Dear MLS Update,

Can you give me a review on how to publish a listing instead of email it?

Wanna Be Publisher

Dear Wanna Be Publisher,

Listed below are steps to publish a listing. Part of the information was taken directly from the Help section in our MLS. This section is a very useful tool to use but sometimes we forget that it's there. Good Luck.

Publishing a Report

Published reports are reports that have been saved in a location so that others (such as clients) can view the reports using the Internet.

When you publish a report, you must provide the e-mail addresses of those people you want to be notified (via e-mail) when the report is available. The notification e-mails contain information about the report such as how long the report will be available and the uniform resource locator (URL) for the published report. Most people will be able to click on the URL to open the report, depending on their e-mail software.

Publishing a report is similar to e-mailing a report except a published report can contain a map and/or directions to the listing and when you e-mail a report, it is sent with the e-mail as an attachment.

To publish a report:

• Perform a search for the listings you want to publish.
• Create a standard report (such as the One Line report).
• Choose up to twelve listings from the standard report that you want to publish (click the checkbox next to the listing number to select it). You can only publish twelve listings at a time.
• Create an expanded report (click a blue, underlined listing number for one of the listings you selected and then choose an expanded report type from the list of formats available).
• To add directions to the report, click Routing.
• While viewing the expanded report, click Publish listing. An e-mail form appears.
• In the Send To box, enter the e-mail addresses of the recipients (for example, client@hometown.com).
• Enter your message for the recipients in the Email Comments box.

  Important! Be sure to include an e-mail address where the receiver should e-mail you. On most sites, receivers are not able to reply to notification e-mails.

• In the Web Page Title box, enter the title for the Web page where the published report is viewed. For example, "A Great Home for You".
• In the Web Page Comments box, enter the text you want to appear at the bottom of the Web page. For example "This is a great house! Call me at 555-1212 to set up a viewing. - Jane Agent"
• To include a link to a map for the listings, select the Show Map Link option.
• To include a link for directions to the listings, select the Show Routing Link option.
• To include the address on the page with the directions, select the Show Address option.
• If a virtual tour has been created for a listing, select the Show Virtual Tour option to include a link to the Web based tour.
• Click OK. After a few moments you'll see a confirmation message that the mail has been sent. Click OK to close the confirmation box.
• To return to the original standard report, click Back.
  

Dear MLS Update,

Can you give me a breakdown of how to enter criteria when I am searching? I know we can use symbols but I am confused. Please help!

Confused Searcher

Dear Confused Searcher,

It can be confusing. Using symbols can help significantly in searches. I hope this clarifies things for you.

Tips: Entering Criteria

There are certain rules you must follow when entering values into criteria fields. The following explains how to enter values into fields, use symbols and how to create a search with a complex meaning.

The table below summarizes the types of fields used in searches.

Alphanumeric Fields
Alphanumeric fields are used for street addresses, names, cities, states, counties, schools, remarks, etc. You can only use letters, numbers, and symbols.

Directional abbreviations (N, S, E or W) must be input after the street name. An example would be Jackson South. If you enter South Jackson, this listing will not come up in a search if searching by the street name Jackson. It will come up by the street name South.

Coded Fields
Coded fields are used for characteristics about the property or listing. For example, the type Features is a coded field. You can only use letters and numbers specifically designated for that amenity.

• Only the letters and numbers used by the coded field can be entered as input.

  For example, on the back of the input sheet, if the field is "Possession" and the values are defined as "A" meaning Day of Closing, "B" meaning Negotiable/with prorate Rent after closing, "C" meaning Negotiable, and "D" meaning Other, you cannot enter "E" since it has no meaning.

  
  Tip: Use the listing input sheet to help you learn the codes for the fields used for each property type.

Numeric Fields
Numeric fields are used for items such as list price, number of bedrooms, and listing date. You can only use numbers and symbols. Symbols must be enclosed in quotes.

• Dates can be expressed by words (enclosed in quotes and with numbers as needed) such as "TODAY" (meaning since midnight), "TOMORROW" (the 24 hours after midnight), "YESTERDAY" (the 24 hours prior to last midnight), "DAYS", "WEEKS", "MONTHS", and "YEAR". When using these words you must enclose the equation is quotes.
• Prices below one thousand dollars should be entered as a decimal. For example, ".001" for $1.00 and ".01" for $100 and ".1" for $1,000.
• In prices, do not use commas, dollar signs or trailing zeros. You can till use the comma in numeric fields similar to how they are used in coded and alphanumeric fields.

Using Symbols
Each symbol that can be used while searching is discussed in this section. Examples are given to explain the usage and purpose of some symbols.

Note: In numeric fields, symbols must be in quotes.

• Asterisk (*) - Wildcard character used to represent one or several letters in a word.

  For example, LAST_NAME=John* means find those with a last name beginning with "john" (for example, "johnson," "johnston," and "johnner" would all be found in this search).

• Back slash (\) - Used in place of the word "and" and may also be used when entering dates.

  For example, REMARKS=Trees/View means find listings with "tree" and "view" in the remarks.

• Comma (,) - Used in place of the word "or."

  For example, EXTERIOR=A,E means find listings with an all brick or cedar exterior.

• Greater than and less than (< >) - Used together without a space (<>) in place of the word "exclude."

  For example, EXTERIOR<>D means find listings with any exterior type except aluminum.

• Minus sign/hyphen (-) - Used in place of the phrase "or less" and to indicate a range of values.

  For example, BEDROOM=2- means find listings with two or fewer bedrooms. BEDROOM=3-5 means find listings with three to five bedrooms.

• Percent (%) - Used to find a specific range below and above an entered number. If the range is not given, 10% is used by default.

  For example, LIST PRICE=%150,5 means find listings with a price of $150,000 and a price 5% above and below the $150,000 price.

• Plus sign (+) - Used in place of the phrase "or more."

  For example, BEDROOM=2+ finds listings with two or more bedrooms.

• Quotes (") - Used to enclose text with and apostrophe or hyphen.

  For example, O'Hara is entered as "O'Hara". M-36 is entered as "M-36".

Examples
The following table provides some examples for how values are entered into fields.

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