During the month of June, Realcomp’s Board of Governors approved several MLS policy recommendations that originated with Realcomp’s Rules & Policy Committee. These groups of user volunteers meet regularly to discuss MLS-related topics and make decisions that will best serve Realcomp and our REALTOR® user base of more than 13,300 professionals. Below is a list of the approved policy modifications and the rationale for each, which are slated to go into effect as of Tuesday, July 19, 2016:
1) Non-Deeded Mobile/Manufactured Homes: The Board of Governors approved a MOTION to modify Realcomp’s MLS policy to allow non-deeded mobile/manufactured homes in the MLS. Further, for a category for these types of properties be added to the appropriate feature group.
Rationale: Non-deeded mobile/manufactured homes are included in the Great Lakes Repository (GLR) data feed that Realcomp currently receives. This policy modification will not only allow us to continue to publish these listings, but also enable Realcomp REALTORS® to directly submit these kinds of listings to Realcomp for MLS publication and further distribution to our data sharing partners.
Important Notes: The State of Michigan requires anyone involved in the selling/reselling of mobile homes must have a mobile home dealer license. As soon as the new corresponding features are available in RCO3® and on the listing profile forms, we will be sure to notify you of this.
2) Fines for Sharing Lockbox Codes with Unauthorized Parties: The Board of Governors approved a MOTION recommended to them by the Rules & Policy Committee to modify Realcomp’s fine policy for sharing lockbox codes with unauthorized individuals to a scaled system on the number of offenses committed by the MLS Subscriber. This includes:
a. First Offense - $1,000 fine plus the agent must submit a letter to Realcomp acknowledging the importance of this policy;
b. Second Offense - $2,500 fine and the agent must appear before the Rules and Policy Committee;
c. Third Offense - $5,000 fine and a 30 day suspension from the MLS;
d. Any further offenses would result in expulsion from the MLS.
Rationale: The current $5,000 fine for first-time offenders of this policy is difficult to collect and usually translates into the person dropping their MLS participation rather than paying the fine and discontinuing the offensive behavior. Realcomp’s leadership believes the new scaled fine approach is more likely to lead to these desired results.
3) Fines for Manipulating Listing Data to Display Inaccurate Days on Market (DOM) Data: In an effort to continue to protect the reliability of the MLS database, the Realcomp Board approved a MOTION recommended by the Rules & Policy Committee to adopt a scaled fine system which would be applied to any MLS Subscriber who manipulates the address, PIN or any other fields on a listing that would cause the days on market fields to not continue when the property has been relisted within 30 days of the previous listing. Further that the following fine schedule will be adopted for failure to adhere to this policy:
a. First Offense - $250
b. Second Offense - $1,000
c. Third Offense - $5,000 and an appearance before the Committee.
d. Failure to appear before the Committee as required may result in a 30 day suspension from the MLS.
Rationale: Reports of MLS Subscribers manipulating various fields on their listings to circumvent the number of days on market from displaying correctly have increased. Since the integrity of the MLS data is important to all Subscribers, fines are now being implemented to discourage users from making these kinds of manipulations which make the days on market data inaccurate.
4) Timeline for Reporting Listings “Pending” Shortened to 48-Hours: To shorten the processing window for “Pending” listings and further improve the accurate display of their status, the Realcomp Board of Governors approved a MOTION to modify Realcomp’s MLS policy and timeframe for reporting a pending sale from five (5) days (as it is currently) to 48-hours. The 48-hours applies only during the business days of Monday through Friday. When listing offers are accepted on weekends, these listings should be reported pending by the end of the second business day following the offer acceptance.
Rationale: To further improve the accurate display of the listing status on pending listings.
5) Broker Syndication Setting Resets Suspended: The Realcomp Board of Governors approved a MOTION recommended by Realcomp staff to suspend the Listing Syndication “resets” that currently occur every six (6) months.
Rationale: This reset logic was included in Realcomp’s syndication programming to remind Brokers that they control whether their listings are syndicated to outside real estate portals and to which ones. However, many Brokers are unhappy that they need to continually reset their choices. So, these resets will be omitted in the future to simplify listing syndication for Brokers and further satisfy their syndication needs.
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