MRIS Blog

By Diane Ives, CRB, CRS, and MRIS Instructor

It might seem as if Open Houses rarely result in a sale, but they may be useful for building a client base and for obtaining feedback on the listing. The 2008 NAR, Profile of Homebuyers and Sellers, reported that “eighty-seven percent of home buyers used the Internet to search for homes” and about half reported attending open houses during their home search process. This figure suggests that holding houses open may have value as an adjunct opportunity.

MRIS® allows you to capitalize on both the Internet Search that buyers want and the Open House opportunity by putting the Open House information into your listing in Keystone. This way the event will become searchable in Matrix (agents) and on HomesDatabase.com (the public) for maximum exposure at no additional cost.

Agents can add broker open houses and invite other agents/offices to tour after the weekly sales meetings or they can add public open houses and invite members of the public (usually evenings or weekends).

To add an open house; log into www.mris.com and click the Keystone link at the top of the page, click the Search for Listings button, enter the MLS#, click search, click the edit icon (found on the far left of the listing result). Click the Open House link, click the Add Open House button. Enter the date and time within the field Open House Begins, enter the Open House Close information, enter Remarks, Access Type, Open House Type, and Open Agent ID, click Save.

It’s that easy. Your Open House will now be visible in Matrix and on HomesDatabase.com for the world to see.

To send feedback on this article, email communications@mris.net.

MRIS, February 9, 2009-HomesDatabase.com 2.0, our public listings website, was conceived and built to do one thing: make you more successful by sending consumers directly to you. Get a behind the scenes look at the inspiration behind the development of the new HomesDatabase.

We invite you to watch the following video:
The Making of HomesDatabase 2.0 Video

As an MRIS customer, your listings are automatically fed to HomesDatabase.com. There is absolutely nothing you need to do to take advantage of this opportunity. Visitors to the site will see your company logo, your contact information and follow links to your website. HomesDatabase is not a destination site, but a gateway that reflects the features requested by brokers, agents and public consumers. In these economic times, consumer traffic from your MLS, who’s not in competition with you, is a huge benefit!

To send feedback on this article, email communications@mris.net.

The HomesDatabase 2.0 Beta test is nearly over.
After a very successful beta test, the new Homesdatabase.com is just about ready for launch. Your feedback during the beta was extremely helpful in helping us iron out a few glitches along the way, and for your help we are very grateful.  Starting next week, the old HomesDatabase will be retired and visitors will soon see the new site.
Here are just a few of the improvements we’ve made during the beta:
•    Home buyers can now enter the name of metro stations, MARC stations, or Baltimore Light Rail stations to find homes that will make their commute easier.
•    More homes come up on the map – we heard your feedback that searches in cities would sometimes omit properties, so we’ve made adjustments to our maps search to increase the chance that your listing will appear in the search results.
•    Additional links to your websites to help keep the traffic flowing to your website.
Don’t forget to visit the My Account page to make sure we have a link to your Website so we can send you visitors from  your listings.
We hope you’ll stop by the new HomesDatabase.com. We’ve worked hard to make it a valuable service to you and your customers. We have lots more in store and we’ll keep working to make the site work harder for you.

I am happy to share some very good news! The new version of HomesDatabase.com, the MRIS public search portal, is now live in beta.

You will still see the old site when you go to www.homesdatabase.com but can view the new site at the address above while we prepare for the final rollout.

When everything is looking good, the new site - HomesDatabase.com 2.0 — will eventually replace the old site. We expect that to happen shortly after the first of the year.

More exposure, more traffic, no costHomesDatabase.com 2.0 was conceived and built to do one thing: make you more successful by sending consumers directly to you. We’re investing in you, as always, so we’re offering this to you for free - with no gimmicks and no ads to stand between you and consumers. According to both Media Metrix and Hitwise, our existing HomesDatabase website is already the top real estate website in our market. But we’re not resting on our laurels. Early next year, we will launch a major radio, print and online ad campaign aimed at driving even more consumers to the site, and to you. As an MRIS customer, your listings are automatically fed to HomesDatabase.com. There is absolutely nothing you need to do to take advantage of this opportunity. Visitors to the site will see your company logo, your contact information and follow links to your website.If you’d like to learn more about how the new HomesDatabase was developed, we invite you to watch the following video:The Making of HomesDatabase 2.0

A look to the future

We built HomesDatabase.com 2.0 to help you connect with consumers and cut costs. But it is also about all of us — brokers, agents and their MLS - collaborating to make sure we have a stake in our future.

I hope you like the new website and look forward to your feedback.

To your success!!

David Charron
CEO
MRIS

The story of Mr. Is reaches its dramatic climax in our fourth and final episode, “Restoration.”

When we last saw REALTOR^® Phil Wilson, it became clear that he had been transformed into something extraordinary: A real estate practitioner empowered by a new tool – HomesDatabase.com 2.0 — that freed him from the costs and hassles associated with Web marketing.

Mr. Is was revealed.

As we conclude this story, we want to state that we believe there’s a real estate superhero inside every MRIS subscriber, a person with the power to save the day for homebuyers and sellers.

As Phil Wilson said at the end of our last episode,

“Imagine what could happen if our combined knowledge and strengths as brokers and agents were used for our own benefit and not leveraged by others? Imagine how powerful we would become.”

We have imagined this. With the release of HomesDatabase.com 2.0, it will soon be a reality.

The MRIS Team