News & Past Hot Tips

If you find yourself in a situation where your new seller directs you not to include their listing on the MLS, your options for marketing their property are very limited. If an office exclusive listing is not handled correctly, it can result in a large fine. If you are at all unsure about the rules pertaining to office exclusive listings, please call 608-240-2800 or email listings@wisre.com. We would much rather talk to you ahead of time, than follow up on a report that you have strayed outside MLS rules.

When changing a listing to an offer status, you are asked if there were competing offers. Answer YES only if more than one written offer was considered at the time an offer was accepted. This field is optional at the time of acceptance and required when a listing is marked as Sold.

With the increased instances of showing overlaps, it is tempting, and even seems friendly to just hand the key over to the next agent who shows up for a showing.  Remember, the Supra system records when you open a keybox, and when you close it.   If the next agent forgets to turn lights off, lets the cat out, or fails to shut/lock doors, you may be held responsible as you would have been the last agent recorded as entering.

Please take extra care to make sure lights are off and doors are locked.  If there is not another showing happening when you leave, please double check all doors and lights.  Doors may have been opened or lights may have been turned on by an agent before you, so please be attentive and do a double check before you leave.

A while back, the Supra eKey app was updated to make it easier for agents to issue one-time codes to non-members.    With this upgrade, the ability for office staff to assist agents with this via SupraWEB was removed.    As several staff reported they missed this tool, we expressed this to Supra.   We are happy to report that the option for office staff to create one-day codes (Managed Access) for their agents has been restored within SupraWEB.   This option can again be found under the Broker Quick Links.

We are excited to announce the integration of the GreenLight Statistical Program within our MLS.   GreenLight tools empower agents to more easily find answers, make informed decisions, and leverage real-time access to discover insights within our MLS data.  GreenLight can be accessed from within Paragon.  Click on Resources and GreenLight Statistics.

Check out this 16 minute video for an overview of GreenLight.

Supra keyboxes come from the factory preset to open between the hours of 6:00 a.m – 9:00 p.m. Central Standard Time, and shift to the hours of 7:00 a.m. – 10:00 p.m. during Daylight Saving Time.

If you would like to change the access hours, or remove all time restrictions, you can do this for keyboxes you have added to your inventory.  Once added, select the keybox and then select Program Keybox.  Change the start or end time by clicking or tapping on the time.  When done, you will need to select to Program the keybox.  You will need to be near the keybox and have the shackle code to do this.

Set your Default County for Searching:  From within CRS, open Settings at the top right. Select Default County Search, select up to 4 counties, click to Save.

Customize your Results List: When viewing search results, you can toggle between Simple Results or Custom Results.  You can customize what displays under Custom Results.  Open Settings at the top right and select Custom Results List.  From here you can select up to 10 columns and even set your desired display order by dragging and dropping.  Click Save before closing.

Personally Brand CRS Tax Reports: Within the Branding option under Settings you have the option to upload a photo, logo, and other information you want to include on CRS reports. At this time, agent information does not flow from Paragon so you will need to keep this data updated manually.

Recent Violation: A listing that was to be entered in Delayed status was shown by the listing firm prior to MLS entry.

Discipline: A $500 fine to both the listing agent and their broker was assessed. This was the first time the agent and broker were found to have violated this MLS rule. Subsequent violations will result in accelerated fines and potential suspension of MLS services.

Please remember that if a new listing is to be entered as Delayed, or as Active with restrictions to show at a later date, nobody, including the listing firm, can show the property during the period between the effective date and entry into the MLS. The grace period for MLS entry allows time to gather information. It does not provide an opportunity to show the property if it will not be available for showings when it hits the MLS. More information on Delayed status can be found here.

Agents with standard Realtor level access can now edit all fields of data within their listing(s) with the exception of those fields that are contractual in nature (status, price, Y/N questions, and address). These contractual fields can be modified by someone with a higher security level (ex: office admin or broker).

The Exclusive Right to Sell listing is the form of listing where the seller provides exclusive authorization to the listing broker to cooperate with other brokers in the sale of their property. By default, all WB listing contracts are Exclusive Right to Sell.

The Exclusive Agency listing also authorizes the listing broker, as exclusive agent, to cooperate with other brokers in the sale of the property, but also reserves to the seller the general right to sell the property on an unlimited or restrictive basis.

An explanation of each of the “Yes/No” fields in Paragon can be found here. Within the Add/Maintain Listing screen, there are also helpful question mark “hint” icons to the right of many of the fields. When clicked, the icon will display an explanation of how to complete that field.

If you have a listing that is not mapped correctly, it may be missed if an agent is searching by map. Please make it part of your routine to always check the map placement when adding a new listing. If the map placement as assigned by Paragon is not correct, you can adjust it under Listing Maintain –> Change GeoCode.

When the map displays under maintain, click on the red map placement marker and move it as needed. Switching to a bird’s eye view (click the down arrow next to the word Road in the upper left corner) and using the zoom feature helps to pinpoint the exact location. There is also an option to enter the latitude and longitude. Before clicking Save, you may want to zoom out a bit as the zoom level will also be saved.

If you are not familiar with the location of a property, the CRS tax program can help you pinpoint it exactly using the latitude and longitude. Click on the red T from the listing to pull the property up within the CRS tax program.  The Latitude/Longitude are the last field within the Location section. Copy and paste into the Change GeoCode option within listing maintain.

As that was a lot of words, here is a helpful video to visually demonstrate:

The status of Withdrawn by Seller should be used when a seller changes their mind about selling, but the listing agent does not release them from their listing contract. Properties in Withdrawn by Seller may not be marketed or shown. Just like with Delayed properties, if the listing agent allows a showing, or a potential co-broke agent shows a property in Withdrawn by Seller status, both agents would be subject to fines by the MLS.

Once a listing is moved to the status of Withdrawn by Seller, the listing firm will not be able to move it back to Active. Before marketing & showings can resume, one of the following must be done:

1. Execute a new listing contract, expire the previous listing in the MLS, and add a new MLS #. This option will cause the days on market (DOM) count to reset. The cumulative days on market (CDOM) will only reset if the property has been off the market for at least 31 days.
2. Execute an amendment with the direction to reactivate the listing and submit it to listings@wisre.com. MLS Staff will change the listing back to Active status. This may only be done once per listing. With this option, the days on market will continue to accrue.

If you have a situation where the seller wants to temporarily suspend showings, you should leave the listing as Active, indicate in the first line of the public remarks that there are no showings allowed and provide the date showings will resume. You can change this date if needed.

If the listing agent releases the seller from their listing contract, the status should be changed to Expired.

After closing, you have the option to enter FSBO sales for which you represented the buyer.  When entering an unlisted FSBO sale, please:

• Add the listing in Sold status instead of Active.
• For list date, use a verifiable date the owner began marketing.  This will create a valid days on market, which in turn will help appraisers. The 4-day input rule does not apply for listings entered as Sold.
• For expiration date, use the closing date.
• All required fields, with the exception of room dimensions, are required.
• Select FSBO Comp – Not Listed under the Sale Factor pick list within the Sold information.  This will automatically change the list side to FSBO Comp.
• Add at least 1 front exterior photo before saving the listing, as you will not have an option to edit the listing or add a photo after the list side is changed. A primary photo can be added on the left panel of the add listing screen.
• When entering a comp sale, instead of just entering “sold comp” in the remarks, please include features of the property that are not addressed in our pick lists, especially if there is something unique.

All prior hot tips can be accessed by clicking the blue Past Home Page Hot Tips button on the bottom of the Paragon homepage.  The tips are kept by month, and there is a search feature to help you find past tips.

To the right of most search fields within Paragon, you will find a drop down containing search qualifiers. Most default to Equals or Contains, meaning that when you enter a search option, Paragon will find matches that equal or contain what you have asked for.

You may ask, what is the difference between Equals and Contains? The best way to explain this is with an example: Think of searching by Subdivision. If you type in Seminole, and the search qualifier for the Subdivision field is set to Contains, you will get all the listings with the word Seminole somewhere in the Subdivision field. If you specifically want listings in the Seminole Forest subdivision, you may want to change the default search qualifier to Equals, and type Seminole Forest into the search field to get just listings in the Seminole Forest subdivision.

Besides Equals and Contains, other search qualifiers available are: Not Equal To, Contains All, Does Not Contain, Starts With and Not Starting With.

We have received 3 reports of a Caucasian male buyer, in his late twenties, providing the first name of Dustin, asking to see high-end homes in Rock County.   He is requesting occupancy before closing, and is providing false proof of funds via a bank in Houston, TX. Please take extra care, and if you suspect you are contacted by this man, please call the Beloit Police Department at 608-364-6800 and reference case BE2253152.

Per Wisconsin State Statute 452.136(3), an agent cannot advertise a property unless their firm is the listing firm or has permission from the listing firm. The firm does not become the listing firm until a listing contract has been executed and the term of the contract has begun. This date is also referred to as the effective or list date:

In addition to a state law violation, this is also an MLS rule violation and carries with it a fine of $200 per day.  If any detail of a specific property, sufficient to activate the interest of a potential buyer, is publicly marketed before the effective date of the listing contract for said property, the listing agent shall be fined $200 per day, from the time of advertisement until the effective date of the contract.  This new fine will not exceed $5,000.

When calculating above grade square footage, only the finished area on levels that are 100% above grade (ground level) should be included. If an exposed or walk-out lower level has one exterior wall even partially below grade, all rooms on that level must be counted as below grade. More detail can be found within this helpful guide.

Finished Square Footage

According to MLS guidelines, for square footage to be considered finished, the space must be heated, have finished walls (painted concrete does not count), have a finished ceiling (no exposed floor joists), and have a finished floor (painted concrete does not count). If one of these four components is missing, the space can still be considered finished, but disclosure of the missing component must be included in the MLS remarks. Only finished rooms may be included in the room dimensions section. An exception is made for the “Other Room” selections of Three-Season Room, Screened Porch, and Garage, as the name discloses the space as unfinished.