MLS News

Fines Update

Hearings -- A hearing panel will include four (4) MLS Committee members and the current chair or vice chair. There shall be no more than two (2) seated panel members during a hearing having served on the MLS Committee one year or less and no seated panel member shall be associated with the same company or franchise as the accused violator.

Appeals --To appeal a fine, the agent must (a) pay the fine and (b) file a written (email or mail) appeal to MLS dated or postmarked on or before the 15th of day from notification or the fine stands. If the written appeal is determined by a hearing panel to have merit, a waiver may be granted. If more information is needed, the agent will be presented with the option of appearing before the hearing panel for a formal review. If the written appeal is determined by the hearing panel not to have merit, the fine stands.

Notices not subject to appeal -- Some violations identified allow for one warning notice prior to imposing a fine, other violations impose an immediate fine. Only fines imposed are subject to appeal.

Broker is ultimately responsible for the fine -- Fines not paid by the agent by the last day of the month in which it was assessed will automatically be billed to the broker.

Actions taken by the MLS Committee/Board of Directors:

Due to space restrictions, virtual tours and links for sold properties will be maintained for two years only.
For auction property, auctioneer and broker names are now permitted to be entered in the `Remarks' data field by request of the Ohio Department of Agriculture. Names/contact info other than auctioneers are still not permitted in the `Remarks' field per MLS Rules.
CBR is working on providing wireless technology that will allow members to access the CBR Tempo^TM data through a BlackBerry, Treo or newer cell phone.

Enhancements approved (scheduled for December)

New data field for a showing service phone number (non required)
The property type data field which currently defaults to `single family' will be changed to require a selection single family, condominium or fee simple).

Enhancements implemented in July

The new login process does not allow members to save their username and password. This change was made to increase security. In addition, the new login screen alerts agents when their account or office has been suspended for billing or membership reasons.
The new Password auto-responder will email agents their password immediately simply by clicking the "forgot my password" link on the login screen.
Off market listings (Sold, Expired, etc) can now be sent to prospects using auto-notification emails every morning.
The letters CND will now auto-populate for all condo listings in the Lot Size field.
Pickaway County areas have been changed. The new areas are PSW, PSE, PNW, PNE, PCI. Transfer of most listing data is now complete.
Agent Remarks Report appears in the report function box at the bottom of the list of listings. This new report will display "agent only" remarks section for messages such as "smoker's home" or "beware: large pets" or other agent to agent comments not specifically describing the home for sale but important for them to know.
County auditor link now appears on the Client Listing Site properties

Essential CBR MLS IDX Training

September 22 l 1-4pm l at CBR

The deadline for implementing the new IDX requirements (for online display of MLS data) is January 1, 2007. So this program will provide information to brokers and their web developers and other technical staff on how to integrate the WolfNet IDX solution into new or existing web sites. CBR's preferred third party IDX developer, WolfNet will provide the presentation followed by plenty of time for Q&A. This program will only be offered once and seating is limited, so please register by September 15th. Register online at ColumbusRealtors.com or by contacting Bryan Dean at 614-475-4000 or bdean@columbusrealtors.com. Please include the number attending and their names.

AOL Users and Others: Your Browser is Incompatible

Internet Explorer 6.0 is REQUIRED. No other browser is compatible or supported for use with CBR Tempo^TM. This includes the AOL specific browser, Yahoo browser, Safari, Firefox, Opera, etc. Only Internet Explorer 6.0 will allow full access and functionality in CBR Tempo^TM.

If you attempt to connect to CBR Tempo^TM with the AOL browser or any other alternate browser, you will have varying levels of inaccessibility and failure/error messages. To connect to CBR Tempo^TM using AOL as your internet provider:

1. Connect to AOL's internet service in the normal manner
2. Minimize the AOL browser
3. Open Internet Explorer directly (big blue "e" on desktop)
4. Type the Tempo address at the top of the browser (cbrmls.columbusrealtors.com)
5. Hit Enter

This procedure is the only correct way to log in to CBR Tempo^TM. Any shortcut, favorite, alternate browser, or other method of access can and will fail eventually.

Franklin, Delaware Auditor Site Photo Format

In July, the Franklin and Delaware county auditors' sites made a change in the programming of their site causing the images (property photos) to be saved as BMP files instead of JPG.

Although, JPG is the standard web photo format and the only format supported for upload to listings in Tempo^TM, photos from the auditors' sites can still be used for CBR Tempo^TM if converted from BMP image to JPG prior to uploading on the CBR Tempo^TM media page. This can easily be done by simply opening the BMP file saved from theauditor's site in whatever graphics program you have on your computer, then saving the file as a JPG instead of BMP (File > Save As JPG).

We cannot support graphics programs for converting these photo files. Most Windows computers have standard photo software pre- installed that will open and save the file as a JPG. Microsoft commonly pre-installs Paint, Photo Editor, or Picture and Fax Viewer as part of windows and any of these programs or other photo manipulation software will perform this conversion to JPG.

Home values holding in Delaware County

Concerned by all of the bubble bursting predictions, Delaware County Auditor Todd Hanks took a look at what homes in Delaware County were selling for in relation to the newly assessed values placed on them by his office.

Their research proved that, even though actual home sales are down this year compared to 2004 and 2005, values are holding. The price of homes sold in Delaware County in the first six months of 2006 were 3.0 - 3.41 percent higher than the assessed value.

Delaware County Property Information Query Builder

The Delaware County Auditor's web site provides access to owner information, parcel characteristics, parcel land value, parcel improvement value and sales information. This information is also downloadable through their Property Information Query Builder. Check it out -- www.co.delaware.oh.us/auditor/propinfo/ start.asp.

e-Mail Signature

The content of an e-mail signature is critically important to the support of an online identity. Often, the signature is the only picture that recipients have of you and your business. Consider every piece of e-mail a marketing piece. From this point forward, make certain to include the following information in each and every e-mail message that you send:

1. Your name
2. Your designations
3. E-mail and web address
4. Phone and fax
5. Auto-responders
6. City or area location (for referral purposes)