|
New Pinergy Features You Might Have Missed in 2023
As MLS PIN says goodbye to a busy 2023, we’d like to remind you of the updates we released this year to modernize and upgrade features you rely on in Pinergy. The latest Pinergy modules to get the “responsive” treatment (to work nearly identically on phones, tablets, and desktops) include Property History, the new Hot Sheets module, Public Records, and most recently, Agent/Office Rosters. In many cases, we added new features to go along with the responsive design! We also released other, brand-new Pinergy advancements this year, like the Power Search bar on every Pinergy page, a Search page dropdown menu of your ten most recent searches, and the ability to make your Search and Search Results map views full-screen. Finally, we partnered with the social media advertising service Boost, which you can access from Pinergy’s Tools, Quick Links, and Listings Manager. For more details on these updates, check out our Pinergy Highlights for 2023 flyer.
| |
|
Special Limited-Time Webinar on Highlights of 2023 Pinergy Releases
With so many Pinergy updates this year, we’ve created a limited-time webinar to help you make the most of the changes. It’s called “Pinergy Highlights for 2023” (register HERE), and it will cover recent updates to Pinergy’s search, hot sheets, public records, property history, new 3rd-party integrations, and much more. Two classes per day will be held on December 7, 12, 18, and 28. Space is limited, so register today if you want to be guaranteed a virtual “seat”!
| |
|
Get the Most from Your MLS PIN Subscription with These Learning Resources
Pinergy wasn’t the only MLS PIN website to get an update this year: the Training Library at mlspin.com has been reworked so that all the videos, pre-recorded webinars, flyers, and guides are organized in support of each topic (Pinergy, Boost, Cloud CMA, and many others). We think you’ll find it easier to navigate the many learning resources offered. If you’re looking for where to begin, try selecting “New Agents Start Here!” For even more information and time-saving tips, browse all the available Pinergy online courses at our Schedule & Registration page. Our outreach team can even meet with your office—at your convenience—to deliver virtual training on Pinergy and related tools. Schedule this at our Personalized Training page on mlspin.com. We have a lot of ways for you to increase productivity and customer satisfaction, and we hope you take advantage of them to get the most out of your subscription.
| |
|
Coming Soon: Expanded Local Information for Listings!
Agents soon will see local demographics and points of interest appear automatically in each listing’s Full Report, Public Report, and Data View in Pinergy. Contacts also will see these valuable additions appear in the details for their property matches. View demographics pertaining to income, housing, education, and more. Explore points of interest, like shopping, dining, transportation, schools, and other local features, and use location scores to compare neighborhoods. All of this will be coming this winter, so be sure to check Pinergy’s News & Notes section for updates and more information!
| |
|
Pinergy’s Agent/Office Rosters: New Features and Responsive Design
Pinergy’s Agent/Office Rosters module is now responsive, so it will adjust automatically to fit the display of your desktop or mobile device. Additionally, the updated module is easier to read and navigate, with many features being just a click or tap away. In the Office Details view, for example, select the address to map the office’s location, or select “Current Listing(s)” to view the office’s inventory. Select an envelope icon to email an agent, select a camera icon to view an agent’s photo, and (from your smartphone) call the office or any specific agent simply by tapping the appropriate icon or phone number. Of course, you also can select an agent’s name to view the Agent Details. Looking to print labels? The Find Agents and Find Offices results can be sorted by columns, and they each include a Download option that can be very useful for mail merges.
| |
|
“Firm Remarks” Will Expand to 1,000 Characters!
Starting next week, Firm Remarks, one of the few listing fields in which identifying information is allowed, will expand to fit a maximum of 1,000 characters (up from 300)! Those 700 additional characters will provide room to easily convey all the confidential remarks you wish to communicate to other agents and ensure that cooperating agents will have the details they need—including names, websites, email addresses, and phone numbers—to help you sell that property.
| |
|
RatePlug Helps Buyers Understand Their Financing Options
Concerned about rising interest rates and low inventory? RatePlug can help by showing your buyers accurate monthly mortgage payment estimates—using ONLY your trusted lending sources—in Pinergy’s property reports. There’s no cost to MLS PIN agents or brokers; lenders pay a license fee to be displayed on listings and flyers. RatePlug notifies you of special financing options like FHA, VA, USDA, and more. Participation also includes their (new) digital and printable property flyer program. Turn “Can I afford that?” into “I CAN afford that!” by activating your free RatePlug account at rateplug.com and then checking the RatePlug box on your listing details in Pinergy.
| |
|
Launch Your Digital Ad Campaigns from Pinergy with Boost
In early summer 2023, we launched a unique partnership within the MLS industry: the ability to create and automate, with the help of Boost, digital social media advertising directly from an MLS system (i.e., Pinergy!). We chose this service (discounted for MLS PIN subscribers) because it’s simple, cost-effective, and under your full control via your Boost Dashboard. Your listing or business ads will be seen on sites like Instagram, Facebook, HGTV, and other places where active buyers in your area like to hang out. Did we mention cost-effective? You can test the waters for as little as $49 and build higher-volume ad campaigns once you’ve evaluated the results. Access Boost from Pinergy’s Quick Links, Tools, and Listings Manager (more information in this VIDEO). For information about creating Boost ads, check out their in-depth pre-recorded WEBINAR. Best of luck “boosting” your business!
| |
|
Customize Your Smartphone Experience in Pinergy
Did you know that you can customize how Pinergy’s Home and Tools pages appear on your mobile and desktop devices? The Home page displays more than a dozen widgets, and each can be repositioned, collapsed, or expanded. So you can, for example, have any widget (Quick Search, Hot Sheets, Quick Links, etc.) appear immediately when you sign in to Pinergy using your smartphone. The typical Tools page displays about 20 tiles, and you can hide, show, or reorder any of them. This can reduce the scrolling necessary when using the page with your smartphone. Repositioning widgets and moving/hiding/showing tiles must be done using a desktop device, but any changes you make to the Home and/or Tools pages will apply to all your devices. To reposition a widget on the Home page, click in the widget’s gray bar, drag the widget, and drop it into its new location. (When the Home page displays on your smartphone, the columns will stack in this order: center, left, and then right.) Select the chevron in the gray bar to collapse/expand a widget (this can be done using any device). To move a tile on the Tools page, click the “move” icon in the upper-left corner of the tile, drag the tile, and drop it into its new position. Click the hide/show icon in a tile’s upper-right corner to hide/show the tile. Select the Show All toggle in the upper-right corner of the page to show even hidden tiles (this can be done using any device).
| |
|
Optimize Pinergy’s “Search” Page
Pinergy’s Search page adjusts automatically to fit the width of your display, whether it’s desktop or mobile. However, you can make additional adjustments to support the way you search. Expand/collapse any section (bucket) on the page by selecting the chevron located in the bucket’s upper-right corner. Pinergy will use those settings until you change them (except for the Map bucket, which will be collapsed by default). So you might, for example, collapse the List Number(s) bucket to save some space on the Search page. Then to search by list number(s), you could either expand the bucket or use the new Power Search instead. Also, if you frequently use your smartphone for searching, you might collapse the buckets you tend to use less and then expand them only when needed. This can you save a lot of scrolling. Remember that your changes will affect all your devices, and if you can’t find the search field you need, it may be in a collapsed bucket.
| |
|
Quarterly Market Insights Show Where the Market’s Been and Where It May Be Headed
The holidays are fast approaching, and you may be wondering if the real estate market gave us a gift in Q3. Our 3rd-quarter Quarterly Market Insights reports have the answers, with detailed year-over-year and five-year comparisons for both single-family and condominium markets in Massachusetts. The reports can be found in the News section of our corporate website as well as in the MLS PIN Resources and Quick Links sections of Pinergy’s Home page. Check them out, and watch for new reports every quarter.
| |
|
Marketwatch Report for Q3 Offers County-by-County Sales Statistics
Wondering how your neighborhood has been doing in this real estate climate? We’ve just released another useful real estate performance report for Q3: the Marketwatch Report! This report shows data, graphs, and trends for single-family residential market activity, broken down by county and zip code so you can see how your specific area compares to other areas and previous years. You can access the Q3 Marketwatch Report—and all Marketwatch reports (back to 2016!)—in mlspin.com’s News section, and you can get there from the MLS PIN Resources and Quick Links sections of Pinergy’s Home page.
| |
|
Help Keep Pinergy’s Data Accurate–Here’s How
An accurate property database is vital for smooth real estate transactions and satisfied buyers and sellers. That’s why it’s crucial, when posting a listing to Pinergy, to make sure you are inputting accurate data to all fields. Under sections 1.2 and 8.1 of the MLS PIN Rules and Regulations, the listing broker is responsible for the accuracy of the data on each listing in Pinergy. For most properties, you can access the Property Information, Assessment Information, and Sales History by going to Pinergy’s Tools and selecting Public Records. You also can import listing data by selecting the “Use this address to import listing data from Public Tax & Assessment Records” link when inputting a new listing in Pinergy. Accurate data is vital for successful transactions, and we appreciate your efforts in keeping Pinergy’s data as impeccable as it can be.
| |
|
Employee Spotlight
Kyle Mateer, Customer Care Representative/Technical Support
Kyle Mateer joined our company 5 years ago as a Technical Support Representative. (MLS PIN has so little turnover that he’s still one of the “new guys”!) Today, he’s a Customer Care Representative, responsible for technical support and responding to membership questions on the phone and via email. A self-described “problem-solver,” Kyle handles everything from resetting the Chrome web browser to using the many new features found in Pinergy. He’s had previous experience as a product support technician and project rollout specialist for national companies, so hiring him was an easy decision that has benefited us! Kyle keeps busy after work, designing and making prints and products with his home 3D printing business, as well as gaming and (as a trained chef) creating kitchen masterpieces. Whether cooking up recipes or answers to your Pinergy questions, Kyle is there with useful, creative solutions.
| | | | |
