Bulletins – Hawaii Information Service

If you regularly advertise or send out bulk communications via facsimile machine, be sure you know to whom you’re allowed to send faxes.

Recently, the Federal Communications Commission issued its final rule on the Junk Fax Prevention Act of 2005.  The requirement to have had an Established Business Relationship (EBR) with the recipient still stands, but the clarification issued in October also covered fax numbers obtained on the web, from an advertisement, or in a business directory.

Key to the latest update is determining whether the recipient”voluntarily agreed” to make its fax number available. Generally, senders are in the clear if the fax number is published on the recipient’s official website, placed in an ad or other publication from the recipient, or included in a directory or database in which the recipient appears to have requested or authorize the listing.

The Junk Fax Prevention Act also requires that all facsimile advertisements include an opt-out notice that instructs recipients on howto notify senders that they do not wish to receive future facsimile advertisements.  You can invite recipients to opt out via a website, provided the mechanism is plainly visible on the main page.

For all the details (including petitions made by the Direct Marketing Association and other groups),  consult the full report in the Federal Register (PDF).

If you are placing your license INACTIVE, or if you are surrendering your license, we must receive a copy of your DCCA change form. We normally request that changes be submitted to us 4-5 working days prior to the billing date, so please send your form(s) in by December 23, 2008 to assure that your changes will be processed before the billing is sent out on January 5, 2009.

Once we charge your credit card or debit your account, there is no refund. Please contact us before billing occurs if you would like to make any changes to your billing.

If you need to change your payment account, please go to this link:
http://www.hiiinfo.net/REsearch/IDX/mlsHawaii/forms/PreAuthprizedPayment.pdf

Print and complete this form, sign it and fax your new Exhibit C to (808) 524-6874. Please note that your broker does not have to sign this form if you are only changing your account information.

If you need to change your payment frequency or billing cycle, please notify us by:

- Calling HIS Accounting at 1-800-628-3121, ext. #454, or
- Send an email to Accounting@HawaiiInformation.com

Mahalo!

Clarification of the use of more than one form type to list property:

Vacant land listed also as Residential:
A vacant land property may be listed as residential only if there are building plans for a residential structure “to be built”, and the list price on the residential listing must reflect the cost of the land and residential structure to be built.

Vacant land with a structure that is not considered a residential structure (such as a storage shed or temporary structure) may not be listed also as Residential unless there are building plans for a residential structure “to be built”. The list price on the residential listing must reflect the cost of the land and the residential structure to be built.

Residential listed also as Vacant Land :
A property with a structure already on it may be listed as vacant land only if the list price on the vacant land listing reflects the price of the land only. Even if the structure was built without permits, the property may not be listed as vacant land unless the land listing is list priced for the land only and the seller/owner is willing to sell the property at the land only price.

The above criteria has been developed to prevent the listing of properties on more than one form type only for the purpose of providing additional exposure for the property. To list a vacant land parcel as residential when there is no intention to build a residential structure on it before it is sold, or to list a residential property as land when there is no intention to sell the property at the land price only is deceiving, and could be considered a misrepresentation of the property in the eyes of license law enforcement authorities.

We will be sending notices to all listors who currently have listed properties under both Residential and Land that do not meet the above criteria. After December 31, 2008, any listing that does meet the criteria will be in violation of the rules and the listor will be subject to processing fees of $25 for the first instance and $50 for every instance thereafter.

Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact Diana Haraguchi at 1-800-628-3121, enter # and then 172, or send an email to Diana@HawaiiInformation.com.

Please be Considerate!

Use of MLS/HIS Email Lists Limited

We have received several reports from members who have received unwanted email from members who may be using email distribution lists that have been generated from the HIS roster database. The MLS rules state that the use of these lists is strictly limited to promoting the sale of properties listed in the service. They may not be used for the distribution of announcements for garage sales, ads for the sale of vehicles or for forwarding chain emails. These are considered “spam” (sometimes called “junk email” ) that are not appreciated by most of our customers. Even if the sender is not using a list generated from the HIS system, the sender should provide the recipients with a way to “opt out” of receiving any future mailings from the sender.

Administration Notes
Our offices will be closed for the holidays from December 25, 2008
through January 04, 2009. Normal office hours will resume on January 05, 2009

Normal Office Hours
Monday – Friday: 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m

In the event of emergency ….
you may leave a message in our emergency voice mailbox by calling the main office number and pressing * (star). Leave your message and our phone system will notify our on-call staff that there is an emergency message. Call 1-800-628-3121, if calling from the neighbor islands or 599-4224, if calling from Oahu.

www.HawaiiInformation.com
Dole Office Building, 680 Iwilei Road #777, Honolulu, HI 96817

MELE KALIKIMAKA
&
HAUOLI MAKAHIKI HOU

We hope that everyone has a safe and happy holiday season.

Develop a hit list of buyers! How do you do that? Search TMK for “owns” and enter “2 or more,” and the search results will give you the owners of more than two properties in the area you specified in the search.

The Hawaii Information Service Office will be closed from Thanksgiving Day, November 27th through Sunday, November 30, 2008. In the event of an emergency, please call 1-800-628-3121, press *, and leave your name and phone number. We wish you all a Happy and safe Thanksgiving!

What is Hawaii Information Service?

The official name of the corporation is MLS Hawaii, Inc.. MLSHI is a for-profit corporation created by the Hawaii Island, Kauai, and Kona Boards of Realtors® in 1984. MLSHI filed to operate as Hawaii Information Service in 1987 when the directors acknowledged that half of the revenue of the company came from non-MLS sources.

Who owns HIS?

HIS is owned by two not-for-profit Boards of Realtors®. The Hawaii Island Board of Realtors (HIBR) owns one class of stock and the Kauai Board of Realtors owns one class of stock. The staff of HIS has ZERO ownership in HIS.

Who runs HIS?

A Board of Directors made up of 7 directors .. 3 appointed by Hawaii Island board of Realtors and 3 appointed by the Kauai Board of Realtors plus the CEO who is automatically a member of the board of Directors. Every member of the Board of Directors is a Realtor® (including the CEO), but there are on-going discussions about expanding the Board of Directors to include non-Realtor® members who will offer expertise in non-MLS areas, such as finance or telecommunications.

HIBR directors are Gary Davis, Al Inoue, and Buddy Norwood.Kauai directors are Roy Morimoto, Roberta Charles, and Clifton Kukino.

Who decides what the MLS fees will be?

The Board of Directors of Hawaii Information Service.

Have MLS fees paid for software development?

No. Historically, only half of the company’s revenue is generated from MLS fees. The other half comes from the sale of products, such as the public records, to non-MLS customers.

Why does HIS have mainland customers? Why are they not concentrating on us?

The goal of the Board of Directors for the past 20 years has been to build the non-MLS revenue in order to even out the peaks and valleys in MLS subscribers that result from ups and downs in the real estate market. MLS revenue has declined more than $200,000 since 2006, but non-MLS revenue has increased more than $500,000 which has allowed continued improvements in customer service with no further increases in MLS fees.