The RMLS™ board voted to adjust the RMLS™ default SentriLock hours earlier this year based on feedback received from subscribers after the last change. Default lockbox hours are now 8am-10pm Pacific.
Subscribers will need to take action for these default lockbox hours to be in effect. First, update your SentriCard® using the SentriCard® reader (this is not required if you’ve been keeping your card in your RAD). Then simply insert the card into each lockbox and wait until the series of beeps is finished.
We know that some of you prefer to set your own lockbox hours based on your clients’ needs or your own preferences. We’ve produced a short video about how to set your own lockbox hours:
(Our trainers say that the later steps in this video, neglecting to use the SentriCard to log in to the SentriLock website after inserting a card into the lockbox, is the most frequent mistake users make in this process.)
The RMLS™ Data Accuracy team has noticed an upswing in reports about personal promotion on RMLSweb—particularly on video tours—the past several weeks.
What the Rules Say
Here’s what the RMLS™ Rules and Regulations say about personal promotion on RMLSweb: 3.24 Personal Promotion and Contact Information in Public Remarks and on Photos Prohibited Listings submitted to RMLS™ may be used to provide information pertinent to the listed properly only and may not be used to provide broker, seller, or lessor contact information, or to advertise a subscriber’s services to the public by way of direct or indirect advertising or “branding” of the listing data (through linking or otherwise), including photograph(s). This rule does not prohibit the accidental inclusion of yard signs in photographs. “Virtual tours” and “video tours” may not include “branding” or personal advertising in the body of the tour. RMLS™ may remove personal promotion from public remarks or photo(s) with personal promotion.
In other words, only a description of the property is permitted in public remarks, and only imagery of the property is permitted in photos or videos.
Examples of Personal Promotion in a Listing:
Examples of Acceptable Listing:
According to the RMLS™ Board of Directors “personal promotion” on your RMLSweb listing includes (but is not limited to) the name of the listing broker/agent, any contact phone numbers, website links (if that website provides any information other than a description of the property), and 1-800 numbers with recorded messages that “capture” information from the caller. Virtual and video tours must be unbranded and contain only images of the property.
We don’t want to remove your hard work from RMLSweb, but our job ensures listing data quality on RMLSweb and beyond, as well as fairness to all our subscribers. Contact the RMLS™ Data Accuracy Department at (503) 236-7657 if you want to discuss your listings with us.
This post is part of MLS Insight, a series about how things work at RMLS™.
RMLS™ provides information in many ways, so no matter what your learning style or level of expertise, you can get answers to help you maximize the usefulness of RMLS™ services in your business. I am going to describe some of the ways that you can empower yourself with information online and some of the ways to interface with RMLS™ staff to get answers.
Getting Answers for Yourself Online
The desktop of RMLSweb has a wealth of information. In addition to the timely news displayed in the center, both the left and right hand sides of the desktop have information for you. Information about your personal listings, hotsheet prospects, and RMLS™ account appears at the top left, but scrolling down brings you to a list of helpful links to other RMLS™ sites, such as our blog site (that’s where you are now) and Facebook page. You can also connect with OAR, NAR, and many other locations outside RMLSweb that might be helpful. Below the links section is a pop-up that shows all the RMLS™ contact information – phone numbers, office addresses, hours of operation, etc. The right sidebar is collapsible. If you are not currently displaying it, you will see a + in the upper right corner of your screen. Press to open the sidebar which has easy links to locations inside RMLSweb, like the spot to go to to change your email address or banner (User Preferences), and other helpful tools.
To explore all the documents RMLS™ has available, go to Toolkit on the nativation menu of RMLSweb and select “All Documents” under Forms and Documents. There is a search function where you can insert keywords or document numbers, and also a tag cloud to select all documents relevant to popular search words. By scrolling down and looking at the lower left corner, you can also find the folder structure which contains the documents (illustration at right), and you can navigate to to individual documents from the folders. Finally, there is an alphabetical list of all documents, if that is the way you like to see things. Access that document by highlighting 1000-1069 General Information Menu in the Folder list and selecting the “Forms and Documents Alphabetical Index” or by typing “indices” in the search box. Forms and Documents has e-forms for many of the documents you might need to fill out as an RMLS™ subscriber, as well as regular PDF documents.
Have you ever noticed the Help icons on various pages of RMLSweb?The example on your right is from Listing Load. By clicking for help, you can access the video tutorial “Adding a New Listing” as well as other helpful documents.
Have you ever had trouble deciphering one of the seven-character feature abbreviations? The full list of abbreviations is in Forms and Documents. Just type in the document number 1210 in the search box. However, there are easy ways to access this information right from the RMLSweb Advanced Search and Listing Load pages. At left is an example from Advanced Search. By clicking the Help link in the upper right corner of the feature selection box, the definitions for those abbreviations will appear in a pop-up box, and BRD&BTN will be defined as Board & Batten Siding. In Listing Load, hovering over the field labels will display a ? – click and the definition of the field will be shown.
Getting Help from RMLS™ Staff
By phone. In person. On chat. Via email. We are here to help you!
The pie chart at the top of this post represents the top 10 call topics handled by our fabulous Help Desk in May 2014. The top ten call topics were about half of the total calls, which span a huge range of topics, from hardware troubleshooting to the use of any RMLS™ system. Our Help Desk will do their very best to find the answers to your questions, or direct you to other sources if they can’t. Help is available toll-free from 8AM-7PM on Monday through Thursday, 8AM-5PM on Friday, and 10AM to 2PM on Saturday.
You can even ask us questions via chat, our most recently added tool! Look in the upper right hand corner anywhere in RMLSweb and click on the icon. You can choose the department you need to talk to – Help Desk, Training, Accounting, or Front Desk/Membership. The hours available generally coincide with the corporate office hours.
Visit us in person at any one of our offices in Brookings, Eugene, Florence, Hermiston, Hood River, North Bend, Portland, Roseburg, Salem, and Vancouver. RMLS™ contact information and office hours are available on RMLScentral or can always be accessed via the RMLSweb desktop. If you want us to come to you to answer your questions, contact RMLS™ Training and we can visit your office.
Thanks for taking this brief tour highlighting some of the information available to enhance your RMLS™ experience. Next month we will talk about statistics—what does RMLS™ provide? If you have any questions you would like to have answered about how things work at RMLS™, I encourage you to post a comment to this blog.
This article is the next in our series Ruleschool, where we take a closer look at selected parts of the RMLS™ Rules and Regulations.
The RMLS™ Rules and Regulations are key to maintaining accurate data on RMLSweb and a smooth-running real estate marketplace. Just like in last month’s blog post, Things the Rules Committee Wants You to Know, we’re going to take a closer look today at a couple of rules we commonly speak to subscribers about: new construction and photographs.
3.5: New Construction Listings.Listings involving new construction shall classify such construction as:
a. “NEW” – construction completed, but property has never been occupied;
b. “Under Construction” – ground broken and construction actually under way; or
c. “Proposed” – not yet under construction
When entering a new construction listing, the Year Built Description field may start with “PROPOSD” which means no construction has started. Once ground is broken and construction begins, the field will need to be changed to “UNDRCON”. If construction is completed before listing is sold, the field will need to be changed to “NEW”. These changes will accurately reflect the status of construction in a listing.
If for some reason you are not able to make the appropriate change before the listing is changed to SLD status an email will be sent to verify the status of the Year Built Description field if other than “NEW”. When you respond, we will adjust the Year Built Description field as needed.
3.7: Photographs:Listing Brokers may submit up to sixteen (16) photographs for all listings to be Published in the RMLS™ System. The photographs are to be submitted without any added text or graphics, or any alterations that misrepresent the property. At the time of publication, listing submitted to RMLS™ are required to have one (1) photograph of the exterior building view, except for bare land, which must have a photograph of the land. If the seller does not wish to have a photograph published, a Photograph Omission Form or equivalent document signed by the seller is required and must be submitted to RMLS™ within 72 hours of listing publication.
The exterior building view is to be photograph number one (1) if multiple photographs are submitted. Residential new construction is required to have a photograph, which may be of the floor plan or exterior elevation until the building is competed, at which time a photograph of the exterior building view must be added.
We receive numerous complaints when the first photograph is not the exterior building view. This photograph does not need to be only of the front of the building but can be the side or the back depending on which best highlights the features of the building. The photograph should not be of the deck or the view of the river/ocean or mountains.
When working with new construction, don’t forget to load a photograph in the first position of the completed building before changing the status of the listing to sold. If the listing has been changed to sold before a photograph was entered, you can send the photograph to RMLS™ and we will post it for you.
Check in again next month for more rules information you can use!
The Rules and Regulations Committee wants to make sure that all of our subscribers understand the RMLS™ Rules, because they are a key ingredient in accurate data and a smooth-running real estate marketplace. Our new blog series Ruleschool will periodically highlight rules, starting with the following two.
3.26 Availability for Showing.With the exception of Commercial Lease and Auction listings, all active listings shall be available for showing immediately upon entry into the RMLS™ system, excluding listings which require all offers to be made contingent on interior inspection. Listings cannot restrict showings until a future date.
There are several complaints sent in each week because the remarks say, “No showings until broker tour…” which is not acceptable based on Rule 3.26.
There are several other reasons that have been given when the listing has “No showings…” in the remarks field, but unless the listing requires all offers to be made contingent on interior inspection, the listing must be moved to WTH status if it cannot be shown.
Section 7: Showing Procedures a. A Cooperating Broker or Appraiser may use the lockbox system access device to enter a listing whose status is Active, Bumpable, or Short Sale Pending, only in accordance to the instructions on the RMLS™ Listing Data Input Form or in accordance with the express instructions of the Listing Broker or Owner.
b. A Cooperating Broker or Appraiser may use the lockbox system access device to enter a listing whose status is other than Active, Bumpable or Short Sale Pending, only with the express permission of the Listing Broker or Owner.
The formal violations received so far in 2014 were for not following showing instructions or entering a property without permission when the status was not Active, Bumpable, or Short Sale Pending.
There are so many reasons to be careful to follow the showing instructions and the status rules! Even if the house is vacant, there can be big problems. In one case, an alarm system was activated and the home owner had to pay for a visit from the Police Department.
If the house is not vacant there could be teenage children alone, dogs, alarms systems, etc. If you are out viewing properties and you see one for sale that you don’t have on your list, use your smart phone to check the status of the listing and the showing instructions before using your key to enter the property!
Stay tuned! Later this spring, there will be more rules that will be the focus of this blog.
Did you know that SentriLock offers an app for your smartphone that allows you to access a lockbox without the use of your SentriCard® or RAD? What if we told you that your RAD doesn’t even need to be charged, nor does your SentriCard® need to be updated in order to use it?
This app is called SentriSmart™, and it is available in the Apple app store and on Google Play. You will need iOS 6 or higher on an Apple device or Android 2.2 or higher for use. As part of the RMLS™ contract with SentriLock, SentriSmart™ is available for free for RMLS™ subscribers who have key service.
SentriSmart™ is a mobile application, allowing access to a lockbox key compartment with the use of a mobile access code instead of a SentriCard®. It also provides immediate showing notifications as soon as the showing agent generates a code. SentriSmart™ will still work if your card is expired, and if your RAD doesn’t have a charge. As long as your cell phone has a signal, the SentriSmart™ app can generate a mobile access code so that you can access the key compartment of a SentriLock lockbox.
When using SentriSmart™, please be aware that a showing notification is sent to the listing agent as soon as you generate a code. If you generate a code just to see how it works, please use one of your own lockboxes to avoid falsely generating a showing notice.
The RMLS™ board voted to adjust the RMLS™ default SentriLock hours earlier this year based on feedback received from subscribers after the last change. Default lockbox hours are now 8am-10pm Pacific.
