Dear San Diego Association of Realtors,

To better serve me, you recently gave me a new MLS system. You call it Tempo 5. I am writing to thank you. Although I never asked for my former and, dare I say, functional MLS to be replaced, you seemingly knew exactly what my clients and I needed. Granted, you never solicited my input, but you sensed the latent demand. You somehow knew that I was too busy trying to make a living to conceive of the ways in which my business profitability might be enhanced through a much more stout, content-rich search experience. That was the intent, right?

Our former MLS system was far too susceptible to misuse, this I now understand. In the old days (last Tuesday), only two levels of security were required: a user number and a personal identification number, but some bad apples were sharing their information with unauthorized evildoers. Policing and fining the offenders would have been an insurmountable undertaking, so I get the whole “key fob” thing in providing a third foolproof protection device that displays one of thousands of random numbers contained in its tiny, plastic brain with the push of a button. My new Security Authenticator, as you call it, is really neat. The name on my key fob reads “SAFEMLS,” and safe it is! Now no one except me can input or update my listings, including my partner, my assistant and the other agents on my team. Sometimes I can’t even update my listings, because my Security Authenticator, like my car keys, is not always where I think I left it. But, that is a small price to pay to preserve the exclusivity of my data.

I love how adding a listing now involves 219 distinct input fields. While only 111 of these are mandatory, you can bet I am going to use every one. Thank you! If I had a nickel for every time I have needed to search for a home by type of sub-floor (“slab on grade” or “slab over crawlspace” but NOT “wood over story”), I would be summering in the Hamptons. I particularly like the new input field “URL Link for School District,” the one limited to three characters. Oh, and those mandatory photo captions are cool! The forced drop-down menu includes so many useful choices, including stuff I had never considered like shipping/receiving, loading dock, conference room, sales/service counter, shop/service bay, and showroom. Who needs “bedroom” among these options? (Apparently, we don’t, since it is not included.)

I would write more, but I have a client who just called to tell me they would like to see a home they found on Redfin. First, though, they want to confirm it is a Tudor/French Normandy and find out if there are any photos of the cafeteria. I told them I would look into it, just as soon as I report the error to Microsoft.

With deepest gratitude,

Kris Berg, Realtor

Kris Berg is a real estate broker associate for Prudential California Realty in San Diego. She also writes a consumer-focused real estate blog, The San Diego Home Blog.

Berg will speak at Real Estate Connect in San Francisco, July 23-25, 2008. Register today.

***

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