Monthly Archives: December 2017

HIS Marketing Admin 1:48 am on December 27, 2017  

January 2018 Training Schedule

Go To Meeting LogoThis 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 8-12, 2018

January 15-18, 2018

January 22-26, 2018

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 11:31 pm on December 23, 2017  

Mele Kalikimaka from HIS!

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The Hawaii Information Service ‘ohana sends its deepest gratitude and warmest wishes to you this holiday season. We hope that you and your loved ones have a very merry Christmas, and a peaceful and prosperous start to the new year!

HIS Marketing Admin 6:41 pm on December 21, 2017  

Sneak Peek: Great Things Coming in 2018!

Hawaii Information Service is proud to have delivered a record number of new features and enhancements to its members in 2017, including: real-time prospect matching, better integration of county sources, search history and tax history, plus Google Street View and other mapping updates. This on top of making great strides behind the scenes, transforming our technical infrastructure and upgrading our accounting and billing system.

We are even more excited, however, to be introducing a number of great new member benefits in 2018! Here’s a quick preview of some of the great things that you can look forward to as we welcome the new year.

Realtors Property Resource®

preview-rprReleased in beta earlier this year, the official rollout of RPR is coming in January! This tool from NAR, available exclusively to REALTORS® at no additional cost, provides comprehensive data, powerful analytics, and client-friendly reports on the web as well as via a mobile app.

Great news! RPR is coming to you! Please RSVP for in-person RPR Training on your island today! RPR will be in Hilo on Tuesday, Jan. 9, Kona on Wednesday, Jan. 10, and on Kauai on Thursday, Jan. 11.

New Client Portal – Coming Soon from HIS!

preview-portalBuilding upon its new technology platform, HIS is preparing to unveil the first of many brand new custom-built tools for members!

A new client portal will provide a fantastic new way to interact with your buyers and sellers, making it easier to share sets of listings, giving them a great new search experience, and giving you important insights into what they’re looking for. Even better, you will be able to set up client portals from within REsearch!

We will soon be looking for a few good power users to help us with the client portal pilot. And there are even more features already in the works for future releases. More information is coming soon!

Remine

preview-remineHIS members will soon be able to tap the power of predictive analytics to identify new opportunities in your market! Remine is a real estate intelligence platform delivered exclusively through the MLS. We are proud to be the first to bring Remine to the Hawaii market. Here’s the initial announcement, and here’s an introductory video.

Please stay tuned for more details!

Showing Time

preview-showingtimeOur integrated showing scheduling tool is getting a big upgrade! Showing Suite, our current provider, has been acquired by Showing Time, the leading showing management and market statistics provider in the industry. We will soon be switching over to Showing Time, which can help you do much more than simply schedule and confirm showings!

Learn more at ShowingTime.com!

These are just four of the great new tools you’ll be able to take advantage of next year, but we have much more in the works! The entire Hawaii Information Service ‘ohana looks forward to continuing to serve you with aloha, and we thank you for your continued support!

HIS Marketing Admin 7:14 pm on December 18, 2017  

Year-End Membership & Billing Reminder

If you have accounting or membership changes pending, please submit them before Wednesday, December 27, 2017 to ensure that it is processed before the end of the year. The next billing date for Credit Card and ACH Customers is Tuesday, January 2, 2018. (Note that our office will be closed on Monday, January 1, 2018.)

YearEndGraphic2017If you are going inactive or decide to leave an office and discontinue MLS service, your broker must send us a copy of the completed DCCA change form. You can fax it to (808) 524-6874 or email it to membership@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 effective the date shown on the form.

The deadline for submitting the appropriate written documentation to avoid being billed for service on January 2, 2018 is end of business on Wednesday, December 27, 2017. 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://hawaiiinformation.com/REsearch/IDX/mlshawaii/forms/PreAuthprizedPayment.pdf

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

HIS Marketing Admin 7:11 pm on December 18, 2017  

Holiday Notice: HIS Office Closed Dec. 25 & Jan. 1

calendarThe Hawaii Information Service ‘ohana hopes that you are having a joyous and peaceful holiday season! While we will have a special holiday message to share soon, we first wanted to let you know about our schedule for the next two weeks.

Our office will be closed on Monday, Dec. 25, 2017 in observance of Christmas Day, and on Monday, Jan. 1, 2018 in observance of New Year’s Day.

HolidayCalendar2017

If you have questions about REsearch during the long holiday weekends, please visit our online Knowledge Base or video library. In case of a system emergency, please leave 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 contact you shortly.

HIS Marketing Admin 1:53 am on December 15, 2017  

Hawaii Information Service is RESO Platinum Certified

Hawaii Information Service has joined a select group of MLS providers nationwide to achieve “Platinum” certification from the Real Estate Standards Organization (RESO). In fact, HIS is one of only six MLSs to receive this highest level of certification on the latest version of RESO’s Data Dictionary standard.

What is RESO?

RESO_Certified_CMYKRESO is a non-profit trade association spun off from the National Association of REALTORS® dedicated to advancing open, universal data standards across the industry. Hawaii Information Service is one of 700 active members of the group, which includes NAR, MLSs, brokerages, and industry technology providers.

What are the benefits of real estate data standards?

By having a common language spoken by all systems that handle real estate information, entities ranging from MLSes, brokerages, service providers and software developers can understand and work with real estate data without being specially “trained” to understand the information from each. For example, IDX searches, web portals, CRM systems and other tools can be built to work with any data provider, and more easily serve any customer.

What does it mean to be RESO Certified?

RESO Certification provides independent validation that your MLS system’s functions meet or exceed professional industry-wide standards. RESO Certification validates your system’s interoperability with all other RESO-compliant platforms, and ensures that information matches industry-accepted definitions, structures, and data delivery methods.

What does Platinum Certification mean?

Different certification levels have been defined to recognize those who implement more than the minimum (or ‘Core’) requirements: Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum. Platinum represents the highest achievable level of certification, in which all data fields are compliant. Of more than 600 RESO Certified MLSs nationwide, only about 100 have achieved Platinum status, and only six have done so for the latest version (1.6) of the RESO Data Dictionary.

What does RESO have to say about HIS?

“We have certified over 600 MLSs in the past two years on the Data Dictionary, but very few are on the latest version at the platinum level and it’s an amazing accomplishment for HIS to reach this goal. Over a million MLS subscribers are represented on MLS platforms that have been Data Dictionary certified over the past two years, however very few are at the level HIS has adopted. There aren’t as many self-developed MLS systems in existence as compared to five years ago, but at RESO we often see the self-developed MLS organizations lead the charge in adopting standards.”
–RESO CEO Jeremy Crawford

HIS Marketing Admin 1:05 am on December 14, 2017  

Updated MLS Rules Now Available

The latest version of the HIS MLS rules has passed NAR compliance review and is now available for viewing in REsearch. Just click on the “MLS Rules and Regulations” link on the login screen!

rules-page-logoThe National Association of REALTORS (NAR) approved changes to some of its MLS policies at the most recent NAR Mid-Year Legislative Meetings that were held in Washington, D.C. in May. These policy changes mandated revisions to the rules of all MLSes owned by REALTOR Boards or Associations, including HIS. Revisions to our rules involves review by our legal counsel, followed by submission to NAR for its compliance review. While NAR requires that we submit our rules for its review once every two (2) years, we elect to submit them annually.

We just received notification that our rules and governing documents are in compliance. The revised rules are now available in REsearch, and include just a few revisions. They are as follows, shown in red-line.

IDX and the Display of Listing Firms

Section 10.05. Display of Listing Firm. All listings displayed pursuant to IDX shall identify the listing firm in a reasonably prominent location and in a readily visible color and typeface not smaller than the median used in the display of listing data. Displays of minimal information (e.g., “thumbnails”, text messages, “tweets”, etc. of two hundred [200] characters or less) are exempt from this requirement but only when linked directly to a display that includes all required disclosures.

The display of the listing firm is now required in all IDX and VOW displays of listing data. This requirement will be enforced effective January 1, 2018. It is recommended that if you are not already displaying the listing firm in the IDX/VOW listing displays in your website, that you contact your website designer or developer to have this done.

IDX Delivery Methods

Section 10.01. a. “IDX”. Language was added to this section to address auditory delivery of listing data. The revisions are shown below in red-line below.

“IDX” affords each participant subscribing to the IDX program (the “IDX participant”) the ability to authorize limited electronic display and delivery of its listings appearing in MLS by other participants via the following authorized mediums under the participant’s control: websites, mobile apps, and audio devices, subject to the requirements of this Article X. As used throughout this article, “display” includes “delivery” of such listings.

Participant Control & Branding

Section 10.19. Participant control and branding. Language in this section was revised and added to address auditory delivery of listing data. The revisions are shown in red-line below.

a. Any IDX display must be under the actual and apparent control of a single participant and must be advertised as that Participant’s display. For purposes of the IDX policy and these rules, actual control means that the participant has either built the site for its own use with internal resources or obtained technology for the site under an agreement with a third party that provides the participant final control over the operations of the site, including the ability to add, delete, modify, and update information as required by the IDX policy and MLS rules. Apparent control means that a reasonable consumer viewing receiving the site would conclude that it is under the control of the participant. The following are currently deemed to be evidence of apparent control: that the participant’s branding is more prominent than that of any other entity and that the domain name and branding on the site distinguish the participant from non-participating firms, e.g., from other franchisees of the same franchise, if applicable.

b. Any IDX display controlled by a participant shall include clear, conspicuous, written or verbal brokerage branding. The Participant’s branding shall appear at the top of the page and shall consist, at a minimum, of the brokerage firm’s full name with all text displayed in such a manner as to clearly communicate that the brokerage is the source of the data, and with a hyperlink from the brokerage’s name or logo to the brokerage firm’s home page. The display will be as clearly legible as the listing data on the same page. Brokerage firm name here means the full name of the firm as registered with the service (e.g., “Century 21” or “RE/MAX” is not enough; it must include the entire firm name). Displays of minimal information (e.g., “thumbnails,” text messages, “tweets,” etc., of two hundred (200) characters of less) or for audio delivery of listing content are exempt from this requirement but only when linked directly to a display that includes all required disclosures. Audio delivery of listing content is exempt from the disclosure requirements only when all required disclosures are subsequently delivered electronically to the registered consumer performing the property search or linked to through the device’s application.

Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact Diana Haraguchi, Membership Director, by email her at Diana@hiinfo.com or by calling 1-800-628-3121 ext. 172 if calling from the neighbor islands or 599-4224 ext. 172 if calling from Oahu.