Monthly Archives: January 2017

HIS Marketing Admin 12:05 pm on January 26, 2017  

February 2017 Training Schedule

Go To MeetingBelow is the schedule of upcoming online training classes for the month of February. 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 be found here. To sign up immediately, simply click on the links below. If you are going to attend online classes as a group, only one person needs to sign up.

February 6-10, 2017

January 13-17, 2017

February 20-24, 2017

Instructions on how to register for online classes:

  • To register, please click on the applicable link located below the class. This will take you to the Citrix GoToMeeting/GoToWebinar registration site.
  • Please complete all the required fields marked with a red asterisk (First Name, Last Name, Email Address, Phone, and Organization or 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 us your feedback so we can continue to improve upon our training efforts!

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.

Questions? Comments? Please feel free to contact us via support@hiinfo.com or call (808) 599-4224 or (800) 628-3121.

HIS Marketing Admin 9:31 am on January 10, 2017  

Reminder: Steer Clear of Photo Copyright Challenges

noun_693316_ccHere’s an easy New Year’s resolution for real estate professionals: only use property listing photos that you took yourself or that you’ve secured the proper rights 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 needed in writing to use the images (in the MLS as well as for syndication for display on the web). NAR 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. The simple rule of thumb: “If you don’t know where the photo came from, don’t use it.”

MLS Rules Reminder

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.

Our rules document was last reviewed and updated by the HIS Board of Directors in September 2016, and is worth reviewing periodically:

http://hawaiiinformation.com/REsearch/IDX/mlshawaii/forms/MLSRules.pdf

Image Owners Enforce Copyright

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.

Learn More:

Retro camera icon by Tinashe Mugayi from the Noun Project.

HIS Marketing Admin 9:31 am on January 9, 2017  

Latest REsearch Enhancements

First REsearch Enhancements of the New Year: Removing Extra Clicks to Save Time!

mouse-pointerAs we continue to update and improve REsearch, one of our goals is to reduce the number of steps or clicks needed to get things done. Even small changes can add up, saving you work and time in the long run. Here are a few quick fixes we’ve recently made, and we welcome your suggestions on other ways to make it better!

Latest REsearch Enhancements

We’ve eliminated redundant extra clicks from the action bar. In many places, there are no ‘checked/not checked’ options, so there is no need for a second click for many REsearch actions. Now if you want to ‘Copy,’ you only need to click ‘Copy’ once.

market-iq-second-click

Action buttons have also been removed from screens where they are unnecessary.

action-buttons

The photo upload function will now show automatically when you reach that step with a new listing or choose to ‘Manage Photos’ on a listing with no photos. Previously, you had to click an icon to bring up the uploader. We’ve also made the ‘drag and drop’ area larger, to minimize the accidental opening of images in your browser.

photo-uploader-click-needed

Finally, REsearch will now automatically revert to “agent format” after you’ve executed an action (print, copy, etc.) in “customer format,” eliminating the need to re-open the action menu to deselect the “customer format” checkbox.

Our MLS system is built especially for you. These and many of the improvements and new features that we’ve brought to REsearch come from suggestions made by our valued members, so please don’t hesitate to let us know how we might make it better. Just send us an email at support@hiinfo.com!

HIS Marketing Admin 11:43 am on January 5, 2017  

Please Update Your E-Mail Address in REsearch

As we kick off a brand new year, we’d like to encourage you to check whether your email address is current in your REsearch profile.

Email remains one of the primary ways that potential clients get in touch (through listings on real estate websites), that fellow real estate professionals use to kick off deals (through looking you up in the MLS), and that Hawaii Information Service uses to notify you of important news.

How to Update your REsearch Profile

It’s easy to check and correct your contact information in REsearch. Once you’ve logged in, just click your headshot and name at the top of the main navigation menu on the left. (You may need to expand this menu on smaller screens.)

update-profile-01-dashboard

Then, select the “My Profile” icon, the first in the row of icons that drops down from the top of your screen:

update-profile-02-profile

Finally, update your email address and other contact information and click “Save” at the bottom of the screen:

update-profile-03-email-field

Once you’ve clicked “Save,” you should be set! If you’ve updated other fields, including your name, you may need to log out of REsearch and log back in for it to update on your dashboard.

Thank you for ensuring clients, fellow agents, and HIS can get in touch with you! If you’re not receiving our periodic email bulletins, please let us know!

HIS Marketing Admin 9:42 am on January 4, 2017  

January 2017 Training Schedule

Go To MeetingBelow is the schedule of upcoming online training classes for the month of January. 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 be found here. To sign up immediately, simply click on the links below. If you are going to attend online classes as a group, only one person needs to sign up.

January 9-13, 2017

January 16-20, 2017

January 23-27, 2017

January 30-31, 2017

Instructions on how to register for online classes:

  • To register, please click on the applicable link located below the class. This will take you to the Citrix GoToMeeting/GoToWebinar registration site.
  • Please complete all the required fields marked with a red asterisk (First Name, Last Name, Email Address, Phone, and Organization or 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 us your feedback so we can continue to improve upon our training efforts!

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.

Questions? Comments? Please feel free to contact us via support@hiinfo.com or call (808) 599-4224 or (800) 628-3121.