Monthly Archives: August 2017

HIS Marketing Admin 11:09 pm on August 31, 2017  

Labor Day Holiday Notice

constant-contact-labor-day-imageThe Hawaii Information Service office will be closed on Monday, September 4, 2017 in observance of Labor Day. Normal office hours will resume on Tuesday, September 5.

Should you require urgent assistance during the weekend, please call (808) 599-4224 and follow the prompts to leave a message on our emergency line. Someone will respond as soon as possible.

All of us at Hawaii Information Service would like to wish you and your loved ones a restful holiday weekend!

Our next observed holiday will be Thanksgiving on Thursday and Friday, November 23 and 24, 2017.

HIS Marketing Admin 7:15 pm on August 30, 2017  

September 2017 Training Schedule

Go To Meeting LogoThis is the schedule of upcoming online training classes for the month of September. 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.

September 4-8, 2017

September 11-15, 2017

September 18-22, 2017

TMK Essentials

Subscribers to our TMK public records service are encouraged to take our online TMK Essentials training. Learn how to get the most out of your TMK subscription on your schedule, from anywhere, via a recorded training session now available on YouTube!

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 9:22 am on August 22, 2017  

Support for Larger Photos in REsearch

More Good News in 2017: Better Looking Pictures!

You can now upload larger photos for your listings! This upgrade supports four times the resolution (twice the width and height) of our previous system!

We’re thrilled to be releasing this REsearch enhancement, which will increase the quality of photos shown in the MLS, as well as photos that are distributed to real estate websites and apps.

Also good news: you do not have to do anything differently to take advantage of this upgrade. When you next upload listing photos to REsearch, the photo loader will automatically optimize your images for the higher maximum resolution.

If you engage a professional photographer to generate pictures specifically for the MLS, be sure to let them know they can now provide images sized up to 1200 by 800 pixels. You can specify these dimensions when using your own photo editing tools as well.

But if you do not upload larger photos, don’t worry… photos in REsearch at the previous default dimensions of 600 by 400 pixels will display as they always have!

For the most part, photos will continue to be displayed in REsearch at the same sizes as always, scaled down to fit different screens and formats. Even scaled to fit REsearch, however, higher-resolution images should result in better looking photos across the board!

How to see higher resolution images in REsearch:

If you want to view listing photos at full size, click the photo camera icon to view a grid of photo thumbnails, then double click on photos to expand them. This will show listing photos at their largest saved dimensions, both 600×400 and 1200×800.

Want to learn more? Check out this article on REsearch listing photo requirements on our Knowledge Base.

This is only the latest REsearch enhancement delivered this year that is inspired by your valuable feedback. (We introduced tax history last week!) And there are more improvements to come!

If you have comments on this addition, or have a suggestion to make REsearch work better for you, please don’t hesitate to get in touch! In the mean time, we will continue our work to ensure that REsearch is the best and most powerful real estate tool for Hawaii.

HIS Marketing Admin 7:41 pm on August 16, 2017  

Tax History Now Available

We’re excited to announce that we’ve added tax history information to REsearch!

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We’ve put even more information at your fingertips! Now, when viewing property details in TMK Full or TMK Short formats, you will find five years of historic tax information in the “Property Basics” section.

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In delivering this upgrade, we started with feedback from members, and then looked at other leading real estate services and websites. We believe REsearch offers the best presentation of this information, with more history and more data.

In addition to historic Property Taxes, for example, REsearch provides historic Tax Assessment values and historic Exemptions, as well. We also provide a quick calculation of year-to-year changes — increases shown in green, decreases shown in red, compared to the prior year below.

As part of this change, we’ve moved the Land Size and Building Size data for the current year into the Property Basics section above the new tax history table.

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Here is the original tax information section for reference. We hope you’ll agree, this is a valuable upgrade!

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This is only the latest REsearch enhancement delivered this year that is inspired by your valuable feedback. (Here’s a look back, in case you missed them.) And there are more to come!

If you have comments on this addition, or have a suggestion to make REsearch work better for you, please don’t hesitate to get in touch! In the mean time, we will continue to work to ensure that REsearch is the best and most powerful real estate tool for Hawaii.

HIS Marketing Admin 11:57 pm on August 15, 2017  

Offer Ends Aug. 31: Get a Branded Mobile App

Special discount for brokers that want to win at mobile!
Get your brand on the technology homebuyers and sellers are using!

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Hawaii Information Service is partnering with Smarter Agent on a limited time offer for brokers to get your own app, with your brokerage’s branding, on the Apple App Store and Google Play store.

A branded app gives your brokerage most direct path to reach clients and quickly increase sales opportunities… and as a bonus, all of your agents will get one too!

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Each comprehensive app package includes:

  • Company branding on all your apps: Your brokerage name and logo on Apple’s App Store and the Google Play store.
  • Each agent gets their own premium app: Agent apps include their photo, complete MLS listings, and marketing tools.
  • Client engagement tools: An analytics platform and notifications service keeps you in the know and your prospects and clients coming back.
  • Results! 70% of users come back month over month in apps powered by Smarter Agent. Your app will be shared with your agents’ friends and family, boosting their funnel of new buyers and sellers.

Mention coupon code SAVE50 to take advantage of an exclusive $50 savings per month offer before it expires on Aug. 31, 2017!

HIS Marketing Admin 9:54 pm on August 7, 2017  

Scheduled Downtime on Friday, Aug. 11

REsearch will be unavailable beginning at 8 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 11 through approximately 2 a.m. on Saturday. Service will be restored as soon as possible.

Please schedule your work and ensure that you are logged out prior to this time. We appreciate your understanding as we perform these important system updates.

During this period, our websites at HawaiiInformation.com and AlohaLiving.com will also be unavailable, as well as RETS and IDX services. Customer websites will remain online but IDX searches will not work. Real-time prospect emails will not be sent, but will be queued and sent once REsearch is back online.

Mahalo!

HIS Marketing Admin 1:01 am on August 2, 2017  

August 2017 Training Schedule

Go To Meeting LogoBelow is the schedule of upcoming online training classes for the month of June. 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.

August 7-11, 2017

August 14-18, 2017

August 21-25, 2017

TMK Essentials

Subscribers to our TMK public records service are encouraged to take our online TMK Essentials training. Learn how to get the most out of your TMK subscription on your schedule, from anywhere, via a recorded training session now available on YouTube!

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.