Each year the RMLS™ Forms Committee convenes in order to improve RMLSweb for users. After carefully reviewing suggestions submitted throughout the year by other subscribers, the Forms Committee recommends changes to the listing input forms, which are then reviewed and voted on by the RMLS™ Board of Directors.

After that vote, it’s time for RMLS™ staff to get to work! New code is written and tested behind-the-scenes—and once all the pieces are in place, a 12-hour outage is required to make the improvements for the year.

We anticipate the annual forms change to take place in early June. This will require a 12 hour outage of RMLSweb. We want to make sure subscribers have plenty of notice so they can plan ahead and avoid difficulties when the system is in maintenance mode.

Here are some highlights to expect from the forms change project this year:

• Green Options: we’ve increased the variety and types of green options in RMLSweb. This includes indicating a home’s location near bikeways and multi-use paths, and additional energy efficiency features like photovoltaic panels.
• Public Remarks Increased: the Public Remarks field will increase in size from 380 to 440 characters!
• Schools: an option to select up to two elementary and/or high schools will now be available. In some areas, homes are on a boundary between school districts and may choose where their child attends—REALTORS® will be able to reflect this circumstance in their listings.
• Homeowner Associations (HOA): the HOA field will now be required for all residential and land listings as a yes/no. This is an attempt to alleviate surprises on buyers, who may not find out about HOA fees until after purchasing a property.

We’ll be rolling out more details in the next few weeks as the project nears completion—including the exact date and time of the outage. Check in with the RMLS™ blog regularly for the latest!