As a REALTOR®-owned MLS, RMLS™ should stay in compliance with the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) MLS Model Rules. For 2020, NAR made several changes to the MLS Model Rules that are mandated. The first mandatory change was reviewed and approved by the RMLS™ Board of Directors at their January meeting and became effective on February 17, 2020 which resulted in a change to Section 8.3.

The second part of the 2020 NAR Model Rule changes were reviewed and approved by the RMLS™ Board of Directors and will become effective on April 30, 2020. The changes incorporate the NAR-mandated Clear Cooperation MLS Policy 8.0 that governs the public marketing of listings and their entry into the multiple listing service. Within one (1) business day of marketing a property to the public, the Seller’s Agent must submit the listing to the MLS for cooperation with other MLS participants.

For more information regarding this policy, please see these NAR resources:

• NAR-Window to the Law: Understanding the MLS Clear Cooperation Policy
• NAR-MLS Clear Cooperation Policy

Changes to the RMLS™ Rules and Regulations includes the following:

• Section 3.2, Acceptable Listings, the definition of marketing was changed to match the NAR policy.
• A new section, 3.3 Clear Cooperation, was added per the NAR policy. As a result, subsequent subsections will be renumbered accordingly.
• Section 3.3 was changed to Section 3.4, Office Exclusives, and was updated to match the NAR policy.

Changes to the Oregon Listing Contract and Washington Listing Contract includes the following:

• In the “Exclusive Right to Sell” section…
  • The title to the Authorization to Exclude from MLS and Public Marketing Addendum was updated to match the new title of the form.
  • In the last paragraph the marketing definition was changed to match the NAR policy.

Changes to the Authorization to Exclude from MLS and Public Marketing Addendum includes the following:

• Title changed to “Authorization to Exclude from MLS and Public Marketing Addendum”
• Section 1 – updated the subscriber count
• Section 2 – Updated the title of the addendum and added “…and from public marketing.” to the last sentence.
• Section 5 – Added “…or publicly marketed in any way.” to the last sentence.
• Section 6 – The entire section was replaced with the following text:
  CLEAR COOPERATION/PUBLIC MARKETING: Within one (1) business day of marketing the property to the public, the property no longer qualifies to be excluded from the MLS and the Participant must submit the listing to RMLS™ for cooperation with other MLS Participants. Public marketing includes, but is not limited to, flyers displayed in windows, yard signs, digital marketing on public facing websites, brokerage website displays (including IDX and VOW), digital communication marketing (email blasts), multi-brokerage listing sharing networks, and applications available to the general public.
• Section 8 – Text referencing “…public marketing…” was added in several locations.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why was this policy approved?
MLSs and Brokers from across the country asked NAR to consider policy that will reinforce the consumer benefits of cooperation. The MLS creates an efficient marketplace and reinforces the pro-competitive, pro-consumer benefits that REALTORS® have long sought to support. After months of discussion and consideration within NAR’s MLS Technology and Emerging Issues Advisory Board, this proposal was brought forth for the industry to discuss and consider, then approved by NAR’s Board of Directors.

Who made the decision that this policy was needed?
NAR’s MLS Technology and Emerging Issues Advisory Board is made up of brokers and MLS executives from across the country. Two dozen volunteers review industry concerns from a wide range of business and regional viewpoints. Potential policy changes are discussed within the group to create a positive impact on the industry and to address broker needs within the marketplace. The policy was strongly supported by the NAR MLS Committee and the NAR Board of Directors.

Do ALL REALTOR® Association MLSs have to adopt the MLS Clear Cooperation Policy?
Yes. By establishing a national policy, it is mandatory that all REALTOR® Association MLSs adopt the policy and have the same consistent standard.

Can a seller or the listing broker “opt out” of the policy’s obligations?
No. The new policy does not include an “opt out.” Any listing that is “publicly marketed” must be filed with the service and provided to other MLS Participants for cooperation within (1) one business day.

Does Policy Statement 8.0 prohibit office exclusives?
No. “Office exclusive” listings are an important option for sellers concerned about privacy and wide exposure of their property being for sale. In an office exclusive listing, direct promotion of the listing between the brokers and licensees affiliated with the listing brokerage, and one-to-one promotion between these licensees and their clients, is not considered public advertising.

Common examples include divorce situations and celebrity clients. It allows the broker to market a property among the brokers and licensees affiliated with their brokerage. If office exclusive listings are displayed or advertised to the general public, however, those listings must also be submitted to the MLS for cooperation.

Does Policy Statement 8.0 require listings to be submitted to the MLS if they are advertised to a select group of brokers outside the listing broker’s office?
Yes. “Private listing networks” that include more brokers or licensees than those affiliated with the listing brokerage constitute public advertising or display pursuant to Policy Statement 8.0. Listings shared in multi-brokerage networks by participants must be submitted to the MLS for cooperation.

Does Policy Statement 8.0 apply to non-active listings?
Yes. Policy Statement 8.0 applies to any listing that is or will be available for cooperation. Pursuant to Policy Statement 8.0, “coming soon” listings displayed or advertised to the public by a listing broker must be submitted to the MLS for cooperation with other participants.

Does Policy Statement 8.0 apply if there is no listing agreement on file?
MLS compliance, including NAR® policy 8.0, is activated once a listing agreement is signed by all required parties. For scenarios in which no listing agreement is in place, RMLS™ recommends that you consult with your broker and/or reach out to your state association for information if you suspect/or have concerns about a FREC/Code of Ethics violation.

What is the meaning of “business day?”
Business days exclude Saturdays, Sundays and holidays. For consistency among all REALTOR® Association MLSs, the approved timeframe is 1 business day.; “holidays” include all recognized federal and state holidays.

Is the new policy consistent with Article 3 of the NAR Code of Ethics?
Yes. By joining the MLS, Participants agree to be bound by the MLS Rules and Regulations. Per the policy’s rationale, the public marketing of a listing indicates that the MLS participant has concluded that cooperation with other MLS participants is in their client’s best interests.

Can I advertise a property on third party websites?
The MLS exists to facilitate cooperation and compensation. If you choose to advertise a property without a listing agreement on third party websites your compensation and/or broker participation is not guaranteed.

Can I market my excluded listing on Social Media?
For properties that have an Authorization to Exclude from MLS and Public Marketing Addendum, and the like, filed with RMLS™, all forms of social media marketing during the exclusion time period violate the 8.0 policy.

Prior to this rule change if a property was excluded from the MLS and then the sellers had a change of heart and wished to publish the property in the MLS they had to wait 30-days after the expiration of the contract in order to list the property in the MLS. Does this apply?
Once this new rule goes into affect, the 30-day waiting period will be removed.

That said, RMLS™ is happy to guide you through a specific situation or answer questions you may have. Contact the RMLS™ Data Accuracy staff at (503) 236-7657; we are happy to help answer your questions!

RMLS™ is excited to announce that we have selected Black Knight MLS Solution’s Paragon MLS as an alternative choice to RMLSweb. When released subscribers will be able to elect to use the Paragon MLS as their “Front End of Choice”, for an additional fee.

Paragon MLS includes the ability to search for listings via map, create CMA reports, view public property records provided by CRS Data, collaborate with buyer and seller clients through the mobile based Paragon Collaboration Center, and much more! Appraisers will appreciate the ability to build custom exports of MLS data and the Market Conditions reports.

RMLS™ is working closely with the team at Paragon to set up this new system. Want to know more? Attend the 2020 RMLS™ Education Summit and Trade Fair and sign up for one of the two Paragon classes on March 19 (10:30-11:30 am or 1:30-2:30 pm). Here Bob Morse from Paragon and Nikki Morgan with CRS Data will introduce Paragon MLS and CRS Data public tax record system. We hope to have the system available for purchase in April.

What is Front End of Choice?  

The concept of Front end of choice is all about choice. RMLS™ has chosen to build it’s own system, RMLSweb, for the last 20 years. This has allowed us to shape our own destiny and keep a tight hold on the reigns keeping costs low while at the same time responding to the needs of our subscribers. But that does not mean that it meets all of the needs of all RMLS™ subscribers. RMLSweb is still going to be available and will still be aggressively developed but Front end of choice allows a greater amount of flexibility by providing several different ways of interacting with the RMLS™ database.   

Brokers want different tools 

Trying to use one product to make everyone happy is a fool’s errand. No one will ever make everyone happy. When we hold a user forum with 20 people it is not uncommon to find 20 totally different opinions on what we should work on next or how we should design it.  

Brokers need to differentiate themselves 

Brokers want to leverage those tools they purchase to differentiate themselves in the marketplace. Once the MLS provides a CMA, for instance, then everyone’s CMA looks the same. Front End of Choice allows more choice and more opportunities for someone to stand out and showcase what they do differently.  

Standards have advanced 

Multiple Listing Services were not in a position to offer Front End of Choice solutions for a very long time because it took so much effort for each provider to setup their software so that it met the unique fields and options in each area.  

As the Real Estate Standards Organization (RESO) has evolved we are now at the point where providing a solution in one state is as easy as the next. We are much closer to plug and play than we used to be so the barrier to entry is significantly lower. This allows data to flow between software packages as well. Your CMA can talk to your CRM or your transaction management platform can talk to your marketing tools.  

We think that Paragon (one of the most popular MLS systems available) addresses some of the needs of our subscribers that RMLSweb does not. As we move forward, we hope to bring more and more products to you to help satisfy everyone’s unique needs and perspectives.

UPDATE 3/12/2020:
EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELED!

The March 19 RMLS™ Education Summit and Trade Fair has officially been canceled.

The decision to cancel came after the Governor’s ban on gatherings of 250 or more people combined with the large number of speakers and exhibitors that had already canceled their attendance.

We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience and appreciate your understanding. Stay healthy and stay tuned for more information about future events.

Join Us!

Real estate professionals: you are invited to save the date for the 2020 RMLS™ Education Summit and Trade Fair! This year’s trade fair will be taking place on March 19, 2020, at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel in the heart of the Lloyd District of Portland, OR.

Join Us!

RMLS™ members and non-members are welcome to attend the event, and class registration opened in mid-February. Monitor RMLSweb, RMLS™ on Facebook, or RMLS™ on Twitter for the latest updates.

Whether you’ll be attending classes, reaching out to REALTORS®, or window shopping around the trade fair floor, RMLS™ looks forward to seeing you at our annual trade fair this spring!

Thanks, Sponsors!

Special thanks to our sponsors for making this event possible…

Diamond

Gold

We’re so excited to announce that the All-New Homesnap Pro is now LIVE for RMLS™ subscribers!

Homesnap has been conducting extensive research for the past three years on what technology real estate agents actually want, and now it’s providing it all in one easy-to-use app that’s deeply integrated with RMLS™.

RMLS™ agents have already had free access to Homesnap Pro as an included MLS benefit, but Homesnap just released the biggest update in its history, making it the only real estate search app you — and your clients — will need.

Remember: You must be
logged into your Homesnap Pro account to access these agent-only features.

With the All-New Homesnap Pro, agents can now:

Find seller leads before the competition

An essential part of being a listing agent is finding
seller leads, and now that’s easier than ever with new property heatmaps and filters
for your priority zips. Use the app’s new Likelihood to List scores to identify
the homes most likely to list in the next 12 months to improve your prospecting
with Homesnap’s predictive algorithms. You also have free access to unlimited
homeowner contact information, so you can instantly reach out to homeowners by
phone or email.

Help buyers find homes that aren’t even on the market yet

With the new Likelihood to List scores, you can
identify properties that match your buyers’ search criteria but aren’t on the
market yet. Pair their existing search filters with homes that are Most Likely
to List soon, and you can expand their home search in a snap. Knowing the
homeowner contact info from Homesnap, you can strike up a conversation with the
homeowner and see if they’d be interested in selling.

Seamlessly collaborate with clients

Make the home buying process a harmonic one. Invite your buyers onto Homesnap so you can exchange in-app messages and get alerts when they favorite properties. Homesnap is like a safe haven for your clients, because they can get the same search experience as other national sites, without seeing any third-party advertising. Instead, they just get a seamless search experience powered directly by RMLS™.

With these advanced filters, agents and their clients will soon be able to search for the ideal home with unmatched precision. Say your client wants a condo with a parking space and an outdoor pool, and is a 15-minute commute from their job. With the All-New Homesnap Pro, you can compound these stipulations into one search to find your client the perfect home.

If you don’t have the Homesnap app yet, download it in the App Store and Google Play Store.

On February 5, 2020 Remine will release new features that provide relevant solutions to everyday agent needs. Below you’ll find an overview of new features that will be available to subscribers.

Client Facing Updates

Invite
Co-Buyers

Your clients are now able to invite a co-buyer to share in the home buying journey. They can invite multiple co-buyers who then become associated with you, the agent.

Agent
Profile Redesign

The agent profile has a fresh new look and feel. This gives you a more prominent, sophisticated profile page. This feature also includes a static ‘contact me’ card – encouraging prospective clients to contact you instantly. Simply scroll down to view active and recently sold listings. As before, you are still able to make edits to your profile via your settings.

Client Chat

You’re now able to chat with your clients, their co-buyers, and other agents within Remine. This new chat feature has a social media type feel – giving clients the everyday usability they crave while keeping the agent at the center of the home buying experience.

Agent Facing Updates

All Carts

This feature adds a ‘master cart’ function. By selecting ‘All Carts,’ you’re able to view a single list of every property you have within all of your carts. This allows you to sort properties, search for a specific address, manage columns, and perform bulk actions such as sending mailers, printing mailing labels, and exporting all properties into a CSV.

Customize
Print Reports

We know what you put in front of your client is extremely important. As a result, you are now able customize sections in all printable reports – including which AVMs you would like to include in your reports and other sections such as: Public Record, Schools, Demographics, Property History, Valuation, and Associated People.

Public
Record Data ‘One-Pager’

This feature enables you to compose a condensed, one-page version of a property’s public record data, with the option to include valuations.

Deeds &
Plats

You now can
purchase deeds and plats via Remine! This helps you ensure that the ownership
of a property is clear when the deed is considered “clean.” Deeds & plats
can be purchased using credits for $7/deed and $1/plat.

Advanced
Flood Maps

Gone are the days of needing multiple flood tools. You can now toggle on and off the flood boundaries to get a better representation of where the property structure lies on the flood map. *This feature is available exclusively on Remine Pro.

Here we go again! RMLS™ celebrates another year working hard for thousands of subscribers across Oregon and Southwest Washington by presenting an annual collection of numbers. These numbers show just how much RMLS™ has supported real estate activity over the course of 2019. We hope you enjoyed journeying along with us.

Compare the numbers below with the same from prior years and see how we’ve grown!

RMLSweb
Number of times subscribers logged in to RMLSweb: 1,723,212
Photos uploaded to listings: 2,033,235
Number of new prospect profiles created: 66,667
All residential properties listed for sale: 77,296
All residential properties sold: 57,475
Median sold price of homes listed: $365,000
Total dollar volume of homes sold: $23,224,875,000
Reports viewed: 8,148,542

RMLS™ Subscribers
RMLS™ subscribers as of December 2019: 14,524
New RMLS™ subscribers (compared to December 2018): 35
Increase in subscribers, above: +0.24
Subscribers who attended training: 3,331
Number of calls to the RMLS™ Help Desk: 24,382
Number of Help Desk chats: 5,595
Number of incidents reported using the “Report Issue” button: 5,715
CE hours distributed by RMLS™ at no cost to subscribers: 1,742
Total attendance at RMLS™ training events: 3,652

Social Media
RMLS™ followers on Facebook (December 31st): 4,361
RMLS™ followers on Twitter (December 31st): 2,940

RMLS™ regularly compiles plenty of other numbers as well! In addition to publishing Market Action each month, we have statistical summaries available on RMLSweb with information dating back several years.

We love numbers here at RMLS™, and hope you find this data as fun and interesting as we do.

RMLS™ is preparing to release phase 2 of its annual forms change on RMLSweb. In late January subscribers will notice revisions to the Oregon and Washington listing contracts.

Forms changes happen regularly on RMLSweb. Each change has been approved by the RMLS™ Forms Committee based on the feedback provided through hundreds of subscriber comments. Recommendations were then reviewed and approved by the RMLS™ Board of Directors.

Implementation of these changes is quite a task, largely on the part of the RMLSweb development team. The first phase of this years annual forms change was released in an overnight outage that took place on the night of December 9th. Phase 1 of the forms change project included a new supplement (New Construction), a redesign of the input sheets and supplement forms, and other changes to enhance the information available about property listed in the MLS.

Here is an overview of the changes that will be made to the Oregon and Washington listing contracts later in January 2020:

Layout Change [Oregon and Washington]

To help with readability of the forms, blank rows have been added between paragraphs. Row numbers will not appear on blank rows. In addition, when a paragraph includes “…a)….b)….c)…”, each of these will be placed onto it’s own indented row.

Brokerage Fee [Oregon and Washington]
UPDATED (January 8, 2020): Redline below was updated to include “…of the selling price or option exercise price of the Property…”

The following sentence was added to the “Brokerage Fee” section:
“From the brokerage fee an amount equal to _____% of the selling price or option exercise price of the Property or $ _____ will be offered to Cooperating Firm (BAC).”

Right to Compensation [Oregon and Washington]

In the last paragraph of the “Right to Compensation” section, the first sentence is now bolded.

Seller’s Property Disclosure Statement [Oregon]

The first sentence was updated to better denote the Oregon Revised Statute: “As required by Oregon law, SELLER will complete the Seller’s Property Disclosure Statement accurately based upon SELLER’s personal knowledge and information as required under ORS 105.464.“

Signature Section [Oregon]

In the signature section of the Oregon listing agreement, the dedicated fields for Participant Broker signature have been removed. In it’s place, fields were added to denote the address of the Broker’s Firm.

General Housekeeping [Oregon and Washington]

In both the Oregon and Washington contracts, some general housekeeping edits were made. One example is changing “…FIRM’S…” to “…FIRM’s…” and “…SELLER’S…” to “…SELLER’s…” to match formatting through out both contracts.

Looking for More Detail?

Dig into this phase 2 forms change:

• Preview redline changes to the Oregon listing contract.
• Preview updated Oregon listing contract.
• Preview redline changes to the Washington listing contract.
• Preview updated Washington listing contract.

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.

Technical Terry:

I’m sure you’ve heard the stories about RMLS™ subscribers having to resort to using products from other brokerages to deliver new listings or changed listings to their clients in a timelier fashion. This seems contrary to the mission of RMLS™, is it not? Why do we not have tools available either within RMLSweb or within one of your approved third-party vendor integrations?

Frustrated in Fairview

Dear FF:

I understand your frustration and concern. I do have some good news for you in this area. Remine recently added some new functionality to an already great product that should solve the issue you mention above regarding delivery of new / changed listings to your customers in a timelier way. Here are some details on that new set of functionalities:

Saved Search

Stay up to date on property updates through the Saved Search
feature! When you save a search, you’ll receive email notifications when new
properties meet your search criteria, or when property characteristics change,
like MLS status or listing price. You can also automatically update your client
on the newest properties that meet your Save Search criteria.

How to get started with Saved Searches?

1. Log into Remine!
2. Set up your agent home page
3. Create a saved search
4. Manage your saved searches

Carts

The product feature formerly known as Track is now
called “Carts.”

Carts enable agents to share specific properties or
groups of properties with their clients and receive quick and easy feedback.

Previously, RMLS™ subscribers could maintain up to
100 properties with the Track feature, that number increases to 500 properties
in Carts.

Consumer Portal Improvement

As
a RMLS™ subscriber, you can create your own public-facing portal as a free lead
capture system. To participate, you simply need to activate your Remine account
and invite your contacts. The more invitations you send, the more visible you
are to future clients.

You
can invite unlimited contacts to your portal, to keep them tied to your
business and the MLS.

Additional Enhancements from the recent Remine update:

• New User Interface: A
  cleaner, more modern and intuitive user interface is now available, on both the
  desktop and mobile applications.
• CMA 360: An improved CMA experience.
  Remine offers the only CMA in the industry that searches MLS and off-market
  comps.
• Property Details Page:
  Format and layout have been improved
• Tax Data: Tax data has been improved as
  well.

Technical Terry

This Week’s Lockbox Activity

For the week of November 4-10, 2019, these charts show the number of times RMLS™ subscribers opened SentriLock lockboxes in Oregon and Washington. Activity decreased again last week Washington and increased in Oregon.

For a larger version of each chart, visit the RMLS™ photostream on Flickr.

Here we go again! RMLS™ celebrates another year working hard for thousands of subscribers across Oregon and Southwest Washington by presenting an annual collection of numbers. These numbers show just how much RMLS™ has supported real estate activity over the course of 2018. We hope you enjoyed journeying along with us.

Compare the numbers below with the same from prior years and see how we’ve grown!

RMLSweb
Number of times subscribers logged in to RMLSweb: 1,662,042
Photos uploaded to listings: 1,981,602
Number of new prospect profiles created: 71,914
All residential properties listed for sale: 78,378
All residential properties sold: 57,902
Median sold price of homes listed: $350,000
Total dollar volume of homes sold: $22,455,096,000
Reports viewed: 8,286,339

RMLS™ Subscribers
RMLS™ subscribers as of December 2018: 14,489
New RMLS™ subscribers (compared to December 2017): 516
Increase in subscribers, above: +3.69
Subscribers who attended training: 5,406
Number of calls to the RMLS™ Help Desk: 27,794
Number of Help Desk chats: 5,215
Number of incidents reported using the “Report Issue” button: 7,027
CE hours distributed by RMLS™ at no cost to subscribers: 1,565
Total attendance at RMLS™ training events: 5,747

RMLS.com
Total customer visits to RMLS.com: 2,120,150
Unique visits: 791,455
Total listing views: 1,145,379

Social Media
RMLS™ followers on Facebook (December 31st): 4,289
RMLS™ followers on Twitter (December 31st): 2,937

RMLS™ regularly compiles plenty of other numbers as well! In addition to publishing Market Action each month, we have statistical summaries available on RMLSweb with information dating back several years.

We love numbers here at RMLS™, and hope you find this data as fun and interesting as we do.