Tip of the Week: Flexmls Tips

As hopefully all of you have heard, we have started the conversion process for our new MLS system, flexmls. From this day forward, the Tip of the Week will be aimed at flexmls (plus other systems such as Supra, or Internet Member Services) rather than the List-It MLS.

We have a page set up just for the conversion process – www.EmeraldCoastRealtors.com/flexmls. This page will give you all of the information you need to know about for the new system. It will help you know what’s going on, what you need to do, and what you shouldn’t do as we move through the next couple of months.

Updates are routinely added to the site, with dates, so you’ll know when there’s something new to read. Please go back to this site on a regular basis to stay up on the latest information.

There’s also a banner on the home page of the MLS with a text box above to remind you of the updates. Click the banner to go right to the page.

Today’s update is about the status differences between flexmls and List-It. Click here to go to the info page for the ECAR conversion to flexmls.

And in case you’re wondering, the correct branded spelling of the program name is flexmls, all lower case. Also acceptable is Flexmls. But not FlexMLS (I think I’ve done this a few times by mistake) or Flex. We like it when people respect the Realtor® branding, so we also want to respect the branding of flexmls.

Questions? Call us at 850-244-2411 or email susan@ecaor.com.

Susan Beck, I.S. Director
Emerald Coast Association of Realtors®
Fort Walton Beach, FL

Realtors Support Our Local Wounded Military

We do a lot of good things at the Emerald Coast Association of Realtors® (ECAR) – and by “we,” I mean our members. Health Fairs, Toys for Tots, and so many more functions and fundraisers are offered each year. On Saturday, August 24, 2013, ECAR members did something that still makes me puff up with pride every time I think about it – and during the event, brought tears to my eyes and made my heart swell more than once (yeah, I’m a softie – just don’t tell anyone, ok?).

“Soldiers on the Water” was the brainchild of a group within the 2013 ECAR Leadership Development Program. Each year, ECAR offers a Leadership Development Program to help find and educate the future leaders of the Association. This year’s class was tasked with creating and implementing a group project of their choosing. Two projects were selected for this year, one of which was “Soldiers on the Water.”

A day of charter boat fishing for wounded military members, “Soldiers on the Water” benefited both active duty and retired. Some had visible wounds, while others suffer from Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) or Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) – no less serious because they are less visible. With help from volunteers and community partners, 39 military members were able to spend the day fishing along the Emerald Coast – completely free of charge. The community came together in a big way to make this day special for our military members and their families.

Yellow Ribbon Bakery donated baked goods for breakfast Saturday morning. Helen Back donated pizzas to eat when the boats docked. Fisherman’s Wharf cooked their fish and offered sides for a fish fry for free (the public and ECAR members could eat for $12.99 a plate). The Destin Princess and other boats offered their services for the day. Cumulus Broadcasting came out with their radio van for the Coast 93.3 station during the fish fry.

PLUS, the sponsors! Ben Slade Realty, Carriage Hills Realty, Century 21 Wilson Minger Agency, Churchill Oaks Realty, Cumulus Broadcasting, Destin Princess Charter Boat, Ellis Insurance Agency, ERA American Realty, Fisherman’s Wharf, Fish Finders Charters, Friends of the Fallen, GSS Gear, Gulf Power, Helen Back, Jack ‘Em Up Charters, Keep N It Reel Charters, Keller Williams, Matthews & Jones LLP, McNeese Title, North Light Marina, Old South Land Title, Out-Cast Fishing Charters, Peacock Realty, Team Busovne of Keller Willams, University Lending Group, Waterstone Mortgage – Lorena Spillar, and Women’s Council of Realtors® – Emerald Coast Chapter – NONE of this could have been done without them!

And what amazing Realtors® helped make this day possible? Thank you to Justin Lindsey (project leader), Linda Adams, Chris Carter, Chris Collins, Amanda Housand, Joe Morgan, Tanner Peacock, Jen Purdy, Wendy Thomas, and Tracy Wood!

ECAR does a lot of really good things – and sometimes we do some great things. This was a great thing.

~Michaela Mitchell, ECAR Communications Director

Tip of the Week – RPR: new tax source with MLS details

Our normally scheduled Tip has been pre-empted for an important announcement. RPR is live with ECAR MLS data! Training classes to start at ECAR on July 18 with webinars to follow!

Do you remember the old news flashes that would jump into the middle of your favorite TV show? No, is it just me? I doubt it! Some of you are just not owning up to your age!

But the news flash is right. RPR, NAR’s Realtor Property Resource, is live with ECAR MLS data added to their existing property data. Adding MLS data to their already extensive information make the site even more valuable to you and your sellers/buyers.

And… are you sitting down?… it’s FREE! The site is free to all NAR members. If you’re a Realtor, whether sales associate or appraiser, you have free access to this wealth of information. All you need is your National Realtor Database System (NRDS, also known as “nerds” ID) number, and you can sign up for a free account.

A short live demo will be given at the July 17th Membership luncheon, followed by live classes here at ECAR on the 18^th. More live classes are being scheduled for August. Webinars are also being worked in. Watch the Education calendar for more info on these classes.

Come and learn how to use this important resource. The site includes property from across the country, with our own MLS data included for our local properties.

Questions? Contact ECAR’s Education department at 850-243-6145 for questions about the classes, or email susan@ecaor.com for questions on the system.

Susan Beck, MLS Director
Emerald Coast Association of REALTORS
Fort Walton Beach, FL

Supra Update – Limited Warranty on eKey Fobs/Adapters

To open the electronic lockboxes, you need a key. You can choose the Active key or the eKey service. The Active key is a single device that self-updates and is leased on an annual basis from Supra. The eKey service allows you to use your smartphone to open the lockboxes. This key service requires the use of a fob or adapter to communicate with the lockboxes.

The Supra lockboxes use infra-red to communicate with the keys. Since most smartphones do not include infra-red, the fobs or adapters are required. Over the past few years, Supra has offered four different types of these devices for use with different phones.

Android or Blackberry phones has always used the bluetooth fobs. These phones use their bluetooth signal to connect to the fob and the fob communicates with the lockboxes by infra-red. These fobs have varied from a two inch device that uses two AAA batteries, to a smaller 1 inch device using standard coin batteries (CR2016) that will easily hang from your car keys.

The older iPhones, 4S and older, used the adapter that plugged into the power port of the phone. The iPhone 5 has a different power port and cannot use the same adapter. So Supra developed a new bluetooth fob that will work with just about any phone: iPhone, Android, Blackberry, and some Windows phones.

Since the beginning of  the eKey service, ECAR has chosen to purchase these adapters and fobs from Supra to resell to anyone getting the eKey service from us. So as the devices changed, we started collecting surplus of these devices. In an effort to return some of the surplus, we learned that there is a limited warranty on them.

We generally sold out of the adapters and fobs so quickly that we never ran into this issue before. So this caught us a little by surprise. Fortunately we’ve been able to work with Supra to resolve the issue. But this does mean that we cannot replace some existing fobs or adapters at no charge.

Supra offers a 1 year warranty on all of the adapters and fobs. So ECAR will be doing the same. If you purchased your fob or adapter from ECAR, and it stops working within 1 year of the date of purchase, we will replace it at no charge. If it’s been longer than one year, you will need to purchase a new fob.

At this time, we only carry the two latest fobs. One works only with Android and Blackberry phones, the other works with most new phones including all iPhones and some Windows phones. The cost for all of the fobs is approximately $54 plus tax.

Please keep in mind that the warranty does not include replacement of the batteries. The newest fobs both use standard coin batteries that can be purchased at most department or electronic stores.

If you have any questions, please call us at 850-244-2411.

Susan Beck, MLS Director
Emerald Coast Association of REALTORS
Fort Walton Beach, FL

What’s Next?

A show of hands. How many of you like roller coasters? Or Tilt-a-whirls? Sounds like fun to me. But how about tornados or hurricanes? Not so much fun. Changes in the MLS can be compared to some or all of the above to each of us. But change is growth and it can often be a good thing.

I remember when my kids were young and complaining about pains in their legs. Both were runners even in elementary school, so my first thoughts were that it was muscle pain from running too much. Then I noticed that their jeans or skirts were shorter and I realized that they were having growth spurts. The pains they were feeling were the leg bones growing.

I don’t remember these pains myself as a child though I’m sure I had them, and I’ve never had a broken bone, but I have had knee surgery that involved the bone. I learned then that bone pain HURTS!!! Beyond anything else physical that I’ve experienced. Including childbirth.

I was reminded of this recently through my friend and coworker, Michaela. Her kids are experiencing growth spurts and leg pain. It’s difficult to see someone go through pain and not really be able to do much. Pain relievers can help, but growth is growth and it will happen regardless. Stop the pain now, but it will come back when the medication wears off. Sometimes we just have to hurt for a little bit in order to grow.

Our Association has been experiencing growing pains over the past couple of years. We’ve had staff changes, rules changes, new systems coming in, some still to come. The big change that’s coming up is a change to the MLS system itself.

We’ve mentioned before that the MLS system will change. The List-It system we use now is being phased out by our MLS vendor, Solid Earth. They have a new MLS platform called Spring that is in development. As time goes along, their customers will all be switched over to Spring.

An awesome group of agents and brokers have been put together by President Jan Hooks and ECAR Chief Executive Officer Anne Rendle to evaluate and determine the future of the MLS system at ECAR. We’ll either stay with Solid Earth and Spring, or switch to another vendor.

I’ve seen all of the finalists and I can tell you that whatever system is chosen, it will be so far above and beyond List-It which is a great MLS system, but it’s over 10 years old. There are new needs and technology that List-It just can’t handle. That’s why Solid Earth is replacing it. Now is the perfect time to make sure that ECAR has the best MLS system available. Even if it means change.

There are things you can do to help yourself and ECAR in general with these changes. First, the change is not right around the corner. We’re talking about 6 months to a year before List-It goes bye bye. So no panic!

Second, accept that change will happen. You might not like it, but it’s going to happen. One way or another, the MLS system will change.

Third, start preparing your data. Listings can easily (at least on our end) be transferred from one MLS system to another. Other things like custom reports, saved searches, prospects often cannot. You have some choices to make when it comes to these features.

One choice is ListingBook. We just wrapped up the initial training sessions on how to use this system. I like to call it “prospects on steroids”. It’s free to use the basic services and it allows you to enter your prospect info and set them up to get daily emails with the info that they need. Is it exactly the same as the Prospect system in List-It? No. It doesn’t have a couple of things and it has additional features. Give it a try on at least a few of your prospects and see how it goes.

Another choice is to wait for the new MLS system to start up. We anticipate running both List-It and a new system side by side for at least three months. So you’ll have to time get everything duplicated then. But don’t wait to the last minute. It comes a lot faster than we ever think it will.

You’ll see more Tips and blogs about the changes coming to the MLS. My #2 goal in this transition is to make sure that we get a lot of information out about the change. I know that I won’t make it 100% but I would love to reach the day when List-It is turned off and not one single agent says “no one told me!!”

Oh, and my #1 goal in this process? To make sure that each agent who logs into the new MLS, whichever one it is, immediately sees why the change was done. Everyone will be okay or even happy about it. Yes, I have really big pipe dreams. But then again, I like roller coasters!

Questions? Comment on this post, or email susan@ecaor.com.

Susan Beck, MLS Director
Emerald Coast Association of REALTORS
Fort Walton Beach, FL

What is this ListingBook you speak of?

Did you receive an email about ListingBook? You’re not sure what it is or why you got the the email? Is this something ECAR is supporting? Do you want this? Answers are here.

Let me just say first that ECAR has partnered with ListingBook. So it’s something you can trust. And best, it’s free! Some of our members have used this system at other associations and raved about it. And that’s just the free side. There are enhanced services that you could choose to purchase that are even better.

So what is ListingBook? It’s a site that combines our MLS data with tax records to allow you to send out through automatic emails updates to your customers. It’s similar to the Prospecting system in our current MLS, but with a lot more information and a lot more functionality.

What is it not? It’s not an MLS system. It’s not for entering listings. It is a portal for agents, buyers and sellers to find each other and get information on real estate. It works with your MLS to provide the best information for everyone.

Do you want it? I’d say yes. It could be a great tool to allow you to even better service your customers and find new customers. And did I mention it’s free?

Also, as you may have seen in my previous blogs, our MLS system will be changing. One of the common victims in an MLS conversion is saved searches. It’s very difficult to salvage saved searches when you move from one MLS system to another, even when the same vendor is used. ListingBook is the answer.

ListingBook has been provided with all of ECAR’s MLS data, including a data feed for prospects. I can’t promise that everything will carry over exactly, but while List-It is still alive and well, it’s a good time to make sure you have all of your prospects working in ListingBook. Then when we do convert to a new MLS system, the Prospects will be one thing you do NOT have to worry about.

Still not sure about it? That’s okay. New things tend to take some time to get used. We’re hosting several classes on ListingBook at the end of this month. The email you received contains links to allow you to register for one of the sessions. Most will be at ECAR with one being held in South Walton. You can also find the links on the ECAR Education Calendar even though we’re not taking the registration ourselves.

Come and check it out. See for yourself what it’s all about. And did I mention it’s FREE!!

Questions? Comment on this post, or email susan@ecaor.com.

Susan Beck, MLS Director
Emerald Coast Association of REALTORS
Fort Walton Beach, FL

Where do I start? GCCMLS

Where do I start?

There’s so much going on right now that I keep going back and forth on where to start. Commercial, RPR, ListingBook, MLS. Where to start, where to start?

I guess I’ll go back to “first comes first.” Now that I think about it, I’m not even sure where I’ve heard of that saying, or if it’s even real. Maybe I took something else and messed it up. Oh, well. It still makes sense for me, and gives me a starting point.

So I’m focusing for this blog on the first thing to start, which is ECAR’s participation with the Gulf Coast Commercial MLS system, powered by Catylist. I’ve mentioned this system before but since our historical data (solds, expireds, etc.) going live on the site next week (April 15, 2013), now is a good time to encourage all of ECAR’s commercial agents to check it out.

Let’s look at the background for a minute. The Pensacola Association of Realtors started the GCCMLS (GulfCoastCMLS.com) in late 2011. In late 2012, ECAR joined in. Talk about monumental occasions. This marks the first true data sharing between ECAR and PAR since 1990 (or so). Those of us who’ve been here forever may remember the Panhandle Regional MLS system, a shared database between several associations in the Panhandle area.

Politics and power reared their ugly heads and the associations ended up splitting off and pretty soon brokers and agents were having to subscribe to 2, 3 or more MLS’s in order to adequately work where they needed to. Things got so strained between the associations that even now, we don’t want to use the “Regional”, it just brings back too many unpleasant memories. So we focus now on “data sharing”. Sharing is good, right?

So now, in this historic way, we’re again joining together to share information and data across Northwest Florida. Yeah!!!

I’m asking all commercial agents, whether you mainly work commercial or only do one or two commercial listings in years, go to GulfCoastCMLS.com and start using it. You can sign up for a free account and get the basic services. Enter your commercial listings, view listings within that database, run basic reports.

But if you subscribe to this MLS system, you can research listings from other MLS’s, generate elaborate reports with charts, graphs, demographics, etc. The Pensacola Association of Realtors will handling the administration of the site, and there will be an additional MLS fee for those who choose to subscribe.

As with any MLS system, the designated broker of the office will have to participate with the service, then any agent who chooses to subscribe can optionally join in. For the Commercial system, it will be a  choice. Call ECAR for subscription information, 850-244-2411.

If you’re thinking that this is a lot, the PAR agents who’ve been using it for the past year believe it’s well worth the amount. The research resource is invaluable as well as the reports that are available.

Training classes will be held at ECAR on Tuesday April 16^th. We’ll hold two classes on that day so anyone who’s interested can learn the basics of how to use the system. After that, additional training will be available by webinar.

Watch the ECAR Education calendar for the live classes so you can register for one. The classes are free; seating is limited. Be sure to sign up soon.

Questions? Comment on this post, or email susan@ecaor.com

Susan Beck, MLS Director
Emerald Coast Association of REALTORS
Fort Walton Beach, FL

Final Update from Florida Realtors MidWinter Meetings

This last blog from the 2013 Florida Realtors MidWinter Meetings will be a hodge-podge of bits and pieces from different meetings. There will be some points that I’ve covered in other blogs, but I felt they were important enough to go over again.

Fannie Mae update: Reps from Fannie Mae were at several meetings I attended. Of everything they said, I gleaned out two important details. One, the Fannie Mae Short sale Assistance Desk is being closed down. I never heard why, but it only lasted a couple of years. Two, there is a new process in place for getting help from FM about short sales, if Fannie Mae owns the loan. Go to Homepath.com, click the Short Sale tab, scroll down near the bottom and look for the section called “Real Estate Professionals Representing A Short Sale”. There will be four links. The third one says “How can a real estate professional escalate a short sale case to Fannie Mae?” Click on that link. If Fannie Mae is not the loan owner, there’s a phone number on the page to call for help.

Property Managers and FREC: Property managers are growing on the “most wanted” list at Florida Real Estate Commission (FREC). I heard this in a couple of different meetings. The main problem being how money is handled. If you’re a full time property manager, you’re probably fairly familiar with Chapter 83 Landlord and Tenant, at least I hope you are. If you’re handling a few properties for a friend, and you’re not familiar with Chapter 83, you need to get familiar. Can I suggest attending the ECAR RPM meetings?

Florida Economy: At the Industry Data and Analysis Forum, Dr John Tucillo said that the Florida economy is solidly mediocre. He even used the word “eh”. So it’s not tanking, but it’s not skyrocketing either. Since I like the middle of the boat, I’m okay with that. He also mentioned that the Florida real estate market is a little off balance right now due to heavy investment buying but he expects that to even out. It’s a good time to sell, and there appears to be decline in the “shadow inventory”, those properties that are in the process of foreclosure but haven’t been put on the market yet.

Legal Update: No copying photos from someone else’s website to put on your listing in the MLS!! That’s now a violation of the Code of Ethics, as of late 2012. It’s already against ECAR MLS rules to copy photos from another MLS listing to put on your own listing. Now you can get in trouble for copying photos from someone’s website. Just take your own pictures!!

Forms Update: This part is coming directly from our own Marilue Maris (ResortQuest), who attended (and actually understands) the update regarding changes to some of the Florida Realtors real estate forms. There’s much more in her email than I can include in this blog. If you’d like a copy of the email, let me know.
– Start a form
– CRSP in Mobile platform
– State forms only
– All forms are now mobile!  (look for the “mobile” button next to each form name)
– All dates have drop down calendars
– HTML editor save is on top now, was on bottom.
– Always save to make sure
– Much quicker to upload forms
– PDF editor @ top to review form
– Type and keyboard pops up
– When you jump from page to page, it saves automatically.
– Save before switching from HTML format to PDF format.
– Mobile PDF editor turns to PDF
– Drop down to different page numbers.
– Library -Florida group-all forms are mobilized.
Since ECAR staff has no support access into Forms Simplicity, if you have any questions or problems using that system, please call the Florida Realtors Tech Hotline, 407-587-1450.

Professional Standards: This committee did a great job of presenting several scenarios that are apparently fairly common to the Pro Standards committees across the state. They acted out, story style, a few juicy cases to a packed room. Here’s the point that stood out the most in my memory, mainly because it was repeated in a few of the stories. Don’t give the keys to the home to the buyer before closing! There were examples of buyers moving in, making renovations, and even tearing the home down before they even closed. And in one case, the closing didn’t go through, and the home had been stripped down.

President’s 2013 goals:
Advance the association’s public policy influence.
Nurture and grow the Young Professionals Network (YPN).
Promote the use of the association’s products and services.
Further engage Florida’s “top 50” brokers.

Thank you to all of the ECAR members who attended these meetings. It’s so important to go to these meetings to learn, network, and grow in the real estate business. My personal request to everyone who attended? Bring back what you’ve learned to your local association. Tell your office mates, tell your committees, forums, and tours. Michaela and I can blog about this stuff all day, but it means something extra when the word comes for a fellow real estate professional.

The more you learn, the more you learn that there’s always more to learn!

Comment on this blog or email susan@ecaor.com if you have any questions.

Susan Beck, MLS Director
Emerald Coast Association of REALTORS
Fort Walton Beach, FL

Commercial Alliance

The last thing I would have expected attending the Commercial Alliance meeting at Florida Realtors was that I would get to meet and shake the hand of the Honorable Rick Scott, Governor of Florida. But that’s what happened!

Okay, that wasn’t the only thing that went on during the meeting. But it did cause a nice little buzz. There was also actual commercial business as well. And the Governor did talk about commercial real estate.

He talked about the sales tax on commercial leases, recruiting businesses to come to Florida, and international sales. He quoted a stat from one of the major airlines that said every international real estate land sale meant up to 25 international flights. Then there’s hotel rooms, restaurants, etc. Do the math! International sales bring big bucks to the state in more ways that just the purchase of the land.

Since the sales tax on commercial leases was one of the big topics for the overall meeting, hearing the Governor say that he is aware of the problems this tax causes, and that it’s a priority, is good news. If you have any examples of a real situation where you’ve lost a lease or had a lease cut back due to the sales tax on commercial lease, please send the information to John Sebree, Florida Realtors VP of Public Policy at johns@far.org.

Another interesting thing from the meeting was the phone conference with an attorney in California talking about a case that’s still currently being looked at by the Supreme Court.

To really paraphrase the case, an owner wanted to make some improvements to his property that had been deemed wetlands. The property itself wasn’t wet, but because it was within a certain range of wetlands, it was also deemed wetlands by the county. So special permits were needed. A couple of days before the permits were to be approved, the county sent a notice to the owner that he would also be required to make improvements to county land that was 3 to 4 miles away. The owner refused, the permits were denied. The owner sued and lost.

The case was lost because the demand from the county was for money, in the way of services, rather than for the land itself. Apparently the county can’t take your property away, but they can demand a service in exchange for a permit. ??

And we’re not talking about the normal cost of getting a permit. The case was appealed to the Supreme Court. Go to the Supreme Court website or google St Johns Rover Water District vs Koontz to get the correct and whole story.

The great thing is that the state government and Florida Realtors are well aware of how important the commercial real estate business is and they’re working on your behalf.

Please comment on this blog or email me at susan@ecaor.com.

Susan Beck, MLS Director
Emerald Coast Association of REALTORS
Fort Walton Beach, FL

Florida Realtors RPM Meeting

First things first. Not sure what RPM means? For those acronym-challenged, it’s Residential Property Management. And it’s a great committee to be with if you handle rentals full time or just part time.

 Part times really could use the meeting this year. In one day, I heard the same thing in two different meetings: Legal Update, and RPM Committee. FREC is cracking down on property managers who perform unlicensed activity or don’t handle escrows properly. Hopefully, someone is getting nervous and will check out the situation.

In the quick hour, I gathered three pieces of information for you.

Property management education: a motion was passed to request two education seminars for property managers at the August Florida Realtors Tradeshow and Convention. If approved by the Florida Realtors Board of Directors, we should have available two really interesting sessions: one from (fingers crossed) a well known property management attorney to talk to experienced and inexperienced rental agents on finances and how to keep off of FREC’s radar.

The other suggested seminar is something along the line of “What would you do?”, with real life situations that have happened to property managers. Then a round table discussion of what you would do if you found yourself in the same situation. Should be very interesting!

Are you thinking that we don’t have any problems or issues in our little corner of paradise, like they do in the more citified areas of the state? Guess what? We do. If you want to see for yourself, attend one of the ECAR RPM committee meetings. We have a great group of experienced property managers from around our local area who get together every month (second Wednesday, 8:30am at ECAR) to hear a guest speaker or discuss the latest issues or legal happenings.

Speaking of legal happenings, we also heard about a few bills that are coming up soon in front of the Florida House that impact the property management bills. Some good, some not so good. Check out House bills 77, 169, and 481 for more info.

Lastly, it was mentioned that there’s been a recent change to part of the Supreme Court approved lease form used by many property managers around the state. It pertains to the liquidation of damages part of the lease. If you use this lease, you’re good. If you have your own attorney create your leases, be sure they’ve updated the ones you use.

Tomorrow – MLS, Commercial, and Education. Since a couple of these are at the same time, I will be perfecting my cloning technique that I learned from Michaela. More then.

Susan Beck, MLS Director
Emerald Coast Association of REALTORS
Fort Walton Beach, FL