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 2020. We hope you enjoyed journeying along with us.
RMLSweb Number of times subscribers logged in to RMLSweb: 1,920,055 Photos uploaded to listings: 1,939,599 Number of new prospect profiles created: 75,157 All residential properties listed for sale: 71,940 All residential properties sold: 61,350 Median sold price of homes listed: $397,000 Total dollar volume of homes sold: $27,089,173,000 Reports viewed: 11,929,621
RMLS Subscribers RMLS subscribers as of December 2020: 14,894 New RMLS subscribers (compared to December 2019): +370 Increase in subscribers, above: +2.5% Subscribers who attended training: 9,326 via 892 individual classes Number of calls to the RMLS Help Desk: 19,846 calls
Number of Bug Reports: 8,821 Number of Help Desk chats: 5642 Number of incidents reported using the “Report Issue” button: 5387 CE hours distributed by RMLS™ at no cost to subscribers: 664
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.
Use RatePlug for Accurate Payment Estimates, Virtual Flyers and Pre-Approval Links
RatePlug puts accurate monthly home payment estimates from your trusted lenders directly within the property reports you send your clients through your RMLSTM system. Their Virtual Flyer Program makes it simple to share your listings with buyers in seconds via email or text. Get your buyers thinking about affordability and asking questions about their financing earlier, while avoiding closing snafus later!
Click Here – to view a 1-minute overview of how RatePlug helps you, your buyers, and your lenders.
No cost for RMLSTM members to enroll.*
Displays ONLY your trusted lending sources.
Interactive, real-time mortgage information.
Link directly to your lender’s Pre-approval process.
Notifies you of special financing options (FHA, VA, USDA, etc.).
Virtual Flyer can be emailed, texted or posted on social media.
Click here to learn more or to opt-in to this tool that is free as part of your core RMLSTM subscription!
*lenders pay a license fee to be displayed
Check out INRIX Drive Time on RMLSweb!
The INRIX Drive Time feature will be ready for you to use in RMLSweb the afternoon of Tuesday, March 26. This new mapping feature allows you to highlight an area — based on specified addresses and available traffic data — of the map, and see listings that meet your clients’ needs for a reasonable drive from home to work, school, a hospital, a grocery store, etc.
Drive Time is based on typical traffic conditions, rather than actual traffic, which includes nonrecurring activity, such as an accident or construction. With Drive Time, you can analyze the extent of a drive by day of week, time of day and length of journey.
Log into RMLSweb, then follow these steps to create a map that shows listings within your desired drive time between locations:
Navigate to “Map Search”
Click the “Locate” field and enter your destination address
Click “Go” to zoom the map in around a pin at the address
Click “Draw” and select the “Drive Time” icon
Enter your desired Drive Time Duration
Choose either “Arrival Time” or “Departure Time”
Click the “Calculate” button
Click “Count” to see listings in the selected drive time area
To learn more about INRIX Drive Time and other map search capabilities, contact an RMLS™ Trainer at training@rmls.com to schedule your own personal one-on-one training session. Please let us know if you have any questions!
RMLS™ Client Reports get a Facelift!
You asked, and we answered! Mobile devices are so prevalent in real estate that we took steps to modernize our client reports.
Starting on Wednesday, April 8 around noon, we will roll out a new, responsive format for these reports. In other words, they will look clean and streamlined on smartphones and tablets, not just a shrunken version of the desktop view.
The most essential info will be shown right up top, with alternating colors for each section to make for easier reading. Speaking of easier reading, the default text size will be 2 points larger (and in a spiffier font!), which helps when looking at a screen or at a printout.
Take a look at the before and after examples below. Bear in mind, this “new” example is just a mockup…you will see an actual photo when you look up client reports in the future.
The old look…
…and the NEW look!
We welcome your feedback, so please let us know what you think. If this new look is as popular as toilet paper and hand sanitizer, we might find even more ways to modernize our reporting features.
Thanks for being a loyal subscriber, and stay safe as we continue to flatten the curve!
RMLS™ by the Numbers 2019
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.
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
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.
Annual Forms Change: Listing Agreements to be Updated January 2020 (Updated January 8)
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.
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.
Photo Loader Woes, Portland Move: Ask Technical Terry
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:
Aaaaargh!!!! Does every subscriber have the same issues I do when uploading or reordering photos in the Listing Load Photo Manager? I’ll reorder photos, save my work, then discover that not only was my new order not saved but sometimes the photos disappear! Am I the only one having this issue? What can I do?
POed in Portland
POP:
Not all RMLS™ subscribers are having the issue but you’re not the only one who is. And I’m glad to tell you, today is a new day! Our development team has created a tool you can use if you’re having that issue again.
Behold—the new Refresh button on the RMLSweb Photo Loader!
Here’s how it works: if you’re using the Photo Manager and believe your listing photos have disappeared, reordering hasn’t happened, or are experiencing some other issue, click the Refresh button above the image preview (see above). This will refresh the work done inside the Photo Manager (like refreshing a web browser) and the issue should be resolved.
If you find that this new tool is not resolving the issue, there could be something else at play. One behavior the RMLS™ Help Desk has noticed while working with subscribers is that if someone is uploading a batch of photos and closes the Photo Manager window before processing is 100% complete, using the new Refresh button is not going to magically restore the whole batch.
The majority of Photo Manager issues have been fixed by using the Refresh button though, and that should have a profound impact on you and other subscribers who have been experiencing this issue. If you use it and the issue persists though, contact the RMLS™ Help Desk and they’ll do their best to assist!
Technical Terry
Dear ATT:
I remember hearing a while back that the RMLS™ office in Portland is going to move. When is that move happening? Where will you be?
Roman Realtor
Dear RR:
What a timely question! The Portland office will be moving in just a couple of weeks, but other parts of RMLS™ will see some impacts as well.
First things first: as we reported back in August, the new office location will be in Southwest Portland at 16101 SW 72nd Avenue. The office in Northeast Portland will close its doors at 12:00 PM (noon) on Friday, November 1st. On Monday, November 4th, the office will remain closed, but we plan to be open and available for RMLS™ subscribers on Tuesday, November 5th! We also plan to invite subscribers in for an open house a few weeks after we’ve settled in.
While the office in Portland is in transition, the RMLS™ Help Desk and Front Desk will still be available for questions by phone and via email, as we utilize staff across the region to assist subscribers through those methods.
Once the Portland office has moved, the RMLS™ office in Clark County will close at 12:00 PM (noon) on Friday, November 8th in order to do some office maintenance involving furniture. We’ll still have staff on email and phones ready to assist, and otherwise Clark County REALTORS® are advised to plan to do any office business that morning.
We’ll have up-to-date information posted on the RMLSweb desktop as needed, so don’t forget to check there for the latest!
Technical Terry
RMLS™ Taps Into TimeTap
Need to register for a training class at your local RMLS™ office?
RMLS™ recently replaced its training and event registration administration, integrating TimeTap on RMLSweb! This scheduling software is more intuitive to users, saving RMLS™ subscribers time when they wish to reserve a spot in a RMLS™ training class or at an external RMLS™ event.
Check TimeTap out on RMLSweb under the Toolkit menu. Select “Training Registration,” and TimeTap will guide you through the steps needed to find and register for a class.
Once a location is selected, all the training opportunities for that location will appear in a list, along with a brief description of each. Select the class, then a list of available dates will appear, with availability for each. The final step is to submit your personal information and submit via the “Save” button on the top right.
Special events that RMLS™ hosts, such as Broker Education Series (BES) events, will have a separate registration link.
TimeTap has been live on RMLSweb for about a month, and in that time subscribers have reported very few issues with the new system. We hope that this convenient registration process will make things easier and save time for all RMLS™ subscribers who wish to attend training.
Remine Gets a Refreshed Look and More Features
Remine, available through RMLSweb since March, is getting a new look and some new features! This tool, which gives REALTORS® modern tools and a wealth of data for prospecting, made a series of changes to the site on September 30th.
Aside from a refreshed look, REALTORS® who explore the site will find two notable terminology changes: what used to be “Track” is now “Cart,” and what was called “Discover” is now “Search.”
Remine rolled out a public-facing website which REALTORS® can use for lead generation and to work with active clients to share property listings. Before members of the public may view properties on this site, they must choose an agent to work with as part of the registration process. In some cases these are new leads, and REALTORS® may log in to the site to connect with these future clients. (This client-facing site features a coral version of the Remine branding whereas the REALTOR® side features the color blue…you’ll be able to tell at a glance if you’re looking at the proper site!)
The company also launched their Remine mobile app (available through Google Play or Apple’s App Store), which REALTORS® may use to easily message clients or upload contacts from their device, along with using all the other functions of the full website.
RMLS™ users will have access to the starter version of the Remine site. REALTORS® who upgrade to the Pro version will have access to additional tools such as advanced search options, document management, a higher limit on carted/tracked properties, client credit reports, and more.
RMLS™ Welcomes Immoviewer
RMLS™ is excited to announce a new benefit for RMLS™ subscribers that will be available beginning October 8th! RMLS™ will soon offer immoviewer to all RMLS™ subscribers, which will automatically create unbranded listing videos and unbranded video landing pages directly from listing photos on RMLSweb.
This basic immoviewer service will be provided to all RMLS™ subscribers at no charge and each video will be created automatically, requiring no action on the part of the REALTOR®. A video will be created once the listing has three or more images and the listing has been published.
The free video and landing page, which are compliant with the RMLS™ Rules and Regulations, will include the first 15 photos uploaded to RMLSweb in the order uploaded. REALTORS® may then download the resulting video and use anywhere for marketing.
Immoviewer will create a 3D 360° account for each RMLS™ subscriber as well. These tours, which feature other multimedia elements, can be uploaded by a photographer or produced by a REALTOR® using a standard 360° camera. One free 3D 360° tour will be included with each account and RMLS™ subscribers may purchase additional tours separately for $25 each or via an annual subscription for $69.
Once immoviewer is live on RMLSweb, the company will send a welcome email and begin creating videos for the previous two weeks of published listings. Subscribers who wish to opt out of using immoviewer may click the proper link in that welcome email or send a request via email. The company plans to offer webinars in the future.
RMLS™ is excited to provide this opportunity for subscribers, and hope the service will add convenience to your real estate business. Look out for your welcome email and first video tour links beginning next week!
