HIS Attains Latest RESO Certification

The Real Estate Standards Organization (RESO), which provides the foundation for real estate technology across the country, today announced that Hawaii Information Service (HIS) is among the first companies to “leverage new paradigm-changing standards.”

“We are proud to be a small, local company that provides world-class service and tools to local REALTORS,” said Faith Geronimo, President and CEO of HIS. “We want to make sure that they can reap the benefits of the latest technologies available.”

“This latest milestone shows that HIS can be successful at the national level, as well as in our Hawaii market,” added Colleen Yasuhara, the company’s Chief Operating Officer. “We’re excited about the new tools that we are building for our members, and RESO certification ensures that we will be able to hit the ground running.”

RESO confirmed that HIS received certification for its custom-built real estate data platform for the two primary standards: Data Dictionary 1.7 for structuring information in a common language and Web API Core 1.0.2 for sharing data via a consistent set of rules.

The other organizations receiving certification were Move, Inc. (owned by News Corp. and operator of REALTOR.COM), Black Knight (a mortgage and real estate service provider with a $12 billion market cap), and regional listing services in New York and Utah.

RESO has transformed its two primary standards over a period of two years from a multitiered rating system into a single model and streamlined its certification process. RESO is also making real estate standards reporting more accessible, today unveiling a RESO MLS Data Map of certified entities nationwide.

As part of the latest standards, RESO will include more than just pass/fail results in certification reports. Detailed information on organizational technology systems will be published on reso.org, including metadata, standard resources, standard fields and local custom fields. This will allow technology companies to plan for new partnerships and integrations with greater speed.

The momentum behind RESO adoption is palpable. MLS and broker technical staff, vendors and technology partners should have RESO standardization at the top of their strategic goals. The benefits of 20 years of real estate standards work is coming to fruition.

About Hawaii Information Service

Founded in 1984, Hawaii Information Service (MLS Hawaii, Inc.) is a Hawaii-based real estate tech company. We are the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) provider for the Kauai and Hawaii Islands, as well as a data provider for businesses across the state and beyond. In addition to providing the most comprehensive, centralized database of information on every parcel in Hawaii, HIS also builds websites for local businesses, provides customized reports for business intelligence and marketing, and more. For more information, visit hawaiiinformation.com.

About RESO

RESO provides the foundation for streamlined real estate technology through the creation and certification of standards. Member organizations include MLSs, brokerages, REALTOR® associations and technology partners serving more than one million real estate professionals. Contact claire@reso.org for more information.

REsearch Update

Our first REsearch update for 2021 includes several small enhancements to improve your user experience!

Price Per Square Foot in Summary Format

Last year, we set the “Summary” format as the default format for CMAs. At your suggestion, we are now adding a row for “price per square foot” to the “Summary” format as well.

Adjusted PITT Codes

To accommodate Maui County’s new PITT Code alignment (which includes two separate ‘Residential’ categories for owner occupied and non-owner occupied), we’ve reorganized the PITT Code search selector to separate those new options from the original ‘Residential’ category for the other three counties.

Permit Data & Permit Format Updates

We are making changes to how permit data is displayed in REsearch, to ensure that we provide the most complete information available.

As part of these improvements, we will be removing permit information from the TMK Full format. However, viewing permit data is as simple as adding the “Permits” format to your searches.

Going forward, we will be displaying permit information from county permitting offices, and no longer displaying a subset of permit data from county property tax offices. This will eliminate duplicate or incomplete data caused by differing update schedules and datasets.

Coming soon, a redesigned “Permit” format to make permit information easier to understand!

One-Click Condo Guide Downloads

In some versions of the Google Chrome browser, downloading ‘Condo Guide’ documents required a right-click or did not work reliably. All browsers should now correctly prompt a download when the ‘Condo Guide’ icon is clicked.

Mahalo!

The real estate market proved its resilience in 2020, and we look forward to continuing to support your ongoing success in the new year. Stay tuned for more enhancements and improvements coming to REsearch. Have a suggestion? Please contact us!

Updated MLS Rules & Regulations

The Board of Directors has adopted changes to the Rules and Regulations of our MLS, last updated in March 2020.

Changes include requiring disclosure of fractional or shared ownership at the beginning of the public remarks, and changing the letter representing expired listings from ‘E’ to ‘X’.

Fractional/Shared Ownership Listings

The most substantive change involves requiring that fractional or shared ownership listings include the phrase “This is a fractional/shared ownership listing” at the beginning of the public remarks.

Last year, to ensure compliance with Hawaii state law (§16-99-11(2)(d)) the rules were revised to require a similar disclosure for leasehold listings. We are now extending this requirement for fractional and shared ownership listings as well.

This change is intended to address the limited display options on public real estate portals, where listings often cannot prominently display a property’s tenure. In the case of leasehold, fractional, or shared ownership listings, these properties may appear to be priced out of line with conventional listings.

By requiring the disclosure at the beginning of the public remarks, this information is presented prominently and will be less likely to be truncated by text length limitations on real estate portals.

Expired Listing Designation

The only other change in this revision of the MLS rules is updating the letter used to designate an expired listing. An expired listing is displayed in REsearch as being in “X” status, not “E” status.

Review Rule Changes in Detail

To review an annotated version of the updated MLS Rules and Regulations, click here. The specific changes are also illustrated below:

Section 3.12. Required listing elements. The listing broker shall include the following elements in each listing record when submitting it, so that potential cooperating brokers will have advance, unambiguous notice of them. […]

j. Disclosure that the property is a leasehold property, if applicable, in the public remarks. For all leasehold property listings, the listing broker must begin the public remarks with the following phrase: “This is a leasehold property.”

k. Disclosure that the property has fractional or shared ownership, if applicable, in the public remarks. For all property with fractional or shared ownership, the listing broker must begin the public remarks with the following phrase: “This property has fractional or shared ownership.” 

Article II Definitions and usage. These terms have the meanings given to them in this Article II. Other terms may be defined elsewhere in these rules. […]

“Status” means the listing’s status with regard to pending escrow or purchase agreement, availability for showing, and expiration of the listing record on the service’s system. The following statuses have the meanings given to them here: […]

XE/ExpiredThe listing has automatically expired as a result of reaching the expiration date entered on it. The property is not available for showings. Only Active and Temporarily Withdrawn listings automatically expire. 

You can download a copy of these updated MLS Rules and Regulations, which are also linked on the REsearch login page for easy reference. If you have questions, please contact us!