Bulletins – Hawaii Information Service

Members will be prompted to accept the current agreement upon logging in.

Beginning February 13, 2013, when you log into REsearch, you will be asked to confirm your assent to the most current version of the Subscriber License and Access Agreement (SLAA). The SLAA, which is linked on our login page and presented to all subscribers upon signup, effectively covers your ongoing use of the system. However, through this login notice, our system will be able to reflect the technical acceptance of all users to the agreement. Future changes to the SLAA will prompt another similar notice.

For most users, there have been no substantive changes to the SLAA. However, as required by the National Association of Realtors® (NAR), Principal Broker Subscribers (PBSs) will also be asked to select whether they wish to assign their rights to contributed content to HIS, which allows HIS to include such content in its quarterly copyright filings. Including our subscribers’ content in our copyright filings is necessary for HIS to take appropriate action against the unauthorized use of its members’ content.

Details:

When you log into REsearch, a pop-up window will appear as shown below. You will be asked to check off one of the boxes indicating whether you assent to the SLAA or not. If you would like more time to review the SLAA and would like to postpone making a selection, there will be a selection available that will allow you to make your selection later. However, the pop-up window will appear each time you log in, until you make a selection.

If you do not make a selection by March 15, 2013, we will assume that you assent to the SLAA. If you indicate that you do not assent to the SLAA, then we shall assume that you have no interest in continuing the use of the service and your access will be terminated at the end of day on March 15, 2013.

Please note that if you are employed by a Principal Broker, Broker-in-Charge or Individual (Sole Owner) who is a subscriber of the service, you are also required to be a subscriber.

For Principal Broker Subscribers:

If you are a Principal Broker Subscriber (PBS), you will be asked to make an additional selection in regards to the rights to the Intellectual Property (Subscriber’s Contribution) that you submit to the service. In the SLAA, this is located under Section 6. Intellectual Property.

Under Option I: 

• HIS agrees not to license or distribute Subscriber’s contribution to any third party who is not a real estate brokerage or appraisal subscriber to the service, if Subscriber has indicated in writing that Subscriber desires to withhold Subscriber’s contribution to such third party.
• Subscriber shall be granted a non-exclusive, perpetual, world-wide, transferable, royalty-free license to display, perform and license Subscriber’s Contribution and portions of the HIS database pertaining to Participant’s listings.
• HIS shall secure the rights of Subscriber by obtaining assignments and licenses from Subscriber’s Affiliates as necessary.
• HIS shall make quarterly registrations of the copyrights of its database including Subscriber Contribution and make reasonable efforts to detect and hinder third parties using Subscriber’s Contribution without Subscriber’s permission.

If the Subscriber selects Option II, the Subscriber grants HIS only a non-exclusive, perpetual, worldwide, transferable, royalty-free license to reproduce, prepare derivative works of, distribute,

display, perform and license the Subscriber’s Contribution.

The State of Hawaii Real Estate Commission is reminding real estate professionals that the license renewal deadline is drawing near.

The state has provided online renewals of professional and vocational licenses (PVL) since October. At the PVL renewal website, you will be able to renew your real estate broker, branch office, and salesperson licenses 24 hours a day, through Dec. 31, 2012. Late renewals must be handled by mail or in person.

While the official deadline is Dec. 31, 2012, the commission notes in its November 2012 bulletin (PDF) that Continuing Education (CE) requirements need to be completed by November 30, 2012 in order to allow time for CE providers to report course completions.

Licensees can also check the status of their CE requirements online.

Please note that Hawaii Information Service refers to the state PVL website to verify the eligibility of members to access its services. Prior to this year’s online upgrades, forfeited licenses would not be reported online for several months. However, we have observed newly updated license status notes that include an ending effective date. This may suggest that the state will mark incomplete or unpaid licenses much more quickly following the January 1, 2013 renewal date.

As always, the renewal of active licenses are dependent on the renewal of your principal broker. If your broker has not yet renewed, your renewal will be held in a pending status.

With what we hope will be a festive and productive holiday season approaching, we hope you and your colleagues will take the time now to ensure that you and your business are ready to hit the ground running again come the new year!

This is a courtesy reminder for our valued members, but please note that Hawaii Information Service is not affiliated with nor able to speak for the State of Hawaii, the Real Estate Commission, or the Real Estate Branch of the Department of Commerce & Consumer Affairs. Please contact these agencies directly with any questions or concerns you may have.

Important Billing Announcement

The next billing for credit card and ACH customers is Monday, July 2, 2012. Payments by check are also due by Monday, July 2.

If you are placing your license on INACTIVE status, or if you are surrendering your license, we must receive a copy of your DCCA change form. To ensure that your changes or cancellations are processed before the billing on July 2, 2012, changes must be submitted to us 4 to 5 business days prior to the billing date, so please send your form(s) in by Monday, June 25, 2012. Once we charge your credit card or debit your account, there is no refund.

Please contact us before the 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:

• Call HIS Accounting at 1-800-628-3121, ext. #454 or #163.
• Send an email to Accounting@HawaiiInformation.com or Michelle@UseREsearch.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 for the entire office on the 11th. Each PB is responsible for his/her own agents. If an agent is not able to pay the required MLS fees, the PB has the following options.

• Release the agent, placing their license on inactive status with DCCA, and providing a copy of the release to HIS BEFORE the July 1st billing. 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 copy of the DCCA change form is received by HIS from the PB.

As always, we appreciate your cooperation and your business. 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 beginning July 1, 2012 through June 30, 2013 are due by June 30, 2012.

Waiver applications for the July 2012 to June 2013 period will automatically expire on June 30, 2012. Anyone who is currently under waiver and wants 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.

Administrative Note

In observance of Independence Day, our offices will be closed on Wednesday, July 4, 2012. Normal office hours will resume on Thursday, July 5, 2012. Normal Office Hours are 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.

Please share this announcement with your fellow brokers and agents!

The HIS Board of Directors has approved changes to the rules in regards to listing photos. A photo is now required on all listings. The following changes will be applicable to all listings activated in the service after January 31, 2012.

Section 3.05. Information in listing records limited.

b. Photographic images and video and virtual tours submitted on listing records may contain only depictions of the physical characteristics of the listed property and its immediate vicinity. If there are structures on the listed properties, there must be at least one photograph of the frontal view of the primary structure submitted on each listing record. Inclusion of marketing or promotional messages or contact information including phone numbers, email addresses, and web site addresses for any participant or associate subscriber, seller, owner, or other entity is expressly prohibited. Images of “for-sale” signs and pictures of persons are expressly prohibited. This prohibition also bans active hyperlinks and website or URL addresses to websites or web pages that contain marketing or promotional messages, contact information or banned images.

Section 3.07. Time of submission. The participant must submit a required listing within 48 hours after execution of the contractual agreement. The participant must submit a property photo in compliance with Section 3.05(b) for any listing record except one relating to vacant land within 7 days after submission of the listing record to the service.

Please note: Vacant land listings will no longer be exempt from the photo rules. At least one (1) photo of the land that has been listed shall be required on all listings submitted to the service after January 31, 2012.

A revised version of the rules incorporating the changes above has been posted on line at the REsearch web site at this link:

http://www.hawaiiinformation.com/REsearch/IDX/mlshawaii/forms/FINAL051201.pdf

Should there be any questions in regards to the rules, you may contact Diana Haraguchi, Asst. Exec to the Pres/CEO by calling 1-800-628-3121 ext. 172, or by sending an email to Diana@UseREsearch.com.

Mahalo!

On September 09, 2010, the HIS Board of Directors adopted revisions to the rules and regulations of the service.  Most of the revisions were to Article X. IDX as required by NAR to be adopted by October 31, 2010.  The only other revision that was formally adopted is the change to Article III.  Listing procedures.  Section 3.09.  Auction Listings, that was approved by the HIS directors on May 19, 2010, that permits auction listings to be submitted to the service.

The change permitting auction listings to be submitted to the service was announced in a HIS Bulletin that was emailed to all members on June 4, 2010.  To see the bulletin announcement, please click on this link. http://blogs.alohaliving.com/bulletins/category/rules/.

The revisions to Article X. IDX that were required by NAR follows, shown in redline.  The sections that were not revised may be viewed in the revised rules document posted in REsearch Help at this link:

http://hisfaq.hawaiiinformation.com/absolutehelp/attachments/119/RulesAndRegulations.pdf

Section 10.01.  Definitions.
a.    “IDX” is a means by which each participant subscribing to the IDX program (the “IDX participant”) may authorize the display of its active listings appearing in MLS on each other IDX participant’s Internet web site, subject to the requirements of this Article X.
b.    “IDX database” is the current aggregate compilation of all active listings of all IDX participants except those listings where the property seller has opted out of Internet publication by so indicating on the contractual agreement.

Section 10.02.  Participation presumed.  The service will presume participants’ consent for the display of their activelistings by other participants pursuant to these rules.  (i.e., the service will presume that the participant is an IDX participant) unless the participant affirmatively notifies the service that the participant refuses to permit display (either on a blanket or listing-by-lissting basis).  If a participant refuses on a blanket basis to permit the display of its listings, it is not an IDX participant and may not display the IDX database pursuant to Article X.

Section 10.04.  Permitted and required fields and records.  An internet republication of another IDX participant’s listing may contain only those fields of data identified by the service as permissible for IDX displays and must include fields identified by the service as required for use with IDX.  Display of seller or occupant names, phone numbers, and email addresses, and type of listing agreement (e.g., exclusive right to sell, exclusive agency, etc.) is prohibited.  Confidential fields intended only for other MLS participants and users (e.g., cooperative compensation offers, showing instructions, property security information, etc.) may not be displayed on IDX sites. An IDX participant may select the listings it displays on its IDX display based only on objective criteria, including factors such as geography or location.  (e.g., “uptown”, “downtown”, etc.), list price, type of property (e.g., condominium, cooperative, single-family detached, multi-family), cooperative compensation offered by listing brokers, type of listing (e.g., exclusive right to sell or exclusive agency), or the level of service being provided by the listing firm.  Each IDX participant shall select the listings for its IDX display independently of, and without consulting, other participants.

Section 10.05.  Eligibility.  In order to be an IDX participant, a participant must be engaged in real estate brokerage and consent to display of their listings by other participants.  A participant will be deemed to engage in real estate brokerage if it maintains an office or Internet presence from which participant or its affiliated subscribers are available to represent real estate sellers or buyers (or both).

Section 10.06.  Frequency of updates.  An IDX participant must update the IDX databases on its internet web site so that no more than seven three days pass between updates.  The IDX participant’s IDX web site must indicate the date and time of the last update of data.

Section 10.06.01.  Notification of IDX site.  Participants must notify the MLS of their intention to establish an IDX site and must make their site directly accessible to the MLS for purposes of monitoring and ensuring complicance with applicable rules and policies.

Section 10.09.  Displays.  A display of another participant’s listing must bear the service’s copyright notice (“©20010 MLS Hawaii, Inc.  All rights reserved.”) immediately following the property information.

Section 10.14.  Avoid scraping of data.  MLS participants may not use IDX-provided listings for any purpose other than display on their websites.  This does not require participants to prevent indexing of IDX listings by recognized search engines. An IDX participant displaying the IDX Database or any portion of it must make reasonable efforts to avoid “scraping” of data by third parties or displaying of that data on any other web site.  Reasonable efforts include:
a.    Monitoring the web site for signs that a third party is “scraping” data and
b.    Prominently posting notice that any use of search facilities of data on the site, other than by a consumer looking to purchase real estate, is prohibited.
c.    [HIS OPTION]  Maintaining an audit trail of IP addresses of visitors and web pages viewed for a period of 30 days after each visit and making the audit trail available to HIS if in HIS’s judgment the information would assist in investigating possible abuse of the IDX database.

Section 10.20.  Seller information withheld.  Listings or property addresses of sellers who have directed their listing brokers to withhold their listing or property address from display on the Internet (including, but not limited to, publicly-accessible websites or VOWs) shall not be accessible via IDX sites.

Section 10.21.  Third-party commentary and AVMs.  Any IDX site that (a) allows third-parties to write comments or reviews about particular listings or displays a hyperlink to such comments or reviews in immediate conjunction with particular listings, or (b) displays an automated estimate of the market value of the listing (or hyperlink to such estimate) in immediate conjunction with the listing, shall disable or discontinue either or both of these features as to the seller’s listing at the request of the seller.  The listing broker or agent shall communicate to the MLS that the seller has elected to have one or both of these features disabled or discontinued on all participants’ websites.  Except for the foregoing and subject to Section 10.22, a participant’s IDX site may communicate the participant’s professional judgment concerning any listing. Nothing shall prevent an IDX site from notifying its customers that a particular feature has been disabled at the request of the seller.

Section 10.23.  Accuracy of IDX information.  Participants shall maintain a means (e.g., e-mail address, telephone number) to receive comments about the accuracy of any data or information that is added by or on behalf of the participant beyond that supplied by the MLS and that relates to a specific property upon receipt of a communication from the listing broker or listing agent for the property explaining why the data or information is false.  However, participants shall not be obligated to remove or correct any data or information that simply reflects good faith opinion, advice, or professional judgment.

As mentioned above, the newly adopted version of the rules may be seen in REsearch Help at any time.  Should you have any questions about these revisions to the rules, please feel free to contact Diana Haraguchi, Exec. Asst. to the President/CEO by calling 1-800-628-3121, ext. 172, or by sending an email to Diana@HawaiiInformation.com.

Mahalo!