by RMLS Communication Department | Mar 7, 2011 | Lockbox, Statistics, Supra
Activity is up in Washington, down in Oregon
When comparing the week of February 21 – February 27 with the week prior, the number of times an RMLS™ subscriber opened a Supra lockbox increased 2.5% in Washington and decreased 3.1% in Oregon.
Washington

Oregon

Archive
View an archive of the Supra lockbox statistical reports on Flickr.
by RMLS Communication Department | Mar 2, 2011 | Industry News
Congratulations to our winners and to the three schools that will receive gift certificates for art supplies!
A $100 gift certificate from RMLS™ is currently on its way to three schools in Oregon and SW Washington. Winners of our Spread the Word Contest were able to choose the school that would receive one of three gift certificates, which is to be used to purchase art supplies for students.
The Fair Housing Council of Oregon’s annual Fair Housing Poster Contest is underway, with submissions due March 17th. RMLS™ encouraged our subscribers to submit a plan for how they were helping to spread word of this contest for children. The first two subscribers who emailed us their “Spread the Word” plan won a $100 gift certificate for art supplies to donate to the school of their choice! However, we had three great plans emailed to us within a short period of time and decided to award three winners instead of just two!
Congratulations to our winners:
Sheila Done, Century 21 Wright & Assoc.
Wendy Wampach, RE/MAX Equity Group
Joy Hurley, Coldwell Banker Professional Group
Sheila Done chose Ladd Acres Elementary School in Hillsboro as the recipient of her $100 gift certificate for art supplies. Sheila has two children (in first and fifth grade) who attend this school and was happy to help get the word out about the poster contest. Her plan consisted of emailing teachers and parents of students at the school, in addition to posting the contest flyer on the school’s front doors. Below is a picture of students from Ladd Acres Elementary who will benefit from these art supplies!

Wendy Wampach chose to donate her gift certificate to Mill Plain Elementary in Vancouver, Washington, where she is the current Art Discovery Coordinator. She also teaches art classes to students at Mill Plain Elementary. Wendy sent the Fair Housing contest flyer to the District Coordinator and to the other Art Coordinators for the Evergreen School district. With a total of 21 elementary schools in the district and more than 300 art volunteers, this plan surely helped spread awareness of the poster contest. Here is a photo of some Mill Plain Elementary students engaged in artistic activities:

Joy Hurley serves as a Board Member for Yamhelas Community Resource Center (YCRC). YCRC is a local 501c-3 that organizes a preschool and after-school programs for at-risk youth in the communities of Yamhill and Washington Counties. The organization collaborates not only with the school district, but also with other local non-profits to provide resources for children. To help get the word out about the Fair Housing Poster Contest, Joy’s plan included distributing copies of the flyer to the YCRC art class and the local Girl Scout Troop. She also requested that the school district place the flyer on their website. Joy is excited to have won the gift certificate for YCRC, as she says its art program is in need of funds and will find this donation very useful. Here is an example of art done by some of the students:

Again, congratulations to our winners who took time out of their schedules to help spread awareness of the Fair Housing Poster Contest. They should also be commended for submitting plans to RMLS™ in an effort to win $100 for a school in need of art funds. Let’s also congratulate those who did not win, but who are helping to spread the word anyway. This poster contest is a great way to get kids involved in a fun community project. Hopefully the Fair Housing Council will see an outstanding turnout of poster submissions to their contest!
For more information on the poster contest, visit the Fair Housing Council of Oregon’s website. Or, click here for a copy of the contest brochure!
by RMLS Communication Department | Feb 28, 2011 | Events
This March, take advantage of FREE RMLSweb training
Here’s a quick rundown of upcoming real estate events and education for March in Oregon and Southern Washington. If you have an event that is not listed here, please let us know by commenting below. For future events, please send an e-mail to communications (at) rmls (dot) com.
RMLS™ Events:
Join RMLS™ for this educational event as part of our Broker Education Series on March 15 from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at Seven Feathers Resort and Casino near Roseburg. Step-by-step training will show you how to successfully present, negotiate, and sign exclusive buyer representation agreements. This course provides great tools for qualifying buyers, negotiation professional service fees, signing representation agreements, and overcoming broker and buyer objections to exclusive representation.
Topic: Exclusive Buyer Representation Agreements
Speaker: Rick Harris
When: March 15, 2011 9:30am – 12:30pm
Cost: FREE!
For more information and to register, click here.
Save the Date: 2011 RMLS™ Trade Fair!
The 2011 RMLS™ Trade Fair will take place at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland from 9:30am to 4pm on April 21st, with a reception immediately following at 4pm and ending at 6pm. Attendee registration is now available, and registrants will have the chance to win one of two grand prizes! For more information and to register, see our website.
Events around the region:
-March 2: W & R Studios presents a FREE Cloud CMA workshop from 1:30 pm to 3:00 pm at the RMLS™ Portland office in the Board Room. To see the flyer, click here, and to register, click here.
-March 6-8: Umpqua Valley Home Builders Association hosts the annual Umpqua Valley Home & Garden Show at the Douglas County Fairgrounds Complex. For more details and to register, click here.
-March 9: Earth Advantage Institute presents “Marketing the Value of Sustainability” for 7 CE hours in Portland from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm. For more information and to register, click here.
-March 12-13: Home Builder’s Association of Metropolitan Portland hosts its 2011 Tour of Remodeled Homes. For more information and to purchase tickets, click here!
-March 16: The REALTOR® Rally at the Capitol will take place at the state capitol building in Salem, where more than 200 REALTORS® will advocate on behalf of the real estate industry. To find out more information, see this flyer.
-March 18: The Portland Chapter of the National Association of Residential Property Managers offers a free catered lunch and meeting to learn from property management experts. The lunch takes place from 11:45 am to 1:30 pm at the Fairfield Inn in Lake Oswego. For more information, see here.
-March 30-31: Oregon Association of REALTORS® presents “The Accredited Buyer’s Representative” for 14 hours CE credit in Lake Oswego. For more information, see this flyer.
Also, if you are an RMLS™ subscriber, we have lots of FREE educational opportunities at a location near you; click the link for your area to view the February Training Calendar:
–Coos County
–Eastern Oregon
–Eugene
–Florence
–Gresham
–Hood River
–Portland
–Roseburg
–Salem
–Vancouver
by RMLS Communication Department | Feb 28, 2011 | Lockbox, Statistics, Supra
Activity decreases in both Washington and Oregon
When comparing the week of February 14 – February 20 with the week prior, the number of times an RMLS™ subscriber opened a Supra lockbox decreased 4.8% in Washington and 3% in Oregon.
Washington

Oregon

Archive
View an archive of the Supra lockbox statistical reports on Flickr.
by RMLS Communication Department | Feb 23, 2011 | Market Trends, RMLS News, Statistics
Now including new Affordability documents!
Did you know our Statistical Summaries have been updated with data from 2010? We’ve also added new documents in the Portland, SW Washington, and Lane County folders to show our affordability graphs, which previously only appeared in our Market Action reports the first month of every quarter. Subscribers requested that we make the affordability graphs more accessible, which is why we created these new documents. Now, you no longer have to search through old Market Action reports to find the Affordability Index!
The new Affordability documents are for Lane County, the Portland Metro area, and SW Washington, and can be found in the three areas’ respective Statistical Summary folders. Unfortunately, we do not have Affordability information available for any other areas due to limited median income information from HUD.
To find the new Affordability documents or see the updated Statistical Summary documents on RMLSweb, here is where they are located:
1. Go to Forms and Documents (via Toolkit).
2. On the left side of the screen in Forms and Documents, you will see the Folder Menu with yellow folder files.
3. Go to the folder called 1500-1699 Market Action and Statistics Menu.
4. If there is a “+” sign next to the folder, click it to open the Market Action and Statistics Menu folder. If there is a “-” sign, it is already open.
5. The Statistical Summaries are grouped by area, and can be found in the folders between 1520 and 1699.
6. The new Portland Metro Affordability document can be found in folder number 1520-1539.
7. The new SW Washington Affordability document can be found in folder number 1549-1559.
8. The new Lane County Affordability document can be found in folder number 1560-1579.