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:
I’m sure you’ve heard the stories about RMLS™ subscribers having to resort to using products from other brokerages to deliver new listings or changed listings to their clients in a timelier fashion. This seems contrary to the mission of RMLS™, is it not? Why do we not have tools available either within RMLSweb or within one of your approved third-party vendor integrations?
Frustrated in Fairview
Dear FF:
I understand your frustration and concern. I do have some good news for you in this area. Remine recently added some new functionality to an already great product that should solve the issue you mention above regarding delivery of new / changed listings to your customers in a timelier way. Here are some details on that new set of functionalities:
Saved Search
Stay up to date on property updates through the Saved Search feature! When you save a search, you’ll receive email notifications when new properties meet your search criteria, or when property characteristics change, like MLS status or listing price. You can also automatically update your client on the newest properties that meet your Save Search criteria.
How to get started with Saved Searches?
Carts
The product feature formerly known as Track is now called “Carts.”
Carts enable agents to share specific properties or groups of properties with their clients and receive quick and easy feedback.
Previously, RMLS™ subscribers could maintain up to 100 properties with the Track feature, that number increases to 500 properties in Carts.
Consumer Portal Improvement
As a RMLS™ subscriber, you can create your own public-facing portal as a free lead capture system. To participate, you simply need to activate your Remine account and invite your contacts. The more invitations you send, the more visible you are to future clients.
You can invite unlimited contacts to your portal, to keep them tied to your business and the MLS.
Additional Enhancements from the recent Remine update:
- New User Interface: A cleaner, more modern and intuitive user interface is now available, on both the desktop and mobile applications.
- CMA 360: An improved CMA experience. Remine offers the only CMA in the industry that searches MLS and off-market comps.
- Property Details Page: Format and layout have been improved
- Tax Data: Tax data has been improved as well.
Technical Terry
Regarding sending new & changed listings to clients, how is this different from RMLS prospecting auto emails?
Also, if there were a way to eliminate specific listings from being sent over & over to a client, that would be great (for example, the ones that the seller’s agent changes a minor detail over & over to make that listing be sent over & over, or a listing that the client has already told us they do not like). Thank you.
Hello Mark, I reached out to Ryan Jacobsen, our Information Services Assistant Manager, regarding your question and suggestion. He shared with me some high-level differences between the RMLSweb prospecting auto-email system and the client notifications sent out from Remine.
The auto-email function of RMLSweb is setup and controlled by you, our subscriber. You set up the criteria and select the frequency in which notifications are sent to your client. Notifications from RMLSweb can be sent either daily or hourly between 5am and 10pm.
As for Remine, the process is first started by inviting your client into the Remine system. Once your client has set up their account, which is tied to you, they will be able to set their own search criteria and select the frequency of the notifications they receive. Notifications can be set up to send as soon as a listing matches their criteria, daily, or weekly.
Neither system allows the user to exclude a specific listing in the notifications. However, I have forward this request onto Beth Raimer, our Product Manager, for consideration in future projects.
The RMLS™ Training Department offers a class on Remine which can be taken at your local RMLS™ office, or brought to your office in a remote class. For details regarding Remine training, feel free to reach out to training@rmls.com.
Thanks Christina!
What are the functional differences & features between Remine & Homesnap?
Hi Brad, Thanks for your question! Terry Romel, our Information Services Manager, wrote the following in response to your question:
As both Remine and Homesnap are evolving very quickly defining specifically the differences between the two products is becoming more difficult. We are working on a “Features and Benefits” handout in our Training Dept which will be available early 2020.
Here are some differences between the two products – Remine focuses on (and does a great job with) providing “market intelligence”, i.e. providing you consumer data that will allow you to make better decisions on who and how to market your services based on legitimate financial / lifestyle factors. Homesnap on the other hand, provides less of the “intelligence” but more of the “marketing” as they have a viable consumer app that provides a nice “hook” between you and your clients. Homesnap allows for a very dynamic communication platform between your client and you when the client uses the Homesnap app.
Here are links to pages on both products websites that may also help better understand how they work and what they do best:
https://support.remine.com/hc/en-us
https://support.homesnap.com/hc/en-us/categories/200081870-For-Real-Estate-Professionals
https://support.homesnap.com/hc/en-us/categories/200126894-For-Buyers-Sellers-and-Owners
Remine is super expensive and a joke to work with. Why rmls can’t do the job we pay them for is counterintuitive to why we have rmls.
I submitted this question the other day but never heard anything, maybe there was a glitch. I’ll try again. What is the difference between listing updates from RMLS directly to clients, vs Remine? Also, it would be great if there were a way to opt specific properties out of search results, for example those listings that change the price by a negligible amount frequently in order to keep the listing popping up frequently. Thank you.
Thanks Christina (for answer above)!