The Benefits of Remine Pro: Ask Technical Terry

by Grant Lowery | Sep 24, 2020 | Tech Terry

Dear TT,

During the pandemic I’ve really had a chance to take a closer look at some of the wonderful products the RMLS™ Board of Directors has approved for our use. My goodness, there are some good tools available but the one I’m most interested in is Remine. I watched the demonstration when the product first hit the market but was a bit discouraged by how expensive the Pro version was – at almost $200 per month I’d really have to stay busy to rationalize paying for it. I was talking with a fellow REALTOR® last week and they said they’d heard the Remine Pro version was now included in the tools we have to use for no additional cost – is that true? If so – THANK YOU!!

–Farming for leads in Fairview

Hi FF,

It IS true!! The RMLS™ Board of Directors recently agreed to provide the Remine Pro product to you for no cost, meaning the $200 per month some subscribers were paying to get the amazing benefit of Remine Pro is now available to all RMLS™ subscribers. Included in the Pro version is the ability to save up to 10,000 carts of property listings (think of a cart as a collection of specific property addresses) and the elimination of the $3.00 per contact fee. Remine Pro also has every conceivable property filter available to really fine tune your farming activities. Generating mailing labels to farm specific areas based on tangible knowledge about the propensity to sell or buy is a huge deal – no longer do you have to “shotgun market” with your valuable marketing dollars. Now you can send marketing materials to property addresses that might actually be ready to buy or sell!

I’m only touching on a small portion of what Remine Pro can do for you – I would strongly suggest either attending one of the RMLS™-led Remine webinars or checking out the Remine teaching webinars by going to the Support Center when logged in to Remine.

Happy Farming!

–TT

Dear TT,

I swear to you, I’m a very calm person, but if my buyers get one more prospecting email where the listing agent has altered the price by $5 both they and I are gonna scream!! Why do my fellow REALTORS® do this?? It’s sooooooooo frustrating for my buyers! Please tell me there’s a rule about this?

–Hopeful in Happy Valley

Hi HH,

Oh. My. Gosh. I hear you loud and clear! I’m not sure where that form of “marketing” came from but honestly it really IS irritating. Your timing could not be any better however, as just last week our amazing developers released new functionality to the Prospecting module of RMLSweb. This new feature allows you to define the amount of price change the system will use to determine triggering email notification to your clients. When you are looking at your clients Prospecting search, notice in the Frequently Used list of fields a new Price Change option is available. You can define the $ amount of change and the days back. This would allow you to restrict RMLSweb from sending new matches to your client unless the change was more than $1,000 as an example. So now you do have full control over this area of RMLSweb, something both you and your clients will likely enjoy!

–TT

Paragon Questions Answered: Ask Technical Terry

by RMLS Communication Department | Jun 12, 2020 | Tech Terry

Dear TT,

I have heard rumors about a new MLS system option coming online for RMLS™ subscribers very soon. While I would be the first to admit that RMLSweb frustrates me at times, I never anticipated access to a different sort of MLS dashboard.

I can imagine the concept requires a lot of work to deploy – help me understand why RMLS™ would be doing such a thing and why now?

Interested in Irrigon

Dear II,

Thank you for your question about the Paragon system, which we will release soon (July is when we plan to roll it out). You are correct that this new system requires some heavy lifting, though we believe it is well worth the effort for our subscribers.

Here are some of the reasons:

• Subscriber choice – RMLS™ and its Board of Directors have always focused on providing our  subscribers the best tools, and the best ways to work with their listing data.  As we know, many subscribers come to RMLS™ from other areas where they had a different MLS system, and are frequently telling us “so and so does this aspect better, you should switch to them”.  This model of true front end of choice allows us to put that choice in subscribers’ hands and choose how THEY want to work with the listing data. Paragon will be tied to the same database that RMLSweb uses but will be a completely unique user interface containing some features that we think will be very well received.

• The forward thinking of the Black Knight team; not all MLS system vendors are willing to offer a front end of choice. They want the MLS to switch entirely to their platform before they will work with them, due to their perceived lack of ROI for all the development hours they feel it would take to make this concept work. Black Knight has worked with RMLS™ for years. We’ve shared code with them in the past with our mapping module.  They were willing to give it a shot and dedicate hours of their development team to put the Paragon system in place for us and see how this experiment goes.

Now, we have talked about front end of choice for many years in the real estate/listing service industry. In fact, I can remember all the way back in the early 2000s this concept being discussed at national MLS conferences.

So why has it taken so long to achieve this concept? Here are some details explaining why:

• Standardized MLS data via RESO – Prior to the evolution of RESO (Real Estate Standards Organization) data standards, taking on a new front-end system for an MLS would be a monumental task, as all the data fields would have to be duplicated and reprogrammed and configured to work with a new MLS system and database.  With the evolution of RESO, and the industry acceptance of said standards, we can now push out our data in the RESO format that other system providers can somewhat quickly and easily work with and make these new options available.

As I briefly mentioned above, front end of choice has been a long discussed but never implemented industry idea. RMLS™ and Black Knight are the first MLS / MLS System Vendor team to join up to provide this concept to our subscribers.

To clarify for those who may think RMLSweb is going away and will be replaced by Paragon – that is not the case at all, in fact RMLSweb will continue to be available going forward. You will still use RMLSweb to add and modify listings even if you’ve decided Paragon is your preferred system.

Thanks, Interested in Irrigon, for the great question. Keep an eye on RMLSweb desktop news for more info as we get closer to releasing Paragon.

—TT

Getting Around in Drive Time: Ask Technical Terry

by RMLS Communication Department | May 29, 2020 | Tech Terry

Hi TT,

I saw the recent release of the INRIX Drive Time mapping tool in RMLSweb. I have to admit that while I had heard of INRIX before, and understand a bit about the technology, I was not sure I’d ever have use for it in RMLSweb.

Boy was I ever wrong! A day after you folks announced its availability, I got a new client lead that is a doctor moving to Portland, and he said he must live within 20 minutes of his work location and also, ideally, within 20 minutes of the daycare where he wished to enroll his son.

I explained that I have access to a really cutting-edge tool called INRIX Drive Time, and he was quite impressed! I created a search using both addresses and the 20-minute time frames, which helped narrow the number of listings down to homes that would keep him close to work and his child’s daycare.

Really cool! Thank you for adding this feature!

—Thrilled in Tigard

Hi TT (oh, I see what you did there!),

I’m so happy to hear of your success in using the new mapping tool! It really is designed to facilitate the very sort of search you just described. It sounds like you had no problem figuring out how the “Union” and “Intersection” controls work with the Drive Time tools.

For those who may not feel as confident in using the new INRIX Drive Time map functionality, the RMLS™ Training Team has created both a PDF overview and a video overview to walk you through the process.

You also mentioned being familiar with INRIX technology. I find their stuff fascinating, so I poked around on their website and found a great Trip Analytics resource page that is worth reading if you want to really dive into what INRIX can do.

Thanks again, TT; happy searching!

—TT

Clearly Confused 8.1: Ask Technical Terry

by RMLS Communication Department | May 1, 2020 | Tech Terry

Dear TT,

In my tenure as a Realtor, I thought cooperation had always been one of the fundamental tenets of MLS — any MLS, not just RMLS™. I’ve tried to read up on the plethora of info that RMLS™ has been providing regarding this Clear Cooperation MLS 8.0 change, but I’m still not 100% sure I understand exactly what the change means.

I’ve heard the terms “pocket listing”, “off-MLS listing” and “office exclusive listing” — what the heck is the difference? I suspect it won’t really affect or alter my business practices, but I’m assuming it may other practitioners depending on how this changes the landscape. Can you help?

—Intrigued in Iona

Dear Intrigued,

Of course I can! Or, I should say, I will do my best to help you and others confused as we adjust to the new rules.

As you stated above, one of the core tenets of MLS is cooperation. That, along with a guarantee of compensation, make up what I consider to be two cornerstones in the foundation of MLS. As the industry has evolved over time, there have been many business models employed, some with greater success than others.

Regardless of their differences, all of the models relied on those two fundamental tenets (cooperation and compensation) via the MLS system. However, throughout the history of MLS, even with the demonstrable benefit to both seller and buyer of sharing listing information within the MLS co-op, there have been real-world reasons to withhold listings from the co-op. Most of those examples were based on seller security/privacy in some way — which is perfectly legitimate.

The problem that arose over time, facilitated in particular by web-based real estate marketing, is the reality that some “pocket listings” (or “off MLS listings” as they’ve been more recently described) were not actually being excluded for privacy reasons. They were excluded out of a desire to capture more of the money available in a transaction — this is clearly not within the framework of MLS rules regarding cooperation.

So along comes Clear Cooperation MLS 8.0, the new policy approved earlier this year by NAR and being implemented by RMLS™ on April 30, 2020. Intending to add clarity to what can and cannot be done by MLS subscribers with exclusions, this is a national change for any MLS aligned with NAR. In some ways, Clear Cooperation MLS 8.0 makes it better for sellers wanting their property excluded from the MLS co-op, in that they no longer experience a 30-day penalty to have their property added to the MLS co-op if it does not sell “off MLS”.

That was a very real deterrent historically that has been changed with this new policy. So, you can still take a “pocket” or “off MLS” listing but the criteria for keeping it out of the co-op has become much clearer.

You mentioned that you have read and watched a lot of info about this change, so this may not be news to you. However, here is a look at key attributes of the new policy:

• Any “public” marketing of the pocket / off MLS listing immediately invokes a violation of the new rule, requiring the listing be added to the MLS co-op within one business day of public marketing.
• “Public marketing” includes (but is not limited to):
  • flyers displayed in windows
  • yard signs
  • digital marketing on public-facing websites
  • brokerage website displays (including IDX and VOW)
  • digital communication marketing (email blasts),
  • multi-brokerage listing sharing networks
  • applications available to the general public
• “Office Exclusive” listings are still possible within the framework of this new rule, but your “marketing” of this type of listing is limited to direct promotion of the listing between the licensees/brokers in your brokerage office, and one to one promotion between these licensees and their clients. In essence, you could share your Office Exclusive listing with the licensees within your brokerage at an office meeting, and they can one to one share with their clients, and that’s it.
• Coming Soon No Showing listings are still possible for RMLS™ subscribers even after the implementation of CC 8.0 (same CSN rules apply as prior to this change).

In closing, thank you for the great question, and for trying hard to stay abreast of this really important evolution of MLS rules. Keep your eye on the RMLSweb Desktop News for more info as this rule change is rolled out.

Available RMLS™ Training Opportunities: Ask Technical Terry

by RMLS Communication Department | Apr 2, 2020 | Tech Terry

Dear Technical Terry,

I’m really looking for ways to constructively fill my time with all the social distancing during this pandemic. One of my fellow realtors said they saw some good resources on the RMLSweb desktop page, but I haven’t looked yet. Can you help me out with some ideas?

I’m concerned that what I’m really looking for is a way to ask specific questions about the RMLS™ modules and possibly some third-party software too. How can I do that?

— Bored on Broadway

Hi BB,

I can sure relate to your perspective. It can be challenging to keep yourself busy in a constructive manner (instead of, say, just binge-watching Tiger King on Netflix).

The article your fellow Realtor® mentioned is on the RMLSweb desktop page. I have included the info for you below, including links to various resources for our third-party vendors.

Regarding our modules, the RMLS™ Training team has just launched a new one-on-one training concept called Virtual Classroom! Registration is just like any one of our other courses, and here are Virtual Classroom details:

• Classes are scheduled in one-hour blocks.
• Go to Toolkit → Training Registration to find the option for “Web One on One” in the class scheduler.
• Select this option and the date you wish to meet online, then select from the available times.
• Please include any specifics you want us to focus on in the Comments box, then submit your selected date, time and comments.
• A Trainer will confirm the appointment via email and provide you a link to join the video meeting.
• When connecting to the Zoom meeting, using your computer audio is fine, particularly if you have a headset you use with your computer (this is my preferred way of video conferencing). You may also call into any of the phone numbers provided in the meeting information.

See you online BB!!

RMLS™ Third-Party Partners Training and Support Opportunities 

HOMESNAP

A full calendar of live, self-paced, and prerecorded webinars is available to all RMLS™ subscribers including everything from a Homesnap Crash Course to Finding Seller Leads and can be accessed here. Homesnap also offers a brand-new webinar in the series “Five Tips for Providing Your Clients a Happier Home Search,” which is live at nine different times this week. Last, we have recently completed an overhaul of the Homesnap University Page, which is another excellent resource for all RMLS™ subscribers and includes quick tutorials, printables, and more! 

REMINE

Accessing support and training content for RMLS™ Subscribers from REMINE has never been easier. Whether it’s Getting Started with REMINE, the REMINE Mobile App, registering for a Training webinar or Chatting with the REMINE support team, you can do it all from the link: REMINE Training & Support for RMLS™ Subscribers

SHOWINGTIME

During this time of enhanced awareness of social distancing, using a great tool like ShowingTime to provide enhanced control over the showing schedule of your seller’s property is paramount. To learn more about how ShowingTime can work for you and for an array of ShowingTime support and training options: ShowingTime Knowledge Base for RMLS™ Subscribers. ShowingTime has also set up a dedicated page with short videos that describe how to set up and use live streaming in tandem with ShowingTime. 

IMMOVIEWER

Immoviewer’s software platform combines automated real estate video content creation with simple, affordable and scalable 3D 360° tours. Generate individual listing landing pages from your listing feed and create Floor Plans without measuring using the fastest & most cost effective real estate 3D 360° tour software available!