Free Hands-ON Training, This Saturday: Take the confusion out of using your MLS

Seating is Limited. Sign up, today!

Using your MLS
From Basics  to Customizing and Downloads
Learn how to utilize all the new features now available in the new  REsearch 4.2

Date: February 21, 2009
Basics 9:00 am– Noon
C & D 1:00pm  – 4:00pm

Where?:  The Lihue Plantation Building Located directly behind the  Post-Office in Lihue

Did the latest release of Research 4.2 leave you scratching your head? Perhaps, you are simply new to the real estate profession . Either way, there is lots to learn at the free hands-on training classes being offered this Saturday.  Technology savy Realtors enjoy greater success and longevity!
Basics- will walk you through the nuances of utilizing your system to remain competitive in the ever changing market

Customizing and Downloads will show the tricks of the trade that will differentiate  you from your competition.  

• View the Curriculum
• SIGN UP NOW!

Any Questions Contact:
1 (800) 628-3121  Ext. 154

Or email Richard Manning,
Training Coordinator at:
richardm@HawaiiInformation.com

Taught by John F. Friedman, RA-these classes offer pertinent and valuable material for everyone from the novice to the most advanced user. Saturday’s classes will emphasize making the transition to the latest release, smooth and seamless.

The Lihue Plantation Building can be found directly behind the Lihue Post office on Kele Street. Kele Street runs between the Post Office and Bank of Hawaii. the Hawaii Information Service  training center is located on the second floor in Suite 205.

Interested in upgrading your FTP feed? Reserve your appointment today!

If you are interested in upgrading your FTP feed you will need to schedule a time with HIS during which your webmaster can do this.  We have time slots available next week Wednesday, February 25th – Friday, February 27th. 
 
Only a limited number of people can update their FTP feed each day, so please contact Erin Shaw today to reserve your spot:
 
E-mail: erin@alohaliving.com
Direct: 808.748.8759
Toll Free: 1.800.628.3121 ext. #159
 
 
When you RSVP, please note which upgrade your webmaster will be doing:
 
1. Get daily photo updates for listings entered from here on out.
 
2. Download the “Full” photo set if you want photos for every active listing on the market entered before and after this enhancement.
 
3. If you do not want to upgrade at this time, you are welcome to stick with featuring just six photos with each listing as your site does now.
 
*For technical questions, please contact Michael Torres at michael@alohaliving.com.  This upgrade is included in your current service at no additional charge from HIS.
 

QUESTIONS?
Contact Colleen Yasuhara at (808) 748.8751 OR 800.628.3121 ext. #151
colleen@alohaliving.com

REsearch 4.2 Wrap Up Survey

Mahalo for your patience, cooperation and willingness to embrace the changes we have implemented in REsearch 4.2. Also, thank you for your suggestions and efforts to help us identify bugs, which has enabled us to make improvements. From here on out we will be doing regular releases that will include upgrades, updates, new features etc. and it is our goal to make these go as smoothly as possible.

If you could please take 5 minutes out of your day to answer a few questions about what did or did not work in this particular release, we would greatly appreciate it. Your feedback is valuable to us, and will be used to improve our processes in the future.

TAKE SURVEY NOW

Enhanced FTP IDX feed can now make available up to 25 photos for each listing!

We know how important it is that your customers be able to find everything they need right on your website, which is why OVER THE NEXT TWO WEEKS, we will be able to increase the number of pictures that will appear per listing, from 6 up to 25 photos.  You will have three options with this FTP upgrade:
1. Get daily photo updates for listings entered from here on out.
 
2. Download the “Full” photo set if you want photos for every active listing on the market entered before and after this enhancement.
 
3. Stick with featuring just five photos with each listing as your site does now.
 
Keep an eye out throughout this week as we will be sending more detailed information for you and your webmaster on how to go about upgrading your FTP feed to accommodate the photo capacity increase.  For technical questions, please contact Michael Torres at michael@alohaliving.com. 
 
*This upgrade is included in your current service at no additional charge from HIS.

QUESTIONS?

Contact Colleen Yasuhara at (808) 599.4224 OR 800.628.3121 ext. #151
colleen@alohaliving.com
 
Hawaii Information Service
680 Iwilei Rd, Suite 777
Honolulu, Hawaii 96817

REsearch 4.2 News Bulletin: Open House and Online Condo Guide

How Do I List or Edit an Open House in REsearch?   The upgraded Open House feature in REsearch 4.2 is great. Not only do you have more options within REsearch, but the information you enter is now being pushed out to consumers on Hawaiiinformation.com as well as AlohaLiving.com, giving you and your listings even wider exposure. Because of these improvements, we also have more users utilizing the Open House feature, and an increase in questions about how to input your listings, edit or delete them, etc.  In response, our Customer Service department has created a series of how-tos in the Help feature within REsearch.   To get help with your Open Houses, just click on the green question mark icon in the top right corner of your screen and then type in “Open House” into the search bar.  Click the green arrow to the right and you will see the various help topics come up in the search below.  Can’t find what you are looking for?  Let us know so we can continue to grow this great resource.       Is the Condo Guide Online and Available for Us to Use? As of today, most of the floor plans, plot plans and data sheets that were in the original Condo Guide books, as well as some that were not, have been loaded into REsearch and are available for your use.  We are continuing to load additional projects into REsearch daily, and plan to have as complete a library of Hawaii’s condo projects as possible by the end of February.  Past this we will continue to improve our records and this resource for you as quickly and as thoroughly as possible. Already we have added photos for most projects that are in REsearch – one of the many improvements you will see us make to the new online Condo Guide.*  If the plot plans, floor plans and data sheet are in REsearch for a particular project, you will see this blue and white logo shown below.  Just click on it to access them. When you click on the Condo Guide icon you will see the notice below pop up.  This is notifying you that there is a time constraint on how long the document can be used for (2 weeks) before it expires, to ensure the protection of the data.  If the document expires, you will need to go back into REsearch and download a new one.   After clicking “Ok” on the notice you will be able to access, download, e-mail etc. the floor/plot plans, photo and data sheet for the project of your choice.  The floor/plot plans have all been re-drawn and are much clearer and easier to use in this online format. *For non-MLS customers/members there will be an additional charge for this product.  For more information on how to get the online Condo Guide please contact Colleen Yasuhara at (808) 748-8751 or Toll Free at 1-800-628-3121 ext. #151 or at colleen@alohaliving.com.

REsearch 4.2 News Bulletin: Hotsheet and Short Sale Search Feature

Is the “Restrictions on Commission” Search Field Missing from Your Screen?
 
Due to the high demand for the ability to include or exclude short sales, foreclosures etc. from your searches, we have added the “Restrictions on Commission” field to the Quick Search and MLS Detail search bars on the main search page.  If you are not seeing it there, it may be because you customized your search bars before we implemented this change.  To add the “Restrictions on Commission” field either add it yourself from the “All Fields” list (a good idea if you have taken time to customize your searches in a certain way and don’t want to lose the changes) or follow the directions below (if you don’t mind your search screen reverting back to the “standard” screen).
 
Step 1: Open the search page in REsearch and click on “Customize Fields” in the top, right hand corner of any of the blue search bars.

 

Step 2: You will see a customize window open on the far left hand side of your screen.  Click on “Return to a Prior Version” under the green “Save Changes” button and then choose “The REsearch standard” and hit “Restore.”  After clicking on “Restore,” make sure you then click on the green “Save Changes” button on the top of the customizing box. 

Please note that if you choose to restore to the REsearch standard, any changes you might have made are going to be erased.  If you have customized your screen and want it to stay that way, please just add the new search field manually.

 

Step 3: Check your search page to make sure that “Restrictions on Commission” is there on both the MLS portion of the Quick Search as well as in the MLS Detail.
 
 
 
Where is the Hotsheet in REsearch 4.2?
 
You may be wondering where to find your Hotsheet in REsearch 4.2.  In this new version, we have done away with the name and shortcut on REVO (your home page).  Now the Hotsheet can be accessed only by hovering your mouse over Search and selecting “Get Listing Update.”  Please see the screen shot below as an example. 

 

Questions? Feedback? I’d love to hear from you!
 
Mahalo,
 
Erin Shaw
Marketing Coordinator
 
Direct: (808) 748-8759
Toll Free: 1-800-628-3121 ext. #159
E-Mail: erin@alohaliving.com

Short Sale, Bank Owned, Foreclosure Buttons

Agents asked for a “short sale” button. Agents asked for a “bank owned” button.  Agents asked for a “foreclosure” button. With REsearch 4.2, we’ve added these buttons, and — with the help of our Realtor BoD — provided “hover help” explaining each of the new buttons.

However, some agents are not being selective in using these buttons, and a few agents are checking all of the buttons. Please think carefully to determine which button should be checked. Here’s a brief primer:

A property goes into the foreclosure process (pre-foreclosure) — “legal action by lender to gain control of the property” — when legal action is filed by the lender. Once the lender files a public default notice, a lis pendens attaches to the property, and the property is “in (pre)foreclosure.”

The (pre)foreclosure process can end one of four ways:

1. The owner reinstates the loan by-paying off the default amount during a state-law-defined period which is known as “pre-foreclosure.”
2. The Borrower/owner sells the property to a third party during the pre-foreclosure period which allows settlement of the loan amounts.
3. A third party buys the property at a public auction at the end of the pre-foreclosure period.
4. The lender takes ownership of the property through either an agreement with the owner or by buying back the property at the public auction.  The property is then REO (real estate owned) by the lender.

Therefore:

• A property can be either a (pre)foreclosure or an REO, not both.
• A property could generate a “short” sale and be (pre)foreclosure.
• A property could generate a “short” sale with no foreclosure action filed.

Please check only the appropriate boxes.

Having Problems With Features In 4.2?

If you are using Internet Explorer version 6.0 you may notice that there are a few functions or features that are not working properly.  To solve this problem, simply upgrade to IE 7.  To determine your IE version open your IE and click Help and select the last option that says “About Internet Explorer”.  To download IE7 go to http://www.microsoft.com/windows/internet-explorer/download-ie.aspx and make sure to download Internet Explorer 7, NOT IE8.

Where is the Hotsheet in REsearch 4.2?

You may be wondering where to find your Hotsheet in REsearch 4.2.  In this new version, we have done away with the name and shortcut on REVO (your home page).  Now the Hotsheet can be accessed only by hovering your mouse over Search and selecting “Get Listing Update.”  Please see the screen shot below as an example.

Now Search for, or Eliminate From Search Results, Short Sales & Foreclosure Properties!

New Search Features Added to Version 4.2
Due to popular demand, we have revised the Listing Input Forms (aka Exhibit A or Data Entry forms) to accommodate the listing of short sale and foreclosure properties.  You will find the area in which to enter this information in the top right hand corner of the form.  You will also notice that your photo and logo have been moved to the top, left hand corner of the form so that it prints properly and saves space.  These revised forms are now available with our release of the new 4.2 version of REsearch.
 
 

Click image to enlarge
 
Up untill now, the only way to search for short sale, foreclosure and REO listings is to search for occurrences of these words in the remarks sections of the listings.  We understand how cumbersome that has been, and once the listings have been appropriately revised, members will be able to search for short sale, foreclosure and REO listings.
 
We have now added the search field “Restrictions on commission” to both the Quick Search and the MLS Detail Search so that you can quickly access them.  Under this new field you will find numerous categories such as  “Shortsale”, “Foreclosure” and “REO “, and you will have the ability to search in a simple or more detailed way, whichever way works best.
 
Simple Selection View

Click image to enlarge

Advanced Selection View

Click image to enlarge
 

The revisions to the forms are timely since we are in the final review process of the revised rules of the service that we will be sharing with you soon.  Among the revisions is a new section under Article IV Commissions addressing the listing of short sale properties.  The new section reads as follows.
 
“Section 4.09. Short Sales: Participants must disclose potential short sales when reasonably known to the listing participants, by placing the following language in the Agent Information field: Potential short sale. “Short sale” means a transaction where title transfers; where the sale price is insufficient to pay the total of all liens and costs of sale; and where the seller does not bring sufficient liquid assets to the closing to cure all deficiencies. When disclosed, participants must advise other participants whether and how any reduction in the gross commission established in the listing agreement, required by the lender as a condition of approving the sale, will be apportioned between listing and cooperating participants. All confidential disclosures and confidential information related to short sales must be communicated in the Non Public Remarks available only to participants and subscribers.”
 
Please note that listors will be required to include the verbiage “Potential short sale” in the Private Remarks, or Agent Information field for short sale property listings.  In the next few days, we will conduct a blanket audit of all current Active and Contingent listings and identify those that include mention of short sale, foreclosure or REO in the Public and Private Remarks, followed by individual memos to all listors of these listings asking them to revise the remarks sections, and to check off the appropriate selection under the Restrictions on commission section of the listing input forms.