News & Past Hot Tips

Do you have contacts in Paragon for whom you would like to preview listing matches before sending?

If you use Collab Center, you can set up the contact for Agent Preview. Open the contact, go to Contact Information, select Agent Preview from the Collab Center Search Options located in the top left, and click Save. When a listing notification is sent, it will come to you first to Approve or Disapprove in Paragon. This approval/disapproval can be done directly from the contact grid.

If you use Email Notification, you can edit the notification so it is only sent to you. Open the contact, click Buyer Activity, click the search name, then click Email Notification 1. Click the Edit Notification button at the top. Remove the contact’s email address, check the Bcc Me box, and click Save. Be sure you clearly identify the contact in the subject line so you know who to forward the email to when you receive it.

If you are working with a buyer for the purchase of a listing that is marked as Limited Service = Yes, please notify the listing agent when an offer is accepted, and again once closed. As is the case with limited service listings, often times you are working directly with the seller, and the listing agent is not informed of accepted offers and closings. Please take this extra step to notify them, so they can report such to the MLS within a timely manner.

New listings must be entered into the MLS within one (1) business day of being publicly marketed. If marketing has not yet begun, listings must be entered no later than four (4) calendar days from the effective date (first day of the term) of the listing contract. Entering verbiage in the listing contract to keep the listing off the MLS until a later date is not allowed.

Agents are subject to fines of $500/day if they market a listing and fail to enter it in the MLS within 1 business day. Agents are subject to a fine of $100/day if they fail to enter a new listing, not yet being marketed, within 4 calendar days.

If a new listing is not ready to be shown, it still must be entered into the MLS. You have the option of entering it as either Delayed or Active. If entered as Active, the date showings will be allowed must be entered in the first line of the public remarks. If a listing is not ready to be shown, it cannot be shown by anyone, not even the listing office.

You may have wondered why active listings that are imported from other MLSs have 1/1/2079 as their expiration date. Most MLSs do not display the expiration date for active listing within their MLS systems. Our agreement via WIREX requires us to honor restrictions set in the native MLS systems. Paragon requires data be included in the expiration date field, so we use 1/1/2079 as a placeholder. The actual expiration date is hidden, and when the property is moved to an expired status, the placeholder is replaced with the actual expiration date.

If the agent on the sale side of your transaction is not a member of our MLS, enter SCWMLS Non-Member in the sale agent field and include the agent and office name in the broker-to-broker info. You will get a friendly popup reminder when selecting SCWMLS Non-Member. Simply select Accept on the reminder once you have added this info to the broker-to-broker info.

When adding an associated document to a listing in Paragon, your document will automatically be set as a private document unless you select the Public check box. Public associated documents are available for the public via e-mailed listing links sent to clients. Private documents are not included when listings are emailed from Paragon, but SCWMLS members have access to them via the Documents link on a listing. We do not send private documents to other MLSs as some other MLSs do not distinguish between public and private, and include all documents with e-mailed listing links to the public. Please make sure to mark your public type documents (i.e. condition reports) as public so agents in other MLSs have access to them via our WIREX datashare.

Before leaving for a showing, especially for a property in an area with spotty cell phone coverage, double check that your Supra eKEY has updated for the day. To check this, look for the Update icon on the bottom of the main eKEY screen. If there is a red X over the Update icon, click to do a manual update. If there is no red X, you are good to go. Once your eKEY is updated for the day, it does not need access to cell service or the internet to retrieve a key or open a keybox shackle.

Paragon, and the mobile version of Paragon, Paragon Connect, can both be accessed via https://scwmls.paragonrels.com. When you access this link from a mobile device, the system will auto detect you are on a mobile device and steer you to Paragon Connect for a mobile-friendly version of Paragon. On that redirect page (click here to see what it looks like), there is a button that says “OK, let’s go” to send you to Paragon Connect. If you want to access Paragon Desktop instead of Paragon Connect, click the small link under the “Ok, let’s go” button that says “Go to Paragon Desktop”. The link is small, but it is still there. Click here for a short video on the features of Paragon Connect.

Each MLS participating in WIREX has its own keybox system. When setting up a showing on a listing for which the MLS number starts with alpha characters (i.e. MM), connect with the list agent to make sure you can get into the property. Most agents in the Metro Milwaukee MLS (MM) use the SentriLock keybox system. Metro agents can issue a one-day code to allow you access. Most agents in the Northeast (NE) and Central WI (CW) MLSs use the Supra system. If you want to show a NE or CW listing, email keys@wisre.com and request reciprocal Supra access. Indicate which system you would like reciprocal access for based on the alpha prefix. You need to do this only one time per MLS system, and there is no additional fee for this reciprocity.

Now that Zillow is a brokerage, they no longer give agents the ability to edit listings sent to Zillow via MLS IDX data feeds. If you still have access to edit your listing, it is because your listing is also on Zillow from a secondary source, such as a franchise. When looking at your listing on Zillow, you will find the data source or sources under the Listed By information. The example below shows this listing provided via the WIREX MLS data feed and the RE/MAX International data feed. Information from the WIREX MLS data feed will be the primary display, but the consumer can click on the secondary source to see a slightly different view of the listing. If you still have the option to edit your listing, you are actually editing the secondary source display, not the primary MLS source display. This has caused some confusion for our members, as they expect to see their edits on the primary MLS source display.

Within both the ShowingTime and the Supra eKEY apps, there is a free feature that allows you to create an email alert to selected contacts. The ShowingTime alert works on a timer or allows an immediate panic button push. Supra allows for an immediate panic button push. Click link for step by step setup instructions: ShowingTime – Supra

Paragon Photo Limit Increased to 90

At their last meetings, the MLS Committee and MLS Board of Directors voted to increase the maximum number of photos allowed per listing from 36 to 90. 

Agents with basic Realtor level Paragon access can enter listing data for a new listing directly into Paragon (Listings –> Add Listing) and save it as a partial. This option streamlines the add listing process by allowing agents to directly key in listing data as opposed to filling out profile sheets. Partial listings can then be reviewed and saved as live listings by users with office administrative access. When entering a partial listing, an agent should make note of the partial listing number assigned to pass on to their office listing administrator, along with any documentation required by their office. If the listing should be entered in a status other than Active, that should also be noted. Administrators can then pull up the partial listing to complete under Listings -> Maintain Partials.

A Few Tips:

• Selecting Tax Autofill will pull in data from public records.
• Select Save As Partial Listing and select Continue Input to load photos & documents. You can select to save as a partial several times along the way to save your work.
• Before handing off to your administrator, click Save Listing to trigger input rules to make sure you have not missed any required information. Click the red triangle to jump to the field that contains missing information. Status will be entered by your administrator.

You can customize the Market Monitor on the Paragon Home page to limit the display of listings to certain counties, cities, school districts, or types of property. Click the gear to the right of the words Market Monitor to set your preferences.

Clicking the My Info Tab on the Market Monitor gives you quick access to your current active listings as well as your current offer-no show listings, your current delayed listings, your listings due to expire for days specified, and your solds for the past 6 months. Listings under the Sold Within Six Months link include your co-broke sales, allowing easy monitoring to be sure you are given credit for co-broke sales.

On July 26, Zillow removed all Wisconsin For Sale by Owner listings from their site. As Zillow is now a brokerage, they must abide by Wisconsin real estate license law. Wisconsin State Statute 452.136(3), prohibits advertising of a property unless a firm is the listing firm for the property, or the firm or a licensee associated with the firm obtained consent to advertise the property from the listing firm.

If a listing is not ready to be shown, it cannot be shown by anyone, not even the listing agent/office. MLS rules begin on the effective date of the contract. If a listing is to be entered into the MLS as Delayed, or as Active with a notation that no showings are allowed, nobody, including the listing agent/office, can show the property between the effective date and when it is available for all to show. The grace period for MLS entry gives you time to gather information, it does not provide a period of time to show a property if that property will not be available for showings when it hits the MLS.

If you are not currently using the Tax Autofill link when adding a listing, you may want to check it out. Clicking on the Tax Autofill link at the top of the Add Listing screen will take you to the Tax Search page. Locate the property you are adding by parcel number, address, or owner name. Select the tax record, and then click on the Autofill link at the top of the screen. Information such as address, owner, school district, acres, assessments and taxes will be automatically imported into the add-listing screen saving you keystrokes. If the listing agent has provided information that is different from what is auto-filled, you can simply overwrite the auto-filled information.

The MLS does not define what is a bedroom. Listing agents should use common sense when calling a room a bedroom. If you are counting a room as a bedroom that is not a typical bedroom (i.e. does not have a closet, is accessible only by going through another room, etc.), please indicate in the remarks what makes it atypical so that showing agents and potential buyers are informed before a showing. A lower level room that does not meet safety guidelines for a bedroom, however, should not be labeled as a bedroom in the MLS. Click here for requirements from the Department of Safety and Professional Standards regarding lower level bedrooms. MLS rules mandate a photo be included within Paragon showing the egress window for every lower level bedroom.

Did you know that you can easily share your listings from Paragon to your Facebook page or via Twitter? Find this option within Listings -> Maintain Listings. Click on Select an Action and then Share Listing on Facebook and/or Share to Twitter. The post will include the primary photo, public remarks, and a link to the detail report within Collaboration Center. If you are not currently using Collab Center, you can set up your site under Preferences (in the menu bar at the top of the screen).

When you enter into a new listing contract, you must enter that listing into the MLS within 1 business day from the first day you publicly market it. If you are not yet marketing the listing, you have 4 calendar days from the effective date (list date) to enter it in the MLS. If the seller is not ready to show, the listing can be entered as Delayed (or Active with a note in the first line of public remarks indicating when showings will begin).

If your listing is an office exclusive listing, you must submit the listing contract and the required office exclusive form to the MLS within 4 calendar days from the effective date. Office exclusive listings cannot be publicly marketed.

At their last meeting, the MLS Board of Directors reviewed the fines associated with new listing input. Changes to the fine structure are in red below.

• If you publicly market a listing, and fail to enter that listing into the MLS within 1 business day, you will be assessed a fine of $500/day.
• If you fail to enter a new listing, not yet being marketed, within 4 calendar days, you will be assessed a fine of $100/day.
• If you publicly market an office exclusive listing, or even the existence of an office exclusive listing, you will be assessed a fine of $500/day.
• If you fail to submit the listing contract and the required office exclusive form for an office exclusive listing within 4 calendar days, you will be assessed a fine of $100/day.

Click here for a summary of all SCWMLS fines.