We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you. Should you have any questions or concerns, please contact our Customer/Technical Support Team by calling 1-800-628-3121, or send an email to TechSupport@Hawaiiinformation.com.

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JULY BILLING & WAIVER REMINDER

Aloha Brokers and Agents
Important Billing Announcment

Next billing for credit card and ACH customers is Wednesday, July 1, 2009  
(Payments by check are also due Wednesday, July 1st)

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 request that changes be submitted to us 4 to 5 business days prior to the billing date, so please send your form(s) in by Wednesday, June 24, 2009 to assure that your changes will be processed before the billing on July 1, 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:
Exhibit C – Pre-authorized Payment Agreement

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 please notify us, by one of the following methods:
a) Call HIS Accounting: 1-800-628-3121, ext. #454, or
b) Send an email to Accounting@HawaiiInformation.com or deb@hawaiiinformation.com

It is the responsibility of the PB to insure that the fees that are due are paid by the 10th of each month or service may be interrupted to the entire office on the 11th.  Each PB must be responsible for his/her own agents.  If an agent is not able to pay his/her MLS fees, the PB has the following choices.

• Release the agent, placing their license inactive with DCCA, and providing a copy of the release to HIS.  The agent’s signature is not required. 
• Loan the agent sufficient funds to pay the MLS fees due.
• Pay the fees due on behalf of the agent.
• The PB is responsible for managing the roster for his/her office.  Fees will continue to be billed until a DCCA change form is received by HIS.

As always, we appreciate your cooperation.

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Also……….
WAIVER APPLICATIONS/RENEWALS ARE DUE NOW!

Do you have agents, assistants, or other staff that qualify for an MLS Waiver? Waiver applications and renewals are DUE NOW! Please read this important information about waiver applications.

Waiver Applications for the new fiscal year period from July 2009 through June 2010 are due by June 30, 2009.

Waiver applications for the July 2008 to June 2009 period will be automatically expiring on June 30, 2009. Anyone who is under waiver and want to continue accessing the MLS service under a waiver application must submit a new waiver application by June 30th of each fiscal year. This affects all licensed support subscribers, property managers and time-share agents. Waivers are also required for each partner or officer, director or shareholder who has a license, but does not engage in sales activity. Click here to obtain the Waiver Application form.

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Administration Notes
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

We appreciate your patience and apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you.  Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact us.

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.

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

The MLS Database has been restored, and you should not notice any problems at this time.

Please send any questions or comments to support@hawaiiinformation.com

REsearch Tip of the Day: How to Change Your Preferred Phone from Hawaii Information Service on Vimeo.

We appreciate your patience and apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you. Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact us.

Mahalo!

The last column of the MLS 1 Photo display format for any listing except for vacant land, shows the living area, apartment # and beds & baths. Up to now there has not been any descriptive label for that column. Now you’ll see a label “Lv.Area Bd/Ba” or “Lv.Area #Unit Bd/Ba.” The data in this column will be shown in the same order of the items shown in the labels reading left to right.

We have received a few calls in regards to the correctness of the Condo Documents that can be viewed through clicking on links in the TMK records. The documents that appear after clicking on a document link in the HIS service are those that are at the State website. HIS does not have access to these documents, nor does HIS have the authority to make changes to them. If you come across a document that you feel is not accurate, or is the wrong one, please contact our Data Quality & Control team by sending an email to CustSvc_Data_Discrepancy@Hawaii Information.com or by calling 1-800-628-3121. We can check to make sure that our service is linking to the right document. Any questions about the documents themselves should be directed to the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs (DCCA).

On March 25, 2008, the HIS Board of Directors approved an amendment to the MLS Rules & Regulations. The following section will be added to Article IX, Display, reproduction and advertising. The new Section 9.05 will read:

“If a listing broker takes a listing contract on a property for which another broker previously submitted photographs to a listing record in the service, the new listing broker may not copy or otherwise use the previously submitted photographs to market the property under the new listing contract without the permission of the listing broker who originally submitted the photographs. The foregoing notwithstanding, participants are entitled to reproduce the photographs appearing in listings of other brokers under the terms of Section 9.02.”

This specifically addresses the unauthorized copying of and re-use of photos attached to past listings by other brokers and agents for subsequent listings for any given property.

An email list generated from data in the HIS database is considered a service communication channel. 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.

You may list properties in the MLS if you have been appointed Commissioner to facilitate the sale of a foreclosed property. If there are no commissions involved, just enter $1 as the commission offered. This is because the MLS rules require that a commission of at least $1 be shown in a listing. In the Public Remarks, be sure to include a comment in the Public Remarks that your listing is for an REO property. When the property is sold, if the buyer was not represented, use the ID# 1799 for “Buyer not Represented”, or the ID# of the buyer’s agent, or if the buyer’s agent is not a subscriber to any MLS service, use ID #2311 for “Non Participant”.

You may come upon other scenarios. Some may involve properties that have not been foreclosed on, or are short sales. Sometimes there are commissions offered. If you have any questions as to how they may be listed, contact us, and we’ll be able to help you with your listing.

Just a reminder…

Remarks like “Call now”, “Call for more information”, “For more information, contact us today” or any verbiage that may be perceived by prospective buyers as invitation or enticement to contact the listors directly are considered contact information. We recommend avoiding using the words “call” or “contact” in the Public Remarks. If you use these words in the Public Remarks in any listing that is released to active status, our screening program will automatically flag them for review. In almost all instances, our “human eyeball” review will result in a notice being sent to the listor to revise the remarks or be subject to processing fees. The current processing fees for having contact info in the Public Remarks is $25 per listing for the first instance and then $50 per listing for each subsequent instance. HIS may also remove or withdrawn listings that violate the rules from the HIS database.

You may include directions to the property in the Public Remarks, but do not include them in the context of inviting prospective buyers to visit the property, such as “Come see this property today located at …..” or “Drop in and see ……”. In the case of listings for property in a project, do not mention the sales office or it’s location at the project site.

After you log into REsearch,

• Click on the “TOOLS” tab that is located at the top right corner of the screen.
• Click on “Update My Profile” on the drop down menu.
• Update any information and/or your change your password

If you make changes to your information yourself, there is no fee charged for the changes. If you would like us to make the necessary changes for you, there is a $100 fee for changes. Just click on the form link below for a “Change in Subscriber Information” form”. Complete the form and fax it to (888) 628-3121. Upon your approval of the $100 charge to make the changes, we will change the information as requested. If you have any questions or need further assistance, please feel free to call our Technical/Customer Support team at the following numbers: Interisland call 1 (800) 628-3121, enter # and then 457. From the Mainland call 1 (808) 599-4224, enter # and then 457. Thank you.

Change in Subscriber Information form.

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.

HIS will be performing Software Upgrades to our servers, installing the latest Backup drivers. This is scheduled to occur on Sunday, March 30, 2008 at 3:45 a.m. All REsearch, IDX and public site customers will experience a loss of service for the first 15 minutes of this installation

Administrative Notes…..

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.

A problem with missing condo document for some Kauai projects has been resolved. Should you come across any problems with missing documents, please report them to us.
Should you have any questions or concerns in regards to the enhancements and bug fixes we have just released, please feel free to contact us at 1-800-628-3121, if calling from the neighbor islands or 599-4224 if calling from Oahu. You may also send an email to TechSupport@Hawaiiinformation.com.

In our last bulletin, we announced a change in the rules regarding the copying of other brokers/agents’ photos. The change in the rules only applies to the copying of photos from listings previously submitted to the service by other brokers/agents for re-use in subsequent listings for the respective properties. The re-use of such photos may be allowed with the permission of previous listing brokers/agents. All other copying of photos currently permitted by the rules are not affected.

Okay….We heard you!…. “All that wordy stuff about disclosure requirements that was sent out in the last few bulletins left everyone more confused than ever.” Below is a table of these disclosures showing if they are required in the MLS and not. Please note that this may not be the complete list of disclosures required by the Hawaii Administrative Rules (HAR) and the National Associations of REALTORS (NAR).

Should you have any questions in regards to these disclosures, please feel free to contact Diana Haraguchi, Exec. Asst. to the President/CEO, by sending an email to Diana@HawaiiInformation.com or to call 1-800-628-3121, enter # and then 172.

To those of you who participated in our Customer Satisfaction Survey, we would like to express our appreciation. Your responses will help us in serving you better.

For those of you who have not yet had the opportunity to participate, we are leaving the survey on-line through Friday, March 21, 2008.

Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact our Tech Support team by sending an email to TechSupport@HawaiiInformation.com, or by calling 1-800-628-3121.

Participants are the primary subscribers of the MLS service for their respective offices. Participants are the principal brokers, brokers in charge, or the designated REALTORS©.

Participant’s affiliates may not have access to the service unless the Participant subscribes to the service. We receive quite a number of calls from agents who are not PBs, BICs or DRs, interested in signing up for new service or have changed offices and wish their services to be transferred to their new offices. All transfers require a copy of the DCCA Change Form signed by the Participant(s).

HIS is not part of the DCCA, and must rely on Participant to provide a copy of the fully signed Change Forms to us. Without it, HIS cannot activate new service or transfer agents from one office to another. In the case of a transfer, the transferring agent must reapply for MLS service under his/her new office. There is a $50 charge to transfer service. If the agent is subscribing for new service, there is an initial setup fee of $250.

The only way to change billing is to change the roster. The only way to change the roster is to supply a copy of the signed Change Forms to both DCCA and HIS.

Should you have any questions regarding MLS subscriptions, please contact our Membership Coordinator, Sue Ann Militante, by sending an email to SueAnn@HawaiiInformation.com, or by calling her at 1-800-628-3121, enter # and then 160.

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.

Diana Haraguchi
Exec. Asst. to the President/CEO
Hawaii Information Service
Phone: 1-800-628-3121, enter # and then 172
(Oahu call 599-4224)
Fax: 1-888-628-3121
(Oahu fax 599-4224)

The limit on initial Prospect matches has been increased from a limit of 100 to 500.

(Clarification added March 13, 2008. Now if your prospect matches more than a 100 matches (and under 500) they will be sent out before turning into a bad prospect.)

Bugs Fixed…….

Should you have any questions or concerns in regards to the enhancements and bug fixes we have just released, please feel free to contact us at 1-800-628-3121, if calling from the neighbor islands or 599-4224 if calling from Oahu. You may also send an email to TechSupport@Hawaiiinformation.com.

MLS Rules……

We are pleased to announce an oft-requested change in the HIS policy that allows copying of photos for re-use.

Effective March 1, 2008, the MLS Rules & Regulations is amended to establish photos for listings submitted to the service as a separate class of data not available for copying by other Participants and/or their agents for re-use in subsequent listings for any given property without the permission of the previous listors who originally submitted the photos.

(Clarification added March 13, 2008.The paragraph above reflects revisions since first being sent to all customers on March 06, 2008. Please note that the rule change only affects the re-using of listings photos. All other copying of photos currently permitted by the rules are not affected.)

HIS is now investigating watermarks and or other copyright notices on photos to prevent the scraping or copying of photos. At the same time, an enhancement to REsearch to allow agents to copy their own photos is now in the development queue.

Rules Clarification …..

Some of the most frequently asked questions regards the disclosure of license status. The MLS Rules and Regulations do not require licensee listors or licensee sellers/owners to disclose the status of their licenses in the listing Public Remarks. The listor/listing agent’s license status should already be on their web pages in which the listing record information is viewed by the public website visitors. Also participation in the MLS presumes that the listing agent holds an active real estate license.

Seller and/or owner who is a licensee does not have to disclose his/her license status in a listing of his/her property at all if it is listed by another licensee. If the seller and/or owner is listing his/her own property, he/she needs to disclose that he/she has ownership interest in the listed property in the Private Remarks. Prior to February 1, 2008, the “listor is owner/seller” disclosure was required in the Public Remarks.

The MLS rules prohibit persons to be shown in photos attached to listing records and many listors are caught by surprise upon receiving notice from HIS requesting the removal of photos they have attached to listing records that contain people in them. There may be exposure to liability with the publishing of such photos. Unless the subjects in the photos authorize their photos to be published in advertising, they may upon discovering it file lawsuits against the listors. There may also be problems in regards to Fair Housing Laws. For example, if photos show only people of a certain ethnicity in listings of properties in a community known to be predominantly populated by people of that ethnicity, however far-fetched or remote the possibility, there is a risk that someone may claim that showing photos of persons only of that ethnicity are in violation of Fair Housing Laws. There have also been reports that showing photos of only adults causing allegations of discrimination against prospective buyers with children. The rules prohibiting photos with persons in the service help listors to avoid being subject to such suits and charges. It should be noted that it is the Participants who are responsible for complying with all laws.

Screening all listings for photos with persons in them is tedious and time-consuming, and HIS does not have the resources to dedicate personnel to look at every photo loaded into the service. When it is reported to HIS that a particular listing has photos with persons in them, HIS sends a courtesy notice to the respective listor asking that photos with persons be removed from the service within 48 hours. If these photos are not removed within that timeframe, processing fees may be assessed. Currently the processing fees are $50 per listing initially, and then $50 per listing each week thereafter until these photos are removed. HIS also reserved the right to remove listings in violation of the rules from the service.

Also regarding Photos…..

The MLS rules require that a photo of the listed property or its vicinity be submitted to the service within 7 days of the release of a listing. Only listings of vacant land are exempt from this requirement. Failure to provide a photo within 7 days, may cause listors to be assessed processing fees in the amount of $50 per listing initially, and then $50 per week thereafter until a photo is provided.

Upon the sale of the listed property, at least one photo of the property or its vicinity is required to remain with the listing before a sale can be reported.

If you’ve not participated in our Customer Satisfaction Survey yet, we would like to ask that you spend a few minutes of your time to let us know how we’re doing. Just click here if you’re ready to take it…or come back later when you have the time. The survey will be available on line through Wednesday, March 12, 2008. Should you have any questions about it, please contact our Tech Support team by sending an email to TechSupport@Hawaiiinformation.com, or by calling 1-800-628-3121 if you’re on any of the neighbor islands or 599-4224 if you’re calling from Oahu. Mahalo!