Today’s post needs some explanation.  Yesterday, (Thirsty Thursday) we received our first “Letter to the Editor” type email with a request.  Big day.  Here’s the entire email…

For a future feature friday (how about that for alliteration?) mobile flexmls address and details?

This is a great idea, good topic that I still get questions about, but here’s the problem – it’s not Feature Friday it’s Feature CODE Friday.  So after much internal dialogue, I decided we’re not writing for us, we’re writing for you – our readers.  And more importantly we’re writing for our readers that participate with emails, comments, and votes.  So because of that, today marks one of the biggest days in the history of Phoenix Real Estate Brokerage dot com – the switch from Feature Code Friday to the much broader – Flexmls Feature Friday!!  Welcome.

Flexmls Feature Friday allows us to continue to highlight feature codes, but it isn’t as limiting.  We can now highlight things like today’s wireless.flexmls.com and other features that all ARMLS members have questions about.  Who knows, maybe we’ll get more requests since the topics can cover things like auto-emails, contact management, multiple photo uploads, etc.  If you have a certain feature that has been giving you problems or that you don’t use and would like to – leave us a comment or drop us an email (psexton at johnhall dot com) and I will attempt to explain, find someone else to explain, or submit a re-design request if no one can explain the feature you submit.

Let’s talk about accessing flexmls from your cell phone.  First things first – memorize wireless.flexmls.com.  In fact pull your cell phone out and go to it right now.  Don’t let the first time you try this be in front of your clients.  The wireless version is a stripped down limited website that is designed to work well with your phone.  It doesn’t have the bells and whistles you see when using the normal web interface.

It does have these important features: access to search all MLS listings, access to run Hot Sheets, access to your Market Areas, and access to view/add/edit Contacts.

A couple of notes about the listing search – you do not have access to a Full Search and you cannot add fields that are not included in one of your Quick Searches.  So you may want to set up a custom Quick Search (from the normal web interface) that is designed specifically for your phone – one that has all the fields you may want.  Make sure you test the search to make sure it displays properly on your phone and that a View Results button is at the bottom.  I’ve run into a few problems with this – so double-check.  The tech help at ARMLS will be glad to help if you have any issues.

The wireless interface allows you to view listings, but not add or edit them.

When it comes to running the Hot Sheets and Market Area reports.  I prefer the wireless format.  Unlike the normal web interface, the wireless version tells you how many listings are in each category (New Listings, Cancelled, Closed, Expired, etc) on a summary page.  It makes it simple to get a quick general idea of what’s there.

Finally, the Contacts section.  As stated before you can view, edit and add new contacts with the wireless site.  What more needs to be said?  Practice this before you attempt to do this in front of your clients.

For more information on wireless.flexmls.com watch this video.

Happy [Flexmls] Feature Code Friday!