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 2017. We hope you enjoyed journeying along with us.

Compare the numbers below with the same from prior years and see how we’ve grown!

RMLSweb
Number of times subscribers logged in to RMLSweb: 1,761,465
Photos uploaded to listings: 1,838,307
Number of new prospect profiles created: 75,970
All residential properties listed for sale: 75,657
All residential properties sold: 58,691
Median sold price of homes listed: $330,000
Total dollar volume of homes sold: $21,693,925,000
Reports viewed: 9,414,184

RMLS™ Subscribers
RMLS™ subscribers as of December 2017: 13,973
New RMLS™ subscribers (compared to December 2016): 620
Increase in subscribers, above: +4.65
Subscribers who attended training: 4,489
Number of calls to the RMLS™ Help Desk: 21,105
Number of Help Desk chats: 4,417
Number of incidents reported using the “Report Issue” button: 7,669
CE hours distributed by RMLS™ at no cost to subscribers: 3,114
Total attendance at RMLS™ training events: 4,489

RMLS.com
Total customer visits to RMLS.com: 2,556,344
Unique visits: 961,958
Total listing views: 1,498,074

Social Media
RMLS™ followers on Facebook (December 31st): 3,809
RMLS™ followers on Twitter (December 31st): 2,946

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.

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’m hoping you can clear up some questions I have about Prospecting/Auto Email. First, I have a hard time understanding the difference between the two terms. Can you help with that? It seems like they’re used interchangeably and they can’t both mean the same thing! (Can they?) Second, I suspect I’m not setting up my clients correctly because they never seem to get the first set of listings that match the criteria I’ve set up for them. What should I do?

Struggling in Stayton

Dear SS-

I’m happy to help! And I hear you about those two terms being used interchangeably. Let’s start with the term “prospecting.” Prospecting is simply a set of search criteria you’ve saved in RMLSweb in the Prospecting Profile module. In most cases you will name the saved criteria something related to a specific client.

Remember to NOT use your client’s full name here, because if you allow Reverse Prospecting (I know, another confusing term) and your client’s search criteria matches the descriptive elements of a listing being reversed prospected, the subscriber running the reverse prospecting search would be able to see your client’s entire name! Just their name, nothing else, but still probably not a good idea!

Are we good here with that the term “prospecting” means in RMLSweb? Let’s move on.

Now how do I use this set of saved search criteria going forward? In most cases you will associate this Prospecting Profile with a contact in your saved contacts on RMLSweb, and then set up Auto Email, the process whereby RMLSweb searches and automatically sends out listing matches to your client. (Note that you can associate up to five unique contacts per Prospecting Profile!) You could add the client info in Contact Manager (Toolkit->Contact Manager) before or after creating the Prospecting profile—whichever works for you.

Once you’ve chosen a saved contact or created a new contact to add to the Prospecting Profile you can then set up the Auto Email variables. You have a lot of choices here: frequency of delivery, type of client report, whether to CC yourself, customization of the subject line, and so on.

Here’s a key piece of information for you, SS: only new matches will be sent to your client(s) on the day(s) chosen in the Auto Email setup. The initial matches must be selected manually and sent in a separate email message!

Once you have this process set up and running automatically, RMLSweb will alert you of new matches by illuminating the New Prospect Matches button in the upper left corner of the RMLSweb desktop page. You may also be receiving the emails if you chose to CC yourself when setting up the Auto Email. If you did not choose to be copied on the emails you can still view the email history by navigating to Prospecting Profiles, finding the contact name, and clicking “History” in the contact record.

I sure hope this info helps. Remember that we have a variety of documents in RMLSweb covering all of this. The following are particularly excellent resources for your question:

Document 1737: How to Use the Auto Email Feature
Document 1772: Reverse Prospecting
Put RMLSweb to Work for You

Technical Terry

REALTORS® working in the City of Portland should be aware that as of January 1, 2018, all homes listed for sale in the City of Portland will require a home energy score report to be obtained and made accessible to any potential homebuyer.

RMLS™ has been working with Earth Advantage® to facilitate populating this important information to listings on RMLSweb. On December 6th, RMLS™ will release a “Load from Green Building Registry” button in the Green/Energy Supplement on RMLSweb. All homes with a listing address in the City of Portland will have this supplement automatically included in Listing Load. While we are introducing the ability to populate this information in a listing, the fields will remain unrequired.

When this button is selected, the listing address will be sent to the Green Building Registry database. If an address match occurs and the address has a home energy report on file, the score and report URL will autopopulate into the Green/Energy Supplement form. In addition, the home energy report and report URL will be added to the end of the Public Remarks field in data feeds, including IDX sites that get listing information from RMLS™.

RMLS™ is aware that some properties may have Portland addresses that do not fall within the jurisdiction of the City of Portland. The Administrative Rules of the Residential Energy Performance Rating and Disclosures, Part 3.3.1, provide guidelines to determine if a property must have a Home Energy Score. If a property has received a Home Energy Score but the “Load from Green Building Registry” button did not find a match, contact RMLS™ so we can make improvements to this process. This situation could occur if the address entered in Listing Load does not match the address recorded in the Green Building Registry. REALTORS® are encouraged to use PortlandMaps as a reference to find the correct listing address.

Read more about the City of Portland Home Energy Score program.

UPDATE (December 6, 2017):

The Home Energy Score button is now live on RMLSweb. Earth Advantage has produced a short demonstration of how the feature works, below. RMLS™ will produce a similar tutorial in the coming weeks.

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,

My clients just asked me for some market statistics. The statistics module on RMLSweb and Market Action are crazy good, but I just need some simple, easy to understand stats. Any ideas?

Simple Statistics in Stayton

Dear SS,

Of course I have some ideas! There are two really easy places to see and/or print some stats that your clients may find compelling.

One: when you run a search and scroll down to the “Detail View” tab in your search results. At the bottom of each section is a nice synopsis of the properties contained within the section, with the sections separated by listing status. Here’s what that section looks like:

Quick and easy—but not easy to print.

If you want to print a simple, yet statistically effective report for your clients choose the “Summary Only” report from your list of report options. Here’s what that simple yet effective report looks like:

The report gives you and your clients great info on some of the basic stats we talk about all the time. Solds, if they are part of your search, even have sale price to list price ratio.

If neither of these options are good for your needs, have a look at the Statistics menu on the main navigation bar. It gives you many options to compile statistics you and your client may find useful, including the statistical summaries documents which compile years worth of Market Action data for each published area within the RMLS™ region.

Technical Terry

Technical Terry!

Do you keep up on the news? It seems REALTORS® are being accosted when performing showings! There seems to be more and more of it happening. I heard that SentriSmart™, the SentriLock app, has a feature for agent safety. What the heck is that, and how does it work?

Terrified in Troutdale

TT!

In fact I do keep up on the news stories about REALTOR® safety issues around the country. While there are many best practices to use to help your safety as a REALTOR®, SentriSmart™ does provide a resource that may provide you confidence in showing vacant homes or homes to new clients.

To access and set up the agent safety feature in SentriSmart™, follow these steps:

• Log in to SentriSmart™ on either your iPhone or Android.
• Go to the Settings option in the app.
• Tap on Agent Safety and enter your PIN.
• From the Agent Safety page, add your emergency contacts by clicking on the blue + sign. The app will access the contacts stored on your phone and allow you to pick one or more contacts to be included in the list of people the app will contact.
• Enable “Automated Safety Check.” Once enabled, SentriSmart™ will send you an alert approximately 90 seconds after you have opened the lockbox key container. If you do not acknowledge the first alert, a second alert will be sent after approximately 60 seconds. If you do not acknowledge the second alert, an email and text message will be sent to the contact(s) you’ve added to your contacts list in the app. If you have several contacts in that list, the app will alert all of them simultaneously about the potential safety concern.
• Tap on Accept to agree to the Release Agreement, then enter your PIN for verification.

Here are samples of the texts you and your list of contacts will receive if you don’t respond to the two notifications.

Hope that this SentriSmart™ feature can help you feel less terrified, Terrified in Troutdale! It’s great that you’re thinking ahead to prepare for safety issues before they occur.

Technical Terry

Over the last few years the RMLS™ Board of Directors and staff have received numerous questions, concerns, and comments regarding property that is being marketed as “coming soon.” In light of so many inquiries the RMLS™ Board of Directors formed a task force earlier this year to evaluate the concerns and identify potential solutions. The result is a new status called CSN – Coming Soon-No Showing. This new status indicates that there is a valid listing agreement between the seller(s) and the listing agent/firm, but that the listing is not ready to be shown. This listing is in the MLS, but not on market. This status tells other subscribers when the property will become available for showings.

Highlights of the new Coming Soon-No Showing (CSN) status:

• CSN listings are considered an off-market status, like Withdrawn (WTH).
• CSN listings are only viewable within RMLSweb.com.
• CSN listings are not included on RMLS.com, Realtor.com, IDX, or syndicated feeds.
• CSN listings are not included in open house or broker tours.
• A property may be in CSN status for up to 21 days. After 21 days is reached the system will automatically change the status to Active (ACT) unless the listing agent changes it sooner.
• CSN listings cannot be shown—by anyone. If a showing is to occur, the rules will state that the status of the listing must first be changed to Active (ACT) to allow everyone an opportunity to show the property.
• Days on Market (DOM)/Cumulative Days on Market (CDOM) counts do not accrue while in CSN status
• The first photograph will contain a “Coming Soon-No Showing” watermark. When the listing is no longer in CSN status, the system will automatically remove the watermark from the first photograph.
• CSN listings can be searched and viewed within RMLSweb.
• CSN listings will be excluded from client prospecting auto-email notifications.
• CSN listings are excluded from statistical reports.
• Agent reports within RMLSweb will only display “No Showings Permitted” in the showing notification section.

Here are a few examples of how you could benefit from the Coming Soon-No Showing listing status:

• It allows time to prepare a listing so that it is fully marketable the moment it goes active. With this new status, you can prepare all marketing around the date the listing will move to Active status. Listings under the new status are submitted to the MLS and have an MLS number.
• This new status allows agents to market their listings in the MLS to other subscribers while finishing touches (such as new paint, flooring, etc.) are being completed.
• A listing will not needlessly accrue Days on Market/Cumulative Days on Market. DOM/CDOM accrual does not begin until it moves to Active status.
• It provides subscribers with the date of when the listing is expected to be active. By providing this date, the most interested buyers can get prepared to see the property when the listing switches to Active status.
• It helps keep other subscribers informed of upcoming inventory. By including CSN listings in RMLSweb, subscribers will not be caught off guard by “coming soon” yard signs when driving through a community with a buyer.

We will be adding the new status in early 2018. Changes to the RMLS^™ Rules and Regulations, listings contracts, and the Authorization to Exclude from MLS Addendum will be required as well as programming changes for RMLSweb. Watch the RMLSweb desktop for more information as we get closer to implementing this new status.

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 finally got around to looking at the Listing View Counts report that I’ve been sending to my clients for some time now. (By the way, thank you for the automatic delivery process!) I am amazed they have not asked me what the heck the various “views” even mean! Surely they’ll ask one of these days and I want to be prepared. How can I explain to them what each of the categories mean?

Count Conundrum in Corvallis

Dear CCC:

You’re not alone—the RMLS™ Help Desk gets this question regularly. We have a couple of documents that do a great job of breaking down the Listing View Counts report for you. How to Use Listing View Counts, Document #1762, and How Listing View Counts are Calculated, Document #1763, are designed to help RMLS™ subscribers understand the report.

In a nutshell, the categories are as follows.

• RMLSweb Detail View: This is the category that covers views from within RMLSweb by REALTOR® subscribers. There are 13 unique reports available within RMLSweb (See Document #1763 above for the full list) that tally in this category. This category also counts any views by REALTOR® subscribers on the RMLSweb mobile site.

• RMLSweb Emailed View: This categories tallies a count any time the “View Report” link is clicked in an email you’ve sent from RMLSweb to a client/consumer.

• RMLS.com Details: This category tallies a count any time the “Detail Report” is clicked on the public-facing RMLS.com website.

• Unique Subscriber Count: This category reflects the number of unique REALTOR® subscribers that have viewed the listing on RMLSweb. If one REALTOR® views the same report ten times, they’ll only be counted as one unique subscriber, but if 100 REALTORS® view the report one time each, the unique subscriber count would be 100.

Don’t forget to take a closer look at those documents linked above. If you still need more detail, the RMLS™ Help Desk can walk you through any of your remaining questions.

Technical Terry in Tigard

Dear Technical Terry,

I understand the RMLS™ rules about not modifying various aspects of our listings once we’ve added them to RMLSweb—but why can’t we modify any information after the listing is sold? There are times when we may need to modify sales agent, etc., and contacting RMLS™ each time seems pretty inefficient. Can you help?

Frustrated Felicia in Fairview

Dear FFF,

I hear you, loud and clear! While there are certain aspects of your listing that cannot be modified after its published on RMLSweb without RMLS™ assistance, the area you mention can be edited after closing. When you are in the Listing Load screen with the listing in question in list format, just click the “CMP” button:

This pop-up screen will appear, allowing you to modify and save any of the data categories you see:

Knowing about the CMP button does allow you to make some changes, which we hope you’ll find convenient. That said, RMLS™ staff are always more than happy to assist with any other changes that need to be made after a listing has sold!

TT

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.

Dearest Technical Terry,

Oh em geeee! I’m atwitter thinking about the upcoming eclipse and how our SentriSmart™ app and SentriLock lockboxes won’t work during that time. I have clients that are convinced that their perfect home can only be discovered during the time of totality! What am I going to do?

Clueless in Coquille

Dearest Clueless,

Not to worry! Not only is Coquille not in the path of totality for this eclipse, but the eclipse will have ZERO bearing on your use of the SentriLock system.  SentriLock’s technology should not be impacted in any way by the solar eclipse.

Traffic, on the other hand? I’m thinking you may just want to pick another day to cruise around looking for your clients’ perfect home. But what do I know? Isn’t the customer always right?

Technical Terry

Dear TT,

I was just discussing days on market with my clients the other day and had a hard time explaining the difference between DOM and CDOM is. Can you help?

Dum DOM in Damascus

DDD,

Of course I can help! Days on market, or DOM, is a standard industry term used to describe the number of days between list date and the off-market date. When you have a listing that simply goes from a single list date to a single off-market date (let’s say in 50 days for an example) the calculation is quite simple. In this example, DOM and CDOM would both be 50 days.

It’s when you have a property that you list for sale, then cancel it, then relist it with a new MLS number that the calculations get a bit trickier.

Picture this: you list a home and after 30 days you haven’t received any offers and the seller wants to do some repairs. You cancel the original listing and then relist once the repairs are done. The second listing gets a new MLS number. When the gap between your cancellation of the first listing and the relisting date is fewer than 31 days, any off-market gap will not be counted in the CDOM calculation.

So if the first listing had 30 days of market time, the time when the listing was off-market for repairs was seven days then the new listing sold/closed in 21 days, the CDOM would be 51 days. This scenario is called linear relisting.

A final scenario is when you have a listing for sale and cancel it to get a new MLS number with NO gap between the cancellation of the first and second listings. In this case, CDOM would reflect the number of days the property was on the market from the original list date of the first listing through the off-market date of the second listing. This is called an overlapping relisting.

Does that help? RMLS™ also offers Document #1742, How CDOM is Calculated, if you want to read further.

TT

Do you have a difficult time remembering what certain abbreviations mean when you’re in the thick of entering listing information on RMLSweb? Of course Document 1210, Listing Abbreviations, is always available for reference, but it’s far easier to focus on the task at hand instead of always cross-referencing with another tab on your web browser.

RMLS™ is pleased to announce that an unabbreviated Listing Load will soon be released on RMLSweb. Once the change is made, all users will see the change when using Listing Load, as all users will have the unabbreviated version as the default.

Subscribers who want to keep the original abbreviated version of Listing Load can easily do so by changing their default in User Preferences.

Access User Preferences by hovering over the user’s name in the navigation bar on RMLSweb and selecting the User Preferences option. Next, click on the Desktop/Sidebar Options tab. Uncheck the box labeled “Unabbreviated Listing Load.” (Don’t forget to save your changes…)

Once the default has been changed in User Preferences, subscribers using Listing Load will find listing abbreviations restored until any point when they change their preferences again.

RMLS™ hopes to release this unabbreviated version of Listing Load the morning of Thursday, August 17th. Subscribers requiring assistance with this or any other feature of RMLSweb can always contact the RMLS™ Help Desk at (503) 872-8002 or (877) 256-2169 for assistance.

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 sent one of my new REALTORS® down to RMLS™ in Eugene to join up. They came back and said there’s a new mandatory orientation class that takes four hours to complete! She said there were quizzes and everything! What is up with that? Don’t you realize we REALTORS® are super busy? Why would RMLS™ make us take that much time out of our busy day to attend a stupid orientation class?

Curious in Cottage Grove

Dear CCG,

Great question! RMLS™ complies with the National Association of REALTORS® model rules for MLS operations. Included in those model rules is a carveout of up to eight mandatory training hours for orientation training. That language has been in the RMLS™ Rules and Regulations since its inception. Given the ever-evolving complexity of the real estate world—and frankly, keeping a close eye on the social behavior of our industry—prompted RMLS™ to take a more aggressive role with orientation. The new orientation format is four hours of training content, including some quizzes intended to really galvanize an agent to understand that content. While it may seem like a lot of time for orientation training, I’m confident our new subscribers will realize the benefit many times over.

Technical Terry

Hey TT-

What in the world did you guys do to the RMLSweb mapping system? I logged in one morning and it had totally changed with absolutely NO warning. And now one of the best pieces of the old system is missing, the birds eye view. Why did you mess with it?

Manic Over Mapping

Hey MOM-

The earlier version of maps on RMLSweb was based on a version of Bing map layers and controls that Microsoft announced they would be retiring by the end of June 2017. Microsoft made this announcement in March 2017! That compressed time frame created a challenge for anyone using that version of Bing in their system.

The RMLS™ development team was already knee deep in the forms change project when the announcement was made. They scrambled to come up with a functional replacement in a very short period of time, and that’s what you’re seeing today on RMLSweb.

As for the birds eye view, there is some functionality from the old version of Bing that has yet to be released for the new version. That doesn’t mean it won’t return, it simply means our developers need some additional time to rebuild it for the maps on RMLSweb.

We did try to provide RMLS™ subscribers as much advance notice as we possibly could. We had an overview video available through an article on the RMLSweb desktop a week prior to the switch, as well as an overview on our blog that was featured in the RMLS™ Weekly Report before the switch. We’re sorry to hear these didn’t reach your eyes in time, but we’re confident that the new tools provided by Microsoft will result in a better mapping experience in the near future.

TT

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 SOOOOOO frustrated! I was watching a property using the new Watch List feature on RMLSweb. I have a client that was interested in purchasing it if it ever hit the market again. Well I found out today that not only did it come on the market but it’s already pending! What gives? Why was I not notified? I have a very upset buyer!

Watching for Nothing

Dear WfN:

You did not mention how you were watching the property—MLS number or Tax ID—but based on what happened, I suspect that you were watching the MLS number for an off-market record of the property.

The way Watch List works, it’s looking for activity on either the MLS number or Tax ID. Since the MLS number you were watching was off-market it would never have any additional activity to trigger a Watch List notification. You should always watch the Tax ID number if the property is in some off-market status. That way if the property is relisted, you will be notified immediately.

Sorry to hear about your lost sale, WfN! Now that you know the crucial difference between watching a MLS number and a Tax ID, I’ll bet you’ll never have this issue again.

Technical Terry

Hello Technical Terry-

The other day I got my very first Watch List notification—a property on the Oregon Coast that had just gone on the market. The only trouble is, I don’t know why I was watching it! Was I just testing the system? Was it for a past client who was looking for a vacation home? Was it for a prospective client? I just don’t remember! Can RMLS™ help?

Laurie in LO

“L-O,” Laurie! (See what I did there?)—

One enhancement request we’ve heard from more than a few RMLS™ subscribers is to add a notes field for each Watch List item. Any notes the user enters could help jog his or her memory about why the property is on the list. If the Tax ID number you’re watching comes back on the market in two years (or more!), will you remember why you were interested in it? Other RMLS™ subscribers have expressed their desire for some kind of reference point.

Our development team has been super busy lately with the RMLSweb forms change project and the new mapping module but once they get some breathing room I suspect you’ll see this feature added to Watch List.

Terry on the WWW

Greetings, Technical Terry:

I’m new to RMLS™—I just moved to the Portland area from Arizona. Can you tell me about how the rules are different at RMLS™ compared to the market where I spent the last ten years? One of my coworkers told me that branded tour videos aren’t allowed on RMLSweb which is much different than what I’m used to. Where do I start to learn how things work in my new market?

Eager Beaver

Greetings, Eager Beaver:

Welcome to the Pacific northwest! And what a refreshing, proactive approach to learning about your new market. It’s true, Section 3.24 of the RMLS™ Rules and Regulations prohibits personal advertising and branding in listing information, which includes video and virtual tours—so your education is already underway.

If you’re specifically looking for a rundown on RMLS™ rules, I’d recommend attending the RMLS™ Rules and Regulations class offered at RMLS™ offices. If one of the scheduled classes is inconvenient for you, RMLS™ trainers can also come to an office meeting to present a class! Just email training@rmls.com or call (503) 236-7657 to set up an appointment.

Even after you take the class the RMLS™ Data Accuracy team is here to help you navigate the RMLS™ Rules and Regulations. They field questions from RMLS™ subscribers every day about the rules and the listing data on RMLSweb. They can be reached via email at dataaccuracy@rmls.com or call (503) 236-7657.

That should be enough to get you started, Eager Beaver, but I would be remiss if I didn’t gently suggest having a thorough read of the RMLS™ Rules and Regulations yourself to see what you find. A direct link to the document can be found on the RMLSweb desktop page under the Links menu in the left sidebar. You’ll be an expert on your new market in no time!

Technical Terry