A Glimpse into the Future of Pinergy

Watch for a New Search and Search Results Early Next Year

We're hard at work making Pinergy more user-friendly and responsive to all the devices you use on a daily basis. With your feedback, we recently transformed Pinergy's homepage to work better and faster on laptops, tablets, and phone screens. That was just the beginning: Coming early next year will be an easier-to-use, responsive Search! As with all our updates, we'll make the transition seamless by providing instructional videos, free hands-on classes, webinars, and office visits. Our team will be demonstrating key features at events and tradeshows, and, of course, live technical support is available evenings and weekends. We're excited for the future. Let the metamorphosis begin!

Changes to MLS PIN's Privacy Policy

Display of Emails in Pinergy

Based on customer demand, the Board of Directors approved a change to the MLS PIN Privacy Policy that allows the display of agent email addresses to other agents within the Pinergy system. This means that when you click the "email" envelope icon in a listing report or when you click the agent's email address in the Agent/Office Rosters, your default email client (e.g., Outlook, Gmail) will open to allow you to send a message with attached documents and your personal email signature and branding. Sent messages will be saved in your email's "sent" folder, giving you the ability to find them again easily. This change went into effect on September 18. (Note: This only affects how email addresses are displayed to agents in Pinergy. There will be no change to the policy as it relates to sharing information with outside companies.) You can change the email address that will be displayed in Pinergy by going to Tools, then Options and Settings. Also, you have the ability to have a private email address, not shared in Pinergy, to be used for accounting purposes. If you wish to have a separate, private email on file for billing purposes, please email your billing email to [email protected].

Collapsible Widgets on Pinergy's New Homepage

Want to simplify your Pinergy experience? The boxes on Pinergy's new homepage are called widgets, and they allow you to customize the homepage. To save some space on your screen, click the "^" in the top-right corner of a widget to collapse it. Click the "v" in the top-right corner to expand the widget again. This feature is particularly useful when viewing Pinergy's homepage on a mobile device.

Moveable Widgets on Pinergy's New Homepage

Does your new Pinergy homepage look and work just the way you want it to? You can easily move Pinergy's homepage widgets to customize the page. From your computer, click in the gray bar at the top of a widget, drag the widget to the desired location, and drop it there. (You may click on the ad widget and move it as well, but you cannot move the notices or the News & Notes.) Pinergy will remember your customizations for future logins. Note: On smaller displays (like smartphones), the widgets in the homepage's three columns will stack into just one column: center first, left side next, right side last.

MLS PIN Donates to REALTORS® Relief Foundation for Texas and Florida Assistance

We have made a donation to the NAR REALTORS® Relief Foundation, which is currently coordinating efforts for relief and support of victims affected by catastrophic flooding and devastation caused from Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. Their goal is to help families who have endured unimaginable loss due to these major disasters. All funds go to assist those in need with temporary housing, mortgage payments, and other related expenses. Our thoughts and support are with everyone touched by hurricanes Harvey and Irma during this time of recovery.

Homesnap's AR Property Line Feature

Homesnap released a really cool new feature, and we want to be sure that you know about it. This new feature takes advantage of augmented reality (AR) to give agents and home searchers a real-time, physical view of a property's boundaries. Apple released iOS 11, and Homesnap updated their iOS app with full support (version 5.0.1) introducing an unparalleled AR experience that lets agents and their clients "Walk the Property Lines" around any home. Fire up Homesnap on your iPhone or iPad, pull up the home details, scroll to the map, and tap "Walk the Property Lines" to get started. As you walk around the property, your phone will show you the property lines of the home as you're walking. This video shows it in action. Note: It will require iOS 11, iPhone 6s or later, and is available within ~2000 feet of any home.

Want to Give Your Client's Listings a Boost? Think Social!

To get the word out about your listed properties, you have to go where the people are - and these days, that's social media. Pinergy has an easy way to post to Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, and Twitter - it's all in the "Social Share" button, above each of your active listings in the Listings tab. Click it, and you'll be taken to a preview of what you'll be posting. Now click one of the social media logos, add your comments, and click "post." Your listing just got a nice marketing boost, at no extra charge! Facebook and LinkedIn give you a few extra options on where you're posting and if the post will be viewable to the general public. And if you're curious how social media is responding to your posts, click the "Marketing Overview" button above your listing for a breakdown of social media shares and views. Give Social Sharing a shot for your next listing, and here's hoping your post goes viral!

Pinergy's Public Records Saves Time

One Trick Makes Inputting Listings Faster

Pinergy's Listing Form may have a lot of fields to fill out, but chances are someone has already done much of the work for you. When entering or editing a listing, you may click "Use this address to import listing data from Public Tax & Assessment Records" (above the listing's address) to quickly load Public Records data into the listing form for all matching data fields. This can save a lot of time and effort when entering a listing from scratch or when cloning an older listing. You still should verify the data, but you won't have to type everything yourself - and time saved here could be better spent marketing your new listing!

Multiple Searches Keep Contacts in the Know

Pinergy's Contact Manager allows you to attach multiple searches to a Contact. This provides the flexibility to target various groups of listings your Contact wants to see. For example, you can set up a search specifically for condominiums in one price range and another search specifically for single-families in a different price range. Search names are displayed in your Contact's update emails, so you may want to rename the searches (e.g., "Condos" and "Single-Families") by clicking the icons next to the searches' names. Set up as many searches as you want for each Contact, because more options mean more satisfied clients!

Recent U.S. Copyright Changes

Safe Harbor Filing

The U.S. Copyright Office recently changed its requirements for filing for "safe harbor" under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) so that all filings now must be done electronically. The good news is the filing will only need to be renewed once every three years and the cost has dropped dramatically. However, MLS PIN will no longer be able to file on your behalf. Therefore, if you want to be protected under the safe harbor, you must file yourself with the U.S. Copyright Office. Watch the Pinergy homepage for more updates coming soon. In the meantime, please check out the informative details put together by the National Association of Realtors® (NAR) on their website: Changes to DMCA Safe Harbor.

Power Tip

Use Custom Coverage Areas in Area Market Reviews

Pinergy's Area Market Reviews make it easy to view year-over-year market statistics for a state, a county, a town, an area of a town, or a ZIP code. But what if your market area covers more than just one town but less than an entire county? That's where you'll want to use a Custom Coverage Area. First, create a Custom Coverage Area in your Options and Settings, being sure to specify only the towns you'll want included in your Area Market Review. Next, select "Use Custom Coverage Area" when setting up your Area Market Review, then select your Custom Coverage Area. Now run the report to view year-over-year market statistics for the group of towns you specified.

Employee Spotlight

Jim Burnard Steers You in the Right Direction

Jim Burnard, one of MLS PIN's Training Specialists, wears a lot of hats, both in and out of the office. For nearly 2 years, he has been training users on all aspects of Pinergy, as well as hosting webinars and creating Training Videos (he's the smooth voice you hear on the "Map Search Points of Interest" video). Jim is the new face of MLS PIN at the Cape's and the South Shore's Pembroke training locations (you can register for classes with Jim or another Trainer HERE). Prior to working for MLS PIN, he worked for Top Producer, Realtor.com, and Homes.com, and as a former real estate agent, Jim has a depth of knowledge his trainees appreciate. Job satisfaction for him is teaching new agents techniques that will help their new business and teaching experienced users features they weren't aware of. Outside of the office, one of the hats Jim wears is a literal Captain's hat: he has a U.S. Coast Guard Captain's License! He also enjoys participating in martial arts tournaments and performing in local bands. Welcome aboard, Jim!