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Tag Archive: FlexMLS
Flexmls Auto-Emails and Portals (Schedule Update)
Thank you to all who voted for the in-house ARMLS training in May. It was a good race, but Flexmls Auto-Emails and Portals won!
The last couple of months we’ve been lucky enough to have ARMLS trainers come to our real estate offices. In March we started the in-house ARMLS training series with flexmls tips and tricks, then we learned about the Cromford Report in April. Even though ARMLS and I initially picked RPR for May’s classes, we realized letting you decide the topic was a much better idea. Turns out it was, based on the survey we emailed earlier this week you’d rather learn about flexmls auto-emails and portals than RPR. Here’s the schedule of classes:
Flexmls Auto-Emails and Portals
- May 5 – 10:00-12:00 – Tempe Real Estate Office
- May 12 – 10:00-12:00 – Glendale Real Estate Office
- May 19 – 10:00-12:00 – Scottsdale Real Estate Office
- May 26 – 10:00-12:00 – Phoenix Real Estate Office
We have updated the intranet calendar and will include the new topic in our weekly schedule emails. If you’d like to attend, please RSVP to psexton@johnhall.com and indicate which date you’ll be attending.
ARMLS Data Share with Tucson MLS Now Live
Today it goes live! ARMLS subscribers can search the Tucson MLS and Rocky Point homes for sale from within flexmls. Here is the official notice from flexAlert that speaks more to this. Mind the bold.
On Wednesday, February 23, ARMLS® Subscribers will be able to access limited property data from the Tucson Association of REALTORS® (TARMLS) and Puerto Penasco Chapter 51 (Rocky Point) right in flexmls, in both the Full Search and the Quick Search. Data sharing with these Associations will not include a unilateral offer of compensation.
I checked it out today to confirm it’s up and running. As of the time of this post, the Tucson MLS is there, Rocky Point not quite yet. The first question that jumped out at me when searching the Tucson MLS was…
What is Active CAPA?
Luckily, TARMLS’s help desk is just as friendly as ARMLS’s help desk. They shot me an email with a definition sheet to share with you guys.
It says Active CAPA is:
“Can Accept Purchase Agreement”: Listing is under a mutually accepted contract, and is to remain active. Seller has reserved the right to accept a replacement offer as defined in the purchase contract.
As opposed to Active Contingent which is:
Listing is under a mutually accepted contract which contains one or more contingencies, and is to remain active. Upon removal of all contingencies, sale must then be reported as Pending.
Here is the Tucson MLS Status Definitions (PDF) if you’d like to read for yourself. But I think Kelley Koehler’s article Active Contingent and Active CAPA Defined makes it WAY more clear.
We’ll be back to talk about Rocky Point once they’re up and running, stay tuned.
Learn to use Flexmls IDX
Flexmls IDX classes are scheduled this month! Check out their IDX solution that allows your clients to “search like an agent”. Here’s what they have to say about their product…
The Greatest Secret of flexmls—A Fully Integrated IDX Solution!
In today’s world nearly every home buyer or seller looks at properties somewhere on the Internet both before and after talking with an agent. This trend has made it essential that every agent has a place of their own where clients and prospects can search for homes. The big question is how can agents today level the playing field against the large home search sites. The answer is right in our own flexmls system!
This workshop introduces agents and brokers to a little known feature of our own flexmls system—IDX. Because flexmls IDX is an add-on subscription the vast majority of users are unaware that it exists. In this workshop you’ll see examples of how features such as Live Searching, Accurate Status, flexmls Reports, flex Mapping, etc. make flexmls IDX totally unique. You’ll also see how flexmls IDX is completely integrated with Contact Manager, Web Portal, and Auto Email. Tips and tricks such as how to Activate flexmls IDX, how to set up pre-defined “One-Click” searches on your personal Web site, how to control your colors and branding, and how to choose which Search Fields are displayed, will also be demonstrated.
This is one workshop you won’t want to miss. Come and see some of the most advanced features of our flexmls system that you never knew existed. According to NAR studies over 90% of agents reported that they were not satisfied with their personal Web sites and Internet marketing efforts. The flexmls IDX technology could be just what you are looking for. After attending this workshop you will be thoroughly acquainted with the most accurate, feature rich, and powerful IDX solution available.
The Workshop presenter is Brett Woolley. Brett has been providing technology training to real estate professionals nationwide since 1992 and recently became the authorized flexmls IDX consultant for all of Arizona. He is a practicing REALTOR® and MBA.
Please join us to learn more about this IDX product…
Glendale Real Estate Office: Thursday Jan 13th 10-12
Scottsdale Real Estate Office: Thursday Jan 20th 10-12
Paradise Valley Real Estate Office: Wednesday Jan 26th 10-12
ARMLS Learnathon Classes – RPR and Flexmls Tips
REALTOR® Property Resource
Since RPR went live for ARMLS subscribers on October 5th, 2010 it has been a hot topic at our real estate broker meetings. The most praise we hear is pointed at their comprehensive reports. If you’ve haven’t had a chance to get in there and run any, be sure to check out our 5 tips to successfully explore RPR for the first time. On the flip side, the biggest critique we’ve been hearing is due to their data quality. When I asked @ReggierRPR about this important piece, he informed me they have 300 million updates in queue. That’s 300,000,000 improvements to their data scheduled to be added to their system in the near future.
Regardless of the pros and cons, RPR ran a successful intro session (that was recorded) at the ARMLS LEARNaTHON last week. We’ll embed the video below, but just in case it doesn’t show up you can also watch it here.
Flexmls Tips and Tricks
Saving time is a wonderful thing. For REALTORS®, tips and tricks to quickly navigate flexmls is one way to achieve this. ARMLS gets it, that’s why they offer these classes on a regular basis. Just in case you can’t make it to a live session, they recorded the flexmls tips and tricks class given at LEARNaTHON. My favorite tip from this class is definitely the one about multi-tasking; right-click on a link, left-click “Open in New Tab”. Again if embedded video doesn’t display you can also watch it here.
9 Announcements from ARMLS and Flexmls
With so many ARMLS / Flexmls announcements and changes made in the last couple of weeks, I thought I would take a second to summarize them. Everything you need to know, but didn’t know to ask…
1. DND2
When you see this new acronym next to an input field, it means Do Not Disclose or Display to anyone who is not a member of ARMLS. (details)
2. Alarm Codes, Gate Codes, Mech-Box Codes
These are new input fields. They are all marked DND2. Use them, not the Remarks section for these pieces of info. (details)
3. Remarks Choices
You now have 3 options; private, public, and semi-private. Semi-private is for instructions that can be shared with clients, but wouldn’t be used in typical marketing. Examples include anything that could be disclosed at COE or various buyer incentives. (details)
4. MLS Connect
ZipForms and Flexmls now get along better than ever. They have doubled (from 23 to 47) the amount of fields that are mapped from Flexmls to ZipForm. (Read more about MLS Connect.)
5. Pay Your SUPRA Bill
It’s time to head down to an ARMLS Support Center and swap your DisplayKey for an ActiveKey. Yes, they are going to want you to pay the $169 annual renewal fee when you do this. (Support Center Locations)
6. PPI is Looking Up
ARMLS’s Pending Price Index predicts a dip in average and median sales prices in September and October, but then they head back up in November. (details)
7. Flexmls Auto-Emails Expire
Be sure to let your clients know that if they do not open the flexmls auto-search emails for 90 days, the emails will stop. (details)
8. ARMLS Learn-a-Thon
Remember the technopalooza classes that were P-A-C-K-E-D? So does ARMLS. Because of this, they are going to bring you quality classes more frequently. Hence Learn-a-Thon.
9. IDX and VOW Changes
Sellers can now choose whether their listing is displayed on web sites that allow automated values and/or listing comments. REALTORS® can now choose to exclude listings on their web sites based on cooperative compensation. Seasonal Furnished Rentals is now an allowable property type for IDX and VOW sites. (details)
Consider yourself all caught up! 
MLS Connect brings ARMLS info into ZipForms
This message is for all the ARMLS subscribing ZipForm using REALTORS® out there. Did you know there is a way to have MLS data automatically pulled into your ZipForm contracts and addenda? It’s all made possible with a tool (provided by AAR at no extra charge) called MLS Connect. As you might know by now, tools that cost nothing and save REALTORS® time are alright by me.
Unfortunately I’ve heard rumors that AAR has received little feedback about this tool. My guess is that it’s because MLS Connect is confusing to initially set up. However, once you get pass the initial set up stage it’s off to the races. So this post will start from scratch, from the very beginning. If you have never used this tool, this post is for you.
Step 1 – Set RETS Password
Log into flexmls. We can ignore ZipForms for a minute. Let’s start in flexmls.
- Under the main menu option Preferences -> click My Profile
- Click the last option -> RETS Settings
- Fill in a password.
- Done in flexmls.
(While you’re in flex jot down an active MLS number we’ll use for testing.)
Step 2 – Set MLS Connect
Log into ZipForms. You can either use ZipForm Online or ZipForm Desktop, but in order for Desktop to work it needs a connection to the internet.
- Click the Forms tab (top left of the page)
- From the menu -> click Tools
- Click MLS Connect
A new window will open that asks for your MLS username, password and an MLS number. THIS IS THE MOST CONFUSING PART. It does not want your normal flexmls password, it wants the RETS password that you just set up!
Once you get your MLS username, RETS password, and test MLS number into the form, click Find. Right there before your eyes, you should see some of the listing information. If it’s the correct listing, push Import. Pushing Import adds the mapped flexmls fields into your ZipForm contracts and addenda for this transaction. Once you set your username and password the first time, MLS Connect will remember them for you.
The tool currently auto-fills the property street address, city, state, zip, county, lot number, subdivision, parcel number, mls number, list price, listing date, and the listing agents’ information. Jim Sexton is the ARMLS contact working with AAR and Ziplogix to get additional beneficial fields accurately mapped.
If you’d like to watch AAR’s video tutorial on Step 2, you can find it here.
Happy MLS Connecting!
Update on Flexmls Listing Activity Reports
If you followed the flexmls feature friday series, you may remember the post about Listing Activity Reports. The article shows you where to find the simple to print or email reports that highlight how many times each listing is viewed in the MLS, in the flexmls portals, and on the flexmls IDX product. The listing activity reports also highlight a few more actions available in flexmls, however the linked article’s comments discuss the report’s weakness. To be a true asset to REALTORS® in greater Phoenix, they need listing activity data from other IDX providers – not just the flexmls IDX product.
Now to the update…
Fortunately Michael Wurzer (President of FBS – providers of flexmls) is an active participant on our blog and has been known to follow some of the comments. Soon after the report’s weakness was brought up, he started working on a solution. Last month the solution went live. Now flexmls has an API that other IDX providers can use to include showing data from their products on the Listing Activity Reports as well. So far Diverse Solutions is the only other IDX provider that has taken advantage of this. Kudos to them for participating. What this means to REALTORS® is that now when you run the report the number of times the listing is viewed on flexmls IDX and Diverse Solutions IDX shows up.
Win-Win
You see, it’s up to each IDX vendor in our market to participate. As far as I can tell it’s a win-win if we get all providers on-board. Greater Phoenix REALTORS® win because they will have more complete reports for their sellers and IDX providers win because the vendor’s company name will be in front of more REALTORS®.
So if you’re an IDX vendor reading this, please consider integrating this solution into your product. If you’re an ARMLS subscriber using an IDX product, please ask your provider to incorporate their data into these listing activity reports.
Moral of the Story
Listing Activity Reports now have more viewing data than the original post and the amount of viewing data will continue to increase.
Should I use Diverse Solutions or Listingbook?
[Clarification: There are many more products available for IDX than the two mentioned, but this agent asked about these two specifically. For a list of others, go here.]
I recently received this email (minus the links)…
Hi Phil,
Great photos of the golf tournament! Wish I could have been there.
Are you able to briefly explain the difference / advantage of DsSearch Agent from Diverse Solutions vs. Listingbook? I understand they both have the “free99” model. One thing I like about DS is that if a prospect is doing their own search, they have a map view to see how where the property is located. This helps avoid doing further research when it is not the part of the city they want to be in.
Do you find one is a stronger contender for Buyers vs. Sellers, or do they provide equal help? It appears to me that DS is better for Buyers, and Listingbook helps both, but perhaps more geared to Sellers?
Thanks for any feedback you know or may have heard from other Realtors.
As I was writing my response, I thought this Q&A would be a good fit for the blog. I asked permission to turn it into a blog post and it was granted! Cue the response…
The biggest difference (besides the design/user interface) is that Diverse Solutions product is public facing. The listings are displayed to the world without needing an account. This helps you build a friendlier website. With their pay for product you can display listings for a particular area on a particular page. For example, if you have a page on your website geared towards Scottsdale Condos, you can actually display all condos that are for sale in Scottsdale to your web visitors. No need for them to log-in to see the listings.
Listingbook is not public facing. No one can see any listings without first creating an account. This comes with some benefits because once people are logged-in you can track what they are looking for and what listings they view. It then sends you a daily report updating you on the users’ activity. The Listingbook product also has extra statuses – pendings and solds – so users have access to more listings than any other product (as far as I know).
They both have pros and cons, they can both be used for buyers and sellers. I don’t think you need to choose one or the other, use them both. One strategy may be to use diverse solutions for your public website, and use listingbook as an exclusive private area for your clients.
I know there are REALTORS® out there using both public IDX websites and portal products like listingbook or flexmls. My question to you is HOW? Do you use one for sellers and one for buyers? Do you pick who uses what or just link them both from your website? Let’s help each other figure out the best way to do it.
Savable Map Shapes – Flexmls Feature Friday
Today feels like a good day to pick on subdivisions. If I’m searching for a home in a particular subdivision, trusting the subdivision field can be scary. I usually get more results when I draw a shape on the map outlining the subdivision than I do when using the subdivision field. The only problem is that until last week, it has taken too much time to always be drawing exact shapes whenever I want to do a subdivision search. That has changed with last week’s map overlay upgrade.
Is the mapping 100% accurate, no. Do I trust mapping more than I trust the subdivision field, yes. Here’s one example why I trust map shapes more than subdivision names.
Active Search Results for:
Subdivision Field: westwing mountain = 49
Subdivision Field: *westwing* = 53
Map Shape: Outline of Westwing Mountain subdivision = 58
This shows me the map shape is more accurate than human entered subdivisions. The problem? It took too long to always be drawing exact shapes around particular subdivisions… Until Now!
Time to get to the flexmls feature part of this flexmls feature friday – savable map overlays. Now I can draw an exact shape around Westwing Mountain, save it, and use it over and over again.
To create a shape, go to Preferences – > My Map Overlays. Follow the prompts.
If you like video tutorials, here’s a good one.
Happy f-cubed!
Listing Flyers – Flexmls Feature Friday
Another awareness day here at F³. I know there are a plethora of tools out there on the “internets” that help you build flyers to showcase the homes you have listed for sale. But did you know you have listing flyers in flexmls? Here’s why they are cool and how to find them.
It’s really handy to have flyers within the flexmls system because they auto-populate the details from the listing. No need to type the address, number of bedrooms, bathrooms, price, etc. Simply click one of the templates and BAM! the flyer is generated for you.
If you’re not happy with the default templates you can change them. From Preferences -> My Reports, you can edit or build your own flyer templates. (Although in my opinion, this editor is one of the weaknesses of flexmls – it’s hard to use.) Hopefully you’ll find one of the 5 default templates will fit your needs. Here’s a less than 3 minute video showing the how, what, where stuff. Beware: it’s our Valentine’s Day edition of flexmls feature friday.
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