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.

Dear TT:

I am so frustrated! Ever since Listing Load got updated, whenever I start a new listing and save it as in progress I’ll come back later to finish it, and it’s GONE! Sometimes this happens several times per listing! I’ll then call the RMLS™ Help Desk and they help me see all the in-progress listings I’ve started. What the heck is going on?

Tired in Tigard

Dear TT:

How frustrating! As you’ve experienced when contacting the RMLS™ Help Desk, your listings are still there but the new “filter” option is set with criteria that keeps the listings from appearing on your screen. Let me show you how to access the filter and change the settings.

The filter button is located here on Listing Load.

Notice there are three unique tabs available in Listing Load: Listings, In-Progress, and My Inventory. The filter button gives you unique options for each tab as shown here.

LISTINGS FILTER:

Notice the variety of filtering options you have available! Also note the ability to clear all filter values, and apply the filter values you’ve chosen. Don’t forget “Save Criteria” if you want the filter to retain your choices for that particular tab!

IN-PROGRESS FILTER:

Once again, so many options! Again you’ve got the ability to clear all filter values, apply the filter values you’ve chosen, and and save the criteria to retain your choices for that particular tab.

MY INVENTORY FILTER:

Again you’ve got a cornucopia of options, the ability to clear all filter values, apply the filter values you’ve chosen, and save the criteria for that particular tab.

Since we’re on the topic, I’ve also heard that the RMLS™ Help Desk staff has gotten plenty of calls from subscribers wondering why they can’t edit their listing in the My Inventory tab. The My Inventory tab is simply that: it shows your inventory based on the filter settings you’ve applied. All editing capabilities are performed under either of the other two tabs.

I hope this helps, TT. Just remember, if you’ve saved a listing in progress and it seems to have disappeared when you come back to RMLSweb, check the filter! I’d bet you’ll find a filter option has been chosen that keeps the listing from appearing.

Technical Terry

Dear Technical Terry:

Why do you sign some of your responses “Ask Technical Terry?” Typically, one signs a letter or email using his or her name.

Ward Smith

Dear Ward Smith:

Great question! Indeed—sometimes I use my full name, which includes my first name Ask (from Norse mythology), sometimes I use initials, and in one of the blog posts I reviewed I forgot to sign off at all! I’m so embarrassed. Be assured that these oversights were made in the pursuit of quality content for RMLS™ subscribers.

A. 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.

Dear Technical Terry:

I’ve been keeping an eye on conversations about the solicitation of expired listings. It seems like technology has made that process much easier than in the old days, but in some cases at the expense of irritating home sellers. My opinion is that we should be allowed to solicit expired listings, as it has historically been a good source of business.

I’d like to ask you about the solicitation of withdrawn listings. Unfortunately I have a client that has had to take their home off the market due to some unforeseen circumstances, and we will go back to being active as soon as she is able. I placed the listing in withdrawn status as I still have an active contract on the home. The very next day, my client’s phone began ringing off the hook with offers to list the home, even though the home is not expired or cancelled, simply changed to withdrawn on RMLSweb. Is this allowed by the RMLS™ Rules and Regulations?

Irritated in Irrigon

Dear II:

It most certainly is not allowed in the RMLS™ Rules and Regulations! In fact, as a result of the work done by our expired listing task force, the RMLS™ Board of Directors recently approved a new sanction to the RMLS™ Rules and Regulations regarding the solicitation of listings under contract. Here’s what it says:

Recommendation to add a new sanction to Section 5.1 Sanctions of the RMLS™ Rules and Regulations:

Solicitation of Listing: For solicitation of a listing under contract (ie: Active (ACT), Bumpable Buyer (BMP), Short Sale Pending (SSP), Pending (PEN), Pending Lease Option (POP), Withdrawn (WTH), or Coming Soon-No Showing (CSN)), a fine of up to Two Thousand Five Hundred Dollars ($2,500) in an amount to be determined by the RMLS™ Rules and Regulations Committee.

As you can see, the RMLS™ board takes this activity seriously, as demonstrated by the introduction of a new sanction (effective October 1, 2019) that may now be applied for the solicitation of any listing that still has an active contract.

If you have questions about this or wish to report applicable activity, I encourage you and other RMLS™ subscribers to contact the RMLS™ Rules staff at (503) 236-7657 or (877) 256-2170.

Yours,
Ask Technical Terry

Dear ATT:

Over the weekend I was bombarded with emails from Homesnap! I received so many emails that I was afraid of missing some emails from clients that might be in the mix. Why is this happening, and more important, how can I make it stop?

Sincerely,
Feeling Spammed

Dear FS:

You’re not alone! RMLS™ has heard from other subscribers that they’ve been bothered by the amount of Homesnap emails they’ve received as well.

Homesnap is a product the RMLS™ Board of Directors is making available to RMLS™ subscribers by participating in the Broker Public Portal (BPP) program. BPP’s efforts are to create a broker-centric consumer portal to compete with other large portals such as Realtor.com and Zillow. BPP is currently providing Homesnap Pro as a tool for all participating MLS subscribers to use.

When we started hearing from RMLS™ subscribers about this issue we did alert Homesnap about the feedback we were receiving.

In the meantime though, if you’re Feeling Spammed, we invite you to click the “unsubscribe” button at the bottom of one of the unwanted emails. This will take you to a web page where you can adjust how frequently you hear from Homesnap, and about what.

Ask Technical Terry

Find℠ will become Realtor.com Professional Search on RMLSweb in mid-August! RMLS™ subscribers may already have noticed clicking a Find button in RMLSweb takes them to the new site, which has a completely refreshed look and feel.

Using Realtor.com Professional Search, RMLS™ subscribers can perform a property search nationwide with unfettered access to active listing data including community and demographic information, school reports, activity trends, and more.

As part of this transition, Realtor.com trainer Michael McCall will offer in-person trainings to RMLS™ subscribers August 13-15 in Portland, Vancouver, and Lane County, with multiple sessions available at each location.

Register for Realtor.com Professional Search Training with Michael McCall.

In each one-hour training session, attendees will learn how to access and navigate Realtor.com Professional Search, how to conduct and utilize advanced searches, how to quickly target properties for clients, and how to pull extensive community and demographic information. Trainers will walk through map overlay options, commute time calculators, and other tools that will help RMLS™ subscribers improve their productivity and service to clients.

Hit the ground running with Realtor.com Professional Search by learning from the experts—register for one of these training opportunities today!

Ever get a notification for a watch list item, and forget why you were watching it? As of today, watch lists on RMLSweb now have a field for personal notes!

Users may either write notes when adding a listing to their watch list, or access their watch list via the RMLSweb Prospecting menu and use the button to add/edit notes to each listing. Note text may be formatted, and links added. Each note has a maximum of 500 characters, and notes are included when watch list notifications are sent to users via email or text message.

Since the watch list was introduced on RMLSweb in 2016, we’ve had several requests for a notes field. We’re happy to offer this improvement to subscribers, which is sure to help you in your business.

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.

Dear Ask Technical Terry,

It seems like not a day goes by I don’t read another story about a seller who is inundated with phone calls, being solicited after their listing expired or was cancelled. In many cases it’s not just the seller receiving calls but family members! I used to farm expired listings too—in fact it was a great source of listings at one time in my career. I was the one doing the calling and interacting though—now there are services that will call about hundreds of expired listings over and over, and they’re not polite to the seller. What can we do?

Spitting Nails in Springfield

Dear Spitting Nails in Springfield,

I hear you loud and clear! I’ve read these kinds of stories too and honestly there are times I’m really embarrassed for our industry. There’s not a whole lot that can be done on the RMLS™ side if the process is being conducted by real estate licensees, and they are truly calling only expired and cancelled listings. Where the problems come in is when the seller is on the Federal Do Not Call (DNC) list. In theory, the companies that offer expired/cancelled listing mining services vet the lists against the DNC but I’ve certainly heard of sellers on the DNC that have been solicited. Where RMLS™ can provide support is if the listing is neither expired nor cancelled, or has been relisted when the seller is being solicited. Any RMLS™ listing that is considered active should never be solicited, and this includes those in withdrawn status. RMLSweb offers a search called “Actual Expireds” under the Search menu that can be used to ensure the expired listing you’re about to call has not been relisted.

Let’s clarify what the Withdrawn status means on RMLSweb. Here’s a short overview from Document #1213, Listing Status Definitions, on RMLSweb:

Withdrawn (WTH): If the owner requests it, and has signed the proper paperwork, you can withdraw a listing in the RMLS™ database.

The RMLS™ board recently formed a task force to look into possible options for addressing subscriber/client frustration with the solicitation of off-market properties. Keep an eye out for my next blog post—I hope to have more information to share about potential options for you and your seller.

TT

Hello ATT!

This afternoon I received an email claiming that SentriLock wants us to use a different app. Is this legit?

Wary at Wallowa Lake

Hey WWL!

That email you received is legit! SentriLock is changing the name of SentriSmart™ to SentriKey™! They just recently made the big announcement and sent an email to their active users.

SentriKey™ features a new look and clearer prompts. Android users will find improved Bluetooth® connectivity.

If your device is set for automatic updates, check it out by opening the new icon on your phone. If you update manually, download the latest update.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a very important app update I need to attend to…

Ask Technical Terry

RMLS™ released two improvements to RMLSweb earlier this week intended to make things easier for subscribers: a new layout on Map Search, and a Remine button on the bottom of the Agent Full report.

Map Search Layout

After RMLS™ released its more responsive search pages in early February, we heard from subscribers that the layout in Map Search could use some improvement. Subscribers were having difficulty drawing shapes on the map, and navigating between the map and search criteria was difficult.

RMLS™ changed the layout, creating a layer of tabs so users may easily toggle between the map itself and the search criteria. Working with shapes and layers on the larger map should make things easier for subscribers.

Remine Button on Agent Full Reports

At the bottom of the Agent Full report on RMLSweb, users will now find a new Remine button alongside the buttons for Find, ShackShout, and RPR. Just like those buttons, the Remine button links to the property listing on Remine.

We think these changes may be relatively small, but they’re mighty! The layout changes on Map Search were the direct result of subscriber feedback, and both were intended to make your work on RMLSweb a little easier. As always, contact the RMLS™ Help Desk with questions about these improvements or to give any other feedback.

Would you like to work together with RMLS™ to find solutions to your challenges in RMLSweb? RMLS™ is gathering individuals who want to play an active role in our new direction—and I, Beth Raimer, am the Product Manager who will be the intermediary between subscribers and our website developers.

You may already know me from listening to Real Talk with RMLS™, the podcast I’ve been hosting for RMLS™ since May 2017. My time at RMLS™ began in Spring 2015 when I was hired to be a customer service representative at the front desk in the Portland office. In 2017 I was promoted to training where I taught RMLSweb classes, then I became Product Manager last October.

Prior to RMLS™ I sold properties in south Florida for seven years, closing 317 townhomes and 676 condos. (I cherished helping individuals find their dream home!) Before real estate I worked at a software development company for eight years, facilitating enhancements.

As RMLS™ Product Manager I have been able to travel around the entire RMLS™ region—Oregon and Washington—to host focus groups and user group sessions. At these sessions I’ve been gathering feedback and listening to subscribers’ wants and needs. Each geographic area I’ve visited has had specific requests for usability changes—sometimes quite unique to their county or town! Although playing this role is challenging, I am passionate about understanding the needs of each group and bringing those desires back to the RMLS™ staff and board.

RMLS™ has a specific enhancements process, which may remind you of a certain song from the 1970s. We’ve written about the enhancements process in the past, but it’s worth repeating.

What’s an enhancement? Think of it as any noteworthy change or improvement to RMLSweb. Examples could range from adding a map layer to changing the color of a button to make it more visible to users.

Enhancements and additions to RMLSweb are decided on by your Board of Directors, all of who are working brokers just like you. RMLS™ staff does not make these decisions. Requests from subscribers are gathered by RMLS™ staff year-round. We have a monthly meeting to discuss and categorize enhancement requests, separating out bugs to get them fixed in short order. Anything that is deemed to be an enhancement request is kept on the list. We also gather a lot of enhancement requests from the annual subscriber survey that we conduct each September.

In December/January, we take all the requests we’ve received from subscribers throughout the year—including those items from the subscriber survey—and create packages of projects for our annual board retreat that occurs in February. These projects are made up of like-minded enhancement requests combined into a larger project, such as “CMA enhancements,” or “prospecting improvements.” The projects are based on the volume of requests we receive through the year. 

The packages with all associated enhancements are then printed on boards, so you may hear staff or board members referring to these projects as “voting boards.” Leading up to the annual retreat the voting board projects are also rated by our board’s technology committee, which adds or removes additional requirements to the projects before they are finalized.

Finally at the annual board retreat our directors discuss each voting board project, ultimately voting for projects they think should be the highest priorities for RMLS™ over the next year.

Once projects are board-approved and development work begins, I will set up focus groups with subscribers to make sure our internal project plans match what brokers are expecting. Whenever enhancements are released, I’ll also sit with the RMLS™ Help Desk staff to learn about challenges subscribers are experiencing with each release.

If you’re interested in being the first to know about what’s on tap for RMLSweb you should check in regularly with Document #1040, RMLS™ Future Enhancements. We’ve also got Document #1030, RMLSweb Deployment History, which documents what we’ve changed on RMLSweb and when.

Would you like to be a part of one of our focus groups? Contact me via email at beth.r@rmls.com or via phone at (503) 872-8065. I welcome feedback from subscribers through these channels as well. I would love to meet with as many users as possible as we move forward with the next phase of RMLSweb. I look forward to identifying RMLS™ subscribers’ wants and needs and to make sure the developed solutions meet subscribers’ expectations.

Changes are happening now on RMLSweb—I invite you to be an active part of our new direction!

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.

Dear TT,

RMLS™ has done a great job finding products that provide great benefit to its REALTOR® subscribers, but at times it seems like there are just too many options! It seems like we have new tools to learn on a daily basis. Just recently I went to a training session for a new product called Remine, and now I understand there is another product coming soon called Homesnap. Can you tell me why I would choose one over the other? What are the differences?

Overloaded in Orenco

Dear OO,

Understood completely! It’s not just you—it’s even a challenge for our support and training staff to keep abreast of the rapid pace of innovation around RMLS™ these days.

Here’s a brief overview of the products you mention above.

Homesnap Pro

Homesnap Pro combines agent-only MLS data on a web portal with a mobile app for use in the field.

• Provides real-time information to agents on the go, giving them the flexibility to research homes, interact with each other, and collaborate with clients from their mobile devices. Agents and consumers can use the same platform to seamlessly share real estate information and communicate directly.
• Additional features of Homesnap Pro include real-time access to agent-only MLS information, information about any home, messaging with clients and agents, customized email marketing, CMA generation from a mobile device, and information about other agents.

Remine

Remine provides some of the same capabilities as Homesnap, but it really excels more for data mining. This means Remine provides users the ability to “watch” homes, neighborhoods, and people to best understand market motivation. Users can use this data to scientifically allocate marketing efforts toward specific properties or people that indicate potential motivation.

Remine has three main components on its app: Discover, Track, and Engage.

• Discover: This is the map, where you can use layers to narrow down properties you want to target and set up farming areas to find opportunities.
• Track: This is the list of properties and people you’re tracking. You can upload contacts to track data that will help you prioritize who you should reach out to, and when to reach out. You can use this page to export spreadsheets to use for mailers, call lists, or email campaigns.
• Engage: This is your client dashboard, where you can keep track of your clients’ activities, invite new clients, and manage your leads.

Both Homesnap and Remine provide great benefits, but they have different strenghts. Homesnap provides great tools to engage clients, and Remine specializes in farming activities. Both products have amazing support portals available, containing plenty of how-tos in both written and video formats, there to help you decide which might work best for you.

The RMLS™ trainers are developing classes for both products, so keep your eyes on your local training calendar in the coming months!

TT

Hey Ask Technical Terry!

Homesnap seems like it’s going to be great for my workflow and working with my clients! My assistant told me that RMLS.com will be going away because of Homesnap—is this true?

Snappin’ for Homesnap

Hey Snappin’!

It is true: RMLS.com will redirect to Homesnap’s Broker Public Portal once RMLS™ rolls out the project on May 7th! We recently published a video about the change:

It’ll be a big change, but one that we think will better serve our REALTOR® subscribers and their clients. We can’t wait to hear what you think once Homesnap is live!

Ask Technical Terry

RMLS™ is pleased to debut RMLS™ Mobile, the app for RMLS™ subscribers now available for both iPhone and Android phones. This app is the portable solution for agents in the field who want to access up-to-the-minute listing information.

RMLS™ Mobile offers subscribers access to listings, photos, showing information, days on market information—all listing information available on RMLSweb! Using the app, REALTORS® may call or email the seller’s broker immediately and even text listings to clients.

Searching for nearby listings is a snap with RMLS™ Mobile—the app uses location data to target the neighborhood where the device is located. Listings may be shown in either list view (above) or map view (below).

Download RMLS™ Mobile today on the Apple App Store or Google Play! The app will be updated frequently to add new features, fix bugs, and improve performance, so you’ll want to update the app whenever a new version is released.

RMLS™ Mobile is exclusively for RMLS™ subscribers. It was built in response to feedback from subscribers, co-developed with Utah Real Estate as part of MLS Aligned.

RMLS™ is polishing up a round of improvements to RMLSweb set to make their debut on February 5th. Among these is a bold new look for Listing Load, more responsive design for search functions, and easier listing edits.

Tile View, a new look available to users in Listing Load, will feature large icons. Status, price, and other details may be easily edited by clicking on icons and/or text. Listing view counts can also be accessed through this interface. My Inventory has also been added as a tab in Tile View and List View, although access remains through the Back Office menu anywhere in RMLSweb.

In addition to Listing Load’s easier interface, RMLS™ has also reworked the search pages on RMLSweb to be responsive to a user’s browser. This means that users on a mobile device will find the search options easier to use.

Subscribers can use this increased responsivity to easily make changes in the field. Listings with an accepted offer, for example, may be changed instantly—well within the 24 hour time window required for changing a listing’s status in RMLSweb. Furthermore, users who have had difficulty navigating RMLSweb using a mobile device or a regular browser set at less than full screen should have an easier experience when using the site.

Because these search pages have been reworked, users will also notice some layout changes on searches. When switching to Map View on Advanced Search, for example, will push the search criteria over to a left sidebar so users may see the map and criteria all on one screen.

The majority of these changes are a direct result of subscriber feedback, including Listing Load focus groups held over the last several months by Beth Raimer, our new product manager. If you’re interested in participating in future focus groups, contact Beth Raimer directly. We especially encourage REALTORS® from outside the Portland metro area to participate!