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If you like the sensation of an amusement park ride but can’t afford a trip to Orlando, just come by the MLS office any given afternoon. Come watch us as we zig this way and zag that way. I say this for no other reason than to set up the excuse I’m about to give for not having updated my blog in two months. (And get the violins out, too, ‘cause this is going to be a tear-jerker!)
All seriousness aside, once I posted the Golf Tournament entry (which, by the way got a lot of laughs but didn’t accomplish much else), I started to feel this overwhelming pressure that I needed to top it in my next post. Well, it only took two months to get over that silliness. But, I’m still zigging here and zagging there, so rather than continuing to be silent, I thought I would share my day with you.
It occurred to me the other day that I get a lot of good questions in my email and they give me plenty of opportunity to offer creative (and sometimes correct) answers. What a resource! So here are some questions and answers that have passed through my inbox this week. In truth, there really isn’t anything funny in them, so feel free to skip them and wait for my next blog.
Question: I signed up to get the email notifications from other agents, as I like to know when things are happening. I signed up for the four areas that I focus on, Destin, Niceville, Santa Rosa Beach, and Miramar Beach. The problem I am having now is that I am getting the same email three and four times from agents. I haven’t done an email blast but I assume they are choosing to send the listing to all three or fours area’s lists and that is why I am getting multiples. Is there any way to fix this issue outside of me just taking my name off the list?
Answer: I get copies of all of the emails sent through each list. Whenever someone uses the lists inappropriately, I send them an email explaining the rules. [the rules, by the way, are that you can only send email to the list in the area of the listing to which you are promoting. I also chastised someone today for trying to recruit using the email list… of course I chastised in a cute and witty way! g.g.] If they persist (and no one has so far), they are going to be banned from using the email lists. I realize that isn't a perfect solution, but it should keep the number of unrelated emails to a minimum. Please give agents a little time to get used to the new feature. I'm sure it will be beneficial to you.
Question: Hey, do you have any good articles about Realtors respecting other Realtors even during the toughest times. We all have to work together to make it work. It seems the Realtors are getting harder and harder to work with because they are so mad at the world and they spend more time [complaining] about the obstacles we have to overcome rather then working together to put deals together. I work so hard to put the most difficult deals together and I am finding more and more Realtors are getting more and more hateful and harder to work with. I am seeing this every day and when I speak to a few other Realtors they are also experiencing more difficult deals because of the attitudes of our local Realtors.
Answer: Welcome to my world. :-) Your comments are very true; everyone is on edge. I will look for something and then post it. [I found A Field Guide to Stress Management on the NAR site that might help. Although the question was a very good one and based on valid facts, I did find it amusing that this question was asked by a Realtor who got one of the emails I mentioned in my first answer. It really is a problem, though.]
Question: Why did my MLS sheets start showing and printing in such a large font that it takes three pages to print each listing?
Answer: Go to your setting for Text Size and change it back to Medium (it's a browser setting under the View menu or under the Page button). The reason it happened is because Internet Explorer (and all of Windows for that matter) allows you to make things on the screen bigger or smaller by holding down the Control key and then "wheeling" your mouse's scroll wheel. You probably changed the Text Size when you were clicking to select multiple list items. [I really did want to answer “because it knows you’re getting older, but since the question was asked by one of our new ECAR leaders, I decided to refrain. See, dear, my A.D.D. medicine does help me sometimes!]
Question: How come some listing say “N/A” for the expiration date, yet when I try to go in and put that on my listings it will not allow me to do so. Does this apply to everyone that each listing must have an expiration date or are some people excluded from having to do this?
Answer: It always displays "N/A" unless you are looking at your own listing. So when someone else sees your listing, they see "N/A" for your expiration date. [By the way, if you ever happen to print out an Agent Full version of one of your listings, say for a tour or something, please realize that the expiration date is included on that report. You can avoid printing your expiration dates by using the Agent Full w/o Expiration Date format.]
Question: I tried to send an email to one of the email lists and it rejected me. I subscribe to that list, why would it not let me send an email?
Answer: The reason it rejected your message is most likely because your email address in the MLS is different from the one you used to send the email (for example, my MLS email address is geoff@ecaor.com, but when I send mail from home I send it from geoffgurney@cox.net). Overall we are looking for ways around this, but for now the Email Manager doesn't understand that the two email addresses belong to the same person. If you can send it from your MLS email address, it should work.
Question: I see the next Emerald Coast Open House is scheduled for January. How can we get our listings included in this?
Answer: The Great Emerald Coast Open House is open to all ECAR members. The way you participate is by adding your open houses to your listings in MLS through the Open House function in Maintenance. This automatically includes it on the EmeraldCoastOpenHouse.com web site. Be sure to select that it is a "public" open house. If you would like to use ECAR Open House signs, email Michaela and she’ll hook you up. If your plan is to use a model home as your "meeting place" you can add that to the comments section of the open house.
Question: What happened to the map button on the right hand column of the search results page? And what is the N for?
Answer: The map button on the right was used to get to the old mapping system. Up until last week it was the only map that had all of the overlays (like areas and flood zones). But now the main map, which is powered by Google instead of the original Solid Earth mapping system, has the overlays and statistics. Just click on the address of the property to get all that you would need. The "n" is to enter Private Notes related to the listing that only you (or your broker) can see. You enter them through Maintenance. This way you can keep important, but private information about the property available to you even when you are away from your files.
Question: Thank you for your efforts to allow ResortScape to feature our listings. I understand in the future there will be a way to have new listings elect to have them go to their site. How can we elect for our listings that are already in the MLS to be put on their website? What other national sites are you negotiating with? We have a list of national sites we planned to feed our listings to and would like to know which ones you may work out a deal with thru our MLS instead of having to do it individually for our company.
Answer: Any listing that had "All" selected in the Put on Internet list was included. To include a listing in the ResortScape or LandWatch feed that does not have "All" selected for Put on Internet, select “SecondSpace” from that list. Currently the only other national site we send data to is Realtor.com. We are talking with a company called Threewide (http://threewide.com) to begin offering their ListHub product. ListHub is a listing syndication product that allows you to choose and send your listings to several national sites. I hope to have this in place by the first of the year.
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In closing, let me thank all three of you for your continued readership and encouragement. Since the blog has the capability to exchange thoughts and ideas (and since RealTown won’t let me shut that feature off), feel free to comment or ask your own question. Just please remember to be nice since this blog may be seen by people who don’t understand you the way I do.
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