SHARE:  “I would love to see the dates in “REVERSE PROSPECTING.”

Currently, you can’t see when matching leads were generated.  We understand how it would be good to know if matches are from new clients of other brokers or if old clients are now matched due to a price change.  (please note: In reserve prospecting, a listing agent can see which buyer’s agents have buyers with matching criteria. No information is EVER available about the buyer, just the fact that XYZ Listing Agent is working with 1, 2 or 5 buyers seeking a home like the one listed.  We asked FlexMLS to add the prospecting dates.  They included in their revision list, but it has been marked low priority.  There’s a great 2:46 minute video to learn more about Reverse Prospecting

SHARE: “Can there be an “email all agents” button for all those who have a matching prospect for one of your listings?”

We also asked FlexMLS to make this change, but they were concerned that members receiving an email of this sort would feel spammed.  We couldn’t figure out how this would be worse than the blanket emails that are currently sent to EVERYONE.  What do you think?  Please share your thoughts!  Do you think it’s okay if a listing agent drops you an email with more information about one of their properties that might be of interest to a current client of yours?

SHARE: “Can we require REALTORS to indicate if it is a foreclosure / REO / Bank owned property or not?”

The NAR Legal Counsel has indicated a short sale is a “material defect” and disclosure should mandatory, since potential buyers could be impacted if making an offer (long wait times, dual sometimes triple approvals required, etc…).  But a foreclosure is simply information about an owner and not something that can be mandatory, but can be optionally disclosed, and often times is.

SHARE: “Can we require REALTORS to enter the real name of the seller instead of saying “corporate” or “as recorded”.

Yes, we do require the name of the party that is on the deed or authorized with the right to sell.  If you see anything marked otherwise, you should report it to the Board Office staff and we’ll get it fixed.

SHARE:  “Can we require the fireplace field be mandatory?  It adds value to a home and should be known definitively.”

The MLS Board of Directors considered this and decide not to make it mandatory.  The listing agent should promote all assets of a property when working on behalf of the seller.  This is one more example when a doing your job well raises the bar for everyone!

SHARE: “Can we require that photo names be the actual room name or photo description instead of random numbers or the file name from the camera?  It is unhelpful when viewing them, but bedroom 1, bedroom 2, etc.. is very helpful” Also asked… “Can we make room levels mandatory?  I know we can’t force agents to measure the rooms, but levels are so helpful!”

We can’t make it mandatory, but we did send out a reminder via our weekly news notice.  The MLS Board will also consider a policy on this as well, but has tabled it for the time being to see if this is an ongoing issue or something that can be minimized through education and awareness.  http://www.BerkshireRealtors.net/are-you-guilty-photo-crimes/

SHARE: If a listing goes under agreement, I think the listing agent should enter the real selling agent’s name, not their own.  It doesn’t seem right that not everyone enters the real buyer’s agents name and waits for the closing to do this.”

You’re 100% right!  It’s not fair nor is this practice allowed.  Everything that gets entered into the MLS must be true to the best of your knowledge… and that means the TRUE cooperating agent must be listed in a pending sale.  If the “real” cooperating agent’s name isn’t included, let the Board Office know and we’ll get it corrected.

SHARE: “My suggestion is to revive our forms so they can be used on a tablet.”

Pleaseeeee.  We would like this as desperately as you do!!!  Right now, the MLS Board is looking at other forms options, as well as working with FlexMLS to try to get the contracts we have working better on mobile devises and tablets.  Unfortunately, other vendors that have mobile and tablet support are very expensive compared to what we are currently paying.  Look to the 2014 MLS Board to try and tackle this issue once and for all.  You should also know that lack of mobile and tablet technology is the most common frustration across many, many MLS vendors… all are struggling to keep up, and all are pushing heavily into new technology arena to catch up.  We’ll keep on top of this.

SHARE: “Thanks for adding flood disclosure info to the input data.  Can you add that field to the listing sheets that we print and email too?

Absolutely!  Very timely suggestion.  We added the field, but find that there are 25+ listing sheets that now need to have that field added.  Staff will be working on it and all should be updated in the next few weeks.

SHARE: “As always, longer than I care to remember, agencies continue to cheat on contract submission, contract renewing, and contract cancellations.  I don’t know why it is allowed to go on.  These agencies come in the business, throw a lot of money at the business to make people believe they are larger than god, making Buyers & Sellers believe they are the first and last word in real estate. Any office noting those violations can report the violator to the Board, I get that.  However, the violator knows who turns them in.  Offices need to work together because a larger office can black ball the office reporting the violation!”

Well.  That’s horrible.  It’s not fair when some cheat on submission policies or paperwork and don’t get caught.  We know you get frustrated and don’t want to report them to the Board, but without that, we either never know or don’t have any way to follow-up with offending agencies.  I guess our response is a question … what can we do to help stop this?  Please share you thoughts!

SHARE: When viewing a commercial open house listing, there is no data that shows up.

Hummm… Yep, you’re right.  We never set up commercial listings to have an open house listing page.  We’re updating that right now.  Good catch.

SHARE:  “RSS Feed for hot sheet or someway to get anything from the hot sheet sent directly to you when they are posted.”

We love the RSS feed idea, but it isn’t currently possible.  A great alternative is to get the hotsheet directly emailed to you each day.  We know many agents love that feature.  In Flex, go to Preference | My Preferences and about half-way down the list you’ll see “email hotsheet”  Turn it on and you’re all set!

SHARE: “Share buttons for social media sites for the properties.”

WE KNOW!!!  Can you believe that we’re the first to ask FlexMLS for this?  Unbelievable.  We’ve added a request for this change and offer you a way to share you’re listings a little bit easier in the meantime:  Go to http://www.berkshirerealtors.com/property.html and search on your MLS #.  From there, click on the Green Share button and it will open a box with different services to share the listing through.  The listing will be branded with the listing agents picture and contact information.  On a related note, this is to share YOUR OWN LISTINGS.  If you’re sharing other agent’s listings, it is only permissible to do so (1) in IDX (2) directly to a client you’re working with.  We don’t currently have a policy that allows you to share other listings on social media sites without permission… and surely you’d need to include the listing agents name as the source regardless.

SHARE:  “It would be extremely helpful to the appraisers that subscribe to this service if the appraiser’s name that did the appraisal for the sale be placed in sold information. This would allow an appraiser a contact to get more info on the properties characteristics when the appraiser wants to use a property as a comparable. Many other MLS services provide this information.”

We’re asking FlexMLS if adding a new field to the sold information is possible.  And we can’t see a downside to this request… anything that can help appraisers do their job well helps us all.  Please share your thoughts if you can see a “con”!

SHARE:  “There’s a new NAR certification, Military Relocation Professional Can Flex add it to the list of available certifications and designations on Flex for our profiles and signatures?

Done and done!  Want more info?  http://rebac.net/military.cfm or Talk to Berkshire REALTOR Anne Meczywor for details!

Go ahead, SHARE your own bright idea, suggestion or pet peeve.  We’re here to help!