Stratus - Enhancements
Enhancements Archives
(Revised 3/27/08)

In case you missed them appearing on Stratus News, below are previous updates to Stratus MLS & the consumer site, mlsli.com, listed in chronological order of their release date.

 

3/27/2008

For ML# Search in the Reports tab, you have the option to display the search results in any of your customized report formats.

The following data field changes have been made

  • Short Sale (Y or N) has been added to Res, Con, Land and Com
  • The field name Owner Phone # has been changed to Status/Show#
  • The Tour URL fields have been increased from 125 to 200 characters
  • The Open House Start and End Times are now a drop-down list.

 

3/27/2008 - Rental Listings – Change Now in Effect

The compensation published is now the amount paid to the Listing Broker rather than the Renting Broker Compensation.

The Cooperating Broker will be able reach an agreement with its tenant as to the total broker compensation and forward to the Listing Broker their portion as set forth on the publihed listing.

All old rental listings should be edited by the Listing Broker to show the Listing Broker Compensation. Once that field has been updated the MLS staff will delete the amount entered in the old Renting Broker Compensation field (this field will no longer be accessible for edits, but will be displayed).

If the landlord is to pay the compensation an asterisk should be placed after the amount entered in “Listing Broker Compensation” and a notation should be added in the remarks section stating “compensation shown is being paid to Cooperating Broker by the landlord.”

The change to the rental compensation field will also be on Residential, Condo/Co-op and Commercial listings offered for rent.

 

1/18/2008

Suffolk Tax Maps online through a link on Stratus to First American.

 

10/5/07

Listing from a Worksheet now requires to link to public records.

Instanet Online Forms implemented with access from Stratus MLS

Instanet Online Forms feature enabling agents to fill out the listing using the online forms and then add upload the listing to Stratus MLS as a Worksheet where agent then completes Add Listing – eliminating duplicate data entry.

 

6/6/2007 – ShowingVoice Activated

Activated ShowingVoice for agents to receive voice leads from consumers when requesting showing appointments through ShowingAlert.

Activated the feedback feature in ShowingAssist for showing brokers to provide feedback for showings requested to Listing Brokers through ShowingAssist.

 

6/28/07 - Print Labels Directly In Stratus For Your Contacts

Stratus has added the capability to print labels for your Contacts from Search Results. When you click the Labels button, you can select either Avery 5160 (3-across) or Avery 5161 (2-across) label formats. With this new feature, you can elect to replace the contact’s name with a more generic term such as Dear Neighbor.

 

6/4/2007 – Add Second Salesperson To Your Report Headers

For those agents who work with another Salesperson, in Customize My Stratus, you can select a 2nd Salesperson from the agents in your office to appear on Stratus report headers along with your name. Here’s a sample report header with 2 Salespersons names:

Prepared by John Smith & Harriet Blanco
XYZ Realty Inc.
5/31/2007 4:59:13 PM

 

5/31/2007 –My Favorites

There is a new link on Info Center called, My Favorites, that allows you to save a set of your favorite listings.

  • You can save up to twenty-one listings to My Favorites. Listings can be Available or Unavailable.
  • Save selected listings from any search results or add listings by ML# at the My Favorites page.
  • Delete listings at any time from My Favorites by erasing the ML#.

 

5/24/2007 – Automatic Fines

Info Center contains a new link showing a list of automatic fines which may be imposed by the Multiple Listing Service of Long Island, Inc.  Click on the links below for details and possible fine amounts for each infraction.  Please note that the fine amounts range from $25 to $250.  Failure to comply with the "MLS Request for Paperwork" could lead to a much higher fine. All Brokers and Agents should be familiar with these to avoid being billed for any violations.  

Property Description Field
What is not allowed in this field

Inventory Clean Up – Off the Market
How and when listings must be updated when taken off the market

Inventory Clean Up – Under Contract
Listings must be updated immediately once under contract

Owner’s Name Must be Published on Listing

MLS Requests for Paperwork
Must submit Listing Agreements, Extensions, etc. upon request by MLS

Proper Listing Dates
What listing dates to use when relisting a property

 

5/14/2007 – Miscellaneous Stratus Enhancements

1. In Public Records, when viewing a public record from Search Results, the default output report is now the Full With Photo.

2. In Update, when displaying the Update, a Print View button has been added that will allow you to print the update without having to go back to the entry screen.

3. In Search when you are at Search Results and click the Print View button, you are now given the opportunity to also include your Search Criteria on your report.

4. CMA updated as follows:

a. On Client tab, Email Address is now labeled Primary Email and a new field, Secondary Email, has been added

b. On Subject tab, fields, Adult Community, Minimum Age and Waterfront Desc have been added.

c. In Additional Search Criteria tab, Adult Community, Minimum Age and Waterfront Desc have been added.

 

5/1/2007 – Listing Field Changes To Coincide With Agency Disclosure Law

The following were made to go along with the new Agency Disclosure Law to clarify what type of Agency is being offered:
  • On Res, Con, Lan and Com Sales there will be now be 3 options for whom to offer compensation to; Seller Agency Compensation, Buyer Agency Compensation and Broker Agency Compensation.
  • On Ren and Com Rentals “Agency Offered” has been added.  The choices are any combination of Tenants, Brokers and Landlords.

Other Listing Fields Changes also made include:

  • Wood Floors – new field on Res, Con and Ren
  • Minimum Age (when the property is part of an Adult Community) new field on Res, Con and Ren
  • CAC# Zones new field on Res, Con and Ren
  • Broker Open House now has a start and end date the same as Consumer Open Houses so these may be scheduled two days in a row
  • Owner Financing has been added to Res and Con
  • Bulkhead, in addition to Res, is now on Con, Ren and Lan
  • Docking Rights, in addition to Res, is now on Con, Ren and Lan.  The choice set is Deeded, Assoc and N
  • Beach Rights, in addition to Res, is now on Con, Ren and Lan
  • Remarks have been expanded from 275 to 375 characters
  • Property Description has been expanded from 275 to 375 characters
  • School District is now a required field. Community District 3, 4, 5, etc are the choice set for Queens.
  • In Status Change when closing a listing there is a new field “Forced at closing to accept lower or no commission”.  If answered “Yes”, “Commission Amount Lost” will be prompted.  This information will be only available to staff and will be used to assist in pushing through the Commission Escrow Act

 

3/12/2007 - Public Records Zip Plus 4 Included In Download

The fields, Zip Plus 4 and Mailing Zip Plus 4 have been added to the Download for Public Records. (Zip, Zip 4, Mailing Zip and Mailing Zip 4 are also included in this download.)

 

1/12/2007

For Business Type on Commercial, Doctor Office and Dentist Office have been added as choices to the drop down list.

For Style on Residential and Rental, Mediteranean and Exp Cape have been added as choices to the drop down list.

For Waterfront Description on Residential and Rental, River and Prot Wetland have been added as choices to the drop down list.

For those using the MLS BRS Search Engine, you now have the ability to set a price range for visitors searching for listings. For example, if you only deal in affordable housing, you can may want to set a high range maximum. Or if you only deal in million dollar homes, you would limit the low range to 1,000,000 as the start price.

 

10/2/2006 - Suspend Prospect Match Now Available!

For Stratus Prospect Match in Review Prospects or Edit and Delete Prospect, you now receive a Count of your Prospects and have the ability to Suspend a Prospect Match for a time period rather than expire or delete it.

To suspend a prospect: Select the Contacts tab then click Edit or Delete Prospect.
At Prospect to Edit/Delete, select the prospect you want to suspend.
Click Continue. Stratus displays the prospect profile.
At Check to Suspend Prospect, select the check box.
Click Save Prospect.

When you are ready to unsuspend the Prospect Match, just uncheck the Check To Suspend Prospect box. And if it expired, enter a new expiration date in the future.

 

9/21/2006 – Upload Your Agent Photo on Stratus and More:

Using Customize My Stratus from the Info Center, Agents/Offices now have the capability to:

1) If you haven’t submitted it already, upload your agent photo right on
Stratus so they appear on CMA’s and Flyers. Note: The preferred
photo size is 225x300 and must be in a JPG format. Larger photos will
automatically be resized by Stratus.

2) View an entire office roster with a flag signifying if there is a photo for
each agent.

3) Add your agent website URL so there is a link from your name to your
website. (Since your website appears on www.mlsli.com in Find A
Home when consumers view your listings, this is something you want
to take advantage of.)

 

7/25/2006 – Stratus Changes To Listing Fields:

The following changes have been made to the Stratus system:

• Adult Community (Y or N) has been added to Res, Con and Ren

• Smoking (Y or N) has been added to Con and Ren

• Virtual Tours - You are now able to link your Virtual Tour yourself through Add/Edit by entering the Tour URL. You may now link up to four Virtual Tours to each listing and the length has been expanded from 100 characters to 125 characters

Note: If there are multiple tours attached to a listing, after clicking on the Virtual Tour button a window will open which will have a link to each tour.

• Broker Open House Time field has been expanded to 16 characters.

• In Add/Edit the data field Taxes is now labeled Taxes (without exemption) to clarify that this is to be the total tax amount before exemptions entered in this field. The label remains Taxes on all output forms.

• Zoning, Sewer, Acres and Wooded/Cleared are now required fields on Land listings.

• The following mortgage and finance fields were very infrequently used so were removed to make room for other fields:
Mortgage Balance Equity Interest Rate% Assumable
Fixed Rate Owner Financing Principal, Interest & Taxes Years To Go

The next two changes were made to to clarify that you get paid one amount if you are working as a Sub Agent and the other amount if you are working as a Buyer Agent.

• Selling Broker Comm (SBC) has been changed to Sub Agency Compensation (SAC).

• Buyer Broker Comm (BBC) has been changed to Buyer Agency Compensation (BAC).

 

7/12/2006 – Link In Add/Edit Listing To Order Interactive Photo/Floor Plan

Order Interactive Photo/Floor Plan from Floor Plan Online link has been added at the end of Add/Edit listing for Floor Plan Online.

 

6/13/2006 – Tax Maps Now Available For Queens & Brooklyn

You can now link directly from the public records in Stratus to interactive tax maps for Queens and Brooklyn.

These tax maps, provided by Lot Info, can be accessed from Stratus by either:
1) Clicking on the Tax Map button at the top of the Full Report in Public Records or
2) Click on Queens/Brooklyn Tax Map Search link at the Public Records menu page.

The interactive tax maps offer the following options:
1) Zoom in or out on the map.
2) Identify any property on the map and display full details.
3) Search by address or block and lot.
4) Display all house numbers.
5) Turn on a color coded land use feature.
6) Show subway lines and subway stations.
7) Display all open permits.
8) Much, much more.

For a Lot Info Users Guide click here.

 

6/7/2006 – Interface For Ordering Virtual Imaging Slideshows/Photos/Tours
Activated link in Stratus for Add/ Edit Listing to Order Tours/Slideshows/Photos from Virtual Imaging Corp.

Virtual Imaging Corp has recently introduced a cost-effective alternative to a virtual tour – a Virtual Slideshow which starts at $24.95. The slideshows are created from the Photos and listing data you enter into Stratus MLS and include:
• Your MLS listing photos automatically are put into your slideshow from Stratus.
• Images zoom and fade
• You can upload your company banner, agent photo and contact info
• You can print brochures and postcards for your listings
• IDX / MLS compliant link - included
• Your slideshows are posted directly to Stratus and MLSLI.com – and you have
the ability to send to other sites

Click here to see a sample Slideshow Tour.

Click here to view detailed instructions on how to order your Slideshow Tour directly from Stratus MLS.

 

6/5/2006 – Free Inman Website Content Made Available

Looking for simple ways to increase Web traffic?
Want to offer visitors to your website good resources?

Integrate Inman’s award-winning real estate consumer news and advice, frequently asked real estate questions and real estate glossary into your own website and build traffic and trust with consumers for your business.

This is a FREE service MLS is offering to ALL MLS Participants and LIBOR Members. To register and obtain instructions to link to your website, click Inman News Content from Stratus Info center. For more information, click here.

To see samples framed within a website, click here.

 

6/1/2006 – Showing Alert Integrated With BRS Search Engine

For those agents/offices who subscribe to MLS’ Broker Reciprocity (IDX) Search Engine and frame it to their web sites, you can now include Showing Alert button from Showing Time to give your site visitors a way to request showing appointments online. All email leads from your site visitors from this are sent directly to you – the BRS subscriber.

 

5/25/06 - Schedule A Showing Button In Broker Full

Schedule A Showing button now appears embedded in the Broker Full report next to Showing Instructions to try and get more exposure for Showing Time.

 

5/2/06      Co-Selling Agent Can Now Be Selected From The Firm

When entering an Under Contract or Closing and there is a Co-Selling Agent, you can now select a co-selling agent from the entire FIRM. (Previously you could only select from the office.)

 

5/2/06      Prospect Match Commercial & Land Changes

In Prospect Match's Daily Match Summary Report, the one-line report has been enhanced for Commercial and Land properties.

For Commercial listing summary report, Square Footage and Sale/Rent data has been added.

For Land listing summary report, Zoning and Lot Dimensions has been added.

Residential, Condo/Coop and Rental reports remain the same as they were.

 

4/17/06      New Public Records Implemented

Stratus MLS has been upgraded with new Public Record data. Many new data fields have been added as well as some existing data names having been changed to make them easier to locate when searching or creating Custom Reports. For example, Town and Street Name are now Property Town and Property Street Name.

Some of the data enhancements are the addition of Subdivision Name, School District Name and 2nd Mortgages. Please Click Here for a list of data field changes and additions.

Some of the other enhancements to the Public Records are as follows:
1)      Brooklyn/Kings County records are now included.
2)      Updated assessment records with up to date taxes (current through last year, this years coming late spring)
3)      More up to date deeds, mortgages and lis pendens with weekly updates.
4)      You will now be able to search by District, Section, Block and Lot more easily because the leading zeroes are being stripped out. (i.e. Block 00089 will appear as Block 89)
5)      A new field “Do Not Call” has been added to flag those PH#’s on the Do Not Call list. ***

Click Here for the complete public Records Data Dictionary.


2/24/06      Prospect Match - Changes were made to the report sent in daily email for:

1. For Commercial/Industrial:

a. Under Style column, Property Type appears.
b. Under BR column, SF appears which is the label for Square Footage.
c. Under Baths Column, the actual sqft apears.

ML# Town Price Style Bedrms Baths
1795612  Brooklyn 270,000 Store Sf 1950 


2. For Land:

a. Under Style column, Land appears.
b. Under BR column, label Zn appears.
c. Under Baths column, value for Zone appears. (i.e. Res)

ML# Town Price Style Bedrms Baths
1795588  Center Moriches 540,000   Land Zn Res


3. Report stays the same for Res, Con, Ren:            

ML# Town Price Style Bedrms Baths
1795515 Centerport 799,000 Exp Ranch 4 2.000 



12/8/05      When emailing listings to consumers from Stratus from the Search Results screen, the Properties of Interest emails have been enhanced as follows:

1) Email is now sent from a generic email: properties@mlslirealtor.com

2) The Reply To now goes to your preferred email on record with LIBOR/MLS. (It used to go to your @mlslirealtor.com email and you had to forward them to your preferred email, which is no longer necessary.)

3) An opt out link has been added to help agents comply with the CAN SPAM regulation requiring a way for the recipient to opt out of these types of emails.


11/22/05      The following enhancements were implemented over the two last months:

1) CMA: You can now Email Your CMA reports as a PDF to your customers. To do this, open your CMA & from the Presentation tab, click Email CMA.

2) Financials – On the Financial tab in Stratus, there are new links to 17 Financial Calculators and they are available in both English & Spanish.

3) For Nassau County Public Records, you can now link directly from the public record Full Report (with or without Photo) to:

  • Building Footprints of the property
  • My Nassau Property Assessment record where you can view Property Characteristics, Market Values, Comparable Sales and up to date School and General Taxes. You can also click on the link in My Nassau Property for, View Area Maps for a Satellite Image of the property.
  • Actual Tax Map where you zoom directly to that parcel.

4) Prospect Match changes were made as follows:

  • All prospect match emails are now sent from a generic email, Prospects@mlslirealtor.com.
  • But the Reply To: on the email is now your Preferred Email address MLS has on file for you. (This used to be your@mlslirealtor.com email address.)
  • There is now an Unsubscribe link that the recipient can click to request that you discontinue sending them the daily Prospect Match emails. This will enable you to stay in compliance with the Federal CAN SPAM Act - requiring all email recipients a way to opt out. Be sure when you receive these requests, you remove your customer from the automatic emails Prospect Match sends out.

5) For Stratus Unplugged – Wireless MLS Access on Your PDA – Navigation has been added for Previous – Return To Results – Next – to help you view properties quicker without having to return to the results each time.

6) Pocket Real Estate is a distributed database software for your PDA (Palm, Pocket PC, etc.) There is now a new download option from the Search Results, Download Pocket Real Estate Fields. The software costs $189 and runs on your compatible PDA. For more information, go to www.pocketrealestate.com or click Pocket Real Estate from the Stratus Info Center .

Click here for a slide show presentation for more information on the Enhancements listed above.  



8/2/05      Listings Now Link To Sperling Schools By School Dist Name

When viewing a listing in Stratus, when a user clicks on Sperling's School Profiles, a change has been made. Now when there is a School District Name stored in the lisitng, instead of viewing the school information based on zip code, Sperling will be providing school information for the School District specifically for that listing. This is true for Nassau and Suffolk County listings.

The link remains the same by zip code for properties with no school district and for properties in Queens and Brooklyn.

8/2/05      Client Reports Name Changed To Consumer

Stratus MLS listing reports previously named Client Full, Client Full No Address, Client Medium and Client Thumbnail have been renamed to Consumer Full, Consumer Full No Address, Consumer Medium and Consumer Thumbnail.


7/1/05      Comparison - No Address New Report Added In Search Results

At your request, we have added a second Comparison report from Search Results – Comparison No Address. For the side by side comparison report available when you search listings, you now have a choice of either:

Comparison (this includes the address) or

Comparison - No Address

These new reports enable you to search for listings and then select those you want to compare side by side - without running a complete CMA.


6/24/05      Neighborhood & School Profiles Now On Stratus

When you view a listing on Stratus, there are two new buttons.

1. Neighborhood Info - Gives you demographic profiles for the listing's zip code including: Neighborhood type, population, households, income, crime, housing, education, economy, health, climate and more.

2. School Profiles - Includes the following: Grade levels, # of Students, # Teachers, Pupil/teacher ratio, Expenditure per pupil, # Students in each grade, District Resources, more. You can view schools in the zip code for that listing as well as any school in the district.

5/31/05      Stratus Unplugged - Access MLS On Your PDA Now Free!

Stratus Unplugged brings you info wirelessly on MLS listings. New version works cross platforms on newer Palm based devices and Pocket PC. Access Stratus wirelessly through your Internet Service Provider or via a WIFI connection.

Stratus Unplugged is now FREE with no setup or monthly fees! Its functionality Includes MLS Listing searches, Updates, Prospect Match, Search Public Records, Offices and agents.

If your PDA has a web browser and can access the Internet, test it by launching your web browser and going to URL:

http://unplugged.mlsstratus.com/

For more information on Stratus Unplugged, click here.

For a list of compatible devices with Stratus Unplugged, click here.

5/26/05      Stratus Enhancements Including Consumer Open Houses

The following enhancements have been implemented on Stratus MLS Wednesday, 5/25, evening:

1. Search Listings:

a. Side By Side Comparison Report has been added to Report Formats from Search Results. This new report enables you to search for listings and then select those you want to compare side by side - without running a complete CMA.

b. From Search Results, when you elect to email listings, you now have the ability to Email Any Public Report format.

2. Listing Photos have been enhanced as follows:

a. The photo resolution we are storing for new photos from 320x240 to 480x360.

b. For those photos taken by the MLS Photographer (not uploaded by you) will now have sharpening process done for better quality images.

c. When viewing the 9-up photos, you can click on the photo to enlarge it.

3. Consumers Open Houses Added

a. In Add/Edit Listing in Stratus, there is a new tab for Residential and Condo/Coop listings for entering Open Houses.

b. In addition to scheduling Broker Open Houses, you can now schedule Consumer Open Houses.

c. Consumers search for your scheduled Consumer Open Houses on www.mlsli.com where a new search has been added, Open House Search.

d. Address will display – From the time to schedule a consumer open house until it has passed, your listing’s address will display for the consumers on www.mlsli.com. Once the Open House Date has passed, the address will be suppressed if you have entered N in Display Address On Internet. If you have entered Y, your address will continue to display for the consumer.

e. Consumer Open House report has been added to Report Formats from Search Results.

4. Other:

a. Contacts:

· Email address added to one-liner and now included when you download your contacts.

· You can now search your contacts and find up to 2,500. (Previously you were restricted to 100 on the Search Results.

b. The field, Ad Text, has been changed to Property Description with rules appearing on the screen in Add/Edit Listing. "Description of subject property only. May not include name, PH#, reference to listing agent or office, or status of property, etc."

c. Tour URL field has been expanded to 100 characters to accommodate longer URL’s.

d. Prospect Match now only sends matches on new listings and price changes.

e. Public Records now includes ability from Search Results to Revise Criteria.

f. CMA’s – When using an existing CMA, the one line entry screen shows the number of days until the CMA expires.

g. In My Personal Listings, we have added the listings you are the Co-Listing Agent. Now your listing that you are the Listing Agent and the Co-Listing Agent will appear.

Click here for more detail and illustrations of these enhancements.

5/6/05      Prospect Matches Only On New & Price Changes Listings!

A change has been made to Prospect Match that will only find prospect matches for new available listings and listings with Price Changes. You and your Customer/Clients will no longer receive prospect matches each time an edit is done on a listing.

Also as part of this change Prospect Match will no longer find unavailable listings. When you set-up a new Prospect Match in the future, you will no longer have the option of selecting Unavailable listings - only Available. Existing prospect matches that include unavailable search criteria, will no longer find unavailable listings but WILL find new and price change listings. There is no need for you to edit existing propsect matches that include Unavailable search criteria.

1/14/05      Closed Listings Now Retained For 25 Months

Effective January 9, Closed listings will no longer be move to the Archived database on Stratus after 18 months.  Instead, they will remain in the Unavailable database on Stratus for 25 months.  At the end of that time, they will be moved to the Archives.
 
Since our current Unavailable database, only contains 18 months worth of Closed listings, it will take another 7 months until the Closed listings grow to 25 months.  After that time, one advantage of this change will be be able that you can compare the current 12 months Closed to the prior 12 months.

11/9/04      CMA Includes Ability To Include Private Sales


The CMA has been enhanced on Stratus and now includes the ability for you to include privates sales – not just those sold on MLS – in your CMA. You can not only use MLS Listings for your comparables but also add Public Records sales.

You can add public records at the Search Criteria tab at the new question, "Do you want to include Public Records in your CMA?" If you include public records, the sale price and date range you selected for listings are defaulted as your public records criteria. If you wish to include additional public record critera, click Edit/Enter Public Records.

When you include public records in your CMA, the search results will display two separate tabs – one for Listings and one for Public Records. You need to select your comparable properties from both tabs.

Note: Public Records have limited property characteristics. For the CMA, you can update the public record via Edits & Adjustments to add information about the Style, Rooms, BR, Bath, etc.

10/14/04       View Your Preferred Email Address On Stratus


New function in Customize My Stratus where the agent can view their Preferred Email address and change it if not correct. Then the change is emailed to libormem@mlsli.com

7/26/04       Showing Assist activated for all on Stratus

Showing Assist provides the capability for showing agents to request appointment showings electronically via email with listing agents directly from Stratus. Listing offices can setup showing schedules detailing when a listing can be shown through a new feature in Stratus’ Add/Edit called, Configure/Modify ShowingTime. This can also be done at the conclusion of Add or Edit Listing.

Initially, all listings are “turned off” for Showing Assist and you will have to go in to Configure/Modify ShowingTime to set it up. Showing Assist can be configured as follows:
• A single listing can be turned on via the Listing Setup tab.
• All listings for individual agents can be turned on via the Agent Setup tab.
• All listings in an office can be turned on via the Office Setup tab.
• All listings in an office can be turned on but selected listings can still be turned off via the Listing Setup tab.

Once a listing has been “turned on” for Showing Assist, anytime that listing is viewed in Stratus, a button labeled, Click Here! Schedule a Showing will appear.

When a showing agent views the listing, they can request an appointment time by clicking, Click Here! Schedule a Showing. An appointment request is then sent via email to the listing office and agent. They then reply to confirm the appointment with the showing agent.

For more information, click here.

6/3/04      ADI - Showing Time Automatic Data Import

ADI Showing Time Automatic Data Import was developed for Showing Desk users so those subscribing offices no longer have to duplicate their data entry - in Stratus and then in Showing Desk. Now the data is periodically imported automatically from Stratus by the office.

6/3/04       Stratus Unplugged - Wirelessly Access Stratus


Stratus Unplugged brings you info wirelessly on MLS listings, new prospect matches, the latest market updates, public records and more.

The new version works cross platforms on newer Palm based devices & Pocket PC. Access Stratus wirelessly thru the Internet or WIFI connection. Listings now includes photo & displays in color (if your handheld is in color).

If you can access the Internet on your wireless device, go to URL: http://unplugged.mlsstratus.com/. You can subscribe to Stratus Unplugged for $49.95 set-up fee and $14.95 per month. Click here for more info & how to subscribe once trial ends.

Release of the new Stratus Unplugged wireless product for newer PDA's - with color and listing photo.

6/2/04      Locate Surrounding Properties In Public Records

Use the Locate Surrounding Properties feature at a public record for farming or to prepare your "Just Listed" and "Just Sold" mailings. The steps to do this are:

• Use a Public Records search to locate the property that you just listed or sold. (See Searching Public Records.)
• When viewing the public record(not the thumbnail format), elect to Locate Surrounding Properties.
• Choose the radius for your search from 1/8 of a mile up to 4 miles and specify if non-owner occupied properties should be included.

Stratus displays all residential and condo properties in your defined radius area. You can print mailing labels directly from the search results or download the results for use in another program. Note: The number of records that display in the Public Record search results is limited. If your search produces more than the maximum number of properties allowed to display at search results, and you want to include all in your mailing, use Bulk Farming Download to download addresses directly to disk.

Click the Count button to determine, in advance, the number of properties your search will produce. You can change the radius and retry if your initial value produces too few or too many addresses.

6/2/04       Print Labels Directly In Stratus For Public Records

 Users now have the ability to print labels directly from Stratus in Public Records - 2 or 3 across.

3/25/04       Consumer Site Enhancements

On www.mlsli.com, enabled the consumer to search by a school district name. Now they can select either a Town or School District or both. Also added search capbility for Cul-De-Sac and Handicap Accessible.

1/16/04       Stratus Passwords Required To Be Changed Periodically

 All Stratus users are now be required to change their passwords every 90 days. They are given a warning 3 days before the expiration date – at the 87th date.

1/6/04      Nassau County Photos Available On Public Records

Two enhancements have been made on Stratus:

We have linked over 400,000 photos supplied to us from the Nassau County Assessor’s Office to their respective public record. You will note that these photos are not as high quality as the MLS listing photos, but still provide you with a good view of the property. When you view the public record, the report, Full With Photo, will now be the default report and will include those photos.

Previously, for Nassau, Suffolk and Queens, we linked over 160,000 archived multiple listing photos to their respective public record. If there is an ML# with a photo linked to the public record, that ML#'s photo appears on the public record instead of the Nassau County Assessor photo. Additionally, any multiple photos for that listing will be viewable in the public record.

Note: Only approximately 70% of multiple listings are linked to its public record. If you are not doing so, when you add a new listing, be sure to link it to the public record, so both the listing property characteristics and the photo(s) can be viewed on the public record.

1/6/04       Listing Field Changes On Stratus Add/Edit

Effective Wed evening (1/7/04), the following changes will be made on Stratus.

1. The field, Condition, has been re-named Appearance.

2. The field, Square Footage, has been re-named Approx Int Square Footage.

3. For Rentals, Carpet is now a searchable field in Flex Search.

4. For Residential listings, you will be asked a new question at the end of Add/Edit Listing, “Do you plan to upload your own photo?” This is a required field.

Note: If you answer Y, MLS will not send the photographer to take a photo of your listing. If you respond N, MLS will send the photographer to take the photo. However, if you respond Y and have not uploaded a photo within 7 days of adding the listing, MLS will send the photographer to take the photo of your listing.

5. In Add/Edit for all classes, you will be asked a new question; "Do you want to display the address on the Internet?" This is a required field with a default value already entered of “N”. If you wish to display the address of your listing for consumers to see on www.mlsli.com, enter a “Y” for this question. If you respond with an “N”, the address of your listing will not show when consumers view your listing on www.mlsli.com.

6. A new field has been added to Residential and Condo listings called, New Construction. This field is required with a Y/N response needed.

6/26/03       Training Mode Available & Open House Detail In Calendar

Two enhancements have been made on Stratus:

1. Training Mode Available
In Customize My Stratus, there is a new check box, for Training Mode. If you check this, you can make changes in Add/Edit to a listing and it will not save to the listing. It is a great tool for those office managers who want to teach agents in their office how to add or edit a listing. With this enhancement, you can now get through the task of Adding or Editing a Listing from start to finish without affecting the database.

If you have selected Training Mode, a red notation, "TRAINING MODE" appears in the upper left hand corner under the Stratus logo.

Note: Checking the TRANING MODE box, only applies to the current session. If you want to use training mode in subsequent sessions, you must sest it each time you log in in Customize My Stratus.

2.Open House Detail In Calendar
In Customize My Stratus, if you elected to show Open Houses in your market Area on your Personal Calendar, now when Open Houses are displayed on the Calendar, two changes have been made:

a. Past open houses won't appear.

b. There will be information identifying the Open House on the Calendar. ML#, Address, Town. (It used to just says Open House and you had no way to know which listing the Open House related to.

5/21/03       See Thumbnails In Search Results

New features in Stratus added that allows you to view thumbnail photos of the listings from the search results. To set this up, click "Customize My Stratus" from the Info Center. Scroll down to the section for Thumbnails and check the box "Show thumbnails with search results" as shown below.

Thumbnails:

Show thumbnails with search results

4/17/03       Converting Private To Public Listings - Now Photos Convert Too!

An enhancement has been made on Stratus so now when you convert a private listing to a public ML#, the existing photos for that private listing are now automatically attached to the new public ML#. You no longer have to re-upload your photos.

4/10/03       Public Record Report With ML# Photo Linked To It

In Public Records, a new full record report, Full W/Photo, has been created that includes the public record data plus the photo (and multiple photos, if any) of the ML# linked to it. The old report without the photo, called Full, remains as a report option if you want to view/print the public record without the photo. But the new report withe the photo is the default one when you browse public records.

Keep in mind that there are approx. 1.4 million public records and currently the listing photos only go back to 1999 so many of the public records will not have photos. But it is a start and as the time goes on more public records will have the photos.

4/8/03       Select Co-List Agent From All Branches In Add Listing

Add Listing has been modified so now when adding a lisitng, you can select a Co Listing Agent, if any, from all your office as well as any of your branch offices.

3/24/03       CMA’s Now Purged After 6 Months Inactivity.

Stratus CMA’s will now be purged if they have not been added or edited within the past six months.  Check your CMAs and be sure that for each one you wish to retain, the edit date is less than six months old.   If there are any older than six months that you wish to retain, go into your existing CMA and just Save it again.  Your edit date will be updated to today’s date and that CMA won’t get purged.

3/17/03       New Stratus Look – Not Equal To Searching – More…
  1. In Flex search, “Not Equal To” searching has been implemented.  You can now search for Style “not equal to” Cape by checking the “Not” box and then selecting Cape.  The search will find all Styles but Capes.
  2. In listing searches when you view a listing, you now have the option to View History.  History now also contains the photos.
  3. If you are the listing broker for the listing, when you view it in search, you can click Edit Listing to go directly to edit that listing.
  4. From Search Results, you can now click anywhere on the listing to view the full detail.
  5. There is a new option in Customize My Stratus that enables you to Display Thumbnails in Search Results.
  6. Street Maps have been updated and now include information on properties overlapping on the map and a more definable square around the property icon.
  7. The Public Records tab now contains a link, CASS Forms For Bulk Mailing which enable you to print the Forms for the Post Office.
  8. Info Center has been re-arranged and the buttons throughout Stratus are now in light grey and highlighted when selected.
  9. New links on the Info Center include Current Tip, Tip Archives, Enhancement  Archives and MLS Activity Reports.

For complete detail on the above enhancements, Click Here.

3/5/03       Old MLS Listings Available On Stratus

Over 600,000 old listings that MLS had archived on tape dating back to 1991 have been loaded on Stratus.  Included are old Expireds, Closings, Under Contracts (that never sold), Renteds and Withdrawn/Released.   These listings are searchable in Stratus by selecting Quick Search for Unavailables and checking the box to include Archives. 

Keep in mind that when you search the archives on Stratus you can only search one Town at a time.  The old archives have also been linked to the public record, wherever a match was found, enabling you to get a better sales history of the property with the old MLS listing information shown.

3/3/03       Stratus Search Results Download Includes Yr Built 

From the Search Results, when you select Download to download all the database fields, the obsolete field, Age has now been replaced with the Year Built field.

1/9/03        Email Link Includes Multiple Photos

Search Listing Emails and Prospect Match Emails on Stratus now include the multiple photos.  When you email listings to consumers, the link now includes the arrows for them to to view the multiple photos.

12/20/03    MLSLIrealtor.com Now Includes Ad Text

In www.mlslirealtor.com for the consumers, new fields were added to the listing displays in Find A Home including Ad Text and Co-List Agent's name and email address.  The listing reports the consumers see now also show full and half baths, school district name (no longer #), village taxes, handicap access, waterfront description and tennis court.

11/21/02   New Stratus Enhancements

Counts, Revise Search Criteria, Upload CMA Subject Property, Archives Listings, new listing fields, Print Broker Full after adding a listing, and more.  Click here for complete details on these and all the enhancements. 

11/21/02    Pay Your LIBOR/MLS Bills Online

You have just received your 2003 LIBOR dues bills in the mail.   LIBOR and MLS now offer Internet Member Services at http://ims.mlslirealtor.com.  This is a convenient way for you to to access your membership account and pay your LIBOR dues and MLS bills securely online.   In addition, you can make a contribution to RPAC or view/modify your personal membership information.    From the Stratus Info Center, click "Pay LIBOR/MLS Bill Here" to access your account.  Read and agree to the "TERMS OF USE FOR REALTORS ELECTRONIC NETWORK".  When prompted to log in, at Logon ID, enter your LIBOR Member #.  At Password, enter your IMS Password (must be lowercase).  Unless you change it, your IMS password is the same as your Stratus password.

9/23/03      Display MLS Listings On Your Website – Broker Reciprocity

Through Broker Reciprocity (BRS), MLS Participants give each other permission to display their MLS listings on each other’s web site.  Keep consumers coming to your web site for the latest MLS listings by subscribing to either the BRS Search engine or receiving a daily data feed.   
Click here for more info.

8/22/02      Market Share Charts & Graphs 

When in Stratus’ Market Share, if your Charts and Graphs are not displaying correctly,  you need reinstall the Charting Software.  To do this click here and follow the steps outlined.  

8/20/02      Consumer Leads Coming Your Way 

More leads will be coming your way as a result of the new link on the consumer site, www.mlslirealtor.com.  Now when your listing is viewed, the consumer can click, Request A Showing Of This Property.   You will receive an email from them requesting more information about your property found on MLSLIREALTOR.com®.  You will be given the MLS# and a link to view the property they are referring to.   The consumer site receives over 5,800 unique visitors a day and over 17,000 sessions per day so you are bound to get some interest in your properties.  To keep these valuable leads, remember to always answer your emails promptly.  

Also, make sure LIBOR has your correct email address on file.  To do this, from the Info Center, click Search Member.  Search for yourself by your last and first name.  When your member information is displayed, make sure your email address is correct.  If not, please send us your correct email address to LIBOR at libormem@mlslirealtor.com. 

7/5/02       Stratus Build-It Yourself Web Sites  

Are you in need of a new web site for yourself or your office? Stratus now offers Agent Office Web Page Builder where you can build your own web site.  Features include 8 customizable web pages, a mortgage calculator, your listing inventory (running in real time from Stratus), an information request form to generate leads and much more.  Add your picture, office logo  Choose your own fonts, colors and templates to make your site unique. The good thing is you can try it for free before you buy it  Create your site on Stratus and only when you are satisfield with it, purchase and publish it for consumers to visit.   To try it, click on the Info Center link, Agent/Office Web Page Builder.  For  pricing information, click here.

6/4/02                 Private Listings Photo Upload Available  

In addition to uploading photos for your multiple listings, Stratus now includes the capability to upload your own photos for your private listings.  You can upload a primary photo and up to eight additional scenes.  

To upload your own photos on Stratus, from the Add/Edit tab, select Upload Photos.  This can be done at any time once your private listing has been entered and you have an ML#.

When a listing is displayed in a Search, the primary photo appears.  This is also the photo that prints on the different reports, such as Broker Full, Client Full, etc.  To view the additional scenes, click on the small back and forward arrows below the Primary photo.  Currently, if you convert your private listing to a multiple listing, you will need to re-upload your photos.  For complete guidelines to uploading your own photos, click here.

4/2/02                  LIBOR/MLS Online Store – Now Available

You will notice when you sign on to Stratus' Info Center, the new REALTOR Internet Store button.  Click on this button to:

1.  Order online your MLS/LIBOR Forms and Suppliesincluding Agency Disclosure forms, Purchase Offer Contracts, Listing Agreements, Binder Pads and Envelopes, MLS Signs and more.

2.  Shop at LIBOR's new online Internet Board Store offering the largest selection of real estate marketing tools & supplies offered anywhere in the world including REALTOR Logo items, Business Card Magnets, Literature Displays, Calculators, Open House Tools, Signs, Videos, Real Estate Theme Clothing & Jewelry, Doorhangers, Client Cards, Books, Advertising Specialty Products/Items and much, much more.

3.  Learn all about Supra Electronic Key Boxes.   Download the Supra KeyBox Lease Agreement and find out about the Electronic KeyBox program including details of the KeyBox service, signing, transferring and terminating your KeyBox service.

To take advantage of these new services, click on the  REALTOR Internet Store button from the Stratus Info Center screen.  Or to visit LIBOR's Internet Board store directly, go to www.libor-store.com.