MLS Newsletter Articles
Updated:6/8/09
« WI-FI Access to Paragon - updated 6/8/09
« Temperature and Your ActiveKEY - updated 6/8/09
« Showing Appointment Reports in Paragon - updated 6/8/09
« Easy Access To Favorite Paragon Reports - updated 6/8/09
« Important Reminder About Scheduling Showings Via Paragon - updated 5/12/09
« Customizing Paragon Spreadsheets - updated 5/12/09
« Updated MLS Profile Sheets - updated 4/13/09
« WIREX Update - updated 2/12/09
« May 2009 MLS Stats by Price Range(PDF Format) - updated 6/17/09
« May 2009 and YTD MLS Stats(PDF Format) - updated 6/17/09
« WI-FI Access to Paragon
Did you know you can access Paragon via your browser-enabled mobile phone or PDA? Paragon Wi-Fi is not a substitute for the online Paragon system, but rather a companion product that will allow mobile users the ability to search and retrieve a limited portion of real-time MLS listing data. If you have access to the Internet from your phone or PDA, there is no additional cost for this service. Simply enter http://scwmls.fnismls.com/paragonwifi and use the same login name and password you use to access Paragon. Click here for more information.
« Temperature and Your ActiveKEY
Your ActiveKEY is designed to operate in temperatures between 14 and 140 degrees Fehrenheit. As temperatures in parked cars can exceed both the low and high range (Sometimes within the same week in Wisconsin!), please do not leave your ActiveKEY in your car.
« Showing Appointment Reports in Paragon
All showing requests made on your listings, and all showing requests you make via the Schedule a Showing button can be accessed via reports within Paragon. These reports can be found by clicking on Preferences, User, Showing Assist (bottom left). Click on the Reports tab and select either My Showings or Showings on My Listings. Enter your desired date range and click on Generate Report.
If you do not currently have the Schedule a Showing button available on your listings, and are interested in adding this free feature, contact the MLS at 608.240.2800. Many agents have expressed how much they like the option to click on a button to set up a showing via email any time day or night. Click here for a demo of ShowingAssist.
« Easy Access To Favorite Paragon Reports
Are you taking advantage of the Favorites section of the Available Reports menu? If you find yourself clicking on Details, MultiUps, or one of the other report buckets to find a report you often use, next time, simply click on that favorite report and drag it up under Favorites.
« Important Reminder about Scheduling Showings Via Paragon
When you click on the Schedule a Showing icon within Paragon, a box will pop up with your personal information such as phone number and email. This information is not automatically tied to your member record within Paragon. This is by design so you have flexibility to enter the most appropriate return phone number or email for that particular showing request. The email or phone number as entered will stick until you change it. Because of this flexibility, if you transfer to a new office or change your email or phone number and report that to the MLS to have changed in Paragon, the showing pop up screen will not automatically change; you have to change it. Please glance at this box each time you set up a showing to be sure the email and phone number are as you want them to be. If you need to make a change, simply do so right on that screen.
« Customizing Paragon Spreadsheets
Have you ever wanted to be able to fit more on the spreadsheet printout from Paragon? In many cases, the title of a field is larger than the data contained in that field, so when you include that field on a spreadsheet, the column is wider than it needs to be. When viewing the spreadsheet, if you click on Customize you can utilize the check box under the selected fields that says Use Short Label. For example, if you include the field for Fin Above Grd SqFt, and then put a check mark next to that field and then check the Use Short Label box, the header for that field will be condensed to AbvGrdSqFt. You can also take advantage of the option to print horizontally available within the Print window that comes up before a document is sent to your printer. Print boxes can be different from machine to machine, but look for a Preferences option.
« Updated MLS Profile Sheets
The latest revision of MLS profile sheets can be found under Documents within Paragon and on www.scwmls.com. The following new features have been added: Stubbed for Bathroom, Radon Mitigation System, and Unfinished under Basement for single family and condo; Additional for Sale under condo parking, and Above Commercial/Retail under condo miscellaneous. If you have a current listing that possesses any of these new features, please modify your listing to include them. The new profile sheets also have a new page 4 that has room for Showing Instructions, Open House Info and Virtual Tour Address.
« WIREX Update
WIREX went live on January 21. With the exception of a few issues with missing photos, the launch went off without a hitch. We have seen an average of 135 unique users per day login to WIREX.
The only common question we have heard is: "How do I search by MLS number?" To search by MLS number in WIREX, click on Search and then select property type (or Multi-Class if you don’t know the property type). Original MLS # is the first field. At this time we are not able to include MLS number in the Quick Search from the Home Page, because the MLS number we see, as assigned from the three MLSs, is not actually the MLS number behind the scenes in WIREX. When listings were merged from the three MLSs, there were unfortunately multiple listings with the same MLS number, which necessitated that we renumber all listings within WIREX. So the field you are actually searching on is Original MLS number as assigned by the native MLS. We are unfortunately not able to customize the Quick Search for this original MLS number field, but we have opened a system change request to have this added down the road.
« What To Do When Your Keycard Does Not Work
- Reset the Key - Press with a paperclip in the RESET hole on the back of the key.
If that doesn’t solve the problem; - Call the MLS at 608.240.2800 during normal business hours or 608.332.5400 after hours. MLS staff will first try to troubleshoot your problem over the phone;
OR - Call Supra Support at 877.699.6787;
OR - Contact your broker or office manager. Under circumstances where a replacement ActiveKEY is not reasonably available from the MLS, brokers and office managers may lend their ActiveKEY, for a maximum of 48 hours, to active Keyholders licensed with their company;
OR - Contact a fellow REALTOR or the listing agent of the property. Although they are not allowed to lend you their keycard, other REALTORS may be willing to meet you at the property.
« Adding Virtual Tours
Included in one of the recent Paragon upgrades was the ability for agents to add virtual tours to their listings. Although most agents do not have the security level needed to add and maintain listings, they do have the ability to add photos, associated documents, and virtual tours to their listings, as well as change the map location for their listings. These functions are located under Listings and Maintain from the Paragon Main Menu.
Now that agents have the ability to add their own tours, the MLS will no longer be accepting tours directly from providers on behalf of agents. Please direct your tour provider to send your virtual tour to you for inclusion on the MLS instead of directly to the MLS. As virtual tours are becoming more popular, we are finding that without hiring additional MLS staff, we no longer have the time needed on a daily basis to load tours for agents. This does not mean we are not available to help you load your tours if you need help. We are always happy to help you with Paragon.
Please keep in mind that the MLS does not allow tours that are branded with the agent name or agent/company information. The name of the company is allowed. Often times tour providers send both branded and unbranded tours. Please make sure the unbranded tour is the one that is added to listings on MLS.
« Statistical Reports
The MLS produces several pre-defined statistical reports on a monthly, year-to-date, and annual basis. These reports can be found by clicking on the Statistics button located on the menu bar to your left.
« Repeating Searches in Paragon
Paragon always remembers the last search you did. During your current Paragon session, the last search criteria automatically appears. If you logout and log back in, the search criteria does not automatically appear, but you can reload it by selecting Load Search and then Load Last Search from the buttons directly above the search prompts.
« Labeling Bathrooms Correctly
Please use the following guidelines when identifying bathrooms in the MLS:
-A Quarter Bath includes a stool.
-A Half Bath includes a stool and a sink.
-A Three-Quarter Bath includes a stool, a sink, and a shower stall.
-A Full Bath includes a stool, a sink, and a bathtub (a shower may also be included)
.
If you don’t have a stool, you don’t have a bathroom
« Moving from One Company to Another
When an agent transfers from one company to another, or to a different branch within the same company, please make sure the MLS has been notified of phone number and email address changes. In addition, please note the following that will need to be adjusted in Paragon:
- In the case of a branch-to-branch transfer, be sure to update the company name to reflect the correct branch on each active listing.
- Email notifications for prospects must be turned back on.
The reason auto-notifications are turned off is because often times the email address of an agent changes when they change offices. Email sent from an inactive email address can cause all Paragon emails to be blacklisted. - Under Preferences, update your E-Card if you have it turned on.
- Under Preferences, update the information in your email Standard Message Body if you use this feature.
- If you use the E-Card and/or the Standard Message Body for auto-emails, you must update the notification information on each prospect individually.
- If you blind carbon copy yourself on auto-emails, you must update this on each prospect individually.
- Update company info in saved CMA presentations.
- Update your company logo if used on your reports.
« Virtual Tour Restrictions
Just a reminder that MLS rules prohibit the display of virtual tours that include agent information and/or office contact information. Office name is allowed.
The reason for this restriction is that links to virtual tours on MLS listings in Paragon are included as part of the Customer Full Report. By design, the listing company is given credit on this report, but there is no agent information or office contact information. The Customer Full Report is the email default from Paragon to clients/customers. Before this restriction was in place, some of the tour links on listings emailed from Paragon took the client/customer to a web page containing agent and office information along with a tour of the property. On some of these web pages the focus was on the agent/office, and not the property.
« What is Off Market Date?
The primary search screen in Paragon includes a field called Off Market Date. The Off Market Date is not the same thing as the Closing Date. The Off Market Date is the accepted offer date for sold and pending properties, the expiration date for expired properties, and the withdrawn date for withdrawn properties. It is the date the listing left the status of Active and was thus "Off Market". If you are searching Sold listings in order to calculate statistics, you should use the Closing Date which is located on the secondary search screen. The Off Market Date is helpful when searching for a combination of statuses, such as sold and expired in the same search.
