a mobile device – photos, GPS, etc. – to create a property profile for use in creating CMAs, running reverse prospecting searches, and starting an in-progress listing in RMLSweb.
Frequency of Auto-Emails: This project will re-engineer auto-emails to reliably run the entire process within an hour. As part of this project, subscribers should be able to refine the frequency at which auto-emails are sent to individual clients.
Facebook Integration: This project will allow subscribers to easily post their own listings to Facebook, and will also fix formatting problems for mobile devices when RMLS.com listings are shared to Facebook.
If you have questions on any RMLS™-related topic that you would like to have answered, I encourage you to post a comment.
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by RMLS Communication Department | Feb 23, 2016
MLS Insight is a series about how things work at RMLS™.
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) was signed into law in 1998 with the intent to bring US copyright laws into the digital age. MLS listings normally contain several items subject to copyright, most prominently the photos and remarks. When a listing is loaded into RMLSweb, the understanding is that the listing content is authorized or legitimate, and there is no copyright issue.
This understanding is stipulated in the RMLS™ Rules and Regulations under Section 10.3 – Authority to Publish: By the act of submitting any property listing content to RMLS™, the Participant represents that the Participant has been authorized and also thereby does grant authority for the MLS to include the property listing content in its copyrighted MLS compilation and also in any statistical report on comparables.
In addition to the responsibility of the listing broker to ensure that there is no copyright infringement in the listing content they provide, RMLS™ also has responsibilities as a publisher under the DMCA. In order to limit liability for copyright infringement we may unknowingly include on our site, we have followed the safe harbor provisions of the DMCA since 2009. These provisions include appointing a copyright agent and making it easy for someone who spots a copyright infringement to contact us. RMLSweb and RMLS.com have a link on every listing to report any claims of copyright infringement, and there are specific steps we follow to meet the requirements of the safe harbor when we are notified of a problem.
That covers the responsibility of the listing broker and RMLS™.
Does it end there? NO!! It does not.
Each website posting listing data is individually responsible for copyright infringement that might appear on that site. That means that every IDX website needs to protect itself under the DMCA safe harbor provisions.
The National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) became concerned about potential liability for brokers, and in their model rules for 2016 they have required the addition of a section about copyright and the DMCA. The RMLS™ Board of Directors adopted this language and it has now been added to Section 10.3 of the RMLS™ Rules and Regulations. This is an important advisory recommendation from NAR. If you have a website that displays listing content, make sure you ask your website provider about their compliance with the DMCA. Here is the new RMLS™ Rules and Regulations language in full.
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is a federal copyright law that enhances the penalties for copyright infringement occurring on the Internet. The law provides exemptions or “safe harbors” from copyright infringement liability for online service providers (OSP) that satisfy certain criteria. Courts construe the definition of “online service provider” broadly, which would likely include MLSs as well as participants and subscribers hosting an IDX display.
One safe harbor limits the liability of an OSP that hosts a system, network or website on which Internet users may post user-generated content. If an OSP complies with the provisions of this DMCA safe harbor, it cannot be liable for copyright infringement if a user posts infringing material on its website. This protects an OSP from incurring significant sums in copyright infringement damages, as statutory damages are as high as $150,000 per work. For this reason, it is highly recommended that MLSs, participants and subscribers comply with the DMCA safe harbor provisions discussed herein.
To qualify for this safe harbor, the OSP must:
- Designate on its website and register with the Copyright Office an agent to receive takedown requests. The agent could be the MLS, participant, subscriber, or other individual or entity.
- Develop and post a DMCA-compliant website policy that addresses repeat offenders.
- Comply with the DMCA takedown procedure. If a copyright owner submits a takedown notice to the OSP, which alleges infringement of its copyright at a certain location, then the OSP must promptly remove allegedly infringing material. The alleged infringer may submit a counter-notice that the OSP must share with the copyright owner. If the copyright owner fails to initiate a copyright lawsuit within ten (10) days, then the OSP may restore the removed material.
- Have no actual knowledge of any complained-of infringing activity.
- Not be aware of facts or circumstances from which complained-of infringing activity is apparent.
- Not receive a financial benefit attributable to complained-of infringing activity when the OSP is capable of controlling such activity.
Full compliance with these DMCA safe harbor criteria will mitigate an OSP’s copyright infringement liability. For more information see 17 USC §512.
NAR has additional information on its website, including a recent video on photo copyright. In the case of copyright infringement, the old adage “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” surely applies.
If you have questions on any RMLS™-related topic that you would like to have answered, I encourage you to post a comment.
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by RMLS Communication Department | Feb 18, 2016
Dear Friends,
This year RMLS™ is celebrating its 25th anniversary!
In 1991, Regional Multiple Listing Service (RMLS™) was created out of five Portland-area REALTOR® associations. Over the last 25 years our subscribers have gone from scanning listings in bulky listing books to being able to find dozens of options for clients with the touch of a button. Along the way, RMLS™ has been there providing the technology and ensuring the accuracy of data. We’ve expanded our service area greatly in that time, and the type of services we’re able to provide across the region.
You’ll see RMLS™ observing this milestone across Oregon and Southwest Washington throughout 2016. We’ll be reaching out to partners at local associations and celebrating at RMLS™ events around the state such as the RMLS™ Education Summit and Trade Fair happening in Portland next month. You might even see a surprise or two pop up on RMLSweb.
RMLS™ flourishes through the partnerships of our shareholder organizations, local organizations, and the RMLS™ Board of Directors. Their support provides direction for the organization. Of course, RMLS™ would not exist without its REALTOR® subscribers! RMLS™ subscribers provide invaluable knowledge in their daily business that spurs innovation on RMLSweb.
Here’s to another 25 years! We hope you’ll help RMLS™ celebrate in 2016.
Sincerely,
Kurt von Wasmuth
President/CEO
