Three ‘Tweaks’ for Entering New Listings

By Diane Ives

MRIS, May 19, 2008-MRIS offers a Keystone class where you can practice the following: enter a listing, obtain an MLS number, add an open house to that listing, and upload photos. “Guided practice” allows simulation and the ability to ask your unique questions without fear of “messing anything up.” The class is also offered in a “Virtual” classroom setting with a live instructor, where you can watch and ask questions. Enroll in a class by logging into www.mris.com, hover over Training, click enroll in a class or click Virtual Class (at the bottom of the list).

Tweak #1

Use Auto Fill to enter the tax information. Once you have clicked Add Listing, entered the State, County, and Property Type information, you will see a screen which says, “Search for listings.” This will search for the tax (public) record for the new listing you plan to enter. In order to locate the tax record, make a decision to enter the tax I.D. or the address information for the property. Enter either the tax I.D. or property address (do not use street type). If you use the tax I.D. number, it is helpful to find it first in Matrix and print it out. That way the tax I.D. number can be typed exactly the way it appears in Matrix. This step will also help you to have confidence that the tax record does exist.

If you have difficulty and get no results for your search for the tax record, please use the “Edit Search” button and try again. Perhaps you will need to remove the tax I.D. from the field and enter a portion of the address. This is a very important step in entering your listing and your perseverance will be worth the effort.
You are now looking at a screen called, “Listing Search Results.” The property you plan to list, (or there may be a list of properties if you searched for the entire street) should now be visible. On the left side of the screen is a blue, square icon with some lines and an arrow. This is the “autofill” icon. Click the “autofill” icon to enter the tax record information into your listing.

Tweak #2

Expand the Navigation Menu (visible on the left side of the screen) and find the address link. This is in the Section called Property. Find the field called Postal City (right side of screen). Verify if this is the correct postal city for the property. Note: many zip codes have more than one postal city name acceptable to the post office. If the postal city being displayed is not the preferred postal city, use the look up icon (located to the right of the field). Remove the information from the postal city field but leave the zip code. Click search (top right corner) and search for other acceptable postal city names within that zip code. If there are alternate acceptable names, they will appear in a list. Click on the name of the postal city you wish to use.

The same process may be used to look up an acceptable, alternate zip code except use the zip code look up button found to the right of the zip code field. This time, remove the zip code, leave the postal city and search for alternate zip codes within that postal city.

Tweak #3

The map push pin is placed automatically based on the Latitude and Longitude but it can be moved by the listing agent. To change the pushpin location, click directly on the map where the listing is located, and the pushpin will move to the place that you clicked. If you’ve inadvertently moved the pushpin to an inaccurate position, you can click the “Restore Original Map” link and the map will redisplay with the pushpin in its original location. After you submit your listing, it is always a good idea to go into Matrix, find your listing, and view the Map pushpin from the Map Icon (the blue world/globe icon). Check out the road view, the satellite view, and the birds-eye view (where available). You may find (after viewing it in Matrix) that the pushpin needs a slight adjustment. Go back into Keystone, edit your listing, and adjust the pushpin, click submit to MLS.

Diane Ives, CRB, CRS, is an MRIS instructor.

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