by RMLS Communication Department | Jul 29, 2009
Here’s a few hot weather tips I came up with for real estate agents as we all cope with a potential high of
107 today here in Portland!
1. If buyers close on 100+ degree day, offer a window A/C unit as a closing gift (good luck finding one right now, though).
2. Selling agents: if your listing has A/C or is A/C ready – make sure you’re showing those houses now! The heat should really make that selling point stick in the buyer’s mind (and their shirt stick to their back).
3. Keep a cooler full of water bottles for your clients in your trunk when showing homes.
4. Always offer to purchase a Slurpee for your clients.
5. If you happen to be rolling in a convertible while showing homes – apply sunscreen between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m., or put the top up.
PS: If you use an ActiveKEY, make sure not to leave it in a hot car for long:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-fdVTBBiCM]
by RMLS Communication Department | Jul 27, 2009
Short video shows why RMLS™ subscribers should keep their ActiveKEYs out of the heat this week
We’re going to have some serious heat in most of Oregon & Southwest Washington this week. As you try to stay cool in the hot weather, keep in mind this friendly ActiveKEY battery tip from Supra:
“Temperature extremes can affect battery performance. If the ActiveKEY is below 0° C (32° F) or above 40 ° C (104° F), it will not charge. During very cold or hot times of the year, bring your ActiveKEY in from your car at night and between showings.”
Also, watch this short video that poses the question – what happens when you leave an ActiveKEY, a frozen pizza and a frozen peanut butter cup in my 1997 Geo Metro that is parked in direct sunlight?
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-fdVTBBiCM]
We filmed this a few weeks ago when it was up to about 94 degrees, so keep in mind that you might see more dramatic results in the next few days. Anyone have any other suggestions for things we should try to melt in my car?
PS: We really do recommend that you remove your key from your car if it’s going to be parked in the sun for a long time – especially for agents that go to our Portland office – because we currently have a limited supply of ActiveKEYs due to a parts shortage at Supra. If you do need to get a new ActiveKEY, please call ahead at 503-236-7657 to ensure that we have one available for you.
by RMLS Communication Department | Jul 27, 2009
The State of Oregon Real Estate Agency has issued the following alert on its website:
The Agency is receiving calls from licensees asking if their fingerprint cards have expired. The licensees explain that someone stating to be from the Agency has called them and informed them that their fingerprints are going to expire. The caller is asking for credit card and social security numbers.
Fingerprint cards and criminal background checks do not expire with the Agency. Also the Agency does not accept any personal or confidential information over the phone. If you receive one of these calls, do not give your information out.
by RMLS Communication Department | Jul 22, 2009
by RMLS Communication Department | Jun 25, 2009
We’re excited because we just released some upgrades to the maps in RMLSweb. Now you can use a map instead of MLS area in several searches, save a custom map to use with other searches later and navigate the RMLSweb maps with ease.
But what does that really mean with regard to how you do business? Here are some ideas that we came up with of how you can use these new features in your everyday life to save time or get better information for you and your clients:
1. Let’s say you tend to work in a particular area or neighborhood, but you’re constantly working with different styles of homes. Now you can draw a map of your farm area and save it. Then you can create several Hotsheets, Prospect Profiles or Summary Only reports based off of the same map, but with a wide variety of criteria.
2. If you’re working with a client who is worried about living in a good school district, our upgrades to the school information on the listing maps should come in handy. When you’re looking at a map of a particular listing, click on the Schools tab to see a list of schools nearby. (The default is set to look for schools within one mile but you can increase the radius in the upper right hand corner to up to 20 miles.) You’ll notice that we’ve added some demographic information about the schools like pupil to teacher ratio to help you look smart.
3. Rumor has it a lot of appraisers are looking approximately one mile out when getting comps for their appraisals. Now you can look for comps in that same proximity to get an idea of what the appraiser may be looking at. How? Use the circle search and watch the distance indicator when you’re dragging out the line. It’ll tell you how many miles you’re covering in your search.
4. I don’t know about you, but for me it’s much easier to remember a property from the picture than the address. So when I’ve mapped several checked listings from search results, I love the new feature that allows me to see a thumbnail of the property.
5. Now that more agents are going to search with maps instead of MLS area number it’s more important than ever to make sure your listings are mapping correctly. We’ve tried to make this easy for you. We’ve increased the size of the map on the Listing Load page so you can easily see if the listing is missing a map or mapped incorrectly. If that’s the case, just click Adjust map location, click the right location and click Accept.
For a detailed tutorial on how to search using map ranges, click the image above. We’ve also created a printable tip sheet for your reference. To schedule a training session on this new release, call your local RMLS™ office, or e-mail training@rmls.com.
by RMLS Communication Department | Jun 10, 2009
We sometimes get reports of homes being entered into RMLSweb as detached homes, when they are in fact, attached (or vice versa). We realize this can be confusing at times, so let’s briefly review the attached v. detached question.
Let’s start with the textbook definitions:
“Attached: An element of the residence’s construction (such as a wall, ceiling, or floor) is shared with another property. Condominiums excluded.”
“Detached: A stand-alone residence, excluding manufactured homes, for which the sale includes the land on which the residence is located.”
Now – remember how your teachers would have you come up with acrostic poems? It’s when you take each letter of your name or a word & you have to use it as the first letter in each line of the poem (here are instructions on how to write an acrostic poem… in case you wanted to know).
We came up with one each for Attached & Detached houses to help you remember the difference!
ATTACHED:
Adjoined
To
Things, such
As
Ceilings and walls of other
Houses,
Especially
Duplexes
DETACHED:
Disconnected from
Everyone, especially from
Those
Adjacent buildings,
Construction, and
Housing. But, connected to
Earth and
Dirt
Ok, I’m aware that acrostic poems probably won’t be particularly helpful in remembering what’s attached v. detached, but just let this silly attempt at a mnemonic device serve as a reminder to be cogniscent cognizant of the issue when entering listings. And if you’re ever unsure, feel free to give us a call!
