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Top Stories

NEW - RANW Offers Winter CE Classes in Seymour!

REALTOR & Government Day ~ Wednesday, March 11th

Reminder: MLS Areas Are Going Away

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REALTOR NEWS

NEW - RANW Offers Winter CE Classes in Seymour!

RANW will offer a full series of Residential Continuing Education in Seymour in February. Please see the flyer below for details regarding an optional lunch to be offered each day as well as a reserved date in case of bad weather.

Tuesday, February 2nd Tuesday, February 9th  Tuesday, February 16th

CE 1 & 2 CE 3 & 4 A & C

Doxbee's in Seymour Doxbee's in Seymour Doxbee's in Seymour

Seymour Seymour Seymour

For details and a registration flyer, click here.

Thank You For Your Membership Renewal!

RANW is pleased to report a great membership renewal of both REALTORS® and Affiliates for 2016! Thank you for your renewal!

Events

FV Chapter of Women's Council of REALTORS ~Thursday, January 14th

When: Time: Where: What: Cost: RSVP:

Thursday, January 14th 11:15 am - 1 pm To be determined "It's All About You" - Membership Benefits $15 members, $17 guests, $3 more at the door Barbara Laib 920-585-5400; Charlie Gehrke 920-858-0454 or wcrfoxvalley@gmail.com

Visit our Facebook page. 

All are welcome.  Email wcrfoxvalley@gmail.com for more information on becoming a member.  

Questions? Please call the President of the Local Chapter at 920-585-5400.

WRA's Winter Convention ~ January 26-28, 2016

Join us for the WRA's best-kept secret: the winter convention! This convention will be held at Lake of the Torches in Lac du Flambeau. Whether you're interested in continuing education courses, networking, browsing exhibits, or having fun - you'll find it all here! With something for everyone in this three-day event, you'll gain insight and learn new ideas about technology, Web marketing, time management and more. And, you'll have time for fun, too with the Welcome Party, DJ and Chili Cook-off!

Government Affairs

REALTOR® & Government Day - Wednesday, March 2, 2016

Please mark your calendars for the 2016 REALTOR® & Government Day - Wednesday, March 2, 2016 at the Monona Terrace and Convention Center in Madison from 1:00 pm - 5:30 pm.
Registration will again be free and will open on January 4, 2016.

MLS

MLS Training Class Schedule

You can access the MLS Training Schedule by clicking here.  Please call RANW to register and check the cancellation policy. 

Photos - MLS Rules 4.3

As the weather and the season changes, members are encouraged to update their listing photos. Be sure to abide by the MLS Rules & Regulations for listing photos and virtual tours (Section 4.3 of the MLS Rules & Regulations).
In particular make sure that your listing photos do not include "branding" such as having the company sign in the image, and that any photo used is your own or one you for which you have obtained rights to use for MLS. Members may not use another member's photo from a previous listing.

MLS will soon be requiring larger-sized photos to use InnoVia's high-resolution gallery at its best. Listing photos should be at least 1024x768 (pixel size), in JPG format, and under 8 Mb in size. There is no need to downsize photos for the MLS - these guidelines will allow the majority of photos to be successfully uploaded.  Review your listings and update your photos now.
Click for more info on Copyright and Use of Photos in MLS on Realtor.org. 

Reminder: MLS Areas Are Going Away

The MLS Area field will disappear from the MLS early in 2016. This field will be removed from data sheets, listing maintenance input screens, RETS and data feeds for use on your websites and will no longer be searchable.
In preparation for this change, MLS recommends that members begin using other geographic search fields such as County, Municipality, Municipal Sub-Area, School District, Zip Code and/or a Map-Based Search for all saved searches including Prospects and Hotsheets. Members can also set up saved searches with common parameters, such as selected municipalities or mapped areas. Having this information saved in the system will make it very easy to retrieve and build on, rather than having to enter the geographic area from scratch every time.
For general Search Criteria help, including how to use pick lists (County, Municipality, School District, Municipal Sub-Area), see our How To Search document.
For additional information on the Drill Down tools used for County, Municipality and School District, see our Drill Down document.
For details on the Municipal Sub-Areas, which were designed to mimic some of the MLS Area Numbers, review this information here.
For instructions on how to Save and Retrieve Search Criteria, click here. 
The best way to pinpoint locations for your client's searches is to use a Map-Based Search. Using the Polygon, Circle, and Rectangle drawing tools allow you to specify an exact area (or multiple areas on the same map) where properties will be located in your search results. Map-Based Searches can be used for any property type search, for Hotsheets, AND for Prospect Manager!
Step-by-step instructions are found here.
Make sure YOUR listings are found when other members use Map-Based Searches! Check and manually save your listing's location via the Listing Inventory report. 

MLS Training Class: Prospect Manager

Among the monthly training sessions offered by RANW MLS is a class focused on Prospect Manager. Even long-time members can benefit from the in-depth training on properly entering and working with this helpful tool. For upcoming dates for Prospect Manager, as well as for our other instructor-led training sessions, be sure to check the Training Calendar.

Update Tax Information on Your Active Listings

Reminder to all members: If your listing is still active in the new year, MLS requires that the Net Taxes amount and Tax Year be updated to reflect the new year's tax information. Listing Maintenance offices can update their own listings; those members who do not use Listing Maintenance should submit a Status Sheet noting the change OR use the Tax Report update form that was sent out from Data Entry to companies in January.

Manually Map Your Listings!!!

Although the percentages continue to improve, MLS has found that despite weekly emails to companies and individual emails per listing from Data Checker - far too many MLS members are STILL not manually mapping their listings. When listings are not manually mapped and saved, they may not be found on map-based searches, may not be added to prospect carts, and subsequently are not being shared with buyers.
It is not enough to simply look at the mapped location. Even if the property looks like it is in the correct location, members must follow a few extra clicks to ensure that they have manually mapped and saved the listing location. This is becoming even more important as many members and their customers use Map-Based searching to find listings.  Easy instructions can be found here. 

Weekly Mapping Email to Companies

MLS member companies receive a weekly email reminding them of any listings that have not been manually mapped, even when the automatically mapped location is considered “Good.” It is important for members to manually map and save the location of ALL of their listings; that is the only way to include a mapped location in WIREX, the only way to include geo-coordinates in RANW MLS data feeds, and it’s the best way to make sure your listing is in the correct location when viewed on a map.

MLS Stats

Don't forget - "MLS Stats" are available to MLS members - it allows members to quickly and easily pull statistical reports from the MLS data. Under the Misc menu, or by using the MLS Stats button on the right side of the My InnoVia screen, members will log in to the stats program with their InnoVia login and password, and then choose from a variety of reporting options.

Stats Talk

To view RANW MLS Year-to-Date, NAR Sales or WRA's comparison to MLS statistics, click on the links below.

MLS Monthly Stats

NAR Sales Reports

WRA State Comparison

RANW MLS Statistical Reports Affiliate Subscription Contact - order now!

Lockbox Program

Welcome to the Lockbox Program

#1371 #1564

Daniel Gallagher Realty Design Realty, LLC

REALTOR® MLS REALTOR® MLS

De Pere Green Bay

Lockbox Check - Be Proactive with Battery Status

Did you know that every time you release the shackle of a lockbox, the lockbox battery status is displayed on your key? Lockbox Battery Status should always be over 5%. If not, please bring the lockbox into RANW for a replacement.
Prevent Jams
Make sure that no more than three property keys are placed in the key container AND that they are tucked in before pushing the key container back into the lockbox again. Don't risk a possible locksmith charge to cut off a lockbox. If you have questions regarding any of these procedures, please contact RANW for assistance.

DisplayKey Members: "Key Update Successful" - But DisplayKey Dead at Property ~ How Embarrassing

Take less than one minute a day!
If you called in for an update code for your Supra DisplayKey and it displays "Key Update Successful", the update may not really have been successful, and your key may malfunction at ANY time.  Although your DisplayKey may have been updated, it DID NOT empty the showing data.
If you are not regularly emptying the key data, you will not know when or where your key will malfunction -- could be when you are with Buyers at a property showing. That is because there is too much data inside the DisplayKey, so it will just shut down and error out -- even if you had a "successful update".
You must sync your key in one of two ways: (1) setting key on a cradle for less than 1 minute and manually syncing key OR (2) cradling key overnight. DO BOTH in less than 1 minute, get your update code and get the showing data off your key by manually syncing your key regularly! If you forget to sync at home, your company should have an office cradle for your convenience.
If you have questions or need assistance, please call RANW MLS or Supra. Thanks for making your system a better service for yourself and fellow members!

Membership

RANW Membership Changes

To view all the current membership changes for RANW, click here.

Sincere Condolences

RANW would like to extend its sincerest condolences to the family, friends, and co-workers of:

Barb Sramkoski, in her recent passing.  Barb was a long-time REALTOR®, most recently with Think Hallmark Real Estate of Appleton.

Congratulations on Your Retirement!

RANW congratulates the following RANW members on their recent retirement:

~ Jerry Backus,Coldwell Banker The Real Estate Group, Oshkosh
~ Bonnie Plummer, Appraisal Associates Mgmt Corp, Fond du Lac
~ Weylin Walker, Coldwell Banker The Real Estate Group, Manawa

Online Membership Directory - A Great Tool

The RANW Directory is available to members online 24/7! Member and company information is updated daily so you'll always have the most up-to-date information. Member and Company License number rosters have been added to assist members with the new TRID regulations!
If you haven't already registered to use the online directory, it's easy to do. Click here to access.

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