Bulletins – Hawaii Information Service

Added Latitude and Longitude Data to XML Feed Vastly Improves Mapping Accuracy

With this upgrade to our XML feeds, 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.

How Will It Work?

We’ll now be populating previously unused fields in the XML feed with latitude and longitude coordinates. Field “latitude” will specify a property’s latitude, and “longitude” 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 XML, displaying the property with pin-point precision is no a problem at all.

When you add your open house schedule to listings in REsearch, not only are they available to your fellow agents, but they are also fed to AlohaLiving.com, where consumers can conduct a search specifically for them. Potential buyers can set all the criteria they’re looking for, then visit matching properties as well! In addition, Open House information is now included in our new-and-improved Full IDX product. When consumers search for properties on your IDX-powered website, open house information will appear on the Property Details page, making them more visible than ever.

So if you are taking the time to hold an open house, take a few extra moments to enter the details into REsearch as well, and reap the benefits. As the number of open houses entered into REsearch grows, and as both real estate professionals and consumers take greater advantage of them, we will continue to make open house searches more sophisticated and widespread across the web.

And if you don’t have the upgraded Full IDX, and want to take advantage of this new feature, contact Colleen Yasuhara at Colleen@AlohaLiving.com or by calling toll free at 1-800-628-3121 ext. 151.

Here’s how open house listings in REsearch work:

Step 1: Enter Your Open House In REsearch

To enter your Open House into REsearch simply click on the “Add Open House” button on the Open House navigation bar (on your REVO home page), and then enter the information into the pop-up box. Enter your name where it says “With Whom,” as well as any pertinent information you want consumers and or agents to know in the fields below. You can even set reminders to help you keep on track. Now how easy and convenient is that!

Step 2: Check it Out on AlohaLiving.com and the Property Details Pages of your listings!

Once you hit OK, all of the information for your Open House will soon show up on Aloha Living and listing property details pages automatically. Customers and colleagues alike will be able to search for and access your Open House information using the links on the AlohaLiving.com and Hawaiiinformation.com homepages, as well as through the various home searches once more Open Houses are entered.

Here is what you will see using the search on AlohaLiving.com:

And here is what it looks like when using your personal IDX* to search:

*Open House Search is only available with a Full IDX Suite

Happy Holidays from HIS!

Our office will be closed from December 25, 2009 through January 1, 2010. Normal office hours will resume on Monday, January 4, 2010.

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Important Billing Announcement
The next billing for credit card and ACH Customers is
Monday, January 4, 2010

Please note: If you were mailed an invoice, your payment is due by January 5, 2010 to avoid possible late fees and interruption of service.

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, 2009 to assure that your changes will be processed before the billing is sent out on January 1, 2010.

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!

With 14 features and functions, our EZ IDX will allow your clients to get their property search started out the right way, all at a very affordable price price to you!

What you’ll find in our EZ 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)

Customize

• Customizable CSS – Webdesigners and developers use Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) to design the way that a web page looks, i.e. It gives them the ability to personalize your IDX color, font, layout, etc. so it looks exactly the way you want it! (New)
• Agent Photo and Contact Information prominently displayed (Improved)

Detailed Property Information & More

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

Want More? Upgrade to our Mid & Full IDX Suites easily:

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

Search (Full Only)

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

Map It (Mid & Full)

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)

Call To Action (Full Only)

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

Take our EZ IDX for a test drive using our new product demo.  Click HERE to access it.  For a personal tour of the EZ 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.

We at HIS would like to wish you and your loved ones the happiest of Thanksgivings. We would also like to express our sincerest gratitude to you, our loyal customers – our appreciation for you is truly beyond measure.

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We will be out of the office Thursday, November 25th and Friday, November 26th, returning on Monday, November 30th. If you should need us you may leave a message in our emergency voice mailbox by calling the main office number and pressing * (star). Leave your message and your contact information and our phone system will notify our on-call staff that there is an emergency message. Phone: 1-800-628-3121, if calling from the neighbor islands, or 599-4224, if calling from Oahu.

Enjoy a safe and fun holiday weekend with your family and friends.

Aloha and Mahalo,

The HIS Ohana