News & Past Hot Tips

May 2016

-Listings that are not available for showings due to an accepted offer, must be moved to the status of Offer-No Show. It does not matter if all contingencies are removed; the deciding factor is if showings are allowed or not.

-To see all emails (manual and automatic) you have sent from Paragon, click on Contacts and Sent Items. If you want to look at or forward any of these emails, simply click the check box in the far left column and the email will open at the bottom of your screen.

-When entering showing instructions as part of a listing within Paragon, please do not include lockbox or alarm codes. Information entered into the showing instructions field displays before a showing is confirmed and displays within WIREX as part of the listing record. Lockbox codes should be entered into the LockBox Code field located after the Showing Instructions field within Paragon. Alarm information should be entered within ShowingAssist. This sensitive information will then only display in an email after a showing has been confirmed.

-When searching by Features, the Feature Groups now display collapsed to minimize scrolling. Simply click the name of the Feature (i.e. Garage) to open.

Reminder/Warning: It is against MLS rules to show a property to a perspective buyer that is in the status of Delayed or marked as “no showings allowed”. Those found in violation of this rule can be fined up to $15,000 and are subject to suspension of MLS services. This fine and suspension can be applied to both the listing agent and the agent showing the property.

April 2016

– Check out our cool Home Features Addendum to be used to provide more information about mechanicals, appliances, utilities, updates/remodeling, and home owners association info. This form can be attached to your listing as an associated document within Paragon, thus saving you characters within MLS remarks. You can find this form within the Associated Docs Portal. You can complete this form on screen, and save or print it for attachment to your listings, or print a blank form to complete offline.

-New Map Layer Added for Madison Area/Subareas. The Madison Area/Subarea shapes have been added as a layer to the Bing map search and display. To add layers while viewing a map, click on the layer icon within the map tool bar (looks like 3 pieces of paper on top of each other). You will find this new layer along with Parcel Lines, Neighborhoods, Postal Codes, Flood Plain and Traffic Flow. When turning on a map layer, you have the option of including labels by clicking the slide switch to the right of the layer name. Labels for this new layer are the E and W codes.

-Find Lot Dimensions & SqFt Within the Parcel Layer. Within the Parcel Lines layer, you can single click within the parcel to display the dimensions and square footage of the lot. Turning on the lable for this layer will display the parcel number. This layer is also very helpful if you have to adjust the map location for one of your listings.

March 2016

-A new parcel number search field has been added within the Tax module. This field allows you to strip the dashes and periods from parcel numbers when searching and just enter the numbers. In other words, you no longer have to remember where the dashes are when searching by parcel number.

-Database changes were done March 29. Click here for a list of these changes. New profile sheets to accommodate these changes can be found here.

-The Public Remarks field has been increased from 512 to 600 characters.

-A property must be off the market for at least 31 days to clear cdom. Paragon looks at the last expiration date and the new list date. There needs to be at least 31 full days the property was not active in between the old expiration date and the new list date in order for the old days on market to be cleared from cdom. When counting the 31 days, do not count the old expiration date or the new list date, only count the days in between.

-Email auto notifications of price changes are sent from Paragon only if the price change is at least .5%. This setting limits the practice of $1 price changes to gain exposure

-Within the price column on spreadsheets, a price in red indicates a price decrease, and a price in green indicates a price increase. In addition, if you hover over the arrow, the previous price and percentage of change will display. Price changes are highlighted for 2 weeks.

-If you enter 999 for year built = unknown, your listing may be missed when consumers search on public websites, as several website vendors do not included unknown values. Please take a few extra minutes to find and enter the year built. We currently have over 1200 active listings with 999 for year built.

-Upcoming Database Change: On March 29, we will be adding fields for Other Room 3 and Other Room 4. In addition, we will be changing all Other Room Name fields from free form entry to a pick list. We will attempt to convert the data currently in Other Room 1 and Other Room 2, but due to the nature of free form entries, this conversion will not be 100%. To ensure your listings are converted correctly, please take a few minutes to change the name of Other Room 1 and Other Room 2 to match the conversion pick list below. The security on the other room fields has been changed to allow all agents to make this change.

Bedroom              Game Room            Kitchen 2    

Bonus Room        Loft                           Sun Room

Den/Office            Mud Room               Theater

Exercise               Rec Room                3 Season

Foyer                    Screen Pch               Other

Dinette

-When entering a listing, please take extra time to select all the applicable options from the feature pick lists. For example, selecting just 2 car but not attached will result in your listing being missed when agents are searching for an attached garage. It is also important to select features that are not always visible during a showing, such as an electronic pet containment system, in-floor radiant heat, or a radon mitigation system. These may be desirable to a perspective buyer, but if you don’t select them, and the showing agent can’t see them, the buyer will never know they exist.

-Important Reminder about Scheduling Showings Via Paragon: When you click on the Schedule a Showing icon within Paragon, a box will pop up with your personal information such as phone number and email. This information is not automatically tied to your member record within Paragon. This is by design so you have flexibility to enter the most appropriate return phone number or email for that particular showing request. The email or phone number as entered will stick until you change it. Because of this flexibility, if you transfer to a new office or change your email or phone number and report that to the MLS to have changed in Paragon, the showing pop up screen will not automatically change; you have to change it. Please glance at this box each time you set up a showing to be sure the email and phone number are as you want them to be. If you need to make a change, simply do so right on that screen.

January 2016

Q: I entered a new listing as Delayed last week, changed it to Active today, and days on market show 5 days Why? A: For all listings, days on market starts counting at List Date and subtracts days in an off-market status. As this listing was entered 5 days after the list date, the time between the list date and the day entered was counted. If you want to avoid a days on market calculation for your Delayed listings, you should enter them on the list date. For days on market calculations, the list date is day 0 and the day after the list date is day 1.

-Back in October we added a new feature called Split Bedroom under Interior Features. A split bedroom design features the master bedroom on either the other side of the house, or on a different level than the other bedrooms. If you have a split bedroom home listed, please included this new feature so your listing is not missed when other agents are looking for this design.

– Within the price column on spreadsheets, you will now see price changes highlighted. A price in red indicates a price decrease, and a price in green indicates a price increase. In addition, if you hover over the arrow, the previous price and percentage of change will display. Price changes will be highlighted for 2 weeks.

– Properties in our MLS that include instruction to contact the seller for showings are protected from solicitation by REALTORS, just like other exclusive listings. Your conversation with the seller should be limited to setting up the showing. As many of these limited service listings are also listed on FSBO websites, please make it a practice to check the MLS before calling on FSBO listings to be sure they are not under contract. It is against MLS rules and the REALTOR Code of Ethics to solicit these listings if they are under contract with another REALTOR.

-What Can I Do If My Listing Shows Up For Rent Online?

• Contact the website and ask that the ad be removed.
• Contact the Consumer Protection Division of the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection at 800-422-7128.
• Contact the Police Department.
• Place a sign in/on the front door clearly stating that the property is NOT for rent and refer any questions to the listing agent.

Often times you can spot these scams as there are more than a few misspellings in email correspondence, and the structure of sentences may be awkward or very formal. This is a result of language translation programs.

-Email auto notifications of price changes are sent from Paragon only if the price change is at least .5%. This setting limits the practice of $1 price changes to gain exposure.

December 2015

-Updated Resource: Click here for a copy of the 2016 Gregorian Calendar.

-If you find the number of emails received to track your showing request via the Schedule a Showing link annoying, you can turn a couple of these off. By default, an email is sent acknowledging you have requested a showing, another is sent when the listing company has viewed your request, and a third is sent to confirm your showing. While you need the confirmation email, you may not want one or both of the other emails. To modify your email preferences, within Paragon click on Preferences, ShowingAssist, My Agent Setup (on left menu). Scroll down to the section titled Showing Agent Preferences. Here you can turn off the emails you do not want to receive.

-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 is not correct, you can adjust it under Listing Maintain – Change GeoCode. When the map displays under maintain, click on the orange 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. Before clicking Save, you may want to zoom out a bit as the zoom level will also be saved.

-Paragon Updates – December 9:

-You now have the ability to drag and drop photos into the Upload Picture dialog box.

-The paging controls to move from listing to listing have been updated for better visibility.

-The calendar on the home page better reflects tasks as scheduled for contacts.

-If you work with condos, here are 2 links you may want to bookmark:

Lookup for FHA approved condos in Wisconsin: www.forfha.com/wisconsin

Lookup for FVA approved condos: https://vip.vba.va.gov/portal/VBAH/VBAHome/condopudsearch

November 2015

-When searching by Location, there are a few shortcuts you can use to enter multiple locations in the same area:

Use EST for Metro Madison East (including Monona & Maple Bluff)

Use WST for Metro Madison West (including Middleton, Fitchburg & Shorewood Hills)

Use county code (i.e. B for Columbia County) followed by NE, NW, SE, SW to search for a quarter section of the county. For the northeast part of Columbia County, for example, enter BNE. For a chart showing how the counties are broken up into quarter sections, click here.

-The sale price recorded in the MLS must match the sale price listed on the Wisconsin Real Estate Transfer Return.

-The School District name, as it appears on agent and customer reports within Paragon, has been converted to a hyperlink that when clicked on will open the school district website.

-Did you know Paragon has an automated slideshow function? This is a great way to showcase your listings in your waiting room or office window. Up to 50 listings can be set to automatically loop. You can include all property photos or just the first photo. To create a slideshow, pull up the listings you want to include, select them, and click Listing Slideshow from the Actions drop down at the top of the screen. Enter a description (i.e. Available Properties) and adjust default options or click Create Slideshow in the top right. You cannot change your slideshow once it is created, but that is no big deal as you can quickly recreate it. Your Slideshow will be emailed to you as a hyperlink for viewing outside of Paragon. Your Slideshow will be available for 30 days.

-Listings that are not available for showings due to an accepted offer, must be moved to the status of Offer-No Show. It does not matter if all contingencies are removed; the deciding factor is if showings are allowed.

October 2015

-When entering showing instructions as part of a listing within Paragon, please do not included lockbox or alarm codes. The showing instructions field displays before a showing confirmation is received and displays within WIREX as part of the listing record. Access information should be entered into the lockbox and alarm information fields within the listing setup section within ShowingAssist. This sensitive information will then only display in an email after a showing has been confirmed. If you do not subscribe to the ShowingDesk products directly, these fields can be found by selecting Preferences and ShowingAssist from within Paragon. Clicking on Listing Setup will allow you to search for individual properties and enter access information.

– When you purchase a new phone, or when your provider updates the operating system on your phone, the eKey authorization code that is saved will be deleted and you will receive an error “Challenge failed. Reset auth. Tokens”. When this happens, you will need to obtain a new authorization code. Call the MLS office during normal business hours or call Supra Technical Support at 1-877-699-6787 for a new authorization code. Authorization codes are never the same.

-New Above Grade Bedroom Count Field: A new field for Above Grade Bedroom Count has been added to Paragon. This field is not entered by agents, but rather calculated using the level designations (Upper and Main) for bedrooms. You can customize your search screen and/or spreadsheet to utilize this new field. If you need help finding this new field, please give us a call (608.240.2800). This addition was made in response to an appraiser request.

October 7 Paragon Updates:

-The calendar on the home page has been modernized and now allows you to enter tasks via a Rich Text Editor.

-An Edit button has been added for use in adjusting search shapes drawn on the map. You must click the red Edit button next to the Draw button to adjust your shape(s). This was added to make it easier to manage multiple shapes.

-The Bing map now prints larger on one page with the listing summary on a separate sheet.

-The reports listed under the Green Reports button now include codes for who created the report. M = MLS, O = Office, A= Agent. At the bottom of this list a Recycle Bin has been added. You can move reports you don’t use into this bin to hide them. They will not be deleted and you can move them back anytime.

Q: Under Interior Features, I see a new feature called Split Bedroom. What is this? A: A split bedroom design features the master bedroom on either the other side of the house, or on a different level than the other bedrooms. If you have a split bedroom home listed, please add this new feature.

September 2015

– Paragon Database and Profile Sheet Updates: On September 29, we added/deleted/changed a few fields/features within the Paragon listing database. Click here for a full list of changes. Updated profile sheets can be found on the Profile Sheet Portal.

-We have received a few complaints lately that listing agents are not selecting features under Barrier-Free when they exist. Even if you don’t consider a home to be completely barrier-free, please take the time to select the features that do apply. Features such as level lot, first floor bedroom, first floor bath, open floor plan, wide halls or doorways, may make the property you have listed perfect for a special needs buyer willing to make a few additional modifications.

-Looking for a prior hot tip that appeared on the Paragon Home Page? All prior hot tips can be accessed by clicking the orange Past Home Page Hot Tips button on the bottom of the Paragon Home Page. The tips are kept by month, but if you hold down your Ctrl key and press F you can search the whole archive by typing in a key word or words.

-Zillow does not allow multiple listings with the same address to be included on their website. This causes issues with vacant lots that do not yet have a street number. Instead of leaving the street number blank or entering 0, enter the lot number as recorded in the legal description to make it unique and distinguish it from other listings on the same street. For example, if you list Lot 7 on Main St enter the street number as L7. This also makes the listing unique for Paragon history tracking. As with all vacant lots that have not yet been assigned a street number, please check the map placement as an adjustment will most likely be needed.

August 2015

-New Setting: Email auto notifications of price changes are now only sent from Paragon if the price change is at least .5%. This setting limits the practice of $1 price changes to gain exposure.

-August 19 Paragon Updates:

The mapping search tool bar was updated to allow for better navigation. Address search is more prominent and menus open more efficiently & include better tool tips. If there are many results displayed in one area on a map, a new cluster control now gathers them as one dot labeled with the number of listings the dot represents. Double clicking the dot expands the area to show all the matches. This new control allows the number of properties displayed to be increased from 250 to 500.
After adding the parcel overlay to a map, you can click on the parcel to see more information such as lot dimensions, lot acres/sqft, and latitude/longitude.

To help you monitor your co-broke solds, the market monitor now includeds a category for Sold Within Six Months under the My Info tab. This shows all listings you have sold (list side and sale side) for the past six months.

-We have had reports of agents showing new construction properties without first making a showing appointment. All showings require an appointment, including new construction, unless stated otherwise in the showing instructions.

July 2015

– As a broker utilizing ListHub to advertise your listings on national websites, you would have had to select which websites you want your listings to display on. You did this via the publisher selector on www.listhub.com. If this is a distant memory, you may want to take a few moments to review your selections. While you are doing this, pay special attention to those publishers marked with a red cross labeled Extended Network. These publishers redistribute your listings to other websites you may not be aware of. We would suggest you review these other websites, and if not comfortable with all of them, remove the selection for the main publisher.

-Within Paragon, you can see feedback you have given on past showings. To find this feedback, click Preferences, Showing Assist, Feedback, My Feedback. Search for the listing(s) you are looking for by MLS number, listing agent name or address or use the date option. Once the listing displays , double click to see the feedback you had entered.

-The map that displays when clicking on the blue M from Paragon reports, and the map that displays on reports (i.e. customer full with map) can be adjusted to display a preferred zoom level. You can find this adjustment under Listings, Maintain and Change GeoCode. Once you adjust the zoom level and save it, the map on views/reports will hold that zoom level.

-The Paragon banner at the top your screen can be fun-a-tized. For example, you can pick a beach theme or a July 4th theme. To spice up your summer, select Preferences, System, User Interface and Select a Theme.

June 2015

Are you Missing Available Listings? If you are looking for property on the fringe of the South Central WI MLS area, please remember to check WIREX. Even if you think you are close to the fringe, please check WIREX. MLSs do not have set boundaries, so the fringe can be somewhat blurry. When in doubt, check WIREX. It is free! All members of the SCWMLS have access to MLS listings from eight other MLSs in Wisconsin via WIREX. There is no additional charge for WIREX. Currently, there are 80,000+ active listings in the WIREX database. To put this in perspective, our MLS currently has 18,000 active listings. WIREX covers all counties in Wisconsin with the exception of Florence, Forest, Iron, Langlade, Lincoln, Oneida, and Vilas Counties. Click here for a coverage map. To access WIREX, simply select WIREX on the drop down during Paragon login; or when in Paragon, click on the MLS Switcher link at the top of the screen. The search screens in WIREX have been set up to look very similar to the search screens in SCW Paragon, so you should feel very comfortable using WIREX.

-Annual Supra Key Fees: The Supra Key renewal date is June 1st of each year. Offices have been billed $175 for each agent currently leasing a key, whether it is an ActiveKey or eKey. If you wish to cancel your Key lease, return your Key and charging cord to the MLS office prior to July 1st (eKey users can call to cancel). Call the MLS office (608-240-2800, press 3 for Supra support) with any questions or email: keys@wisre.com.

-Check out our cool Home Features Addendum to be used to provide more information about mechanicals, appliances, utilities, updates/remodeling, and home owners association info. This form can be attached to your listing as an associated document within Paragon, thus saving you characters within MLS remarks. You can find this new form within the Associated Docs Portal. You can complete this form on screen, and save or print it for attachment to your listings, or print a blank form to complete offline.

-Beginning June 1, when you change a listing to AC, AB or Offer- No Show you will be prompted to select Yes or No to a new field labeled Competing Written Offers. If more than one written offer was considered at the time an offer was accepted, mark Yes to this question.

May 2015

-Reminder: Garage/Parking information on a multi-family listing is recorded by unit. If a property has a two car garage shared between two units, please do not indicate 2 car garage for each unit as that would indicate a 4 car garage total.

Paragon Enhancements 5/20:

-My Info via Market Monitor now includes Withdrawn

-Office and Firm via Market Monitor now include Withdrawn and Expire Alert

-Better status update while system creates the PDF CMA Presentation

-Updates to canned CMA reports (i.e. Value of a Real Estate Professional, Moving Checklist, etc.)

-The CMA cover page now defaults to Subject Property opposed to Agent Centric

-New Yes/No Field for Multiple Competing Written Offers: A member suggested it would be helpful to know if there were multiple competing offers considered at the time an offer was accepted. The MLS Committee and the Board of Directors thought this was a great suggestion and voted to collect this information at the time an offer is record in the MLS. Beginning June 1, when you change a listing to AC, AB or Offer-No Show, you will be prompted to select Yes or No to a new field labeled Competing Written Offers. We have added this field as non-required, and will change it to be required on June 1. Please update your office procedure to begin collecting this information. A copy of the updated MLS change form can be found here.

-Within Paragon, you can change the fields that display on the spreadsheet list of properties that comes up after a search. Click Customize from the closest toolbar above, and select Fields. The box on the right lists the fields that currently display on your spreadsheet. If you want to remove a field, simply click on the field and click Remove. If you want to add a field from the left box, click on the field and then on Add. If you do not see the field you would like to add, click on the Group box at the top to display different types of fields (i.e. Feature Categories). You can also use the Move Up and Move Down buttons to change the order the fields appear on your spreadsheet. Click on Save and Close to apply your changes. Your customized spreadsheet will now come up each time you display the spreadsheet. There is a Revert to Default button on the bottom if you mess up.

-The default spreadsheet sort in Paragon is by Price. You probably know you can click on the header of any column to resort the spreadsheet by that column. You can also set a multiple sort for the spreadsheet. When on the spreadsheet view, click Customize from the closest toolbar above, and select Sort. You can select up to 3 levels to sort your spreadsheet by. You can also select Ascending or Descending. This sort order will now be your default sort each time you display the spreadsheet.

April 2015

–Q: Why did the MLS switch from age to year built? A: There were a few reasons. As data flows from our MLS to other databases, and SCWMLS data is mixed with data from other MLSs, it is important that we be as mainstream as possible to reduce the chance our data will be misrepresented. The large majority of listing search sites and MLSs use year built opposed to age. In addition, year built is a concrete number, whereas age is dependent on the present year. This was problematic when listings remained on the market for a long period of time, and the listing agent did not increase the age each year.

-You can include a small photo for each listing on the spreadsheet view. To add the photo, load a spreadsheet and click Customize and Fields . Move Photo from the list of available fields to the list of selected fields. Use the Move Up button to position where you want the photo. Click Save. Do this for each class of property.

–Database and Profile Sheet Changes Done April 9: Each year we collect all changes our MLS Committee and Board of Directors elect to make and roll them into one update. This update was done Thursday. Click here for a full list of changes (which includes a change from age to year built) and here for updated profile sheets.

-Listings in the status of Withdrawn by Seller and Delayed are still under contract. Contacting sellers before their listing contract expires with another agent is a violation of both MLS Rules and the Realtor Code of Ethics.

March 2015

Enhancement Highlights – March 26 Paragon Update

-The workflow for saving a search has been simplified.

-The headers on the listing grid when maintaining listings are now clickable allowing the grid to be sorted by the different columns.

-You can now add your own documents as pages within new and existing CMA Presentations. Documents must be PDFs under 20MB.

-You can also store a document(s) under CMA Preferences to include in all CMA Presentations.

-Bug Fixed: The ability to press Enter twice after inputting MLS number(s) on the home page has been restored.

– If you receive an email alerting you that a client has opted out of receiving emails from you via Paragon, this may be because they accidently clicked on the opt out link within an email, or because Paragon received a bounce back from your clients email provider. To opt them back in, email them the following link or open the link and type in their email address: http://p50.fnismls.com/paragonsubscriptions/optin.aspx . Your client will be sent a confirmation email containing an opt-in option they will need to click on within 72 hours to opt back in. You can also proactively check for clients that have been opted out by clicking on Contacts and View/Manage Contacts within Paragon. Look at the Email column. Clients should have an orange envelope indicating a valid email address. If you see a white envelope with a red exclamation point, this client is opted out and is not receiving emails.

-Cancel or Reschedule Showings via Showing Assist – Under Preferences within Paragon, there is a direct link to Showing Assist. If you click on the Showings button on the left menu you will see an option to view showings you have requested. Click on the All Upcoming link and find the showing you wish to cancel or reschedule. You will be given a preset list of reasons if you click Cancel, as well as a free form box for additional comments. If you click Reschedule you will be given the opportunity to select a new date and time. Emails will be sent and changes will be captured within Showing Assist reports.

-Are garbage cans on the curb included in your otherwise beautiful photo in Paragon? Try the new photo crop tool to remove them. Click on the red pencil in Picture Administration, draw a box around the area of the photo you want to retain, click the edit tool above the photo, and save.

February 2015

Q: Why are some no showings until listings in an Active status instead of Delayed?
A: We are generally seeing two reasons a new listing is not available for showings right away. The first is the property is not ready to be marketed due to needed clean up, timing for professional photos, desired staging, etc. You will find these listings in the Delayed status as the listing agent does not want them to be viewed by the public yet. In the second situation, the property is all ready for public viewing, but the seller and listing agent decide to pick a launch date, often starting with an open house. You will find these listings in Active as the seller and agent want the public to see them. The listings in Active must include the date showings will be allowed in the first line of the public remarks. Our rules regarding “no showings until” listings have taken both situations into account, and allow agents the flexibility to market these listings as either Delayed or Active.

–Realtors Property Resource (RPR) Action Link Added – A new action link has been added to the agent full report and default spreadsheet view. If you are logged in to RPR, this link will take you directly to the same property within RPR. If you have not set up your free login to RPR, click the option to create an account. You will need your NRDS # which you can look up on the create an account screen. Find more info about RPR at http://blog.narrpr.com/rpr/.

-Enhancements 2/11include new photo editing tools (crop and rotate) for use when adding photos, and autosave of listing data during listing input.

-Short Sale Allowance for Accepted Offer Reporting Rule: If you have an accepted offer on a short sale listing, you can leave that listing in Active and include the verbiage Accepted Offer Short Sale in the broker-to-broker remarks. The revised rule is below:

When you receive an accepted offer, you have 3 calendar days to change the status of that listing to either AC (Offer-Continue to Show) or Offer-No Show. The only exceptions are if there is a bump clause in the offer or a short sale situation. If there is a bump or if the property is a short sale, you have 3 calendar days to either change the status to Offer-No Show, AC, AB (Offer with Bump), or you can leave the status as Active, but you must disclose the existence of the offer in the broker-to-broker remarks (Accepted Offer Bump Clause or Accepted Offer Short Sale).

January 2015

-Regarding Zillow and ListHub: Zillow is currently contacting brokers in our area to inform them that beginning in April, they will no longer be accepting listings via ListHub. Currently, many of our broker members utilize ListHub to populate their listings to Zillow. We are aware of this change, and will be meeting with a representative from Zillow in March. The SCWMLS Directors will work with Zillow to facilitate distributing your company listings to them should you so choose.

-There is a clock inside each keybox that controls when the box can be opened and also registers and reports the time of showings. If you have a keybox that is not opening during times it should (6 a.m. – 9 p.m. during Central Standard Time and 7 a.m. – 10 p.m. during Daylight Savings) or is reporting the wrong time for showings, you need to reset the time on the keybox. To do this, simply open the shackle of the keybox. When you open the shackle of a keybox, the time from your keycard is transferred to the keybox. The time on your keycard is checked and synced each time it updates via a cell tower or via a USB cable update.

Accepted Offers Must Now be Reported to MLS: For decades, the complaint most expressed to MLS staff, and the topic most debated by the MLS Committee and Directors, has been regarding listings with accepted offers that are listed as Active in the MLS. To date, the statuses of Offer-Continue to Show (AC) and Offer Bump (AB) have been optional statuses that we encouraged agents to use, and only required a property be changed to Pending status when showings were no longer being allowed. All of that has changed…

As of January 1, 2015, when you receive an accepted offer you will have 3 calendar days to change the status of that listing to either AC (Offer-Continue to Show) or Offer-No Show. The only exception is if there is a bump clause in the offer. If there is a bump, you will have 3 calendar days to either change the status to Offer-No Show, to AB (Offer with Bump) or you can leave the status as Active, but you must disclose the existence of the offer in the broker-to-broker remarks (Accepted Offer Bump Clause). If your seller has instructed you not to disclose the existence of the offer, the status of the listing must then be changed (within 3 calendar days) to Withdrawn by Seller until such time as the property closes, or the offer falls through. Violations of this new policy will result in a penalty of $5/day for each day past the 3 days allowed, until such time as the status is appropriately changed.

December 2014

-You now have the option to add multiple listings to a showing cart at one time. Simply select the listings you want to show and click the Actions drop down (located on the same tool bar as Print) and then the Showing Time option at the bottom of the list. The ShowingTime scheduling screen will open in a new window. Click Add to ShowingCart at the bottom. If you have never used the ShowingCart, here is a 4 minute instructional video.

-New Home Features Addendum – We recently created a new optional form to be used to provide more information about mechanicals, appliances, utilities, updates/remodeling, and home owners association info. This form can be attached to your listing as an associated document within Paragon, thus saving you characters within MLS remarks. You can find this new form within the Associated Documents Portal at http://www.scwmls.com/resources/associated_docs.html. You can complete this form on screen, and save or print it for attachment to your listings, or print a blank form to complete offline.

-When entering data for a new listing, please do not abbreviate fields like Condo Project Name, Subdivision Name, or Lake/River Name as these fields are often used in searches. If a Realtor is including one of these fields in their search and they type in the complete name, and you have abbreviated it, your listing may get missed. We have set these fields up as “contains” search fields to help alleviate this problem, but even a contains search will miss certain abbreviations. For example, if you have entered Metropolitan or Metropolitan Pl instead of Metropolitan Place, and a Realtor searching for these condos spells out Metropolitan Place, your listing will be missed. On the flipside, if you are searching using these non-pick list fields, please keep in mind that the listing agent may have abbreviated. In the case of Metropolitan Place, you may want to search just Metropolitan.

November 2014

-If the electricity has been turned off for a property you have listed, PLEASE indicate this in the broker-to-broker remarks so showing agents know to make appointments earlier in the day.

MLS listings can be accessed via your mobile device using either the Paragon Connect, or a downloadable APP. Click here for instruction on accessing both mobile options.

-We have recently reviewed three complaints regarding keycard violations, in particular, accessing a keybox without a confirmed appointment. Sanctions have included fines up to $1,000 from the MLS, and possible trespassing charges brought by the home owner. PLEASE, call for an appointment and WAIT for confirmation before showing properties.