CCARToday - Contra Costa Association of REALTORS

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Property Watch (Paragon 5)

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NOW AVAILABLE! Property Watch, a powerful tool within Paragon®, helps real estate agents quickly and easily stay up-to-date with updates that are made in property data to the properties they select. Armed with the most current and immediate data about a property, agents can market their services to potential customers – before the competition does.

Agents automatically receive email alerts when there are changes on their selected properties. Alerts include valuation changes, foreclosures, if a property is listed on MLS, lien changes and more. Agents can use this data a variety of ways, such as being the first to approach a potential lead for a listing when the home value increases.
 
In addition to sending alerts, Property Watch includes a list view that can be utilized as a cart for property data.
 
COMING SOON!
Ability to download lists so agents can sort, email, print or import the data into a customer relationship management (CRM) system.
 
How to “Watch a Property”: 

A Property Watch can be added from the property panel that displays when a parcel is clicked on the map located under the Map Search Tab or the Google Map View of search results.

Clicking on the WATCH PROPERTY option will automatically register the agent to receive email alerts when the aforementioned events occur on the public record. Once enabled, the link toggles to Remove Watch where the watch can easily be removed. 

After a property has been added to a watch, it can easily be accessed from a new TAX menu option called My Property Watches, which is also where agents can access any current alerts.
 
Selecting the My Property Watch option displays a list of any properties that have been set to Watch. The Property Watch grid displays the property panel of the highlighted row for quick access to the additional enhanced public record data. Watches can be removed by highlighting the row and clicking the Remove Watch option.
 
When any of the defined changes occur for a watched property, an alert is generated. Alerts are delivered in an email direct to the agent and displayed in the Alerts Grid. The Alerts grid displays the Tax ID, Address, Alert Type and Alert Date. This data will display after the first alert has been received. Until then, a message will display letting the user know that no alerts have been received on watched properties.
 
When an alert is generated, an email is sent to the watching agent. The Alert Email is a simple, no-reply textual email to notify the agent that some change has occurred. If there are multiple changes on a record, they will be rolled up into the same message.
 
If you have any questions please contact CCAR Member Services at [email protected] or 925.295.1270.

New Shelter-in-Place Order Includes Additions to Essential Real Estate Services

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New Shelter-in-Place Order Includes Additions to Essential Real Estate Services (May 14, 2020)

The New Contra Costa County and other County Shelter-in-Place orders (effective May 4 – May 31st) include most of the prior order’s restrictions, but provides additional limited privileges for certain essential services, including real estate. These new orders apply to all those living/working in Contra Costa, Alameda, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties as well as the City of Berkeley.

Members may resume the following activities while still maintaining strict safety and social distancing protocols:

  • Open houses and tours are still prohibited;
  • Virtual showings are preferred. However, if virtual showings are not feasible, occupied properties may be shown under the following conditions:
    • Occupants must leave a property within a reasonable time prior to and following a showing.
    • Only ONE agent may show a property to a maximum of TWO people from the same household;
  •  All previously ordered social distancing and sanitizing protocols apply.
  • Commercial real estate is now classified as an “essential service”
  • Home stagers are now classified as “essential” to the real estate transaction in Contra Costa and Alameda Counties and the City of Berkeley (as of 05/14/20). Please check separate county orders for specifics and/or limitations to this item.
  • All construction activities may resume as long as businesses comply with safety protocols
  • Residential moves may resume
  • Before conducting any business transactions first consult your broker and adhere to specific rules and guidelines established by your respective corporations/firms and the requirements set out in the County/City orders. Members should seek individual counsel for legal and insurance matters.

As previously noted, CCAR continues to work with County officials to further clarify protocols around real estate transactions. We will provide additional information as it becomes available.

Resources:
|  Essential Services Protocol Q&A  >
|  New Order No. HO-COVID19-09 (Apr 29, 2020)  >
|  New CC County Order Frequently Asked Questions  >

State Issues New COVID-19 Guidelines for Real Estate Employers & Transactions

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State Issues New COVID-19 Guidelines for Real Estate Employers & Transactions (May 8, 2020)

The State of California Department of Health and Division of Occupational Safety and Health (CalOSHA) have established new guidelines for employers and agents conducting transactions in the real estate industry. Please comply with the guideline references listed below to remain in compliance with the multi-phased approach to re-entry into the workplace/community and to ensure the health and safety of your employees and clients.

To assist you in your efforts to comply with these guidelines, we have also developed a print-ready flyer for you to post at properties to inform clients that your business practices are within compliance of state-mandated guidelines and that their entry into a property is subject to their compliance with posted rules*.  View/Print Flyer >

RESOURCES:

CDPH/CALOSHA COVID-19 Guidance for Real Estate Transactions (05.07.20) >
This document provides guidance for businesses operating in the real estate industry including sales and rentals of single-family, multi-family, apartment, commercial, and industrial properties to support a safe, clean environment for workers. This document is supplemented with a general checklist (link below) to ensure proper compliance with these guidelines.

Transactions Guidance Contents:

  • Workplace Specific Plan
  • Shown Properties Specific Plan
  • Topics for Employee Training
  • Individual Control Measures and Screening
  • Cleaning and Disinfecting Protocols for Workplaces
  • Cleaning and Disinfecting Protocols for Shown Properties
  • Physical Distancing Guidelines for Workplaces
  • Physical Distancing Guidelines for Shown Properties


CDPH/CALOSHA COVID-19 General Checklist for Real Estate Transactions (05/07/20) >
This checklist is a supplemental worksheet for use with the above listed Guidance for Real Estate Transactions. It is intended to help people involved in real estate to implement detailed plans to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the workplace. This checklist is a summary and contains shorthand for some parts of the guidance; familiarize yourself with the guidance before using this checklist.

Checklist Contents:

  • Contents of Written Worksite Specific Plan
  • Topics for Employee Training
  • Individual Control Measures and Screening
  • Cleaning and Disinfecting Protocols for Shown Properties
  • Physical Distancing Worksite Guidelines
  • Physical Distancing Guidelines for Shown Properties


COVID-19 Resilience Roadmap (05/08/20) >
As a supplement to its stay-at-home orders (03/29/30, 05/04/20), the State of California has posted a new feature on their website describing the specific stages of reentry into the workplace/public places. Now moving into Stage 2, California is allowing lower-risk workplaces to gradually re-open with specific safety protocols in place. This site provides guidelines for each of the four steps of gradual reopening of business and end of stay-at-home orders.

*Note: Guidelines specify that virtual property showings remain the preferred method of property viewing and live in-person showings should be restricted to only those instances when virtual viewing is impossible.

Cloud CMA Live – Coming Soon!

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Cloud CMA Live – Coming Soon!

We are excited to announce a new enhancement coming to Cloud CMA: Cloud CMA Live. Cloud CMA Live is a new interactive digital CMA experience. The best part? This is a free enhancement being added to all accounts without any action on your part. 
 
When does it go live?
Expected launch date is May 5th. Once launched, users will see a new “Live CMA” link in the report card. 
 
What are the new features?
   – Present beautifully on any modern screen; laptop, tablet, TV, you name it.
   – Live Virtual Listing Presentations with built in Zoom and Skype integration.
   – Toggle comps to add or remove on the fly.
   – Comp data updates automatically on interactive reports.
   – Add custom content including video.
   – Draw attention and highlight anywhere on the screen with the new “telestrator” feature.
   – Perfectly complements branding on Cloud CMA printed reports.

Watch more about Cloud CMA Live here.
 
It’s a new market, agents need new tools
When Cloud CMA began working on Cloud CMA Live over 6 months ago, no one could have predicted that new ways of presenting remotely would be needed. There have been many announcements of products and services working to help buyers, but we are proud to be able to provide this new free enhancement to help agents and their home sellers.

Coming Soon Listing Status – For All Property Classes

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Coming Soon Listing Status – For All Property Classes

Bay East / bridgeMLS / Contra Costa are excited to announce an update to the Paragon “Coming Soon” listings. On April 16th, in the listing entry module, you will see the status of “Active – Coming Soon” in each property class. The update will allow you to pre-market your listing under all property classes and give you the ability to quickly switch the status to “New” when you are ready to go live instead of re-entering everything.

Timeline of what will take place and what you should do

4/16/2020
–   Active Coming Soon status will be enabled under all property classes.
–   Capability to add a listing under the current Coming Soon property class will be disabled.

4/16/2020 thru 4/30/2020
–   If you have entered a listing under the current Coming Soon property class, we are requesting
    you to:
      a. Change the status of that listing to Coming Soon Cancelled.
      b. Re-enter the listing under the correct property class using the Coming Soon Status.

5/1/2020
–   The Coming Soon Property class will be deleted from the MLS System.
–   All listings entered under Coming Soon Property class will be deleted as well.

Important information Surrounding Coming Soon Listings:

1. IT IS OPTIONAL TO PLACE YOUR LISTING INTO A COMING SOON STATUS.
2. The listing agent must have an active listing agreement in place to enter a Coming Soon listing.
3. The listing agent is required to send the SELM (Seller Exclude Listing from the MLS) waiver form
    to the MLS.
4. The Coming Soon listing remains under that status for 30 days. Afterward, it will automatically
    be placed in a “Withdrawn Coming Soon.”
5. Coming Soon listing will not be syndicated out to other websites.
6. Coming Soon listing will not be included in the IDX and RETS feeds.
7. Coming Soon listing are only searchable within the Paragon MLS.
8. Once a listing has been moved from Coming Soon to New/Active status by the agent, it cannot
    revert to Coming Soon.

What is this LVT field I see?
1 .What does LVT stand for? Listing Visibility Type
2. What is it? This feature is utilized to stop Days on MLS (DMLS) from calculating on listings that
    are in Coming Soon status. This field will be defaulted to include ‘Market Listing’ and ‘Coming
    Soon’ and both are required in order for this function to work properly.
3. Will I need this field for saved searches? Yes, if you want your saved searches to continue
    working properly, then the LVT field will need to be included.

If you have any questions, please contact Member Services at [email protected] or 925.295.1270