Mele Kalikimaka from HIS!

The Hawaii Information Service ‘ohana would like to express our heartfelt appreciation to you, our valued members and customers. We wish you and your loved ones a very merry Christmas, and a bright and prosperous 2014!

Holiday Hours and Billing Notice

The Hawaii Information Services ‘ohana would like to wish you a joyous and peaceful holiday season!

Please note that our offices will have limited hours as 2013 draws to a close. We will be closed from noon on Tuesday, Dec. 24 through Thursday, Dec. 26 in observance of Christmas Day. We will also be closed from noon on Tuesday, Dec. 31 through Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2014 for New Year’s Day.

The majority of our staff will be out of the office between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Day, but our customer service team will be available from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Friday & Monday, Dec. 27 & 30, and from 8 a.m. to noon on Tuesday, Dec. 31. Although we will be operating on a skeleton crew, we want to ensure you can get the answers and help you need during the holidays!

If you have work pending with us (such as with membership or accounting), or plan to submit account changes, forms, or payments, please make sure it is submitted this week to ensure it is processed before the end of the year. See below for more details.

As always, regardless of the holiday break, you can reach us after hours and on weekends by leaving a message on our emergency line. Just call (808) 599-4224 or (800) 628-3121 from the neighbor islands, and press * (star). Our phone system will notify our on-call staff, and someone will return your call as soon as possible.

New Year’s Billing Reminder

The next billing date for Credit Card and ACH Customers is Thursday, January 2, 2014. If you receive an invoice, your payment is also due on that date.

If you are going inactive or decide to leave an office and discontinue MLS service, the broker must send us a copy of the DCCA change form. You can fax it to (808) 524-6874 or email it to michelle@hiinfo.com. Once we receive a copy of the change form, we will turn off your MLS service, remove you from the office roster and discontinue billing. Hopefully we receive this notification from your broker before the account gets billed (or before Wednesday, January 1, 2014).

The deadline for submitting the appropriate written documentation to avoid being billed for service on January 1, 2014 is end of business on Friday, December 27, 2013. We have a no-refund policy, so we do not refund once you are billed. We do not pro-rate. This is stated in our License and Access agreement and explained in the email you receive when you first sign up.

If you are not inactivating your license and continue to keep it active with the DCCA under an office that subscribes to our membership, you must pay membership dues.

Need to change your payment account? Please use this form:

http://www.hawaiiinformation.com/REsearch/IDX/mlshawaii/forms/PreAuthprizedPayment.pdf

Print and complete this “Exhibit C” form, sign it, and fax it to (808) 524-6874. Please note that your broker does not have to sign this form if you are only changing your account information.

We’re Building a New Aloha Living

AlohaLiving.com was launched in May 2007 by Hawaii Information Service with the mission of “connecting people with properties.” The site has seen a number of changes over the past six years, but AlohaLiving.com is now getting a complete overhaul. The new AlohaLiving.com will be simpler, faster, and focused on the two main needs of consumers: finding properties for sale, and finding places to rent.

Our new Aloha Living property search sports an all-new, responsive design, and a quicker, more powerful engine. We’ve replacing outdated, third-party code with technology that we have built and continue to develop in-house, including elements of our IDX 3.0 technology, which has already proven to be even more effective at helping our members who have implemented it on their own websites to reach home buyers.

Meanwhile, we are unveiling new products for property managers: a rental property search site, and a Rental IDX. Many of our members are active property managers, and HIS has supported listings for rental properties within its MLS system for years. So we have long been exploring ways to better serve the rental market.

Our new rental search at Aloha Living is built on an entirely new system, separated from the MLS to allow us to work with the latest web technologies and with the larger community of property managers. Our Rental IDX, meanwhile, builds upon our already successful IDX service for Realtor websites.

Of course, there will be very limited rental inventory in the system at first, and we are still working hard to bring additional property management firms into the fold — including our neighbors on Oahu. It is our hope that this proof-of-concept will demonstrate the benefits of a rental property system that’s backed up by the credibility of an MLS, offering scam-free listings from verified companies.

Early in 2014, once we have feedback from the full range of local stakeholders and a richer inventory of rental properties, we will kick off a launch campaign that will introduce this new, trustworthy resource for both landlords and renters in Hawaii.

If you would like to learn more about how to become one of the earliest participants in our rentals program, please get in touch with us! You can call Leslie Rosa at (808) 748-8754 or via email at leslie@hiinfo.com.

New Marketing for Your Rental Listings

Hawaii Information Service has supported listings for rental properties within its REsearch MLS system for years. We know that many of our members are active property managers, but these rental features are not widely used, and HIS has long been exploring ways to better serve the rental market.

We are now preparing to launch two new services to do just that: a public-facing rental property search site, and a Rental IDX service to support rental searches and inventory display on property manager websites.

After two years of research and planning and nearly a year of development, HIS is excited to reach this milestone. Over the past few months, we have met and worked with some of the largest property management companies on Kauai and Hawaii Island, who have helped beta test these new offerings.

You are receiving this message because you have active rental properties in REsearch. Although we eventually plan to convert these rental offerings into new products and services, next week’s soft-launch of our rental property search site and rental IDX will include your currently active rental properties at no additional cost.

Of course, there will be very limited inventory in the system at first, and we are still working hard to bring additional property management firms into the fold, including our neighbors on Oahu. It is our hope that this early proof-of-concept will demonstrate the benefits of a rental property system that’s backed up by the credibility of an MLS and features scam-free listings from verified companies.

Early in 2014, once we have feedback from a wider range of stakeholders and a richer inventory of rental properties, we will kick off a public launch campaign that will introduce a trustworthy, useful resource for both landlords and renters in Hawaii.

If you would like to get some hands-on time with these new rental offerings, we would love to hear from you. And please let us know if you would like us to exclude your listings from this service. This notice is for a one-time import of rental listings, as management and changes will be handled independently of REsearch going forward.

If you have other questions, don’t hesitate to contact us at (808) 599-4224, or via email at support@hawaiiinformation.com.

Thank you!

Congratulations to Honolulu Realtors

At the Honolulu Board of Realtors Winter General Membership Meeting, Anne I.W. Keamo (R) of Coldwell Banker Pacific Properties was named the Realtor of the Year. A graduate of Kamehameha Schools and Chaminade University with a degree in English, Anne was joined on stage by past Realtor of the Year award recipients.

The event also recognized the officers and directors of the 2014 Board of Directors:

And the officers and directors of HiCentral, Ltd.:

Photos by Colleen Yasuhara.