Newsletter Archive 2007
December
« MLS Dues Remain At $60
At their 2008 budget meeting, the MLS Board of Directors voted to keep MLS dues at $60 per quarter. The number of members using our service has a direct bearing on MLS dues. If there is a significant change in the number of members, dues may have to be adjusted during the year.
« Searching for Listings Outside Our Main MLS Area
Our MLS covers mainly South Central and Southwest Wisconsin (click here for map). Occasionally an agent will list a property located outside of this region. The location codes used for these listings are Y01 for other parts of Wisconsin, Y02 for Illinois, Y03 for Minnesota, and Y04 for Iowa. If you are looking for a specific county or municipality outside the South Central/Southwest Wisconsin region, it works best to skip the location box and use the County or Municipality search boxes which are located on the bottom of the Primary Criteria search screen.
« 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.
« November 2007 MLS Stats By Price Range (PDF Format)
« November 2007 and YTD MLS Stats (PDF Format)
November
« Paragon Upgrade - 10/17/2007 !!
On Wednesday, October 17 when you login to Paragon you will find that Paragon has a whole new look and feel. First of all, don't panic! The changes are almost all in how the system looks, not in how it functions. Buttons will be bigger, menus will be easier to use, and the number of clicks needed to perform a function will be reduced. You will still click on Search to perform a search, and all the same search options and reports will be available. Below are a few of the changes you can expect. As we discover more goodies will we post them as Hot Tips on the Home Page.
-The home page looks very, very different. Quick Search is still on the left and Hot Tips will be in the middle, but there is a third pane on the right that will contain the Market Monitor and Quick Action Links. The Market Monitor will allow you to go back a set number of days (back to 30) instead of restricting you to 24 hours, 3 days, and 7 days. The Quick Action Links allow you select which Paragon programs you most often use.
-When you click on a function such as Search, your options will display larger and in an organized fashion, opposed to just one long pick list. To select an option move your mouse down and then over…don't move your mouse diagonally. It seems a bit strange at first, but you will get the hang of it!
-Menus will slide in from the right. The most noticeable place this happens is on a search results page. There is no longer a views/reports button. Your report choices will slide in from the right. You have the ability to move your favorite reports to the top under favorites.
-For those that add and maintain listings, you will be able to maintain listings right from the search results spreadsheet by clicking on a new Maintain button on the top toolbar.
-Links to virtual tours will be included on the Agent Full Report.
« New Listing Features Added
The following listing features will be added to the MLS on Monday, September 24. If you have a listing that has one of these features, please change your listing to include it. Updated profile sheets can be found under Forms on this website.
Residential
8'+ ceiling under the Basement Feature (E)
9'+ ceilings (main level) under Interior Features (P)
High speed internet available under the Interior Features (P)
Condominium
End Unit under the Style Feature (A)
8'+ ceiling under the Basement Feature (D)
9'+ ceilings (main level) under the Interior Features (O)
High speed internet available under the Interior Features (O)
Lots and Acreage
Approved for IZ under the Terms Feature (P)
Farms/Farmettes
Fences under the Farm Features (H)
High speed internet available under the House Features (Q)
« Advanced Paragon Training
Understand the basics of Paragon, but want to learn more? Paragon is a very feature rich application, but unfortunately most agents do not take advantage of many of these features. We want you to!
The MLS is pleased to offer a new class covering advanced features in Paragon. This class is 3 hours and covers Map Searches, Driving Directions, Customizing your Search and Reports, Setting up your E-card, Creating Mailing Labels, Copying and Building Customer Reports and time permitting, a Q&A Session.
Please do not register for this class unless you have taken the Paragon Basic class and/or have been using Paragon for more than 3 months.
As with all Paragon training at the MLS office, classes are limited to 12 students, as each student follows along with the instructor on their own PC. You can register for this class online at scwmls.com. There is no charge for this class unless you register and do not show.
Don’t put it off, register today! Click here to be taken to the Paragon training registration page.
« October 2007 MLS Stats By Price Range (PDF Format)
« October 2007 and YTD MLS Stats (PDF Format)
October
« Timing of Statistical Reports Changed
Starting with the July, 2007 statistics, SCWMLS will be publishing the monthly sales reports following the last day of the month after the statistical reporting month. This means that the July 2007 numbers will be available the beginning of September.
In the past, our statistics have reflected those transactions that were reported to the MLS by the 15th day following the reported month. This has sometimes proven to be premature, and therefore has resulted in understated figures, as too often agents have not reported all their sales within the fifteen day window.
So that this year is accurately compared to last year, please make every attempt to report your July sales by the end of August, your August sales by the end of September, etc.
Thank you.
« September 2007 MLS Stats By Price Range (PDF Format)
« September 2007 and YTD MLS Stats (PDF Format)
September
« Access Paragon From Your Hand-Held
If you have a browser-enabled hand-held device, such as a WAP-enabled mobile phone (i.e. a Blackberry or a Treo) or a PDA, you can access Paragon Wi-Fi for real-time access to Paragon MLS data.
Paragon Wi-Fi 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 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.
As a reminder, if you have a PDA running a Palm Operating System, but do not have Internet access, we also provide a free palm download product. You can find information about this product under the Paragon Tutorials within the MLS Docs found at the top of the Paragon screen.
« August 2007 MLS Stats By Price Range (PDF Format)
« August 2007 and YTD MLS Stats (PDF Format)
August
« Southwest Wisconsin MLS Data Merged June 29
On June 29, you will see data from the Southwest WI MLS within our Paragon database. Leadership of both the South Central Wisconsin MLS and the Southwest Wisconsin MLS have been working over the past few months to merge the Southwest MLS into to South Central MLS. Southwest listings being merged include current actives as well as three years of off market data. Because several members of the Southwest MLS are also members of our MLS, you may see duplicate listings at first. Cleaning these duplicates up will be a priority for us.
If you currently login to the Southwest MLS via our reciprocal agreement, you will no longer need that login, as the data will all be included in our Paragon system.
The Southwest MLS service area includes mainly Crawford, Grant, Iowa, LaFayette, and Richland Counties. There are currently 1200 active listings and 160 active agents in the Southwest Wisconsin MLS
« Condo Style Confusion
Confusion regarding the labeling of the STYLE of a condo, particularly ranch vs. garden style, is creating inaccurate information on the system and therefore inaccurate search results. Garden style should be selected for a condo that has all living space on one level and has other units above or below. Garden condos are often in a building that resembles an apartment building. Ranch style should be selected if the Condo you have listed is in a one floor building with no other condo units above or below. Townhouse style should be selected if the condo you have listed is a 2+ story unit. Your help in accurately describing your condo listing will help those looking for it.
« Feedback On Showings Via ShowingAssist
Offices now have the option of turning on a free module within ShowingAssist that will automatically send follow-up requests for property feedback after a showing. If this feature is turned on, feedback requests are emailed automatically to the showing agent the evening of the day in which a showing appointment was scheduled via ShowingAssist. The email identifies the property, and includes the listing agent's contact information along with a text box for freeform comments. When the showing agent responds to the email, the listing agent will get an email to let them know feedback has been received. This email will include a link to view the feedback.
If your office would like to try this new feature, the setup must be done by someone with administrative access to Paragon. Once logged in with administrative access, click on Preferences, User, Integrated Products Tab, and then select ShowingAssist. On the Office Setup Tab, place a check mark in the "Enable the sending of feedback requests to showing agent's" box at the bottom of the screen. Once an office is activated to receive feedback, individual agents can be turned off under the Agent Setup tab if needed.
« July 2007 MLS Stats By Price Range (PDF Format)
« July 2007 and YTD MLS Stats (PDF Format)
July
« Zoom In/Zoom Out
If you right click the map on the Customer Full - Map View you will be given an option to zoom in and zoom out. In addition, you can switch from Road view to an Aerial view. After you zoom in or out or switch to another view, this view will hold when you select print. This is very helpful if you run across a property that shows just one street on the map. Zooming out will allow you to print a view that is more helpful.
« Supra Display Annual Access Fee - Due June 1, 2007
The Supra DisplayKey lease renewal is June 1st of each year. With the next monthly billing, offices will be assessed $100 for each agent currently leasing a Supra Displaykey.
If you are no longer using your keycard, and would like to cancel your lease to avoid the $100 charge, please return your DisplayKey and cradle/charging base to the MLS office prior to June 8th. You will receive a $50 deposit fee when you turn in your keycard and cradle. If you have any questions, please contact Marian or Kristine at 608.240.2800.
« Using Groups to Organize your Prospects
Paragon allows you to set up groups to assign prospects to. Managing your prospects within groups can help you better organize prospects based on many factors such as how seriously they are looking for property, how you know them, or by the location or the type of property they are looking for. Not only do groups help you organize, but you can send bulk emails as well as postal mailings based on groups.
To set up a group, click on Contacts and Manage Groups from the blue menu bar in Paragon. Click on Add in the upper right corner. You will be given prompts to add the name and description of your group. Once you set up a group, this group will appear on the General Tab within both Add and Modify Prospect/Contact.
If you would like to send a bulk email to all your prospects in one group, you simply click on Contacts and Manage Groups. Click on the group you want to email and then click on email in the upper right corner. If you would like to send a postal mailing, click on Contacts and View Prospects. Use the Groups filter at the top of the screen to search for the prospects within a given group. Once the filtered list displays, click on Labels in the upper right corner and then select All.
« June 2007 MLS Stats By Price Range (PDF Format)
« June 2007 and YTD MLS Stats (PDF Format)
June
« May 2007 MLS Stats By Price Range (PDF Format)
« May 2007 and YTD MLS Stats (PDF Format)
May
« Expanded MLS Service Area - Southwest Wisconsin - updated 5/15/07
The South Central Wisconsin MLS Corporation is pleased to announce its merger with the Southwest Wisconsin MLS. Currently, both MLSs operate separate Paragon 3 systems. The merged database will include current active listings, pending sales, past sold and expired data. The Southwest MLS service area includes mainly Crawford, Grant, Iowa, LaFayette, and Richland Counties. There are currently 1200 active listings and 160 active agents in the Southwest Wisconsin MLS.
Although a firm date for the data merger has not yet been set, it is anticipated to be sometime mid-summer.
A big thank you goes out to everyone who agreed the time had come to consolidate South Central and Southwest data, and to those who worked toward that goal. A special thanks to the Realtors® Association of Southwest Wisconsin Executive Officer, Christine Luchi, and the Board of Directors of the Realtors® Association of Southwest Wisconsin for their work in making this merger a reality.
« Grant County Added To Paragon Tax - updated 5/15/07
Grant County was recently added to Paragon Tax Records. In addition, we have secured data for Crawford County and will be adding it shortly.
« ShowingAssist Reports
If you use the Schedule a Showing button to set up showings, and have the Schedule a Showing button activated for your listings, you have the ability to view a list of properties you have shown, as well as a list of showings on your listings. These reports can be found by clicking on Preferences, User, Integrated Products Tab, and then ShowingAssist. Under the Reports tab select either the My Showings tab or the Showings on My Listings tab and enter a date range to produce a report.
« April 2007 MLS Stats By Price Range (PDF Format)
« April 2007 and YTD MLS Stats (PDF Format)
April
« Tracking Your Market From The Paragon Home Page
The MLS Market area within the Market Monitor (left edge of the Paragon home page) is a great place to track activity for a specific geographic market. By default, the MLS Market is defined as the whole MLS. You can limit that to just the market you would like to monitor by clicking on the Change Area button within the Market Monitor. Click Remove All to move all municipalities from the right to the left box, and then move just the municipalities you want to monitor back to the right box. If you want to include a whole county, click the Sort by Code button to group municipalities by county.
« Printing From Link To Map
From the agent full report you click the little blue-green M link to get the map....how the heck do you print that map? Place your cursor on the blue border around the map and right click to get an option to print. Yes, we do have an open work order to add a print button, but we wanted to share the secret work around for you to use for now.
« Disclosing Authorization For Multiple Representation
To better reflect the seller's consent for multiple representation and designated agency for in-house transactions, we have renamed the current Designated Agent Y/N field to Multiple Representation Y/N/D, where "D" equals Designated Agent.
This question has relevance only to transactions within your firm (in-house transactions). If you are a one-person firm, you cannot offer designated agency, and therefore should not indicate "D" (you may select "Yes" if your clients have authorized Multiple Representation without Designated Agency). If there are other licensees within your firm, you may select "D" which indicates to them that you have permission from your seller to act as a Designated Agent. With the consent of both parties to the transaction, you and the Designated Agent representing the buyer can provide full agency services, information, and advice to your respective clients. In some cases, you may have consent from the seller for Multiple Representation without Designated Agency. In this situation, your seller has consented to allow you and the licensees in your firm representing buyers to give information an advice to the parties in the same transaction so long as that information and advice does not favor the interests of one client over the other. In this case, you should select "Yes" to indicate Multiple Representation without Designated Agency.
On Monday, February 26, all listings that currently reflect Designated Agent = Y will be changed automatically to Multiple Representation = D.If you have a situation whereby a seller has consented to multiple representation, but not designated agency, you will need to change your listing from Designated Agent = N to Multiple Representation = Y.
« Listing/Identifying Auction Properties
To better identify properties being offered at auction, a new feature has been added under the Terms Feature. Listings currently marked within the MLS remarks as auction properties will be automatically tagged with this new feature. In addition, beginning Monday, February 26, each listing flagged with the new Auction feature will also be flagged with an AUC directly following the price. To help convey necessary information about the auction process to potential selling agents, beginning March 1, all auction properties must include the SCWMLS Information Form for Properties being Sold at Auction as an associated document. This form can be found under the Forms section on our member website at www.scwmls.com.
« March 2007 MLS Stats By Price Range (PDF Format)
« March 2007 and YTD MLS Stats (PDF Format)
March
« KeyBox Times Change
On Sunday, March 11, the keybox access hours changed due to Daylight Saving Time. Keyboxes now open an hour later - between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 11:00 p.m. If you have a situation where you need to allow access to a keybox before 8:00 a.m. (or after 11:00 p.m.), you can set your keybox to open 24 hours a day. Click Here for detailed instructions on setting Extended Keybox Hours.
« Withdrawn - Expired - No Shows
Q: Under what circumstances should a listing be Withdrawn in the MLS? What about Expired? How should No Shows be handled?
A: : If a seller is still obligated under the terms of a listing contract, but the property is no longer being marketed or shown, the property should be moved to a Withdrawn status in MLS. If a seller has been released from their contract before the actual expiration date, the listing should be Expired in the MLS. Please remember that a listing in Withdrawn is still protected from solicitation by other Realtor.
In a case where a seller is still obligated under the terms of a listing contract, but has requested that their listing temporarily not be shown, the RealtorÒ has two choices. The listing can either be moved to Withdrawn until it can be shown, or it can remain Active. If the RealtorÒ chooses to keep the listing Active, the date showings will be allowed must be included in the first line of MLS remarks. In either case, no showings means no showings by any and all RealtorsÒ, including the listing broker.
« What Can I Count As Finished Square Footage?
To qualify as finished square footage, the space must be heated, have finished walls (painted concrete does not count), have a finished ceiling (no exposed floor joists), and have a finished floor (painted concrete does not count). If one of these four components is missing, the space can still be counted as finished, but disclosure of the missing component must be included in the MLS remarks.
« February 2007 MLS Stats By Price Range (PDF Format)
« February 2007 and YTD MLS Stats (PDF Format)
February
« Upcoming Profile Sheet Changes
On Monday, February 26, the latest revision of the MLS profile sheets will be available. These forms will include two significant changes, and a few feature clarifications as listed below. Click here to print the updated profile sheets.
« Other Feature Clarifications
The following are changes to the wording of current features:
| Features | Old | New |
| Basement Feature | Walkout | Walkout to yard |
| Fireplace Feature | Wood burning STOVE | Free standing STOVE |
| Waterfront Feature | Has access rights - No frontage | Deeded access - No frontage |
« MLS Dues Remain $60.00
At their 2007 budget meeting, the MLS Board of Directors voted to keep MLS dues at $60 per quarter. MLS dues were $75 per quarter the first half of 2006, and were reduced to $60 for the third and fourth quarters. This reduction was largely due to the increase in the number of members we are able to spread our costs over.
« New Paragon Enhancements
On November 14, enhancements (and a few bug fixes) were added to Paragon. Here are a few we feel warrant special attention:
- Paragon was modified to function correctly with Internet Explorer version 7. This was a big undertaking. If you are using IE 7, and notice anything strange, please call us to report it.
- The System Checker from the login screen was updated to better configure a users system for Paragon. One of these updates will help to configure pop up blockers that interfere with Paragon.
- Virtual Earth Mapping from Microsoft was incorporated. Virtual Earth allows for better map searching and map displays. You can now draw any polygon shape to define your area in addition to the old radius and rubber band shapes. When viewing a map, you can now switch from the normal street map to an aerial view.
< If you have a current saved search that contains a radius search, you will need to redraw the map and resave the search. Rubber band searches were converted and will not need to be recreated. > - The ability to print mailing labels from Prospect/Contact was added.
- The ability to link MLS listings to tax mailing labels was added. Please keep in mind that only listings with correct parcel numbers will link.
- Agents now have the option to select a view other than the agent full to appear when double clicking from the spreadsheet. This option is included under Preferences.
- Sort order is now saved when emailing from the default spreadsheet.
« January 2007 MLS Stats By Price Range (PDF Format)
« January 2007 and YTD MLS Stats (PDF Format)
January
« Paragon New Checks For Parcel Number Format
To improve seamless linking between MLS listings and tax records, Paragon now checks for the correct parcel number format at time of input. Below you will find a list of the correct parcel number formats.
If a property has not been assigned a parcel number, enter Not Assigned. If a listing represents multiple parcel numbers, either pick one or enter the word Multiple.
| County | Parcel Format |
| Adams | 999-99999-9999 |
| Columbia | No Uniform Format |
| Dane | 9999-999-9999-9 |
| Dodge | 999-9999-9999-999 |
| Green | No Uniform Format |
| Iowa | No Uniform Format |
| Jefferson | 999-9999-9999-999 |
| Juneau | No Uniform Format |
| LaFayette | 999-9999-9999 |
| Marquette | 999-99999-9999 |
| Monroe | 999-99999-9999 |
| Richland | 999-9999-9999 |
| Rock | No Uniform Format |
| Sauk | 999-9999-99999 |
| Vernon | 999-99999-9999 |
| Waushara | 999-99999-9999 |
« Southwest Wisconsin MLS Reciprocal
The South Central WI MLS and the Southwest Wisconsin MLS have recently signed a reciprocal agreement that allows Members of the SCWMLS to view the Southwest Wisconsin listing database, and allows Members of Southwest Wisconsin to view the SCWMLS listing database. This reciprocal is similar to the Metro Milwaukee and Central Wisconsin reciprocal agreements in that the offer of compensation shown in the MLS listings will be considered made to all Members of the SCWMLS and Southwest Wisconsin. There is no additional cost for this access. The ability to enter listings is not included.
The Southwest Wisconsin MLS covers mainly Crawford, Grant, Iowa, LaFayette and Richland counties.
If your office would like reciprocal access to the Southwest Wisconsin MLS database, contact Jen (jen@wisre.com) 608-240-2800 for registration information.
« Central Wisconsin MLS Reciprocal
The South Central WI MLS and the Central Wisconsin MLS have recently signed a reciprocal agreement that allows Members
of the SCWMLS to view the Central Wisconsin listing database, and allows Members of Central Wisconsin to view the SCWMLS
listing database. This reciprocal is similar to the Metro Milwaukee reciprocal in that the offer of compensation shown
in the MLS listings will be considered made to all Members of the SCWMLS and Central Wisconsin. There is no additional
cost for this access. The ability to enter listings is not included.
The Central Wisconsin MLS covers mainly Marathon, Portage and Wood Counties.
If your office would like reciprocal access to the Central Wisconsin MLS database, contact Jen (jen@wisre.com) 608-240-2800
for registration information