The field “SqFt Tax Record” must now be filled in for all MLS listings within 15 days of entry into the MLS.  This field can no longer be left blank.  Agents who have nothing entered in this field will receive an email notifying them of the new policy.

The MLS committee and Board of Directors made this new requirement because there are quite a few listings in the MLS with no entry in the SqFt Tax Record field.  This causes inaccuracy in CMA’s and statistical reports.  This field was deemed very important to agents for search, as well as statistical purposes.

Below is the full text of the message to be sent to agents:

——————————————————————
MLS Policy requires the Sq Ft Tax Record field to be accurate for all listings. The listing agent must provide proof of taxable square footage from a professional source to the MLS within 15 days from the entry date.  You must provide this proof by email in PDF format or by FAX. You cannot update the listing’s Sq Ft Tax Record yourself.  The field is locked after initial entry.

You will continue to receive this notification for 15 days or until the field is updated by MLS staff.  After 15 days, the listing agent will receive a Data Maintenance Fee for late entry of Sq Ft Tax Record. This policy applies to all Residential and Res Rental listings.

PROOF OF SQ. FT. SOURCE DOCUMENTS:

MLS staff must update the Sq. Ft. Tax Record field for you based upon the source document you provide.  Acceptable source documents include county auditor’s record, appraisals, builder statements and floor plans provided by a builder, architect or licensed appraiser.  Please submit these documents to MLS so your listing can be updated immediately.  You may submit documentation as a PDF by email or FAX.

SUBMIT TO:

EMAIL:  mlscorrections@columbusrealtors.com
FAX: (614) 416-0258
QUESTIONS?  (614) 475-4000 (ask for MLS Corrections)

—————————————————————–

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09/18/2015

Today’s e-Notes included notification of a policy change to require that the Office Exclusive Waiver form must now include a copy of the Office Exclusive Listing Agreement. This was done to strengthen compliance with MLS rules.

However, upon reflection it was determined that singling out a certain type of listing agreement to audit (such as the Office Exclusive)  would be improper.

Therefore, although we still require the Office Exclusive Waiver form to be filed with MLS within 48 hours, we do not require a copy of the related listing agreement.

We apologize for the confusion.

If you have further questions, please contact MLS Director Bryan Dean (614) 498-1012.

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09/04/2015

The Office Exclusive Waiver Form must now include a copy of the Listing Agreement.  In addition, signatures of the listing agent, broker, and seller are required.  The Office Exclusive Form will not be processed until all required signatures AND the listing agreement are received by the MLS.

This policy change is effective immediately.  The Office Exclusive Waiver Form has been updated to reflect this change (Dated 8/15). The Office Exclusive Waiver Form and the Listing Agreement will be kept on file by the MLS.

If you have any questions about this policy please contact Bryan Dean at bdean@columbusrealtors.com.

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08/27/2015

Providing your MLS password to anyone is a violation of MLS policy.

MLS Policy specifically forbids providing your password to any other user.  There is NOT an exception for vendors.  Do not provide your password to a vendor who will then log in as you to run searches or reports in the MLS.  This is a $500 fine.  Vendors are not permitted to login as you.

In addition to vendors, no one else is permitted to login as you either.  Other agents, members of your team, assistants, and all other users must have their own login. They must login as themself, then “superuse” (do business) as you.  Password sharing is not permitted.

MLS POLICY:

1.08.01 – Providing Login Name/Password to Non-Member $ 500 Violation Fee

Your login name and password is highly confidential and is not to be shared with other agents, unauthorized technology vendors or customers or clients. Your login name and password shall not be shared, disclosed or knowingly allowed to come into the possession of any other person except your broker, manager and/or office administrator in your real estate company. REALTOR® will be assessed an immediate violation fee.

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The field “SqFt Tax Record” must now be filled in for all MLS listings within 15 days of entry into the MLS.  This field can no longer be left blank.  In the coming weeks, agents who have nothing entered in this field will receive an email notifying them of the new policy.

The MLS committee and Board of Directors made this new requirement because there are quite a few listings in the MLS with no entry in the SqFt Tax Record field.  This causes inaccuracy in CMA’s and statistical reports.  This field was deemed very important to agents for search, as well as statistical purposes.

Below is the full text of the message to be sent to agents:

——————————————————————
MLS Policy requires the Sq Ft Tax Record field to be accurate for all listings. The listing agent must provide proof of taxable square footage from a professional source to the MLS within 15 days from the entry date.  You must provide this proof by email in PDF format or by FAX. You cannot update the listing’s Sq Ft Tax Record yourself.  The field is locked after initial entry.

You will continue to receive this notification for 15 days or until the field is updated by MLS staff.  After 15 days, the listing agent will receive a Data Maintenance Fee for late entry of Sq Ft Tax Record. This policy applies to all Residential and Res Rental listings.

PROOF OF SQ. FT. SOURCE DOCUMENTS:

MLS staff must update the Sq. Ft. Tax Record field for you based upon the source document you provide.  Acceptable source documents include county auditor’s record, appraisals, builder statements and floor plans provided by a builder, architect or licensed appraiser.  Please submit these documents to MLS so your listing can be updated immediately.  You may submit documentation as a PDF by email or FAX.

SUBMIT TO:

EMAIL:  mlscorrections@columbusrealtors.com
FAX: (614) 416-0258
QUESTIONS?  (614) 475-4000 (ask for MLS Corrections)

—————————————————————–

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07/08/2015

There have been 2 recent changes to the MLS:
1) Gated Community is now an optional selection in the Complex/Subdiv Amenities field for Residential and Res Rental
2) Late last week there was a change to make Seller Concession a required field. As of 6/30/15, this change has been temporarily disabled.

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06/26/2015

Images appearing in the MLS may not be reused without written permission from the copyright holder. This applies to re-use on another MLS property or for other purposes such as display on external websites. The sole exception is MLS images provided for authorized IDX solutions where the data and connected images are authorized for display by the listing Broker’s active participation in IDX.  If you did not personally take an image, you must have written permission to reuse that image. If you paid an individual to take the image, you still need to verify from the copyright holder that your contract allows you to reuse the image. There can be serious legal and financial concerns when image copyright is violated. There may also be fines from the MLS for improper use of images without proper authorization from the copyright holder. If you have questions about photo usage, please contact your Broker, legal counsel or MLS staff.

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06/03/2015

An updated version of the  MLS Policy Violation and Data Maintenance Fee Manual has been uploaded to the MLS Reference Materials section of the Columbus REALTORS® association website.

Click here link below to be taken to the website.

When you visit the page, you’ll be asked to provide your License Number (Generally a 6 or 10 digit number, example of 455688 or 2015000001)  and MLS Office ID (5 Digit number, example of 01455)

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04/14/2015

The MLS committee and Board of Directors have modified current MLS policy.  The summary of these changes is below.

1. Current policy allows for up to 72 hours to add a listing to the MLS. This period was shortened to 48 hours.
2. Effective April 1, 2015 Data Maintenance Fees will again be charged for inaccurate Corporation Limits. This is due to the recent addition of FBS functionality that auto populates Corporation Limits.
3. Effective immediately the phrase “Curb Offers Only” will be permitted in the Property Description field and/or the Showing Phone Number field.

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02/26/2015

The following items has been set as default “Yes” on Add/Edit.  These items appear on the Export tab in the Seller Opt Out section. This change is to return Flexmls to the same default used by the previous MLS add/edit default.

• Seller Directs Listing to Not Be Used in AVMs on Internet
• Seller Directs Listing to Not Allow Comments on Internet

These 2 selections will now automatically be checked when entering a new listings.  The previous MLS system mirrored these default settings.  These settings were apparently missed when converting to the new Flexmls system. This change merely returns to the previous system default.

The MLS committee has chosen to re-institute the default settings from the previous MLS.  This means that new listings will, by default,  NOT be available for AVMs or Internet Comments.  This setting can easily be unchecked by any listing agent when adding a new listing or editing an existing listing.  This is only the default setting and does not affect existing listings.  The setting chosen at time of listing entry will be retained.  This only affects newly entered listings from January 21, 2015 forward.

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01/21/2015