You can now download the latest revision of the MLS Policy Violation Manual.  The manual has been updated for changes effective October 1, 2023.

Notable Changes:

1. Change to Policy 1.01.04 – Incorrect Sub-Type                                                                          
   • Removed reference to Other Residential WITH Deeded Land.
2. Change to Policy 1.02.02 – Listing Not Submitted to MLS                                                                          
   • “If MLS Entry Date is more than 48 hours after Commencing Date, either the Brokerage Exclusive Waiver form or the MLS listing agreement with Brokerage Exclusive section must be completed. The completed form must be available upon request.”
3. Change to SECTION 4.01 – Non-Appeal Instructions
   • “For any data maintenance fee or fine assessed and not paid within 14 days after the invoice is sent out, the agent will be suspended. Fees can be paid through the member portal via telecheck, debit or credit card.”

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10/30/2023

Time is running out to be considered for the MLS Committee for 2024. Nominations are Due Monday, October 30th at 5pm.

Ever wonder why things happen in the MLS or think about serving on the MLS Committee and wonder how that’s done? The process to serve on this committee is different than any other. First, it’s an elected committee with a limited number of seats determined by a weighted formula based on the MLS’s number of agents, listings, solds and offices. The number of seats available can change each year based on this formula or elected members whose term ends. This number can sometimes also change as a result of members simply changing offices and then perhaps no longer representing the group from which they were elected. You can find more details on the election process here.

Interested in Running?

Follow these steps to throw your hat in the ring:

1. If you are not the Broker for your company, you must obtain permission from your Broker to be considered for the ballot.
2. Resume
3. Photo (will be used on the official ballot should you be nominated)
4. Bio paragraph exactly as you wish it to appear on the official ballot should you be nominated
5. Submit all documents by October 30 at 5:00pm to mlselections@columbusrealtors.com

Your bio and resume will be presented to the MLS Nominating Committee who are selected at the Annual Business Meeting.   The five selected Brokers that serve on the Nominating Committee, as well as the current MLS Committee Chair and the President Elect, meet in November to select candidates.  A ballot is created for the annual election where only brokers vote.   Members who wish to volunteer their time to serve are very much in demand by the Nominating Committee and always appreciated.

Questions?

Review the information linked to the main Columbus REALTORS® site or you can contact Matt Warren at (614) 475-4000 or email mlselections@columbusrealtors.com

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10/27/2023

A new field, “Showing Considerations”, will be added to MLS on October 24th. The field is a RESO field originally labeled “Safety Concerns”. The field name was changed to allow for additional items that should be “considered” prior to showings. The intent is the same: to inform agents prior to showing a property.

Showing Considerations field options:

• Day sleeper
• Electricity Not On
• Inconsistent Cell Service
• Limited Visibility from Road
• Minimal Exterior Lighting
• Minimal Interior Lighting
• No Exterior Lighting
• No Interior Lighting
• Occupied
• Pet(s) on Premises
• Remote Location
• Security System
• See Remarks
• None Known

Showing Considerations field usage:

• The new field will appear in all property types
• It is a required entry field. At least one item must be selected (None Known and See Remarks are selections)
• Help text will be added beside “See Remarks” stating “Please include additional safety concerns in the Agt to Agt Remarks”
• The new field will appear on Private (agent only) Reports in the Location and Property Info section
• The field will not appear on Public reports

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10/13/2023

Ever wonder why things happen in the MLS or think about serving on the MLS Committee and wonder how that’s done? The process to serve on this committee is different than any other. First, it’s an elected committee with a limited number of seats determined by a weighted formula based on the MLS’s number of agents, listings, solds and offices. The number of seats available can change each year based on this formula or elected members whose term ends. This number can sometimes also change as a result of members simply changing offices and then perhaps no longer representing the group from which they were elected. You can find more details on the election process here.

Interested in Running?

Follow these steps to throw your hat in the ring:

1. If you are not the Broker for your company, you must obtain permission from your Broker to be considered for the ballot.
2. Resume
3. Photo (will be used on the official ballot should you be nominated)
4. Bio paragraph exactly as you wish it to appear on the official ballot should you be nominated
5. Submit all documents by October 30 at 5:00pm to mlselections@columbusrealtors.com

Your bio and resume will be presented to the MLS Nominating Committee who are selected at the Annual Business Meeting.   The five selected Brokers that serve on the Nominating Committee, as well as the current MLS Committee Chair and the President Elect, meet in November to select candidates.  A ballot is created for the annual election where only brokers vote.   Members who wish to volunteer their time to serve are very much in demand by the Nominating Committee and always appreciated.

Questions?

Review the information linked to the main Columbus REALTORS® site or you can contact Matt Warren at (614) 475-4000 or email mlselections@columbusrealtors.com

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• The Commercial listing agreement has been updated to include a space at the top for entry of the Brokerage.
• Contract is used for these property types:  Land, Multi-Family, Office, Commercial, Industrial, Business Opportunity.

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09/29/2023

Ever wonder why things happen in the MLS or think about serving on the MLS Committee and wonder how that’s done? The process to serve on this committee is different than any other. First, it’s an elected committee with a limited number of seats determined by a weighted formula based on the MLS’s number of agents, listings, solds and offices. The number of seats available can change each year based on this formula or elected members whose term ends. This number can sometimes also change as a result of members simply changing offices and then perhaps no longer representing the group from which they were elected. You can find more details on the election process here.

Interested in Running?

Follow these steps to throw your hat in the ring:

1. If you are not the Broker for your company, you must obtain permission from your Broker to be considered for the ballot.
2. Resume
3. Photo (will be used on the official ballot should you be nominated)
4. Bio paragraph exactly as you wish it to appear on the official ballot should you be nominated
5. Submit all documents by October 30 at 5:00pm to mlselections@columbusrealtors.com

Your bio and resume will be presented to the MLS Nominating Committee who are selected at the Annual Business Meeting.   The five selected Brokers that serve on the Nominating Committee, as well as the current MLS Committee Chair and the President Elect, meet in November to select candidates.  A ballot is created for the annual election where only brokers vote.   Members who wish to volunteer their time to serve are very much in demand by the Nominating Committee and always appreciated.

Questions?

Review the information linked to the main Columbus REALTORS® site or you can contact Matt Warren at (614) 475-4000 or email mlselections@columbusrealtors.com

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The MLS sub-type of Other Residential WITH Deeded Land will be removed on Wednesday, September 27. All of these listings in all statuses will be changed to Single Family. This does not affect mobile homes without deeded land.

Mobile homes in a park or without land must still be entered as Other Residential without Deeded Land. All new mobile homes WITH deeded land should be entered as Single Family in the future.

• The MLS sub-type of Other Residential WITH Deeded Land has been removed
• All of these listings in all statuses were changed to Single Family.
• This does not affect mobile homes WITHOUT deeded land.
• Mobile homes in a park or without land must still be entered as Other Residential without Deeded Land. 
• All new mobile homes WITH deeded land should be entered as Single Family in the future.
• The Manufactured yes/no field is still required entry for all mobile homes.

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09/22/2023

Wording from the ‘Brokerage Exclusive Waiver’ form has been added to the MLS ‘Exclusive Right to Sell (ERS) Listing Contract.’  This includes changes to brokerage exclusive workflow (for purposes of Clear Cooperation).

Notable changes to the Contract and Policy Requirements:

• Brokerages using the MLS ‘Exclusive Right to Sell (ERS) Listing Contract’ with the new wording will not be required to submit the ‘Brokerage Exclusive Waiver’ form.
• Brokerages using their own listing contracts that do not mirror that of the MLS, will be required to complete the ‘Brokerage Exclusive Waiver’ form.
• Neither form will be required for submission to the MLS unless specifically requested by the MLS.
• In addition to the wording from the Brokerage Exclusive Waiver form, spaces for the agents’ phone numbers will be added to the bottom of the listing contract.

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09/07/2023

Below is a message from FBS, Makers of Flexmls regarding cybersecurity measures they have in place to protect Columbus and Central Ohio Regional MLS’ data.

With the recent, unfortunate ransomware attacks on real estate software, you’re likely wondering what FBS does to protect and prevent malware/ransomware attacks on our software and systems. While cyber attacks and attackers are constantly evolving and becoming more sophisticated, we want to assure you that system security and proactive attack-prevention are utmost priorities. This email is intended to review with you both the general security practices FBS follows and to provide details regarding the software and services we use to provide protection of our server and cloud network against attacks.

General Security Practices:

Most malware/ransomware attacks are the result of unpatched or outdated software or from employees clicking on untrusted links or attachments. In general, to mitigate these elements:

• FBS performs scheduled updates on server operating systems to keep them up to date. Installed package versions are monitored and cross referenced with databases of known vulnerabilities. Critical security updates are performed quickly (usually within 24 hours) for systems that might be impacted by a critical bug.
• All FBS employees are trained and tested on various approaches used in inbound email attacks using a service called KnowBe4.
• Inbound emails are scanned for malware to prevent them appearing in inboxes.
• All employees run Endpoint Detection and Response software by SentinelOne. This software combines static and behavioral detections to neutralize known and unknown threats.
• There is a firewall at the edge of the network filtering in and out traffic. This ensures that the outside world can only send traffic to servers specifically intended to handle that traffic.
• Traffic that is allowed through the firewall is analyzed by an intrusion prevention filter that looks for common attack methods and filters them out.
• FBS has a service that monitors traffic patterns and will mitigate traffic that corresponds to a denial of service event related to Denial of Service (DoS) and Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks.

FBS Uses CrowdStrike to Protect, Prevent, and Remediate Attacks:
Regular antivirus software doesn’t offer protection against “unknown threats,” it usually has a database of virus signatures and it scans the hard drive for known viruses, quarantining them when detected or executed. That will only protect against what is known or has been seen before. For more proactive protection, all FBS servers run CrowdStrike’s Endpoint Detection and Response software and service. Similar to the SentinelOne product used on workstations, CrowdStrike protects our server network using a combination of known signatures and behavioral data (e.g., snooping the network, phoning home, encrypting files, etc.) to identify threats on the server endpoints. This software detects, understands, and ejects malicious intrusions in under 60 minutes (less than the average ransomware breakout time of 84 minutes). If a threat or suspicious activity is detected, CrowdStrike has 24/7/365 security experts to immediately investigate and remediate the threat. 

In the Event of A Successful Attack, What Would Happen?
With the ever-changing nature of cybercrime, there is no 100% protection or guarantee available and it isn’t possible to predict solution times without context of the specific threat. What we can say is that FBS’s contracts all promise 99.9% uptime, which only allows less than 45 minutes of downtime per month. To meet this obligation, FBS has all customer data backed-up locally and to the Cloud. Depending on the severity of the threat, customer traffic may be routed to the cloud or restored from backup to provide continued service to our customers. If the solution is to failover to the backup site, capacity can be increased in the cloud in minutes to accommodate the increased workload of handling production traffic. If the type of threat requires restoring from backup, that likely would take hours but not days.  

In sum, the key to avoiding long downtimes from a security incident is preventing an attack in the first place and FBS follows security best practices and uses best-of-breed security software and services to do that. FBS knows how critical our software and service is to you and your members and we take that responsibility very seriously. Though no system can be made 100% secure, FBS is confident in the solutions and services we’ve deployed to protect your MLS system. We hope this email answers your questions but please let us know if any remain.

The FBS Team

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08/16/2023

At 3:14pm May 11th CoreLogic alerted us that Realist is currently experiencing an outage.

This will impact your ability to access Realist and use the “Load Tax Record” option in the MLS.

CoreLogic Provided the following:
“Realist is currently experiencing intermittent user access connectivity issues.  This is being treated as a critical priority.  The technical teams have been gathered and are working to resolve this as soon as possible.”

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05/11/2023