To comply with updates to NAR policy, IRES has implemented a new listing field on the Add/Edit screen. This new field gives the broker greater flexibility for office listing attribution on websites through IDX and VOW data feeds.
Attribution Contact is not only a new field on the Add/Edit screen, but also a preference Managing and Owner Brokers can set for listings within their office.
There will be 4 options available to Managing and Owner Brokers for their office on the Preferences screen:
Office Phone: The phone number listed on the office record will display for all listings within the office.
Office Email: If an email address is listed on an office record, you can select to display the email address on all listings within the office.
Custom: This will be a fillable option to display custom contact information for all listings within the office.
Agent Choice: If this is selected, every agent within the office can choose a phone number or email address pertaining to themselves or their office to be displayed on a per listing basis.
When an agent enters a listing, the preference for this field will auto-populate on Step 3, the Miscellaneous tab. If Office Phone, Office Email, or Custom is the Managing or Owner Broker’s preference, the field is displayed, but grayed out and cannot be changed. If Agent Choice is the preference, the listing agent will have the ability to enter the phone number or email address of their choosing.
The default will be automatically set to Office Phone. If a change is made to select one of the other options above, it will impact all new listings moving forward. To update existing listings, the Managing or Owner Broker will need to reach out to IRES Staff.
Utilizing his decades of experience, Morris will inform REALTORS® and brokers about local legislation impacting the northern Colorado real estate market
LOVELAND, Colo., July 12, 2022 — Information and Real Estate Services (IRES), a Loveland-based regional multiple listing service (MLS) that serves Boulder, Weld, Larimer, Broomfield, Logan and Morgan counties, today announced 30-year industry veteran Scott A. Morris, a certified association executive (CAE), as the company’s new government affairs director, effective July 6.
“Assuming this role enables me to use my experience and expertise in state and local government affairs to educate IRES subscribers on critical issues affecting REALTORS and their businesses, as well as advocate for the real estate industry in northern Colorado,” said Morris. “I am thrilled to continue this valuable and unique customer service IRES provides to its subscribers in a strong homebuying and selling market.”
Scott A. Morris
While the government affairs director position is more commonly used by boards and associations of REALTORS®, IRES has uniquely leveraged this role for more than 20 years to support its customers. Laws and ordinances at the city and county levels change regularly, which makes it difficult for every broker to stay up to date. IRES’s government affairs director researches proposed policies that could impact real estate in northern Colorado, educates IRES subscribers about the proposed policies and legislation, and then advocates for a particular course of action.
Morris has been in the real estate association world for several years, serving as a government affairs professional at the state and local levels. Throughout his career, he has held the following titles:
Lobbyist and legislative analyst for the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities.
Senior policy analyst for economic development and transportation infrastructure at the National League of Cities.
Manager of state municipal league programs at the National League of Cities.
Director of state and local government affairs at the Building Owners and Managers Association International.
Chair of the Government Relations Section Council of the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE).
He received his bachelor’s degree from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, and his master’s degree in public administration from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University. In addition, Morris was awarded the CAE credential from ASAE in January 2015.
“Scott is the perfect addition to the IRES family as the government affairs director,” Jeff Bosch, IRES’ CEO said. “The role is vital to both understand the policy discussions and trends that are happening in the region and to champion critical conversations to promote affordable, common-sense housing and homeownership initiatives within the municipalities where our subscribers live and work.”
Morris is replacing Barbara Koelzer, who retired after 20 years in this position. Morris is just the second government affairs director in IRES’s company history. For more information about IRES, please visit ires-net.com.
About IRES
Information and Real Estate Services, LLC (IRES) was formed in 1996 as the regional multiple listing service (MLS) for northern Colorado by five boards and associations of REALTORS® in Boulder, Fort Collins, Greeley, Longmont and Loveland/Berthoud. In addition to these five boards and associations, IRES is the MLS provider for the Estes Park Board of REALTORS® and Logan County Board of REALTORS®. ColoProperty.com® for consumers is owned and operated by IRES. Its office is centrally located in Loveland, Colo.
Member instructions for new Data Access agreements
This document outlines the custom workflow for IRES MLS members to initiate data access agreements with IRESMLS and ShowingTime in Bridge Agreement Management (BAM). You will need to login to BAM to locate the vendor you would like to initiate a contract with.
Access your info but clicking your name in the upper right corner then selecting My Info OR by clicking the gear located under your name/photo on the left side of the start screen. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click Bridge Agreement Manager under the Resource section. This will log you in to BAM
Please note: The Designated Broker for your office must first login to BAM to allow access to Agents from your office. This allows BAM to assign your Broker as a party to your 4-way agreement. If your Designated Broker has not logged into BAM, you will receive a message letting you know this step must be completed before you can login.
If the office has an account with ShowingTime and everyone in that office is paid for by the company, only the DR needs to update the agreement.
If each agent in the office has their own account with ShowingTime, they will need to initiate an agreement individually.
Once logged in to BAM, you will land on the Home page. Here you will see lists of approved vendors for each data feed type. Be sure to select the agreement from the correct data feed type list.
Click View All Vendors under the Database Access License Agreement section and locate ShowingTime to initiate an agreement. Click Agree to Terms
Click next to agree to the terms and complete the questionnaire form. Once complete, BAM will send a notification to the other parties in the agreement.
For ShowingTime, enter ShowingTime under Question 2/Active Listings (License2). The other questionnaire fields can be completed with NA, if required.
To view your agreements, simply click the Agreements link at the top of the page. Use the Filter option to filter agreements bases on status.
BROKERS – This is where you find waiting agreements from your agents waiting for your approval. To approve a waiting agreement:
Locate the waiting agreement. You can use the search function to search for the agent’s name.
Click edit and proceed to agree to the terms to approve. There will be a notification sent to the other parties once you have approved.
New fields will be added for listing entry with our next release. The new fields address how a listing is displayed on the internet for all MLS listing types. This gives YOU & your clients control of how a listing is marketed on the internet, without having to contact IRES staff!
As not all of these fields are addressed specifically on the listing contract, best practices should include a conversation with the seller about the impact of each choice on marketing the property prior to entering the listing into the MLS. There is not a blanket right or wrong answer. The default for previously entered listings will be YES, unless modified.
During listing input “Step 3: Miscellaneous Information” there is a new section titled “Internet Marketing.” This section will have four required Yes or No questions that can be answered on a per-listing-basis.
Display on Internet: Answering “No” would prevent the listing from displaying anywhere outside of IRES MLS and our data share partners. That includes Coloproperty.com®, syndication and IDX websites. In most cases this would include your own personal and company websites as they are most often powered by IDX. The listing can still be shared to clients directly through the MLS via email or MySite. If this option is selected, all syndication settings will be grayed out automatically.
Display Address: Answering “No” would allow the listing to be displayed on the internet, but not allow display of the property’s address. Many websites use mapping and addresses for their search functionalities, including Coloproperty.com®. Thus, if “Display Address” is selected to “No,” the listing may not appear at all on those sites.
Allow 3rd Party Comments: Answering “No” limits a website’s ability to allow users to add a comment about the property.
Allow 3rd Party AVMs: When selecting “No” to this question, an AVM, or Automated Valuation Module, are not permitted to be displayed for the listing.
Juli “JP” Pleitner, has been the IRES Product Manager for the past 4 years. She is stepping into a new and exciting role with Lone Wolf.
During JP’s time at IRES, she has helped update many features and incorporated new value-added services for our subscribers. JP will be missed, but we wish her great success in the next chapter of her career!
IRES thanks JP for all the positive impacts she has brought during her tenure. We look forward to continuing that tradition, by leveraging your input and feedback to continue to make IRES a better service for you, our subscribers.
When is the last time you contacted your contacts?
Really, when was it? Do you have a specific time, date and reason you contacted someone in your contact list? If you want to look like you are on top of your game in front of your contacts, wouldn’t it be great to know this? Now you can.
Illustration of collaboration and connection with clients
IRES MLS Contacts makes accountability easy with the following tools:
1. Activity Feed
Know immediately when you sent that collection of listings, which ones and what time. How about what time you sent that hot listing to MySite, even if it was while you were sleeping?
2. Upcoming Events
Did you know that you can track birthdays and anniversaries in IRES? Simply add your contact’s birthday or anniversary in Add/Edit contacts and get notified in time to send that card, make a phone call or text to make your contact feel special. Relationships can be stronger and more personal when you make it so. Now, it’s easy!
Your upcoming events will notify you of birthdays and anniversaries. Keep in mind, that we’re not just talking about wedding anniversaries – maybe the anniversary you track is the day the closed on the house you sold them. Maybe it’s the day you met them. Maybe the sky is the limit and your business just got one more opportunity to be unique and memorable.
3. Alerts
Did your contact’s email have any kind of failure? You’ll know right away on the activity feed! Did they opt-out accidentally? You just created an opportunity to talk to your contact. Help is on the way – from you.
4. Notes
Type a quick note and add a follow-up date to remember any tasks you need to complete for your contact. Time to grab that coffee? Time to follow up with a promise you made? You don’t need to make a mental note, as IRES is there to remind you!
5. Add Ons
If your notes, alerts, events and activity feed aren’t enough touch for your contact, consider
Prospect Searches – automatically send listings to your contacts by simply setting up a prospect search.
MySite – create a custom website for your contacts and deliver listings for buyers, sellers, investors and “window shoppers”.
ePropertyWatch – a way to stay on your clients’ mind long after the transactions are closed.
Image of a contact record in IRES MLS
Need even more ideas or information about IRES MLS contacts? Contact us or visit our learning center inside the IRESis.com.
We are mixed with emotions as we say congratulations on retirement and goodbye to Barbara Koelzer, IRES’s Government Affairs Director. The Government Affairs Director is an integral part of IRES and Barbara has taken that role above and beyond by being involved with many far reaching projects and keeping us informed on government relations.
One of the first major projects Barbara worked on was defeating the building permit moratorium in Berthoud. Along the way, she helped the Chair of the Longmont Association of REALTORS® prepare to testify in a free speech trial in U.S. District Court. The last project was helping the Loveland/Berthoud Association of REALTORS® create a successful partnership with the Loveland City Council. There have been countless other large and impactful projects she has been a driving force behind; we are so grateful for all the work she has put in!
Barbara has been an outstanding and valued member of our team for the past 2 decades. We are sad to see her leave, but excited for her next journey into retirement. Retirement is not the end of a road, but the beginning of an open highway. As Barbara steps into this new chapter, she plans to spend her time traveling, riding her horse named Fancy, creating artwork, doing those long-awaited house projects, volunteering, and so much more.
We wish you all the happiness and joy retirement can bring, Barbara, farewell!
This will be my final Regional Government Affairs Update because I retire on May 27 after 19 wonderful years. A new Government Affairs Director will be on the job soon, never fear.
I took the liberty of including a few snippets of information that may not be government affairs-related per se, but that I thought you’d find interesting.
I appreciate you. Working for all of you has been my honor and a pleasure.
Best Regards,
Barbara Koelzer Regional Government Director
LOCAL Boulder County Ignition-Resistant Requirements in Eastern Boulder County: The Board of County Commissioners approved changes in construction requirements for ignition-resistant materials in Wildfire Zone 2 (the plains and grasslands of unincorporated Boulder County) at a public hearing on May 12. The changes were prompted by recent wildfires, including the Marshall Fire.
Staff said the update is an urgent matter, which is why it is being addressed as a stand-alone proposal. A more in-depth evaluation and examination of ignition-resistant materials as part of the larger code update that involves moving from the 2015 Codes to the 2021 Codes is underway. “This larger update and review will consider requirements for all wildfire zones as well as the possibility of creating a new, more nuanced framework for categorizing and regulating wildfire hazards county-wide,” according to the staff memo. It is anticipated the broader update and adoption of the 2021 codes will occur later this year.
Ron Flax, the Deputy Director of Community Planning and Permitting said the new requirements will have a “minimal” cost. New homes must have Class A roofing materials and a three-foot non-combustible perimeter. Exterior walls, fences and decks must be constructed of noncombustible or ignition-resistant materials.
More information is available here: https://tinyurl.com/jc8fx6fx. The County is also implementing a Wildfire Partners pilot program to educate homeowners. To read a story about that in the Daily Camera, click here: https://tinyurl.com/2p8hxj33 .
As part of this review process, a temporary pause on the issuance of building permits for new structures and certain additions in Wildfire Zone 2 not affected by the Marshall Fire is in effect through June 6, 2022. That is the start date for the new regulations. The pause does not apply to property owners who are building new structures and certain additions, so long as they commit to rebuild according to the new requirements
Boulder East Boulder Subcommunity Plan Approved: After three years, the Boulder City Council unanimously approved the East Boulder Subcommunity Plan on May 17 after hours discussing the final amendments recommended by the Planning Commission. Real estate professionals should care because the Plan could lead to 5,000 new homes in the next 20 years, a figure that represents more than 10 percent of the City’s housing stock.
Th documents with more information are available here:
Erie Trustee Resigns: Trustee Christiaan van Woudenberg announced his resignation from the Board of Trustees on May 10. He did not state a reason for the resignation, which took place immediately.
With this vacancy, the Board of Trustees had two legal avenues according to the Town Charter. for moving forward. They could hold a Special Election to elect a new Trustee or appoint a new member using any process agreed upon by the Board. Mayor Justin Brooks proposed the Board consider appointing Dan Hoback.
Mayor Brooks said, “This will enable the Board to maintain focus on conducting the business of the Town as efficiently and effectively as possible. The last municipal election was just certified in the last month and Mr. Hoback received the next highest votes on the ballot, which was rather close. I believe this is a clear indication of the will of our community for who they want to serve on the Board.”
The Board voted unanimously to appoint Hoback, who was sworn into office immediately afterwards.
Superior Indoor Sprinklers Nixed: On May 23 the Superior Board of Trustees passed an ordinance 5-2 to allow homeowners rebuilding after the Marshall Fire to do so without requiring indoor sprinklers. This is an exception to the Town’s adopted residential building code (IRC).
Homeowners asked the trustees for the exception because of rebuilding costs and other affordability issues related to under-insurance. Trustees said they were overwhelmed by the feedback they’d received on the topic.
Larimer County Loveland Additional Metro District Requirements Approved: The City Council has been working on its Loveland metro district policy since 2016. The Council continued its efforts on May 24, adding more review criteria to the City’s Model Service Plan.
The Model Service Plan (MSP), which is essentially a list of all the requirements developers must comply with in Loveland, went from 12 to 16 criteria. The MSP is critically important because it must be approved by the City Council for a metro district project to proceed.
The Loveland-Berthoud Association of REALTORS® supports the additional criteria because they protect consumers and increase requirements to educate buyers and owners of metro district properties. Here’s a list of the most important changes:
A metro district’s mill levy debt is capped at 50 mills.*
Any material modification of the service plan requires notice to residents and City Council approval.
The website for each metropolitan district must have a calculator that is easily accessible and calculates the total property tax and district or Home Owner Association fee obligation on an annual basis within the district based on an individual entering a mortgage amount and interest rate.
The vote to approve the additional criteria was unanimous. The Council thanked LBAR for its partnership on the metro district disclosure issue for the last six years. Gauging from many councilors’ comments, additional requirements will be considered in the near future.
*This is the same as the limit in state statute but previously there was no limit in Loveland’s MSP. The Council could have restricted the debt limit even further, as a home rule city.
Council Discusses Strategic Plan Progress Report: Several items discussed during a progress report to the City Council regarding the City’s Strategic Plan relate to our industry. The widening of US 34 between Denver Avenue and Boyd Lake Avenue is complete. However, grant funding has not been secured to complete the widening to three eastbound lanes from Rocky Mountain Avenue to Boyd Lake Avenue.
Projects related to the expansion if I-25 are well underway. The City’s study of I-25 improvements was completed in 2017. CDOT’s I-25 Express Lanes Project resulted in the redesign and construction of Highway 402 interchange, which opened in October 2019. The U.S. Highway 34 interchange is next on the Express Lanes project list, with entire project scheduled for completion in2022.
Note: Don’t forget; CDOT still has not secured funding of the expansion of I-25 south of Berthoud between State Highways 56 and 66. Sadly, this project is not a priority for CDOT.
It was also mentioned that the Community Partnership Office is continuing its ongoing work with the Loveland Housing Authority, Loveland Habitat for Humanity and Aspen Homes related to the City’s affordable and attainable housing initiatives but the report did not mention anything specific concerning the initiative or specific goals.
Weld County Greeley City to Consider More Metro District Requirements: The City Council discussed additional metro district requirements at the May 3 City Council meeting. The discussion was informal and intended to provide the staff with a better idea of Council’s inclinations.
The discussion was timely, said Acting Community Development Director Becky Safarik, because there is a need for some “housekeeping” amendments to update the regulations and because the City Council and Planning Commission have expressed an interest in developing what she described as “higher standards” for metro districts to warrant the extra mill levy that the districts impose on property owners.
The Council agreed that the routine code updates could advance right away. It is likely a related ordinance will be ready for the Council by mid-summer.
Several councilors expressed interest in “extraordinary public benefits” after some prompting by Safarik. Deb Deboutez said, “I want to require more amenities from metro districts.” Tommy Butler seemed to agree with Deboutez, saying he wants to see “an entire menu of amenities….”
The rest of the Councilors didn’t reveal their thoughts on the matter, but it was agreed Safarik will bring back a list of ideas to consider. If the Council decides to move forward with any additional requirements, it will require stakeholder input from groups such as developers, GARA and the public.
It’s important to remember that any additional requirements, either “amenities” or “extraordinary benefits,” will only increase the cost of metro district homes. It’s ironic that officials criticize metro districts as expensive but at the same time make them even more so by requiring more features. Should developers be penalized for using the metro district financing tool?
Council Supports Transportation Grant: The City Council approved a resolution in support of the City’s INFRA transportation grant. The idea for the grant came from City Councilor Johnny Olson, who was formerly the Director of CDOT for Region IV.
If approved by the federal government (U.S. Department of Transportation), the grant would pay for the construction of reconfigured US 34 interchanges at 47th Avenue and 35th Avenue, and mobility hubs to facilitate regional transportation connections. The total cost for the project is $117 million. If the federal grant is approved, it would provide $70.5 million (60 percent). The City of Greeley would pay $31.5 million, CDOT would kick in $8 million, and the regional planning organization (NFRMPO) would give $7.5 million.
USDOT will announce the grant recipients this Fall.
COLORADO ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® Legislative Update: The 2022 session adjourned on May 11. This session was marked by a spending spree as legislators decided how to spend about $2 billion in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) money from the federal government. The CAR’s lobbying team and the Legislative Policy Committee did a great of job killing bills that are deleterious to real estate and working to amend bills that couldn’t be eliminated.
Affordable Housing benefited from the ARPA money, with $178 million in grants for local affordable housing and infrastructure. Some of the money will be targeted at communities that embrace higher density development, energy efficiency and reduced parking requirements. Additional packages of $125 million and $25 million were allocated for other affordable housing programs. $35 million will help mobile home residents buy their own communities. CAR successfully removed a clause of the mobile home bill (SB-260) that would have set a precedent for rent control.
One of the last bills of the session, House Bill 1362 “Building Greenhouse Gas Emissions,” would have required municipalities to adopt building codes with high-energy efficiency and low-carbon emissions standards by 2025. After concerns were expressed by local governments who want to retain their control, and natural-gas distribution companies who feared such codes would have eliminated their energy source as a new-construction option, sponsors softened the requirements to give cities more flexibility to decide their own codes and give them more time to do so.
Liz Peetz, CAR’s Vice-President for public policy, says the final bill is very different from what was introduced in January. CAR and its coalition partners worked diligently to advocate for amendments to make the bill more locally inclusive and factor in affordability for the code writing process.
A full report on the outcome of the session will be released by CAR soon.
STATE Environmental Threat Tool: Denver media were quick to pick up on the news that a free online tool has been created by the nonprofit First Street Foundation to help property owners find out how flooding and wildfires could impact their homes. Given the 2013 flood and recent fires in our state, it is natural owners would want to know. The question is, how accurate is the data? Who will use it, and could it impact home prices?
NATION Impact of Institutional Investors: Institutional investors are large organizations, such as banks or hedge funds that make substantial investments on the stock exchange. They have been a common topic of conversation lately. It’s been said that these investors are buying “a lot” of properties in Colorado.
Several questions come to mind. How many is a lot? How does Colorado compare to other states?
A study from the National Association of REALTORS® sheds light on these questions. The study reveals Institutional investors in residential properties made up 13.2 percent of all homebuyers in the United States in 2021, and 14 percent of the buyers in Colorado.
Be Proactive with New, Improved Features in the IRESis Contacts Dashboard
The Contacts Dashboard is a one-stop-shop for all things client related! You can add and view contact information, create Prospect searches, view MySite activity, manage contracts, and stay up to date on client interactions.
Refreshed Activity Feed
The new features and updates add even more value to this client relationship hub. While these features were previously available, Upcoming Events & Recent Activity have been refreshed to appear as individual sections. Our newest Dashboard feature is Alerts.
Illustration of the Contacts Dashboard. Stars indicate sections Alerts, Upcoming Events, and Recent Activity.
New Alerts
Alerts display only when there are technical difficulties delivering email sent from within IRESis.com to an email recipient. These Alerts will appear on the top of the Contacts Dashboard Activity Feed for up to 2 weeks. Every Alert will be accompanied by an email error status such as Deferred, Expired, or Bounced.
A Deferred tag means there is a delay in sending the message due to an issue with the recipient email server. It could be the inbox is full, or other technical difficulty. The IRESis mail server will attempt to deliver the message about 5 more times before it moves to an Expired status.
An Expired tag means that the message has been deferred the maximum number of times and will not attempt any future deliveries of the specific message. This does not impact future emails you send to the client.
A Bounced tag means we successfully connected with the email domain server (think “Gmail”) but the email provided can’t be found or doesn’t exist. This could be because of a typo when you entered the email address on the contact record, or the recipient may have deleted the account and created a new one.
In any of these scenarios, the goal is for you to reach out to your client and work through the email issues. Your client will likely not know there is even an issue happening. This is another way to show your dedication to providing your clients with stellar service.
By clicking on the Alert, you can view the Alert details and a snapshot of the email that was sent. This snapshot includes the date and time the original email attempted to send, the message content, and a link directing you to the listings, contracts, draft, report, or business opportunity. Based on the message found inside the question mark icon, you likely need to reach out to your client to correct an email address or let them know that the email was rejected by their mail program. Alerts allow you to proactively reach out to your clients and ensure they are receiving all the IRESis.com information they expect from you.
Email History in Contact Details
We’ve got big news for inside your individual Contact record, too! We’re saving emails you send to individual clients and recording them in a new Email History tab. This email history tab (displays as “History”) includes a record of the most recent 1,000 emails sent to the individual.
Illustration of the Email History tab of Contact Details. The History tab is highlighted.
System emails tracked on the history tab include the same message that will Alert if they fail:
ColoProperty.com® Usage Reports (found in My Listings)
MySite Collections (both manually created and auto-generated through Prospects)
Listing Links (generated by Prospects with no MySite or manually sent emails from the Report Window)
Shared Listing Draft Review Emails (available through Listing Draft)
Contracts (available through the Contracts Module)
Shared Business Opportunities (found in Non-MLS)
You can sort the history by clicking the header name at the top of each column. You can also use the keyword search to search on Type, Subject (title only), or Status.
Illustration of the sortable headers and keyword search field for the History tab in Contact Details.
Click to view the same details as seen in the Alerts on the Activity Feed for both confirmed sent emails as well as emails that were unable to send successfully.
Illustration of email history snapshot and email log. Also shows a blue existing contact indicator and a gray unsaved email address.
An email address that displays in gray refers to an email that is not associated with a contact; a blue button surrounding an email address indicates an existing contact record in your Contacts Dashboard. Pro Tip! When you see a gray email address, consider creating a new contact record or updating your existing contact record with the new email address.
Be Proactive
Why wait to get a call from your client to tell you, “Where’s that email?” Be proactive! Quickly view and remedy any Alerts immediately.
We hope you enjoy these new features built to help you bring your a-game!
April 24th is the last day to earn free floor plans with the FlōPlan App. Don’t forget that every two floor plans you create with the FlōPlan App = oneFREE floor plan!
There is no limit to this offer, so get to scanning and maximize your rewards.
The IRES / FloPlan partnership offers IRES subscribers a discount off the retail price reducing costs from $35 to $12 per scan. We look forward to helping you get started. The first step is setting up your account. Set up is fast and easy – all you need are your existing MLS credentials! Just download the mobile app to get started!
IRES MLS: Come Home to Colorado 