Effective June 1, 2017, there is a new MLS policy regarding photos that are virtually staged.  View the full text of the MLS policy below.  The MLS Policy Violation Manual has been updated to reflect this new policy.  You can download the latest version of the Policy Violation Manual here.

1.02.14 – Virtual Staging                                                                                                        

Fine with Warning prior to fine assessment.

Progression: Warning, then $100, $200, $500 for subsequent violations.

Virtual Staging is defined as using a photo editing software to create a photo or conceptual rendering of what the interior room(s) and/or interior of the property could look like if it was staged or lived in.

A Virtually Staged Photo in the MLS:

• Must state in a clear and reasonably sized font on the image the phrase “Virtually Staged”.
• The unaltered photo must appear directly before or after the virtually staged photo so the two views can easily be compared.
• May only be used for the interior of an existing structure.
• Cannot be used for Build-to-Suit or Under Construction properties.

Permitted Uses of Virtual Staging in the MLS:

• Modifying photo(s)/rendering(s) to include personal property items not conveyed with the real property is permitted. Permitted personal property modifications include, but are not limited to:
• Applying digital photos of furniture, mirrors, artwork, plants, etc. into a photo of a room.
• Removing existing furniture from a photo and replacing it with digital images of furniture, mirrors, artwork, plants, etc.
• Appliances that are virtually staged must be clearly identified as such in the property description.

Prohibited Uses of Virtual Staging in the Service:

• No photos of the exterior of the property shall be virtually staged.
• No permanent fixtures of the interior shall be removed, altered or added.
• Modifying photo(s)/rendering(s) to include visual elements not within a property owners control is strictly prohibited. (Example: Editing in a view of Lake Erie, and or popular landmarks that are not physically possible from the specified location in the real world.)
• Modifying photo(s)/rendering(s) to exclude negative visual elements is strictly prohibited. (Example: Holes in the wall, exposed wiring, damaged flooring, etc.)
• No branding is permitted. Except as otherwise permitted, the use of people or persons and/or words on any property photograph submitted to the Service is strictly prohibited.

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06/01/2017

On May 30, 2017, Flexmls CMAs will have a new look and several improvements. The changes will include:

• New Design– the new format includes larger text, photos, and maps;
• New Charts – two new Price Analysis charts are available: List, Sold and Adjusted Prices and Low, Average, Median and High Prices;
• Automatic PDF – to ensure optimized appearance for printing and emailing, the CMAs will be automatically created as PDF files when possible.

NEW DESIGN
When you create CMAs in Flexmls, they will display a larger photo of the subject property, a larger map, larger font, and updated color schemes for the headers and text. These changes are intended to make your CMAs more readable, attractive, and professional looking.

Just as before, you can adjust the color scheme on the Finish tab. With the new design, the color scheme controls the color of the headings, headers, and footers–the background will remain white.

NEW CHARTS
There are two new Price Analysis charts available that provide a quick, visual comparison of price statistics: List, Sold, and Adjusted Prices and Low, Average, Median and Low, Average, Median, and High Prices. These charts can be added to the CMA on the Finish tab if Statistical Summary is checked. To include the charts in your CMA, check the Display Charts option.

List, Sold, and Adjusted Prices
The List, Sold, and Adjusted Prices chart will only display if you’ve included Closed listings in your comps. It shows the List Price, Sold Price, and Adjusted Price for the first eight closed comps (as arranged in the Comps tab). If you do not have any adjustments, the Adjusted Price data points will reflect the listing’s Closed Price.

If your CMA includes Low, High and Recommended Price for the subject property, they will also be shown on the chart.

Low, Average, Median, and High chart
If your CMA includes Closed listings, the Low, Average, Median, and High chart will show Sold Price statistics for the comps that are Closed in relation to the Low, High, and Recommended List Price for the subject property.

Please note, if your CMA does not include Closed comps, the chart will still display. It will include List Price statistics for Active comps only. If your CMA does not include Closed or Active comps, the chart will display List Price statistics for all comps.

AUTOMATIC PDF
The CMA report will be delivered in PDF format when possible to provide consistent appearance. This helps solve the problem of inconsistencies among browsers, printers and operating systems in how they print web pages. In PDF format, the CMA you present to your clients will look the same as the CMA you email to them.

When there are too many comps in a CMA to generate and deliver a PDF report, the report will be delivered as a web page that you can print or email. Note that some browsers (e.g. Edge and Chrome) are able to save web pages as PDF documents for download to your computer.

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05/25/2017

As of May 15, 2017, you are able to search for contacts when sending manual emails. This makes sending manual emails easier by eliminating the need to scroll through long lists in order to find specific contacts.

The lookup bar appears on the manual email screen. Use the lookup to find contacts or click the Add New Contact button to create a new contact.

If you click in the contact search box without typing, a list of all of your contacts will appear and you can scroll through to find and select specific contacts.

Start typing a contact’s name or email address into the search bar to search for a specific contact. Click the contact to select them as a recipient.

If a contact has multiple email addresses, each address will appear separately.

If you are working on behalf of a contact who has more than one email address and you manually email listings to them, all of their email addresses will be selected by default.

If you would like to remove a recipient, click the X next to the email address you’d like to remove.

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On June 1, 2017, you will be able to search for existing contacts when saving a search. This will make selecting a contact easier by eliminating the need to scroll through a long list in order to find specific contacts.

The lookup bar will appear when you save a search and select the option for Existing Contacts. Use the lookup to find contacts.

If you click in the contact search bar without typing, a list of all of your contacts will appear and you can scroll through to find and select specific contacts.

Start typing a contact’s name into the search bar to search for a specific contact. Click the contact to select them as a recipient.

If you would like to remove a recipient, click the X next to the email address you’d like to remove.

If a contact has multiple email addresses, only the contact’s primary email address will appear in the search results. This is because the search is being saved to the Contact’s record in Flexmls not to a specific email address. If you choose to Save and Add Subscription, the subscription will be sent to all email addresses that are set to receive notifications for the selected contact.

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The Commercial Exclusive Right to Sell Listing Contract has been modified in the same manner as the Residential Listing Contract was in February. The following text has been added at the end of the Section 6: Seller acknowledges that photos and/or videos may be taken of the property. It is the intent of the MLS committee that this change serve as notification to sellers that photos and videos may be taken for multiple purposes including marketing and comparison. They may be taken by various parties such as agents, inspectors, appraiser, and even prospective buyers.

These changes are now included in the latest version of the Commercial Exclusive Right to Sell Listing Contract. The version of the form can be identified by the revision date printed at the bottom of the form. The latest revision that includes this change will be labeled “5/17” at the bottom.

Full text of section 6:
6. SELLER’S COOPERATION: Owner hereby authorizes Brokerage to place a marketing sign on said property and remove all other “For Sale” and/or “For Lease” signs. Further, Owner authorizes Brokerage and all salespersons and Brokerages authorized by listing Brokerage to have access to the property at all reasonable times for the purpose of showing it. Seller acknowledges that photos and/or videos may be taken of the property.

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05/02/2017

Tax Abatement and Abatement End Date: Two new fields will be added to the MLS on May 8, 2017.  

The new fields will appear on the add/edit screen and on reports for all property types except Res Rental and Business Opportunity.  The Tax Abatement field will be a required entry of Yes or No.  If “yes” is selected in the Tax Abatement field, then Abatement End Date will also be required.

For Existing Listings:

• All Residential listings with “Tax Abatement” currently selected in the “Tax” field will be automatically be marked YES in the new field “Tax Abatement” field. After these listings are updated, the “tax abatement” option will be removed from the Tax detail group in Residential.
• All Land/Farm listings with “Tax Abatement” currently selected in the “Miscellaneous” field will automatically be marked YES in the new field “Tax Abetement”.  After these listings are updated, the “Tax Abatement” option will be removed from the Miscellaneous detail group in Land/Farm.
• Listings in all other property types in all other property types will NOT be automatically mapped to the required Tax Abatement Y/N field. The field must be manually updated by the listing agent upon next edit.

PLEASE NOTE: All listings will require a selection be made by the listing agent in the Tax Abatement field (if not mapped automatically) and Abatement End Date fields the next time the listing is edited.

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05/01/2017

Have you listed a mobile home in MLS?

You will need to change the Sub-Type for your mobile home listings to “Other Residential” as defined below if you haven’t already.  This change is required because there are new policies concerning how mobile homes are handled in the MLS.  Please read the new MLS requirements for mobile home listings below.

NOTE: If your mobile home listing has already closed, please email: mlscorrections@columbusrealtors.com  for assistance updating the Sub-Type for that listing.

For all listings of Mobile Homes entered into the MLS you must:
1) Select one of the two  “Other Residential” options in the Sub-Type field.
2) Mark “YES” in the Manufactured Housing Y/N field.

Previously, mobile homes could be entered as “single family freestanding” in Sub-Type.  This policy was changed as of February 2017. Selection of “YES” in the Manufactured Housing Y/N field will also cause six additional Manufactured Housing-specific fields to appear such as Make, Model, and Year.  There is help text on the Add/Edit screen that specifically states that all mobile homes must choose one of the “Other Residential” selections in the Sub-Type field.

Residential and Res Rental property types have two “Sub-Types” called “Other Residential”.  These Sub-Types must be used for any residential property deemed not “Single Family” or “Condo” by the MLS.

The 2 options for “Other Residential” in the Sub-Type field are:
1) Other Residential with Deeded Land
2) Other Residential without Deeded Land

In order for a listing to be entered as “Other Residential” the following criteria must be met:
a) The unit may not have been converted to real property.
b) The unit must be available as a full-time dwelling.
c) The unit must be located where human habitation is permitted year-round.
d) The unit may not be self-propelled nor titled as a vehicle.

NOTE: Units that do not meet these criteria (or criteria for another property type) cannot be listed
on the MLS.

Questions? Please feel free to contact the MLS department at (614) 475-4000 or email: mlspolicy@columbusrealtors.com

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04/21/2017

On Sunday, April 23nd, Realist will be conducting an annual network fail over/redundancy test.  The activity will start at 2:00 am and will take approximately 6 hours to complete. Realist may be intermittently unavailable during this maintenance period.

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04/20/2017

As many may have heard over the last few months, Microsoft has ended support for PC systems running Windows Vista on April 11, 2017. As such, Windows Vista will no longer receive software updates including security updates that protect your PC from harmful viruses, spyware, and other malicious software, which can steal your personal information.

Not surprising, all major web browsers are no longer supporting Windows Vista either.

As our MLS Software vendor, FBS, can only support Flexmls on up-to-date browsers, this means you won’t be able to get technical support from MLS Tech staff or FBS if you’re running on Microsoft Vista.

If you are running Windows Vista, your computer (including MLS) will work the same as it did before for a while. But, as the major software providers for your system dropped support for their products, your continued usage of the computer system will be at your own risk.

As MLS access is likely an essential part of your daily business practice, it is strongly suggested you begin the process of looking to upgrade your computer system or to look at purchasing another system. If you have any questions about upgrades or new computer systems, the MLS Technical Support can give general advice. We are available Mon-Fri 8:30a-5:00p by phone at 614-475-4000 or by email at techsupport@columbusrealtors.com

For Flex Desktop access:

• Supported Versions of Windows: 7, 8.1, 10
• Mac OS versions supported, 10.10, 10.11, 10.12
• iPads running iOS 9 or higher (10 preferred) through Safari

For Flex Mobile:

• iPhones running iOS 9 or higher (10 preferred)
• Android Devices running Android OS 4.4 or higher

Resources:
Why did Microsoft discontinue support for Vista?
How to find out which operating system you’re using.

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04/17/2017

Flexmls Full Class Training Videos are Available Online

The Flexmls 1 and Flexmls 2 Class videos contain the same material covered in the full 6 hours of hands-on MLS classes.  It will closely mirror the class instruction offered in house.  All videos labeled “Specific to Columbus” are recorded on the Columbus MLS.  They will use the same fields and screens you will see when logged into the MLS, not fields and screens from Tulsa, Fargo, or Florida.

You can watch these MLS training videos from the comfort of your home.  Single videos on multiple Add/Edit features, Hotsheet Basics, Saved Searches, CMAs, Contact Management are also available.  Whether you want to get up to speed on everything Flexmls has to offer, or just want a refresher on one topic, we have you covered.

Please note: While the full class videos cover the same material in the Flexmls 1 & 2 classes, the video classes DO NOT QUALIFY for CE credit.  They are informational only.

Here’s how to find the Training Videos:

1.    Log in to MLS

2.    Click on ‘Training Videos’ as shown here:

3.    Flexmls 1 and Flexmls 2 full class videos as well as many other videos can be viewed from this page as seen in the image below.

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04/12/2017