This Week’s Lockbox Activity

For the week of May 13-19, 2013, these charts show the number of times RMLS™ subscribers opened Supra lockboxes in Oregon and Washington. Activity increased in both Oregon and Washington this week.

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

As noted in last week’s preview of the forms changes coming this year to RMLSweb, the RMLS™ Forms Committee meets each year to review subscriber suggestions and recommend changes to RMLSweb listing input forms. After changes are approved by the RMLS™ Board of Directors, our staff works diligently to execute the changes as soon as possible.

We’re just about ready to unveil the results of this annual project! Here are a few of the biggest differences you’ll notice after the changes go live:

• Public Remarks Increased: the Public Remarks field will increase in size from 380 to 440 characters.
• Farm Y/N?: a new Farm Y/N field will be available for residential listings. Removing FARM from the property type field will allow the Property Type of Detached or Residential-Manufactured to be selected. Choosing Y will provide the Farms Supplement form, which can be used by the listing agent to fully describe the property.
• Offer/Negotiation: the Offer/Negotiation field will now be required. This field indicates instructions for presenting offers and negotiations, such as Call Listing Agent, Listing Agent Only, Seller Directly, or See Documents.
• Map Coordinates: the Map Page, Map Column, and Map Row fields (which make up Map Coordinates) will remain required for listings in the following counties: Clackamas, Columbia, Curry, Lane, Multnomah, Washington, and Yamhill. In all other areas, it will be optional.
• Export Reports: Export Reports will have additional fields added to the end of reports.

We’ve prepared more documentation for those who wish to read more detail. View a brief summary document of the annual forms change, and a color-coded PDF showing changes to the Data Input Forms and Listing Contracts.

We’ll be updating two other small projects as well. First, we’ll be tweaking the Hotsheet Search to include an option to search for a specific price change amount. Agents will soon be be able to run a Hotsheet Search (left) to find listings that have increased or decreased in price.

Finally, we’ll also be restoring four hour session times! Our Unauthorized Access project reduced session times in February, meaning accounts were logged out after 90 minutes of inactivity. Subscriber feedback prompted RMLS™ to reconsider, and we’re restoring the previous four hour sessions.

Changing so many pieces of RMLSweb requires a longer outage than our regular monthly maintenance. We expect these changes to require a lengthy outage—possibly as long as 12 hours. As with our regular maintenance outages, a Maintenance Mode version of RMLSweb will be available, available to subscribers only for search purposes.

RMLS™ puts much thought and care into developing the best system for regional REALTORS®. We hope our subscribers appreciate this work and will continue to share comments and questions!

This Week’s Lockbox Activity

For the week of May 6-12, 2013, these charts show the number of times RMLS™ subscribers opened Supra lockboxes in Oregon and Washington. Activity fell in both Oregon and Washington this week.

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

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!

RMLSweb Mobile will be getting a little friendlier this week!

On the evening of May 22nd, RMLS™ staff will be enhancing the mobile site—adding the most requested capabilities in Listing Load and introducing interface changes designed to make the site easier for tablet users.

Listing Load will soon be accessible via the main page, and users will be able to make some changes to their listings using the site. Subscribers will be able to change the status of a listing, the price, and expiration date.

Changes to the interface will include enlarging the size of text and on-screen buttons.

Office staff will also be allowed to access the mobile site after this update. To better secure RMLSweb, this will require those staff members (personal assistants, input staff, and office managers) to agree to new Terms of Service when they log in for the first time after the changes are made. (See a redlined version of the new RMLSweb Terms of Service for office staff.)

These improvements to our mobile site also necessitated a small update to the RMLSweb Privacy Policy, which will also take effect after the site is updated. (See a redlined version of the new RMLSweb Privacy Policy.)

RMLS™ knows there many subscribers rely upon their tablets and smartphones for business. We hope these updates will be helpful, as we continue working on our RMLSweb browser and tablet compatibility project this year.

This Week’s Lockbox Activity

For the week of April 29-May 5, 2013, these charts show the number of times RMLS™ subscribers opened Supra lockboxes in Oregon and Washington. Activity increased significantly in Washington, but fell slightly in Oregon this week.

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

The RMLS™ Board of Directors recently approved a set of changes to the waiver system, recommended by a Waiver Task Force.

What is a Waiver?

When a principal broker joins RMLS™, all office licensees are also expected to become dues-paying subscribers.

A variety of circumstances may necessitate a request to waive these dues. A licensee may act solely as a personal assistant. Other licensees may oversee property management inside a realty office. A broker may fall ill and need to take time off due to their illness, or stop practicing for another reason. These situations are all common waiver requests.

What is Changing?

RMLS™ is required to give written notice to subscribers about rules changes. Beginning Monday, May 13, 2013, the following changes will take place:

• Individuals on waiver may not have their name or contact information included on any promotional material for any active listing on RMLSweb.
• The minimum time period for a waiver request will be six months, with the exception of an illness waiver, which will be three months.
• A $250 fee for violation of the terms and conditions of the waiver will be applied to participants (principal brokers) as well as the licensee on waiver.
• If a licensed personal assistant is found to be in violation, they will be charged back dues for full access, not to exceed one year.
• The “other” category will be removed, and a “Property Management” category will take its place.

Need to know more? Read the redlined waiver document. Click the links to apply for an RMLS™ waiver as a new subscriber, or apply for an RMLS™ waiver as an existing subscriber.

This post was written by Lizbeth Hale—a REALTOR® working in Clackamas, OR who recently helped found the Oregon chapter of the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals. She wrote in to share more about the organization with RMLS™ subscribers. NAHREP Oregon will be holding two events this month: a NAHREP mixer on May 8th in Clackamas, and “Winning the Multiple Offer Bidding War,” a class on May 22nd in North Portland.

The National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals (NAHREP) is a trade association with 20,000 members and 45 chapters across the country who are dedicated to advancing sustainable Hispanic ownership. Hispanics are the fastest-growing demographic in the United States, with purchasing power of over $1 trillion and a projected $1.5 trillion by 2015. The Hispanic demographic, currently 52 million, is the second largest consumer group in the US and has increased 42 percent since the 2002 Census. While the overall US population is aging sharply, the median age of the Latino population is 28 years old, squarely within the average new homebuyer age of 26-45 years old. These demographic and consumer trends make it an economic imperative within the housing industry to execute strategies to best serve this burgeoning segment of the US population.

NAHREP accomplishes its mission by:

• educating and empowering the real estate professionals who serve Hispanic home buyers and sellers
• advocating for public policy that supports the trade association’s mission
• facilitating relationships among industry stakeholders, real estate practitioners, and other housing industry professionals.

Networking Opportunities
NAHREP conferences, seminars, and our chapter meetings provide a unique forum for the excited exchange between members of ideas, experiences, and shared challenges. These gatherings offer a rich cultural/business connection that our members consider invaluable.

Advocacy
NAHREP is the largest minority trade group in the real estate industry. We have a powerful and influential voice on legislative issues related to lending parameters, business practices, and regulations that affect access to homeownership.

We at NAHREP believe homes should be sold organically and individually whenever possible. This will allow Hispanics and other minority groups to achieve their homeownership goals, while simultaneously stimulating the economy. Property disposition strategies that favor investors and Wall Street firms such as auctions, bulk sales, and “drop-bid” trustee sales should be discontinued in markets where there is strong demand for residential properties.

NAHREP believes public policies can help provide Hispanic and other minority groups with an equal opportunity to become proud American homeowners, as well as provide desperately needed economic activity in the housing market.

As the President of NAHREP Oregon, I believe that it is every professional’s responsibility to get involved with NAHREP. To better understand the diversity growth in Oregon and better serve an underserved community. Hispanics prefer to do business with a professional that understands their culture, even if they don’t speak the same language.

Hispanics will make 40 percent of homebuyers in the next 20 years. The Hispanic population in Oregon is the 18th largest in the nation—467,922, or 12% of the state’s total population. Oregon Hispanics had a purchasing power of $7 billion. In 2009, Oregon was among the ten states with the highest Latino business growth rate in the nation (43.6 percent), with a rate nearly double the national rate of growth. In Oregon, 40% of Hispanics are homeowners.

The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality has begun offering training to educate those impacted by Oregon’s new woodstove laws, such as homeowners, home buyers, and the REALTORS® working with each. The following was written by Rachel Sakata of the Oregon DEQ.

Have a client who is selling or buying a home with an uncertified woodstove?

The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality is offering a free training presentation to provide answers to common questions you might have regarding the removal and destruction of an uncertified woodstove at the time of home sale.

As you probably already know, DEQ has requirements regarding uncertified woodstoves. The law helps people from unnecessary wood smoke pollution and went into effect in 2010. Uncertified woodstoves burn about 70 percent dirtier than certified woodstoves. These older polluting stoves may also have been installed improperly, posing potential fire hazard and safety concerns.

DEQ’s free training presentation answers the most common questions you might have. It can help you identify:

• if you have an uncertified woodstove;
• what devices are exempt from the removal requirement;
• how to remove and destroy the uncertified woodstove;
• how to notify DEQ;
• other general questions (penalties, who is responsible, etc.).

This training can be viewed individually or given to a group. DEQ can also provide a limited number of trainings in the Portland metro area to any large groups of interested REALTORS®.

This is a great way to refresh your knowledge of woodstoves and provide the latest information to your clients. For more information contact Nancy Cardwell at (503) 229-6610 or email woodstoves@deq.state.or.us.

This Week’s Lockbox Activity

For the week of April 22-28, 2013, these charts show the number of times RMLS™ subscribers opened Supra lockboxes in Oregon and Washington. Activity fell slightly in both Oregon and Washington this week.

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