Our developers at RMLS™ have been working hard this year on our browser and tablet compatibility project, and on December 12th we’ll introduce one of the more anticipated developments of this project: an improved Listing Load experience! We’ll also be removing the map coordinates requirement for listings in all areas, and making some housekeeping changes to the RMLS™ Terms of Service. Read on for details…

Improved Listing Load

After the switch, Listing Load will be compatible with more browsers and tablets. Subscribers using Listing Load on desktop machines may not notice many changes to the interface, but Listing Load will now work with Google Chrome and Apple Safari, in addition to Microsoft Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox.

Interface changes will be more noticeable for subscribers using a tablet to access RMLSweb. The tablet interface has been designed for more tablet-compatible interaction. Tablet users may notice the absence of the “List View” and “Detail View” tabs, as only a list view will be available (above). The interface works best in landscape mode, as there may be some width lost (resulting in clipping of information) in portrait mode. Given the constraints of tablets, this version of Listing Load will be unable to upload documents to a listing, and photos may only be uploaded one at a time.

Chrome is our recommended browser for Android users. Listing Load is experiencing performance issues on iPads using Safari in iOS7. RMLS™ will continue monitoring the issue and hopes the iOS7.1 release will mitigate the issue.

Map Coordinates No Longer Required

RMLSweb will no longer require map coordinates (page, column, and row) when submitting a listing! Earlier this year map coordinates ceased being a requirement in all but Portland metro, Lane County, and Curry County, but coordinates will now be unrequired for all RMLSweb listings. Rand McNally, the company responsible for Thomas Guide publications, no longer produces a Portland or Oregon edition—as brokers may not have easy access to the information anymore, RMLS™ has decided to make this change.

Terms of Service Change

RMLS™ has partnered with many third-party sites in 2013, including RPR, RatePlug, and New Home Source. As part of our regular password change on December 11th, users will need to accept a new Terms of Service, updated to clearly state that the RMLS™ Terms of Service apply only to RMLSweb and other RMLS™ websites and not to our third-party partners, such as those named above. View the redlined RMLS™ Terms of Service for brokers and for office staff (office managers, personal assistants, and input personnel).

Don’t forget, if you have any questions about these improvements to RMLSweb, contact the RMLS™ Help Desk at (503) 236-7657 or (877) 256-2169.

It has been a big year at RMLS™! Subscriber feedback drives our improvements to RMLSweb, and these latest improvements are no exception. Thanks, subscribers, for your input this year and into the future.

New features and enhancements to RMLSweb are implemented regularly, including during our monthly scheduled outages.

Here are some of the changes we implemented in February to improve the site for subscribers…

Map Checked Switched to Bing Maps

RMLS™ is continuing to switch its map systems over to Bing Maps, and this month we’ve integrated Bing with the map checked feature of RMLSweb.

This means that when plotting multiple listings on a map for a client tour, the map will match other mapping features on RMLSweb and their enhanced map performance.

This is the third of a series of five rollovers into Bing. Our final two changes will be to switch the Listing Load mapping module to Bing, followed by switching Map Search. Look for the complete transformation in coming months!

RMLS™ Inventory on Desktop

Perhaps you’ve already noticed this new feature on the left sidebar of the RMLSweb desktop: we’ve added a feature showcasing collective listing data. In a glance, subscribers can see just how many active listings are in RMLSweb, the number of sold listings for the last 12 months, the dollar value those listings represent, and the total number of listings in the system. The numbers are updated daily.

Shorter Session Times

Starting this week, subscribers logging in to RMLSweb will be automatically logged out after 90 minutes of inactivity. This is a shorter session time than the site had previously (four hours), but we’re making the change based on some of the initial findings of our unauthorized access project on RMLSweb.

We’ve also got some exciting developments coming soon in March…

Chat with RMLS™

We will be adding a new way to contact RMLS™—chat! Access RMLS™ staff online by clicking the chat button at the top of the right sidebar. A chat window will open, and staff will assist you shortly.

Representatives from Help Desk, Training, Accounting, and Front Desk/Membership will be available during normal RMLS™ business hours. During the times when no staff is available, the pop-up window will allow you to send an email, and a representative will be in touch as soon as possible.

RMLS.com Facelift

Our client-facing website, RMLS.com, will have a new look starting March 5th! We think you’ll like what you see. Besides the new look, consumers will now be able to search listings by either an address or MLS number.

As Gail Hare, Executive Vice President, posted last week, the RMLS™ Board of Directors recently made tablet and browser compatibility for RMLSweb the number one priority for our technical team this year. Look to the RMLS Blog and RMLSweb desktop for updates as that major project progresses.

If you have any questions regarding these changes, email Help Desk at helpdesk@rmls.com or call us at (503) 872-8002, or outside the Portland area at (877) 256-2169.

Each month, RMLS™ takes RMLSweb offline for a few hours in order to perform system maintenance and make improvements to the system. In January, RMLS™ will be implementing several small features designed to improve the site for subscribers.

Unauthorized Access

RMLS™ is embarking on a project this month designed to eliminate unauthorized access of RMLSweb. We will begin reviewing accounts which have a history of excessive duplicate logins and/or logins from multiple geographic locations (within a short timeframe) and work with those users to ensure the security of RMLSweb.

The program is designed to reduce potential security risks for both RMLS™ and our subscribers and also to improve user experience. We’d like every user to enjoy their RMLSweb sessions the way they were designed to work.

Rules Button
A new button will appear on RMLSweb‘s Agent Full and Data Only reports beginning January 31st that will enable subscribers to more easily submit concerns about a listing’s information to RMLS™ staff. Clicking the “Report an Issue” button below each listing on those reports will produce a pop-up window with a report subscribers can fill out and submit to the RMLS™ Rules and Regulations Department.

School Names
RMLSweb will update school names using proper case (Dundee vs. DUNDEE) and spell out most abbreviations (Falcon Heights vs. FALCON HTS). This will involve updating RMLSweb search fields and saved searches as well.

Increased Prospect Notifications
RMLSweb subscribers may currently receive notification of a prospect match up to three times a day. Starting January 31st, that frequency will be increased significantly, matching REALTORS® with prospective properties up to eight times throughout the day. As is currently the case, until the subscriber logs into RMLSweb to clear the matche(s), additional prospect notifications will not be sent.

SSP As Default on Search
Currently, RMLSweb defaults to including Short Sale Pending (SSP) in default search parameters. The RMLS™ Board of Directors has requested this default be removed. Beginning January 31st, only ACT and BMP will remain as default statuses, and subscribers will need to select SSP if they wish to search those listings.

We hope subscribers find these tweaks to RMLSweb useful. If you have any questions regarding these changes, email Help Desk at helpdesk@rmls.com or call us at (503) 872-8002, or outside the Portland area at (877) 256-2169.

RMLS™ will be rolling out several improvements to RMLSweb over the next week! Our developers have been working hard to improve the site for our subscribers—here are our latest tweaks.

Listing View Counts

As of next week, subscribers will be able to send their sellers a copy of their listing view count directly from RMLSweb. Currently, the system offers options to print the results or view them in PDF format. When clicking on “View Counts Report,” look for the new email option at the top right of the screen.

Another change: view counts for each listing will soon be available for the previous 60 days. The current view count range is 30 days.

Phone Number Modification

Starting later next week, RMLSweb will allow agents to set a primary phone number directly into RMLSweb, saving time and eliminating several steps for users. This phone number field will auto-populate into listings as the agent’s phone number.

To use this new feature, navigate to your user preferences (“Toolkit” in the menu bar, then “User Preferences” in the drop-down menu). A field now appears to enter the phone number that will appear in the agent roster online. Previously, users were required to navigate to our Internet Member Services (IMS) online payment system to change this information.

Green Certification and Home Energy Performance Rating Listings

As of this week, properties listed with a green certification or home energy performance rating will be required to upload a copy of the appropriate scoring documentation into Listing Load.

If green certification information is entered in the “Residence” tab or an energy score is entered into the “Amenities” supplement, the listing agent will be required to upload PDF documentation supporting the numbers, along with the date the property was evaluated.

If the property is listed without the required documentation, the listing agent will receive an email reminding them of the requirement. If the document(s) are still missing several days later, the agent will receive a second email and the RMLS™ Rules Department will follow up.

Green certification and home energy performance documentation will be retained with the listing indefinitely, unlike other PDFs which are deleted several months after the property is off the market.

If you have any questions regarding these changes, email Help Desk at helpdesk@rmls.com or call us at (503) 872-8002, or outside the Portland area at (877) 256-2169.