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 Technical Terry:
Can you tell me when I need to submit an Authorization to Exclude from MLS Addendum to RMLS™? I recently sent in a form and later learned it was unnecessary.
NRVOUS
Dear NRVOUS:
Don’t be afraid, you’re not the only person who has sent this form to us in error. It sounds like you’re familiar with the changes we recently made to the form, so you’re already ahead of the game.
If you have a signed contract and are not publishing the listing within 72 hours but still do want to market the property before that time, the Authorization to Exclude from MLS Addendum (Document #1260) is required. Complete the form and send it to RMLS™ within 72 hours of signing a listing contract.
There are other scenarios that would require this document to be completed as well, but it can be confusing. RMLS™ is here to help! Contact RMLS™ Data Accuracy at (503) 236-7657 or write us an email if you’re ever unsure about whether your situation requires submission of this form.
Technical Terry:
Why did RMLS™ redo the Office Exclusive form? As my uncle always said, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it…
Donald in Sutherlin
Hi Donald—great question. My uncle always used to say time heals all wounds. He died of an infected bedsore at the age of 76. But I digress…
Vallerie reports that the name of the form itself was changed to better reflect what the form is being used for: when a seller is choosing to exclude their listing from RMLSweb. This could be the duration of the listing contract or a shorter length of time.
The look of the form also changed a bit, but the content is pretty similar. After each paragraph, the seller is asked to initial each point reflecting their understanding of each.
What’s the big idea behind these changes? The committee wants sellers to be informed about the value of listing their property on a multiple listing service, and precisely what they’re opting out of by signing the form.
Finally, Vallerie points out that because the title of the form changed, the RMLS™ Rules and Regulations and listing contracts for Oregon and Washington were also updated to reflect the new title.
The other night I was checking out some Agent Fulls on RMLSweb and clicked on the listing agent’s name. A box came up with the agent’s name, contact information…and their photo! How did they get their photo to display on the report?
Peanut Butter and Jelly Jacqueline
Hello PB+JJ:
It sounds like you may have missed the RMLSweb roster improvements we made back in January. Uploading an agent photo as part of your roster information is so simple, you might be embarrassed when I tell you how to do it. Navigate to User Preferences—get there by clicking on your name on the upper right corner of RMLSweb.
Choose the tab on the left that says “My Photo.”
Then click Browse to select the photo file, and click the Upload button to finish. Voilà! Your photo will appear whenever agents click your name in an Agent Full or search for your roster information.
We’d love to see a sea of friendly REALTOR® faces on RMLSweb, so get that photo uploaded! Thanks for your question, PB+JJ.
Ever find an under construction listing on RMLSweb and wonder why an actual home appears in the photographs? Ever show an empty house and wonder where all the furniture in the listing photos went? We’d like to help.
RMLS™ will release a new feature Monday, August 22nd, designed to help clarify listing photos uploaded to RMLSweb. Two types of photos will now require watermarks: photos with virtual staging, and photos of a model home.
Photos that are virtually staged include furniture and other items that have been added electronically to a photograph. Under construction or proposed listings that feature an actual built house in photographs are not an exact representation of the listed property, and as such will need to be flagged as a sample image.
If you have a listing with either or both of these features, you can set the watermark(s) in Listing Load on RMLSweb. Open the photo loader, and check the appropriate box(es) in the right hand corner. Don’t forget to save the changes.
Checking these boxes will create watermarks on listing photos that read “virtually staged” or “sample image,” eliminating confusion about the photographs.
Saving a photo with checkbox(es) marked permanently alters the image stored on RMLS™ servers. This means if you accidentally add a watermark in error, you’ll need to delete the photo and upload a clean copy using the photo loader.
Do note that when preparing a new listing, the listing will need to be published before the Sample Image box is available in Listing Load.
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.
Does your seller want daily updates about how many people are seeing their listing on RMLSweb and RMLS.com? Do they want this information only on Saturday? Or perhaps Tuesdays and Thursdays?
RMLS™ can help. Starting Thursday morning February 25th, RMLS™ subscribers will be able to schedule automatic emails to clients with listing view count information.
Not only can subscribers schedule these automatic emails, but the emails will now directly send the data to the recipient, instead of a link to the information.
Here’s how it works. On RMLSweb, use Listing Load to locate the listing. Access the view counts report by clicking “VC” (list view) or “View Counts Report” (detail view). Click the Email button located on the upper right of the screen. Fill in the form as you normally would.
If you wish to send automatic emails, clicking the box marked “Auto Email to Contact” will open the automatic email options below. If your client prefers to see data in a bar or line graph, click on the appropriate option underneath the scheduling information. Check the boxes for days you wish automatic emails to be sent, then click “Schedule” to save.
At this time, RMLS™ can only send one email per day. Emails will be sent as long as the listing is in ACT, BMP, or SSP status.
RMLS™ is releasing two improvements in October that represent the final steps in the RMLSweb forms change for 2015. We’re confident that subscribers will find something to like in these important changes to RMLSweb, all recommended by the RMLS™ Forms Committee!
Pending Lease Option (POP Status)
Pending Lease Option (POP), a new listing status, was added on RMLSweb Thursday, October 1st. This status is for listings which have offers accepted with lease option terms. When a listing is marked as POP, the anticipated lease end date is collected to use for status change reminders from RMLSweb.
This will result in fewer unnecessary emails to the listing broker, when their listing remains in Pending status for months or longer. POP listings will also be separated from regular Pending (PEN) listings, meaning cleaner statistics from RMLS™.
RMLS™ will introduce an all-new photo loader on RMLSweb the morning of October 15th. We’re confident that subscribers will be enthusiastic about the new setup, which features higher-resolution imagery that will really dazzle clients.
We’ve doubled the capacity for listing photos—users may now load up to 32 photos per listing with a 4MB file size limit. Files may be added via drag and drop or by selecting the correct files on the user’s machine. If a photo is larger than the maximum file size, the system will shrink or adjust the file to fit in the RMLSweb parameters.
Subscribers may also take advantage of basic photo editing on the interface—cropping, rotating, brightness, and contrast adjustments can all be handled from inside Listing Load before publishing a listing.
Mac users, rejoice: the new photo loader eliminates the Silverlight software that made the previous photo loader difficult for subscribers using an Apple operating system. This new photo loader is also mobile-friendly, meaning subscribers can upload photos from their mobile device!
What about listings published before the release of this new photo loader? No problem! Subscribers can use the new software to replace existing photos on active listings, to see the difference in image quality right away. If your brokerage uses the RMLSweb Slide Show feature to highlight listings on an office monitor, high definition monitors will offer the best presentation of the new photo setup. These higher-quality photos will also be seen by clients on RMLS.com…so we encourage you to explore this new feature as soon as you can!
RMLS™ trainers are currently preparing a series of materials to demonstrate the capabilities of the new photo loader. Here’s what we have: How to Upload Photos Using Photo Manager (RMLSweb login required)
We’ll update this post as we have more.
As always, subscribers with questions about either the new POP status (released Thursday, October 1st) or the new photo loader (being released Thursday, October 14th) should contact the RMLS™ Help Desk at (503) 872-8002 or (877) 256-2169 for assistance.
Don’t be afraid, you’re not the only person who has sent this form to us in error. It sounds like you’re familiar with the changes we recently made to the form, so you’re already ahead of the game.
