What you’ll find in our Mid IDX Suite:

Search…

By New Fields City, Zip Code, County (New)

• The Entire state from one page vs. four (New)
• Using Sorting options, high to low, low to high etc. (New)
• With Dynamic Regional Maps (New)
• Using Multiple MLS Numbers (New)
• By Address (New)
• By Open House (New)

Map It – Our Mapping features just got better!  Now, property location data will now be significantly more accurate than most mapping systems that merely estimate a location using street address. In some cases, you’ll now be able to display a position within 10 inches of the property* versus discrepancies of up to five miles using the address method.  (*Accuracy of 10 inches is possible only when updated property information with longitude and latitude coordinates is available.)

• Map Details – View a single property (New)
• Interactive Map Search – View multiple results on a map) (New)

Customize

• Customizable CSS – The ability to personalize your IDX color, font, layout, etc. (New)
• Agent Photo and Contact Information prominently displayed (Improved)

Detailed Property Information & More

• Property Description
• Display – Days on Market (New)
• Virtual Tour
• All Photos
• Photo Captions (New)
• Print Page (New)

Want More? Upgrade to our Full IDX Suite easily:

With our Full IDX your clients will have access to all of the features and functions above, as well as:

Search

• Save Search – Consumers provide contact information to save their search criteria (New)
• Hot List – Consumers provide contact information to save their favorite listings (New)

Call To Action

• Schedule Showings (New)
• E-Mail a Friend (New)
• Ask an Agent (New)
• Open House Schedule (New)
• Mortgage Calculators (New)

Take our Mid IDX for a test drive using our new product demo.  Click HERE to access it.  For a personal tour of the Mid IDX and more information, contact Colleen Yasuhara our account manager who will walk you through it at 808-748-8751, toll free at 1-800-628-3121 #151 or via email at Colleen@AlohaLiving.com.

How Will It Work?

We’ll now be populating previously unused fields in the VOW feed with latitude and longitude coordinates. Field “mapX” will specify a property’s latitude, and “mapY” will specify the longitude. These coordinates will specify the “centroid,” or the very center, of the property, for maximum accuracy. This data is one of the many
advantages of our parcel-based MLS!

How Is This Better?

On other systems, searching for a property without a street address is a challenge. For example, Google Maps would be unable to find ‘Kaniahiku House Lots’ without an address, or many other properties in a newly built subdivision. With integrated latitude and longitude coordinates built into your VOW, displaying the property with pin-point precision is not a problem at all.

*Accuracy of 10 inches is possible only when updated property information with longitude and latitude coordinates is available.

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Question? Feedback? I’d love to hear from you!

Erin Shaw
Marketing Coordinator
Hawaii Information Service
Phone: 808-748-8759
E-mail: Erin@AlohaLiving.com

As a follow up to yesterday’s e-blast, here is a continued look at what you can expect, with a focus on the expanded features and functions that are only found in our Mid and FULL IDX Suites. (Click on the images to see a larger version of them)

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Better Saved Than Sorry…

Saving Search Parameters & Results*

One of the biggest advantages of having a FULL IDX is giving your customers the ability to save their searches, thus making their home buying search that much more easy and efficient.  What do you, the agent, get out of it?  Besides knowing that your customers are being taken care of, they will have to enter their contact information in return for being able to save their searches, giving you the ability to contact them and provide them with the educated help they need to take the next step.

Here’s how it works:

* Your customers can set the search parameters the way they want them and just click “Save This Search.”  If they are not logged in they will be prompted to do so, and then will be able to name their search, choose how often they want to receive updates, and go back to it whenever they please.

* Love at first sight?  Your customers can save their favorite properties to a ‘Hotlist’ and return to it at a glance.

* If your customers need more details or want more options they need not look any further than the Property Details Page.  By simply clicking on the “More Details” button on the listing of their choice they’ll find a world of opportunity at their fingertips.  From the property details page, they’ll be able to save or print the listing, contact you, the agent, or schedule a showing, or e-mail it to a friend.

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Tools Of The Trade

Our FULL IDX not only provides superior search capabilities for your customers, it also allows them to save specific listings of interest with the click of a button.

Here’s how it works:

* Getting There:  After logging in to their ToolKit Account, your customers will notice a button bar will appear at the top of each screen giving them the option to go to their ToolKit Home as well as view their HotList, Saved Searches, and/or Details etc.

* The View from the Inside: Your customers ToolKit contains links to their HotList, Saved Search Parameters and Details.  If they click on the “My HotList” button on the top menu bar or either one of the ones below they will be able to easily manage/add to their HotList.

* Your customers will be able to easily view property’s thumbnails in their HotList which they can also use to access the property details directly.  If they have more than one they can scroll through them by using the previous and next buttons on the right hand side.

*Saved Search and other Call to Action features listed here are only available to FULL IDX customers.

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Details, Details, Details…

What Your Customers Can Expect To Find on A Property’s Details Page

Included In All IDX Suites:

* Print Page

* Display Days on Market

* Display ALL Photos

* Photo Captions

* Agent Photo and Contact Information

Included In The Mid IDX (All of the above +):

* Virtual Tours (if available)

* Map Details – view a single property on the Google map

Included In The FULL IDX (All of the above +):

* “Call to Action” buttons such Ask the Agent, E-Mail a Friend, Schedule Showings, Schedule an Open House etc. at the top of the details page.

* Save listing to HotList: Your consumers must provide their contact information to save their favorite listings.

* Access to Mortgage Calculator

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Getting The Whole Picture…

At A Glance

For a quick reference guide, please see the table below which shows what you can expect from the new EZ, Mid and Full IDX packages.

Questions?

For questions pertaining to technical aspects of IDX please contact Michael Torres at Michael@alohaliving.com.  For Sales related questions or inquiries please contact Colleen Yasuhara at Colleen@AlohaLiving.com. Have a great rest of your week and we’ll be in touch soon!

Check it out…

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A Whole New Look…

Main Search Page

You will notice quite a few changes have taken place on the IDX’s main search page.  All of these features and functions are included in all of our IDX packages:

* All the search fields from our existing IDX, plus much more!

* All search parameters have been consolidated on one page, eliminating the need to scroll down and jump from page to page.

* Search by subdivision AND Condo Project!

* Need a visual?  The clickable map feature allows you to choose your island of interest and then drill down further by zone etc. to narrow your search.

* Sort search results by price, high to low, etc.

* New & expanded search options: Map Search (For FULL & Mid IDX Suites only), Basic & Advanced Search, Search by Address, Search by Multiple MLS Numbers.

* Ability to log-in and save your search settings and results. You can even save your Advanced or Map searches! (For FULL & Mid IDX Suites only)

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Search And You Shall Find…

Clickable Map

* Using the state-wide map, choose your island of choice to view that island’s zones/districts and major towns.

* Once an island is chosen, search fields will automatically adjust to match the island.

Map Search (For FULL & Mid IDX Suites only)

* Switch between maps of islands and areas within an island quickly and easily, without ever leaving the page.

* Refine and easily sort your results.

* View all results as pins on our interactive map, or in list-form below the map.

* Click on map pins to view property details and photos.

* Zoom in and out and move the map around as necessary.

* Save map searches and results easily.

Address Search

* Search using a specific address, property type – you can even specify the island you want to search on and the subdivision the property is located in!

MLS Search

* Got multiple MLS numbers you want to search for all at once?  With the new enhanced IDX this isn’t a problem!

At A Glance

Stay tuned for more of what the new and enhanced IDX packages have to offer.  For a quick reference guide, please see the table below which shows what you can expect from the new EZ, Mid and Full IDX packages.

Questions?

For questions pertaining to technical aspects of IDX please contact Michael Torres at Michael@alohaliving.com.  For Sales related questions or inquiries please contact Colleen Yasuhara at Colleen@AlohaLiving.com. Have a great rest of your week and we’ll be in touch soon!

Stay tuned for a detailed breakdown of all the features and functions of the enhanced IDX.  For a quick reference guide, please click on the thumbnail below to see what you can expect from the new EZ, Mid and Full IDX packages.

In an effort to provide your customers with the fullest experience possible when they visit your website, we have executed another VOW feed upgrade.  Effective immediately, you will have access to virtual tours and photo descriptions for all listings that appear in the feed.*  
 
To get you started, we will be generating a full dump of all Active and Contingent listings every day.  This full dump file will be available to you from 3/26/2009 to 4/10/2009.  Here are the specifications on the new data files that will be added to the VOW feed that will contain virtual tours and photo descriptions for the listings:
 
Full Dump File (only available 3/26/2009 – 4/10/2009)

• This Full Dump text file will be named photoToursAndDescFULLDUMP.txt and will be put into your ftp directory as a separate file.  You can use this file to populate your existing database with the virtual tours and photo descriptions of listings that are currently Active or Contingent.  After applying this full update, you can use the photoToursAndDesc.txt file that will be generated daily to keep your tours and photo descriptions up to date.

Daily incremental Update File

• There will be a separate text file generated in the VOW feed that will be named “photoToursAndDesc.txt and will contain any photo’s descriptions and any virtual tours for listings if available.
• These descriptions and tours will be given for all listings that are included in the feed on a given run.  Meaning all listings that are in the VOW feed should have a matching record in the new photoToursAndDesc.txt file if that particular listing has photos or a virtual tour.
• This new photoToursAndDesc.txt file will be included in the data .zip files that are currently in the feed for each island.  The zip files are named “vowfeedKauai.zip” for Kauai data or “vowfeedHawaii.zip” for Hawaii data.

*Provided this information is available.

QUESTIONS?
Contact Colleen Yasuhara at (808) 748.8751 OR 800.628.3121 ext. #151
colleen@alohaliving.com

QUESTIONS?

Contact Colleen Yasuhara at (808) 599.4224 OR 800.628.3121 ext. #151
colleen@alohaliving.com
 
Hawaii Information Service
680 Iwilei Rd, Suite 777
Honolulu, Hawaii 96817

Most recently, we increased the number of photos our VOW (Virtual Office Website) customers can feature with the listings on their sites from six to 25, enabling them to showcase properties more thoroughly.

What is our VOW offering all about? VOW is a raw data feed that we provide to you (or a third party web developer or service provider) that contains the data for every single listing that has ever hit the market — active or otherwise.  With VOW, you can display active, sold, and off the market listings and data however you wish on your own website.  The data feed is updated daily so the information is always fresh, and with the recent increase in the number of included photos, even more complete.

VOW offers the richest set of data, but because it isn’t self contained like our IDX (Internet Data Exchange) products, you do need someone to help you manage it.

Don’t have the resources for VOW?  We offer three IDX solutions so that you don’t have to worry about designing or hosting listing information on your website. Our EZ IDX, Full IDX, and Custom IDX packages allow you to display current listings on your website with various levels of customization.  All you do is sign up and choose which package you want, and we do the rest to make sure it looks great and provides your clients useful information on all active listings.

Questions?  Want to learn more about your IDX options?

Colleen Yasuhara
Account Manager
808-748-8751 – Direct
800-628-3121 #151
808-524-6874 – Fax
www.alohaliving.com
www.hawaiiinformation.com
colleen@alohaliving.com