The SWMLS Directors, Committees, and Staff have been tackling some important issues, here is the latest news.
Clear Cooperation Violation Fines Increase
Clear Cooperation is a vital piece of what REALTORS do – it aids professionalism and availability of properties in the marketplace to ensure that REALTORS are the trusted source of up-to-date Real Estate data.
Overall, SWMLS members are doing an excellent job of adhering to Clear Cooperation, but the Policy Committee and Board want to send a clear message that “violations of Clear Cooperation harm the MLS and consumers” and that fines should not be treated as a “cost of doing business"..
Beginning September 1st, SWMLS fines for violations will change to:
- First Offense: $500
- Second Offense: $1,000
- Third Offense: $5,000 PLUS a 30-day suspension of MLS privileges
Please note that this is a rolling count per member and does not reset. Every offense after the third will incur a $5,000 fine. Still have questions regarding Clear Cooperation? Read more here.
Active Status Changes
Beginning September 1st, listings in Active status must be available for showings. This change was made to clear up confusion on a listing that is not available for showings.
If you have a listed property that cannot be shown, you have a few options:
- For new listings that have not been marketed - use “On Market Date” to schedule the listing to go Active at a future date.
- If your seller wants to start marketing their property, use “Coming Soon” for up to 14 days.
- Finally, if a property is already Active but cannot be shown, change to "Withdrawn" until the property is ready to show.
Copy Function in Flex
The Copy function allows you to use data from a previous listing to pre-fill about 75% of a new listing. And this is across different property types!
For example, you can take a property you have listed in Residential and copy it to Residential Income or another property type, as long as it meets the criteria. Read more here.
Minimum Photo Requirement
Late fall, SWMLS will join a handful of large MLSs to use Artificial Intelligence to scan listing photos. Restb.ai room identification technology will increase the quality of our data by enforcing minimum photo requirements.
Once this is implemented, Members will be required to upload at least one photo of the front of the house, backyard, living room, kitchen, and all bathrooms. Some exceptions will apply. The system will also flag photos that display contact info.
Stay tuned for updates on this exciting update!
Suggestions or Feedback?
Many changes and updates are provided by our members, please reach out to any SWMLS staff, board, or committee member with feedback or suggestions. The more member involvement we have, the better we can make the MLS work for you. Richard can be reached at 505-843-8833 or richard@swmls.com.
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