Illinois Appraiser's / DOM removed from listing sheets?

[Pat Butler]

I can't stand ConnectMLS. It's a menu based system that takes way too long to choose each search criteria. It takes a few minutes to type in all the passwords to even get into the program. That's if they decide to keep the same URL which keeps changing.

I primarily use Lightning 2000 which I'm afraid they'll stop supporting some time. For some reason they insist on supporting 3 different ways to access the MLS. Sure must be nice to spend our money on all of those excesses.

They're now changing lockboxes too!

 

[Scott Kibler]

My wife was complaining about having to buy a new supra key. Now that she's had a chance to use it for a while, she claims it to be superior to the old system.

 

[Scott Kibler]

UGH, what the heck is a rubber band tool?

I need a class for this thing they call connectMLS:new_smile-l: ...or perhaps hours of sitting by my lonely old self and attempting to learn something new. I've actually used it, but I don't really like it.

And don't dis the PC Access....

BTW Kibler, spoke to you're wife today, she is lovely.

The rubber band is a mapping tool. In RExplorer you can search by radius; map the subject and set critieria to search within x miles of the "pin". The "rubber band" allows you to set boundaries on a map as critieria, very useful.

I've trained the missus very carefully to be nice to appraisers.

 

[hovious]

My wife was complaining about having to buy a new supra key. Now that she's had a chance to use it for a while, she claims it to be superior to the old system.

Supra Key?! Those things svck! I like the old triple dial combo lock boxes (and yeah, I like my PC Access). I'm an old timer Scott (20 years in the buisness). Have mercy on us dinosaurs!

 

[Suz-E]

I heard this new sentrilock thing is going to make my life easier.

I hate telling the agent that I don't have a supra key. I had an agent last week go and remove the supra and put on a lockbox just for me. I didn't really understand it, actually...he could have just met me there and made the same amount of trips to the property.

 

[Pat Butler]

The change to the new boxes was mostly because of political reasons. Very few Realtors use all of the advanced features that these lockboxes offer such as the fancy logging of showings for instance.

I agree, the old combo boxes were the best. Worked perfect all the time without all of the overhead of the fancy electronics, online systems, required training meetings, billing companies that keep changing, hardware required in office WITH a phone line, etc. These guys have made real estate way more complex than it needs to be.

 

[xmtpedprl]

Man, my wife loves PC Access. I use Re-Explorer & Connect MLS, but still have that old battle axe ready in case I wanted to use it.

Thanks for the heads up!

Dave...

 

[Scott Kibler]

The change to the new boxes was mostly because of political reasons. Very few Realtors use all of the advanced features that these lockboxes offer such as the fancy logging of showings for instance.

I agree, the old combo boxes were the best. Worked perfect all the time without all of the overhead of the fancy electronics, online systems, required training meetings, billing companies that keep changing, hardware required in office WITH a phone line, etc. These guys have made real estate way more complex than it needs to be.

The idea is security. With the new boxes, you can track who and when was entering the property, something a combo box will not do.

 

[Pat Butler]

Except that they didn't tell you that they weren't having a security problem with the old boxes. The biggest security issue in reality are thiefs going to a house accompanied by a Realtor then spreading out throughout the house so that the Realtor can't keep an eye on them. One guy steals something while another keeps the Realtor busy.

There are easier ways to break into a house then to go through the hassle of getting a lockbox combo.

I was at an office years ago where we rotated the combo boxes every few weeks so that the combo's would change for the individual properties. Funny thing is that the old Supra combo boxes all came with a standard combo of "SPI" and lots of agents never changed the combo. Hundreds of houses had the same combination, yet it still didn't post a major security problem.

NAR is trying to control the lockbox industry and this latest effort is how they are doing it. Just the one time conversion that everyone has to make to buy new lockboxes and key cards will cost its members into the tens of millions of dollars.

 

[Lee Lansford]

DOM in PC Access

Today I attended a brokers' CE class in Downers Grove. The topic of the change of our loss of DOM when using PC Access was mentioned by the instructor. The instructor told us that this change (and, I believe I understood that this is to be temporary) is due to the integration of the MAP MLS system into the N.IL MLS system and problems associated with same.

And, yes, I'm one of those "old-timers" who continues to use PC Access.