Monthly Archives: November 2015

HIS Marketing Admin 10:11 am on November 30, 2015  

December 2015 Training Schedule

Go To MeetingBelow is the schedule of upcoming online training classes for the month of December. If you’re new to REsearch, we strongly encourage you to attend a “Getting Started” session on Dec. 9 or Dec. 28.

Even if you’ve participated in a session before, it’s often a good idea to get a refresher. Our live trainers can answer your questions and help you get the most out of REsearch. Descriptions of each HIS webinar can can be found here.

To sign up immediately, simply click on the links below. If you are going to participate/watch online classes as a group, only one person needs to sign up.

Dec. 7-11, 2015

Dec. 14-18, 2015

Dec. 21-25, 2015

Dec. 28-31, 2015

Instructions on how to register for online classes:
  • To register, please click on the applicable link located below the class. The link will then take you to the registration site.
  • Please complete all the required fields marked by a red asterisk (First Name, Last Name, Email Address, Phone, Organization AKA Office Name).
  • Click “Register Now” to complete the registration process. Once registered a confirmation email will be sent to your email address to confirm your registration along with a unique web ID number and instructions on how to login to the session on that day.
  • If you need login assistance, please feel free to contact our Customer/Technical Support team at 800-628-3121, press # and then 457.
Remember, after you have participated, please make sure to fill out the survey or e-mail me your feedback so we can continue to improve upon our training efforts! Mahalo. 
System Requirements for Online Classes
  • PC-based attendees – Required: Microsoft Windows® XP or newer
  • Macintosh®-based attendees – Required: Mac OS® X 10.8 (Mountain Lion) or newer
  • Mobile attendees – Required: Apple iOS 8 or newer, Google Android 4.0 or newer
System requirements apply only to the GoToMeeting webinar service, not to the REsearch system.
HIS Marketing Admin 7:23 am on November 26, 2015  

Happy Thanksgiving to You!

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As we enter this special season of gratitude and giving, all of us at Hawaii Information Service are especially mindful of just how much we have to be thankful for.

We want you to know that we sincerely appreciate
your feedback, which helps us to grow and improve,
your support, which inspires us to work harder for you every day, and
your business, which empowers us to serve our local real estate community.

We are truly blessed to have you as a valued customer, and it is our joy and our honor to continue to serve you.

From our HIS Ohana, we sincerely say MAHALO and wish you and yours a very Happy Thanksgiving!

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HIS Marketing Admin 1:56 pm on November 24, 2015  

REsearch 6 Update: Photos, Printing, Market IQ

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Our development team has been hard at work ensuring REsearch 6 continues to be the powerful and useful tool that you need to grow your business. As we near the end of the year, and the retirement of the old version of REsearch, we wanted to share with you some of the latest improvements that you’ll find in our new system.

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  • Improved Photo Management: You’ll now see a grid of photos that allows you to easily drag-and-drop pictures into the order you want for your listings.
  • Improved Remarks: Now when entering public or private remarks on the listing input form, the text input box expands automatically as you type.
    More MLS Mid Options: You can now choose whether or not to include the newly added photos and map in the popular MLS Mid format. Look for these options in your REsearch settings.
  • Improved Branding Format: Headshots and logos of different sizes now look better than ever (especially when printed). Images that are more square than tall or wide work best, as do smaller files (under 120Kb, about 300×300 pixels). If you haven’t updated your pictures lately, check your profile today!
  • Improved Printing: We’ve tightened up printing across the board, and have also made sure that those who prefer one listing per page printing (over continuous printing) get the results they expect. This is also controlled in your settings.
  • Market IQ Downloads: You can now download Market IQ results as spreadsheets. And we’re working on other improvements to make Market IQ even more powerful.

Many of these enhancements, along with dozens of fixes and other changes, were driven by the thoughtful and helpful feedback we receive from valued members like you. If there’s something you’d like to see in a future update to REsearch 6, please let us know.

We’re glad to see most of our users have made the switch to REsearch 6, and if you haven’t been back in the new system lately, we invite you to take another look. All enhancements and new features will only be available in the new system, and the old version of REsearch will be retired at the end of the year.

REsearch 6 Resources

We’ve provided as much information as we can to ensure that you’re ready for REsearch 6, and for your convenience, here are a few helpful links:
  • REsearch 6 Training Video: A 34-minute video of the same in-person training we brought to you in July, walking through the key parts of the new system. You can also browse our YouTube channel to check out additional REsearch 6 guides and quick tips.
  • REsearch 6 Bulletins: You can review our archive of REsearch 6 announcements, covering everything from the main objectives of the upgrade to specific features and changes.
  • REsearch Knowledge Base: We’ve rebuilt our online help system from the ground up, providing a new, searchable library of frequently asked questions as well as detailed notes on REsearch 6 development.
  • Online Training: Our monthly slate of live, instructor led webinars are taught using REsearch 6. You can find the current schedule of classes at any time in REsearch under ‘RETools.’
HIS Marketing Admin 7:47 am on November 24, 2015  

Holiday Notice: Office Closed Thursday & Friday

Please note that the Hawaii Information Service office will be closed on Thursday, Nov. 26, 2015 and Friday, Nov. 27, 2015 in observance of the Thanksgiving holiday. We will resume regular office hours on Monday, Nov. 30.

If you have questions about our service and systems during the long weekend, please first consult our new and improved online help system. If you still require urgent assistance, please leave a message on our emergency line by calling (808) 599-4224 or (800) 628-3121 from the neighbor islands, and pressing * (star). Our phone system will notify our on-call staff, and someone will return your call as soon as possible.

Our next observed holiday will be Christmas Day, on Friday, Dec. 25, 2015.

Thank you very much for your continued support. As we enter the holiday season, we will be sharing a special holiday message with you later this week!

HIS Marketing Admin 2:35 pm on November 23, 2015  

Direct REsearch Login Links

Our homepage at HawaiiInformation.com was unreachable for about 30 minutes today, Monday, Nov. 23, 2015. Fortunately, REsearch was still running. We restored access as soon as possible, but members were able to go directly to the REsearch login page in the meantime via the following links:

http://reserver1.hawaiiinformation.com/research6

http://reserver4.hawaiiinformation.com/research6

We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your patience as we resolved this issue.

Updated 3:35 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 23, 2015.

HIS Marketing Admin 9:43 am on November 23, 2015  

Reminder: Know Who Owns Your Listing Photos

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We are sending this twice-a-year reminder to reiterate the importance of ownership and licensing issues when it comes to listing photos.

As the holidays approach, we will probably put a lot of extra mileage on our cameras. But while you sort through both personal and professional pictures, please be sure to only use listing photos that you took or have the right to use.

Copying photos from other listings, or taking them from the web (whether from real estate websites or any other online source), could lead to copyright claims and payment demands from the entities that own them.

The safest way to make sure that you’re safe, of course, is to take your own photos. But if you must hire a photographer to take photos for you, please make sure that you have secured all the rights to use the images in writing. NAR helpfully provides sample agreements that you can use.

Of course, these issues extend beyond listing photos to photos used on agent and broker websites, in promotional material, and elsewhere as well. The simple rule of thumb: “If you don’t know where the photo came from, don’t use it.”

Image Owners Enforce Copyright

Agents in a hurry to enter a listing or build a website can sometimes grab a photo off the internet to illustrate the neighborhood or a nearby attraction. Perhaps it’s a scenic aerial shot of the coastline, or a beautiful sunset on a golf course. But that photo is owned by someone. There is a whole industry built around acquiring and selling the rights to use images… and threatening legal action and demanding settlements from anyone who uses them without permission.

Photo licensing firms have sophisticated tools that allow them to scour the web (and even archived older versions of websites) to find their licensed images. And under copyright law, the company or person who displays the photo or image on their website (regardless of who put it there) is the one liable for unauthorized use. This means the situation for Realtors gets exponentially more complicated if an unlicensed photo is uploaded to the MLS with a listing, and is then displayed on dozens of other real estate websites.

MLS Rules

As subscribers to the MLS and users of the REsearch system, you are bound by the MLS Rules and Regulations. Section VII covers licensing and copyright, indemnifying HIS from claims of copyright infringement. This section also includes sample language that you can use when engaging a photographer to take listing photos.

If you have any questions regarding the rules, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Learn More

HIS Marketing Admin 2:51 pm on November 4, 2015  

Update Your Bookmarks for REsearch 6!

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Since REsearch 6 went live in September, we’re happy to report that most of our members have already made the transition to our cloud-powered, mobile responsive, redesigned MLS system.

logincountdownOf course, we understand that change is sometimes inconvenient, especially in the middle of a critical transaction or project. We will continue to maintain REsearch 5.1through the end of this year (although there will be no more updates, like Preview listings).

The simplest way to start your work in REsearch is by visiting our homepage atHawaiiInformation.com and clicking the login button to go to the login page. But we know many of you have bookmarked our login pages directly.

If so, today we’d like to remind you toupdate your browser bookmarks or favorites to point to either the HawaiiInformation.com homepage, or to the login pages for REsearch 6.

Please note that login pages for REsearch 5.1 will no longer work after Dec. 31, 2015, and email links sent from REsearch 5.1 may expire early.

Time flies faster as the holiday season draws near. so we’ve also added a simple countdown to our login pages to remind you of when the old version of REsearch will be retired.

Quick Tip: You can place a bookmark to the REsearch 6 login page directly on the homescreen of your smartphone, just like an app! Just visit the page in your mobile browser, then click the share (on iOS) or settings (on Android) button, and select the “Add to Home Screen” option!

REsearch 6 Resources

We’ve provided as much information as we can to ensure that you’re ready for REsearch 6, and for your convenience, here are a few helpful links:

  • REsearch 6 Training Video: A 34-minute video of the same in-person training we brought to you in July, walking through the key parts of the new system. You can also browse our YouTube channel to check out additional REsearch 6 guides and quick tips.
  • REsearch 6 Bulletins: You can review our archive of REsearch 6 announcements, covering everything from the main objectives of the upgrade to specific features and changes.
  • REsearch Knowledge Base: We’ve rebuilt our online help system from the ground up, providing a new, searchable library of frequently asked questions as well as detailed notes on REsearch 6 development.
  • Online Training: Our monthly slate of live, instructor led webinars are taught using REsearch 6. There are still classes available in November (including REsearch 6 overviews on Nov. 11 & Nov. 23), and you can find the current schedule of classes at any time in REsearch under ‘RETools.’

Mahalo!

 

HIS Marketing Admin 3:53 pm on November 3, 2015  

Broker Notice: Zillow Data Dashboard

New broker controls available soon for Zillow listings and statistics. Watch for an email invitation to set up your free account later this week.

Zillow Data Dashboard

Brokers who rely on HIS and REsearch to distribute listings to Zillow Group sites (including Zillow and Trulia) will soon have greater control over how those listings are displayed as well as get statistics on how well they’re performing.

Participating brokers will soon receive an email invitation directly from Zillow to access the Zillow Group Data Dashboard. Access to this dashboard, secured as a member benefit in the agreement HIS signed with Zillow earlier this year, will allow brokers to:

  • Change brokerage display settings.
  • Set how contacts from Zillow Group users are routed.
  • View reports of the number of search views and contacts generated.

This email invitation will include a custom link to activate your account. Please note that the Zillow Group Data Dashboard account, tied to an email address, is currently separate from any other username and password you might already be using on Zillow for other services.

The Zillow Group Data Dashboard will manage listings sent to Zillow Group sites via HIS and REsearch. If you are already sending your listings via other channels, or have opted out of Zillow distribution in the REsearch Syndication Control Panel, you can disregard this message.

We know many of our members rely on Zillow Group sites, and HIS worked hard to ensure our relationship is a mutually beneficial one. We hope you’ll take advantage of this additional professional benefit, provided at no additional cost.