The use of photos and photo captions on listings is something we hear a lot about at RMLS™. Our subscribers ask us to remind listing agents to put multiple photos on their properties and to use photo captions.  Subscribers have told us that photos and captions help clarify what a property has to offer and saves time.

Here are some quick tips for using our photo manager and captions.

• In Listing Load you’ll find a column titled “P” for photo. The buttons in this column indicate the number of photos currently uploaded for a listing.

• To use Photo Manager you need to download Microsoft’s FREE Silverlight product. It only takes 30 seconds to install.

Rule Alert — RMLS™ requires that at least one photo must be attached to a new listing within 72 hours and it must be an exterior building view.  You cannot add a caption to this first photo. If the property is land then a photo of the bare land is required.

• You can upload a total of 16 photos to a listing.

• Silverlight will resize your photo prior to upload to 640×480.

• If you upload a photo smaller than 640×480 Silverlight will add a white border around it rather than stretch it to fit.

• The caption link allows you to choose a caption and sub-caption for each photo.

Rule Alert – The reason subscribers can’t type in free form captions is that they have to be checked for HUD violations. The staff time required to check listings individually would be prohibitive. RMLS™ believes the best solution to this issue is offering a broad and extendable set of standardized choices for photo captions.

• Click on the photo in the Agent Full report to display a pop-up photo viewer.

• Captions are displayed in the photo viewer.

• Did you know if there’s a caption you want to use that isn’t part of our pre-approved list the Rules and Regulations Department can add it? Send them an email and they can add it our list for all subscribers to use.

That’s all there is to it! If you have any questions about using photo manager and captions please call our Help Desk at 503-872-8002 or send them an email. We’re here to help.