Search by Office Now Available in flexmls® Web!

We are pleased to announce that the ability to search by your office is now available in flexmls.

Just go to the Search tab, select Address, click Your Office option on the bottom left and perform your search.

Thank you for your feedback detailing your needs.  We will continue to keep channels of communication open so that flexmls can evolve as a flexible, invaluable asset to your business.

With the change in MLS systems, the ARMLS Board of Directors decided to clear up the issue by having a field for both the postal city and the actual physical location of the property. The “City” field now explicitly refers to the city for which the US Postal Service has for the address to the property.  There is also a newly required field called “Tax Municipality”.  For the Tax Municipality field, the list agent must select the municipality to which taxes are paid from that property.

For example, a property you are listing is in Queen Creek.  The postal address is listed as Queen Creek, but the property actually is in unincorporated Pinal County. The owner of the property pays taxes to Pinal County not to Queen Creek.  The City field on the listing must be Queen Creek.  The Tax Municipality field must be Pinal Unincorporated County.

Another example:  The property has a Gilbert postal address but actually resides on a county island.  The owner of the property does not pay taxes to the city of Gilbert.  Taxes are paid to Maricopa County.  In this example the City field must be Gilbert and the Tax Municipality is Maricopa Unincorporated County.

Another example:   The property has a New River postal mailing address but pays taxes to the city of Phoenix.  New River goes into the City field and Phoenix is entered into the Tax Municipality field.

One last example:  The property resides in the Ahwatukee area of Phoenix.  It has a Phoenix postal mailing address and also pays taxes to the city of Phoenix.  Phoenix would be entered for both the City and the Tax Municipality fields.

As the lock-down of the city (and other fields) has been lifted, please be proactive and edit your listings to reflect the postal city in the City field and enter the proper taxing municipality in the new Tax Municipality field.

As the ARMLS Compliance Department is notified of incorrect entries into those fields, we will be actively having agents/brokers change their listings (Active, AWC, TOM and Pending only) to comply with the policy.  We will not be currently fining for this issue as we will be giving everyone ample opportunity to edit listings to comply with the definitions of the two fields.  You can also see a short description of the two fields by clicking the “?” next to the field while editing the listing.

Additionally, there are currently several selections in the drop down menus for both fields that should no longer be used as the selection will never be an actual postal address city nor a taxing municipality (e.g. Ahwatukee etc…).  We will be reviewing the drop down list in the near future and deleting any selections that should not be used.

It became apparent that it would not be feasible to unlock those fields for editing until the switch was made to flexmls.  Now that we have converted MLS systems to flexmls, the lock-down of those fields has been lifted.  Listing Agents and Brokers may now edit those fields which they had not been able to edit in Tempo.

On July 1^st, 2008, all zip codes must reflect the official zip code for the property.  If any Active status listings (Active, AWC and TOM) still have the old zip codes, please take a moment to call the ARMLS Compliance Department at (480) 303-7021 or the Help Desk at (480) 303-7020, to have the zip code updated for you.  You may also call your local REALTOR® association to assist you with updating the information.

The policy that was posted on the Tempo Welcome Screen from last year is included below for our subscriber’s perusal. 

Zip Code Policy for Zip Codes changed by US Postal Service in 2007

On July 1^st, 2007 the United States Post Office deleted, added and/or changed the boundaries of several zip code areas in and around the ARMLS service area.  USPS policy is to still deliver the mail to both the new current zip codes as well as the former zip codes, for 1 year after the change.  At that time ARMLS decided that for the input of MLS listings and compliance with rule 8.3 (factual detail on listings), it would follow the USPS lead and allow listings to have either zip code until June 30, 2008.

Part of that decision was based on the fact that some websites that receive data feeds from ARMLS, such as Realtor.com, were rejecting listings with the new zip codes.  Those sites appear to now be accepting the new codes and agent’s listings are not being rejected by them.

On July 1, 2008, all existing “Active”, “AWC” and “TOM” status listings must have the current accurate zip code input onto the listing.  All listings entered on or after July 1, 2008 also must reflect the current zip code for the property.  Listings in an off-market status on that date (i.e. “Sold”, “Expired”, “Cancelled”, and “Pending”) will not be required to change from the old zip code to the new zip code unless the status changes back to one of the active statuses.

ARMLS encourages all listing agents to start using the new zip codes as soon as possible.  This should also help the subscribers at large to conduct better searches if they are searching by zip code.

Currently the zip code field is not editable by ARMLS subscribers.  To facilitate any zip code changes that you would like to be made to your listing, please call ARMLS at (602) 955-1707 and ask for assistance.  Please be prepared with your MLS#(s) and the correct zip code.  ARMLS will then verify the accuracy of the data change, check for any Days on Market issues and edit the listing for you (provided the change is accurate).

UPDATE (8/5/2008) 

 Remember, with the switch in MLS systems, you are now able to edit your own zip codes without calling ARMLS or your Association.

Attached are links (provided by the USPS) to the zip code maps for zip codes changed by USPS in July 2007: 85234_85296_85295_new_zips_20070701.pdf

85297_85298_new_zips_20070701.pdf

avondale-goodyear_new_zips_after.pdf

casa_grande_new_zips_after.pdf

chandler_ocotillo_new_zips_after.pdf

gilbert_new_zips_after.pdf

glendale_new_zips_after.pdf

marana_new_zips_after.pdf

maricopa_new_zips_after.pdf

queen_creek_new_zips_after.pdf

scottsdale_kachina_new_zips_after.pdf

The ARMLS User Sheet for Property Types 1 and 2 (Residential and Residential Rental) both state:

“Subdivision Name [Required]: Enter the legal subdivision name (or metes and bounds) where the property is located.” 

To view a PDF file of the ARMLS User Sheet for Property Types 1 or 2 click: User Sheet 1 (Residential) or  User Sheet 2 (Res Rental).

Many agents have been improperly using the Subdivision field by putting in the Planned Community name or Marketing name of the community.  For example, Las Sendas can be input into the Planned Community field or Marketing field, but for most, if not all properties in the greater Las Sendas community, the legal subdivision name is NOT Las Sendas.  Therefore it is not accurate and is a violation of the rules to insert only Las Sendas in the Subdivision field.  Some examples of what the Subdivision field must read to be in compliance with the Rules for that particular area are as follows:  Ironwood Pass Unit 2 at Las Sendas, Windsong at Las Sendas, Rolling Hills at Las Sendas etc…

The main issue that listing agents have expressed to ARMLS over the proper use of the Subdivision field is related to Buyer Agent searches.  Please keep in mind that when searching in the Tempo system by subdivision (or any free form field), if you use the wild-card symbol (%) before the name or information you are searching for, you will pull up every property that has your search term included in the Subdivision field (or whichever field you are searching).  For example, entering %Las Sendas  in the Subdivision field will bring up all the properties from the examples of actual subdivision names in the previous paragraph.

If your listings are not currently listed according to our rules with regard to the correct Legal Subdivision name in the Subdivision field, please correct the issue as soon as possible.  The Compliance Department will follow up with all issues (Subdivision and otherwise) that are brought to our attention as quickly as possible.  The best way of contacting us to review any issue is to hit the Report a Violation button located on each listing. 

Many of these items have been hotly debated in a variety of forums, including special in ARMLS committees and at the Board of Directors. The listing policies of Short Sales had to be looked at in relation to the ARMLS Rules and Regulations and have been reviewed multiple times with the input of many members of the REALTOR^® community.

Please make sure you read the “Short Sale Questions and Answers” (CLICK HERE) on the welcome screen in the MLS system, or through the newly posted link on the FAQ page in the Subscribers’ area of ARMLS.com. The Short Sale topics included cover:Status, Commission, List Price and required Property Features.