This Week’s Lockbox Activity
For the week of May 18-24, 2015, these charts show the number of times RMLS™ subscribers opened SentriLock lockboxes in Oregon and Washington. Activity in Washington increased this week, while activity in Oregon decreased*.
For a larger version of each chart, visit the RMLS™ photostream on Flickr.
*=Data previously published between February 9-May 24, 2015 was incomplete. This graph has been corrected accordingly.
This Week’s Lockbox Activity
For the week of May 11-17, 2015, these charts show the number of times RMLS™ subscribers opened SentriLock lockboxes in Oregon and Washington. Activity in both Oregon and Washington decreased this week.
For a larger version of each chart, visit the RMLS™ photostream on Flickr.
“Where did my in-progress listing go? I’ve entered it three times and now I can’t find it again!”
The RMLS™ Help Desk frequently receives calls like this, and we’re happy to announce that one of the new features being released on RMLSweb Wednesday, May 27th should solve this frustrating issue.
In-Progress Listing Changes
Help Desk Technician Joanne Fulgaro reports the Help Desk receives over 50 calls a month from subscribers unable to find a listing they had saved in their in-progress list. “This was not only time consuming, but frustrating for our subscribers,” she notes.
After Help Desk staff describes a work-around to access the correct listing, the subscriber could then continue their work where they left off. (At this point, multiple in-progress listings for the same property would exist.) As of Thursday this work-around will not be needed, as the in-progress listings page will function differently, displaying the most recently saved in-progress listing at the top (above).
Sidebar Improvements
Subscribers will also notice changes to the right sidebar of the RMLSweb desktop page starting Thursday. A new tabbed interface allows users to toggle between sidebar features without scrolling. The system will keep the last accessed tab at the top, so if a user only uses a certain feature of the sidebar, the tab will remain on top when they come back. A front/back toggle button also means subscribers utilizing custom columns on searches can send the sidebar behind their search results if needed.
Responsive Menu Bar
Finally, on Thursday we’ll be changing the way the RMLSweb menu bar behaves. Users who tire of scrolling up each page to access different parts of RMLSweb will rejoice, as the menu bar will remain fixed at the top of the browser window for convenience. This was a project prioritized for 2015 by the RMLS™ Board of Directors.
We’re always trying to make RMLSweb better for subscribers, and hope this latest round of changes will be helpful. Subscribers can always contact the RMLS™ Help Desk at (503) 872-8002 or (877) 256-2169 with questions or suggestions for future improvements.
DON’T FORGET: the monthly RMLSweb outage usually scheduled during the last Wednesday of each month from 10pm-2am Thursday will be a little longer this month. RMLS™ technicians will not only be executing new features to the site and performing system maintenance, but also replacing hardware. RMLSweb will be in maintenance mode from 10pm Wednesday, May 27th until 4am Thursday, May 28th.
This Week’s Lockbox Activity
For the week of May 4-10, 2015, these charts show the number of times RMLS™ subscribers opened SentriLock lockboxes in Oregon and Washington. Activity in Oregon and Washington increased this week.
For a larger version of each chart, visit the RMLS™ photostream on Flickr.
Following is a guest post by Jo Becker, Education/Outreach Specialist for the Fair Housing Council of Oregon.
I recently reread a 2009 report produced by the National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) on how internet housing ads perpetuate discrimination. As we can attest from our own office’s investigations, illegal ads are prolific online, decades after the Fair Housing Act made them illegal. Following are some highlights from the report.
There is no disagreement that landlords, real estate agents, and others who create and place these discriminatory ads are legally liable for violating the Fair Housing Act. In passing the Fair Housing Act in 1968, Congress wanted to hold publishers responsible for third parties as a way of eliminating the problem most efficiently.
Every day in the United States, thousands of people view rental advertisements that illegally deny housing to families with children and others protected by the federal Fair Housing Act. Although newspapers have been held liable under the Fair Housing Act for publishing discriminatory housing advertisements with statements such as “no kids,” or “couples only,” the publishers of similar ads on the internet have not been held to the same legal standard.
In order to address this disparity in the law, which holds print advertisements and online advertisements to separate and unequal standards, the National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) urges Congress to amend the Communications Decency Act.
The Fair Housing Act makes it illegal to make, print, or publish; or cause to be made, printed, or published; housing ads that discriminate, limit, or deny equal access to apartments or homes because of race, color, national origin, sex, religion, familial status, and disability. [There are, of course, additional state and locally protected classes.]
In order to comply with the Fair Housing Act, newspapers utilize screening systems to keep advertisements containing discriminatory statements from being printed. [And they’re often much more conservative than fair housing advocates are! Take a look at FHCO’s popular article, The List, for more on this and related urban legends.] However, a legal interpretation of the Communications Decency Act (CDA) holds that interactive internet providers, like Craigslist, are not publishers and therefore are not liable for violating the Fair Housing Act if discriminatory housing ads are published on their sites.
Yet it needn’t be difficult. Internet providers can implement filtering systems just as print publications can (arguably it’d be easier for them to do so) to prevent individuals from posting illegally discriminatory verbiage. Either way, whether or not a site is liable in a given situation (we feel it is), the poster most certainly is!
As a housing provider advertising residential properties, you should know that fair housing advocates such as our office, national groups, and others, periodically comb sites and publications for violations. Our advice: treat any form of advertising—whatever your role is in it—as if it falls under federal, state, and/or local fair housing laws. This includes written, printed, online, posted signs, oral statements, etc., whether free or paid.
During the past year, NFHA and [several of its members] identified more than 7,500 discriminatory ads placed by housing providers on various websites. Yet, only 1,000 complaints have been filed with the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) because both HUD and private fair housing agencies lack the staff and time to work through the cumbersome process required to identify and bring these landlords to justice.
Sadly, these ads reinforce the message to public readers that refusing to rent, sell, lend, or insure based on any of the protected classes is acceptable and even legal. What’s more, it confuses those who wish to follow the law or would be inclined to if they were better informed. All the reason for the proactive stance FHCO has always taken on education as a tool to eradicate illegal housing discrimination coupled, of course, with enforcement activities—because the battle won’t be won with a carrot alone.
The Fair Housing Act covers all advertising for the rental or sale of homes as well as advertising for home loans, homeowners/renters insurance, and any service related to housing.
Language in the Fair Housing Act and in the regulations implementing the law makes it clear that the law is also intended to prevent newspapers and other media from publishing advertisements or notices that limit housing to specific individuals or indicate a preference for certain people. The law states:
It shall be unlawful to make, print, or publish or cause to be made, printed, or published any notice, statement, or advertisement with respect to the sale of rental of a dwelling that indicates any preference, limitation, or discrimination based on [protected class].
The NFHA report identified thousands of ads that violate the Fair Housing Act—in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, including Portland and Bend, Oregon. As a result, the national organization filed over a thousand complaints with HUD against posters.
The most common Fair Housing Act violation that NFHA and its members found on the internet was advertising discriminating against families with children. NFHA found ads stating preferences for tenants who were “single” or “a couple of individuals.” Phrases such as “perfect for young couple” or “three adults” were found in ads for houses or apartments with multiple bedrooms. These ads indicate an illegal preference or limitation and discourage families with children from even considering contacting a landlord. [Note: this is different than occupancy standards.]
Many of the properties with such discriminatory language have multiple bedrooms, and would be ideal for families with children. Some examples of discriminatory language identified include:
Even if these happen to be located in designated senior communities, the description of the community as an “adult community” or the advertising of “no kids allowed” is specifically disallowed by HUD.
A couple of my favorites that touch on other protected classes include:
and from here in Oregon…
Be sure you’re well informed and complying with both the letter and the spirit of fair housing laws. Schedule a fair housing class for your staff today, or ask your local association when FHCO will be offering a class through them. In the meantime, visit the newly revised Fair Housing Council of Oregon website and make full use of the information and resources posted there. Sign up for the free FHCO electronic newsletter to keep up to speed with developments in the fair housing world.
This Week’s Lockbox Activity
For the week of April 27-May 3, 2015, these charts show the number of times RMLS™ subscribers opened SentriLock lockboxes in Oregon and Washington. Activity in both states decreased this week.
For a larger version of each chart, visit the RMLS™ photostream on Flickr.
The National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) recently released a new tool to manage what potential clients learn about you on Realtor.com and major social media sites.
Have you claimed your free Realtor.com profile page yet?
The Realtor.com profile page is a one-stop portal that allows NAR members to connect with clients looking for a REALTOR® while searching for homes on Realtor.com.
The profile allows each REALTOR® to manage the display of information and client recommendations from a variety of social sites, including Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. This means clients can easily find an experienced REALTOR® with a particular specialization or language, or discover a REALTOR® who has served someone they know. One-stop shopping for clients, and easy lead generation for brokers!
What do you need to start? A NRDS number and your browser. Claim your profile today on Realtor.com, then peruse the quick start guide to make the most of your new profile.
This Week’s Lockbox Activity
For the week of April 20-26, 2015, these charts show the number of times RMLS™ subscribers opened SentriLock lockboxes in Oregon and Washington. Activity in both Oregon and Washington increased this week.
For a larger version of each chart, visit the RMLS™ photostream on Flickr.
This Week’s Lockbox Activity
For the week of April 13-19, 2015, these charts show the number of times RMLS™ subscribers opened SentriLock lockboxes in Oregon and Washington. Activity increased in both states this week.
For a larger version of each chart, visit the RMLS™ photostream on Flickr.
Click to enlarge
Ever wonder how distressed properties fare in terms of their cumulative days on market (CDOM) versus traditional listings?
RMLS™ tax data guru Kim Hutchinson has been tracking CDOM on RMLSweb since July 2009 and as a follow-up to last week’s release of the Q1 2015 residential distressed properties infographics, we put his collected monthly records into graph form.
Enjoy!