The boxes are unpacked, the pictures are on the wall, we are settling in. . .now all we need is YOU to come visit our new Portland location!
RMLS™ is having an open house on Tuesday, May 1 from 10 AM to 3 PM. Stop by and grab a pastry or cookie, have a cup of coffee and say hello to our staff.
We would love to meet you, so please come visit us!
By Nick Church
As a Multiple Listing Service we often get the question: “Which Smartphone is the best for Realtors®?” There’s no easy answer to that question. The predominant phones on the market, which currently have most of the features a Realtor® might need, are:
The availability of a particular smartphone is completely dependent on your service provider (ex. AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile or Verizon.) Some sources will try to tell you that as a Realtor® you need a specific device or operating system to do your business. This just simply isn’t true. It really depends on your preferences and how you want to use your phone for business.
We’ve made RMLSweb available in an abbreviated mobile version, rather than an app, so that it can be used on any smartphone or tablet. It’s important to note that at this time you will not have access to Listing Load on a mobile device.
As for the smartphone and your Supra key service – there are many different options of approved devices and you can you read more here. All of the phones mentioned above require the purchase of a fob to work with the Supra eKey system.
While RMLS™ cannot recommend a specific phone or carrier over another, our general suggestion is that you go into your local store (when you have no intention to purchase) and simply “try them out.” Many carriers have versions of their devices that you can explore, navigating to the Internet, finding various links, seeing how you’ll type in messages, etc. I think you’ll find being able to experience the device will help you find that “perfect fit.” There isn’t a “best phone for Realtors®.” There’s simply a best phone for you.
If you have questions on how to utilize your new smartphone with our system, feel free to email RMLS™ Training or the RMLS™ Help Desk You can also call Help Desk at 503-872-8002 or 877-256-2169 (toll-free). We’re happy to answer any questions you may have.
This Week’s Lockbox Activity Increases for Washington and Oregon
When comparing the week of April 9 – April 15 with the week prior, the number of times an RMLS™ subscriber opened a Supra Lockbox increased 19.3% in Washington and 10.6% in Oregon.
On April 22 we mark the anniversary of what many consider the birth of the modern environmental movement—Earth Day.
What is Earth Day and how did it come about? According to earthday.org:
“The idea came to Earth Day founder Gaylord Nelson, then a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin, after witnessing the ravages of the 1969 massive oil spill in Santa Barbara, California. Inspired by the student anti-war movement, he realized that if he could infuse that energy with an emerging public consciousness about air and water pollution, it would force environmental protection onto the national political agenda. Senator Nelson announced the idea for a “national teach-in on the environment” to the national media; persuaded Pete McCloskey, a conservation-minded Republican Congressman, to serve as his co-chair; and recruited Denis Hayes as national coordinator. Hayes built a national staff of 85 to promote events across the land.”
In honor of Earth Day we wanted to take a moment to point out some of the ways you can call attention to energy efficiency and green certification in your listings.
In Listing Load as you add or modify a residential listing you’ll find a field called “Energy Efficiency.” If you’re not sure of the definition of the abbreviated features simply click on the “Energy Efficiency” field name and as pop-up list will appear.
Check up to six features that apply to your listing. Energy efficiency is very important to many potential buyers so the more complete the list of energy efficient features the better.
If the property has a Green Certification, like LEED or Energy Star, the year it was certified is required so make sure it’s available when entering your listing information.
You may notice that some of the energy efficiency features are also available for selection in other fields for example FOR-95 can also be found as a heat field choice.
If you have any questions about our energy efficiency features or Green Certification fields, please call our Help Desk at 503-872-8002 or send them an email. We’re here to help our subscribers.
Earth Day Activities
Portland Earth Day Activities for Kids
By Nick Church and Mary-Frances Makichen
The National Association of Realtors® has scheduled “National Open House Weekend” for April 28 and 29. This is a great opportunity for Realtors® to showcase the amazing properties currently on the market.
This event actually started in Washington State! For years, several Washington REALTOR® Associations conducted open-house events. They were so successful that the first state-wide open house weekend was held in 2009. In 2010 the concept went national and nearly every state participated. Once again this year the National Association of REALTORS® is helping to promote this event. 2012 will be bigger and better with hundreds of thousands of open houses across the nation and currently in 13 other countries! The event has gone global.
What you may not be aware of is that many real estate websites, including our public site www.rmls.com and the National Association of Realtors® site: www.realtor.com, display open house information. This information comes directly from properly entered open house information in RMLSweb.
We know many of you are going to join in on National Open House weekend and want to remind all subscribers to get the most out of your advertising by making sure your open house information is properly entered in RMLSweb. Check out our “How to Enter an Open House on RMLSweb” tutorial for clear instructions and help.
For some quick tips on holding an open house, check out these ideas from Realtor Magazine .
By Mary-Frances Makichen, RMLS™ Communications Specialist
A couple of weeks ago I had the privilege of participating as a judge for the Fair Housing Council of Oregon’s (FHCO) annual poster contest. This annual contest is open to children in first through eighth grade. Entry is free and prizes are awarded for the winning submissions. The theme this year was, “Fair Housing Welcomes Everyone.”
It was amazing to see all the creativity that kids poured into their entries. Better yet, it was fun to note that kids want fair housing for everyone including dogs, cats, rabbits and turtles. It’s gratifying that this contest gets children thinking about the idea of fair housing and inclusiveness at an early age.
This was the first time I had judged the contest but many of the other judges have done so for years. In the course of our time together they talked about how even many adults don’t understand the mission of FHCO.
Here is a brief description of the work carried out by FHCO in their own words:
The Fair Housing Council of Oregon (FHCO) is a statewide civil rights organization whose mission is to eliminate housing discrimination through access to enforcement and education. We are a nonprofit corporation, not a governmental agency.
We promote equal access to housing by providing education, outreach, technical assistance, and enforcement opportunities specifically related to federal, state, and local fair housing laws.
In the end we were all very pleased with the grand prize winner that was chosen. If you want to know more about FHCO please visit www.fhco.org
This Week’s Lockbox Activity Decreases for Washington and Increases in Oregon
When comparing the week of April 2 – April 8 with the week prior, the number of times an RMLS™ subscriber opened a Supra lockbox decreased 11,4% in Washington and increased1.6% in Oregon.
This Week’s Lockbox Activity Is Mixed for Washington and Oregon
When comparing the week of March 26 – April 1 with the week prior, the number of times an RMLS™ subscriber opened a Supra lockbox decreased 7.6% in Washington and increased 1.6% in Oregon.
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.
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.
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.
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.
This Week’s Lockbox Activity Increases for Washington and Decreases in Oregon
When comparing the week of March 19 – March 25 with the week prior, the number of times an RMLS™ subscriber opened a Supra lockbox increased 3.6% in Washington and decreased 3.2% in Oregon.
