News & Past Hot Tips

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.

This may happen if you have added a keybox to your inventory within the Supra system, and then not removed that keybox from your inventory when you turned it back into your office. To remove a keybox from your inventory, open your Supra eKEY app on your phone. Select MY KEYBOXES and click on the keybox number from the email. Select PROGRAM KEYBOX and click the DELETE button at the bottom of the screen. You will be prompted to delete the keybox from your inventory.

Beginning Tuesday, June 2, for new listings going forward, the ShowingTime default for showings has been reset to allow overlap showings. As we ease into post-COVID times, the default has been set to allow two (2) showings at a time. This default can be changed for all listings within an office, for all listings for an agent, or listing by listing via the Office, Agent, or Listing setup options within ShowingTime. Options exist for no overlap, or for overlaps of 2-10 showings at a time. If more than one showing is allowed, the showing agent will see a pop-up letting them know another party may be present.

The Supra eKEY annual renewal is June 1 of each year. The annual fee of $175 per keyholder will be included on your office’s billing statement scheduled to arrive this week. If you are not using your eKEY, and would like to cancel your lease, please email keys@wisre.com by June 30 for a credit.

The security of clients’ properties is a top priority for all of us. Please note that you and your broker may be assessed a fine of $500 each if you access a keybox without a confirmed appointment. These fines double, and Supra eKEY access may be suspended for a second offense. These penalties are guidelines, and depending on the circumstances have been more severe. In addition, a seller can bring trespass charges against any agent without a confirmed appointment. Double check the address before you access a property. Claiming you accidentally opened the keybox for the wrong property has not been a successful defense.

If you need access to multiple tax records for a list of properties from Paragon, pull up the list of properties in Paragon via a search or lookup and select the listings. Once selected, click on the Actions drop down and select View in CRS Data. The selected listings will be imported into CRS, and all CRS functions, such as reviewing the assessment/tax info, viewing on the CRS map, and creating mailing labels will be available for this group of listings.

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.

Within Paragon, each agent is assigned a User Code and a User ID. If you are asked by a vendor (i.e. website provider) to provide your MLS ID, they could be referring to either of these codes, depending on which field they have incorporated for their product. You can find both of these numbers within the Paragon Agent Roster. Click Membership from the top menu bar, and then Agent Roster. Enter your last name within either the Agent Name or Agent ID field. The results will display both your User Code and your User ID. You can either clarify as to which field they are looking for, or just send them both codes.

Listings no longer available for showings due to an accepted offer must be moved to the status of Offer-No Show (PND). It does not matter if all contingencies are removed; the deciding factor is if showings are allowed or not. Please make this change as soon as possible. MLS rules mandate this change must be done within 3 days of when the property is no longer available for showings.

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.

When entering a comp sale (listing sold outside MLS), 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. Accurate and complete data makes our MLS database more useful for everyone using it. Thank you!

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.

If a new listing is not ready to be shown, it can be input 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.

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 office, can show the property between the effective date and when it is entered in the MLS. 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.

Did you know you can text listings from Paragon. The text option can be found within the Share link when viewing a listing. The Share link is located within the blue menu bar, to the right of E-mail. Listings can be sent via text to any contact you have saved within Paragon. There is an option to set up a contact on the fly after selecting to text. If you receive an alert stating your mobile number is not configured, simply click on the option given to Configure Settings, and enter your mobile phone number. You need to configure your mobile number just once.

After entering a new listing, you do not have to wait until that listing is received by ShowingTime to enter showing instructions. From the Select an Action drop down, click on ShowingTime to immediately enter full showing instructions. Once the listing is received by ShowingTime the photo and property information from MLS will be added.