Home : Blogs : Carole Cohen Realtor®, ePRO : Carole's Cleveland Blog

Tempo Five MLS, Better System For Consumers In Spite of Some Bugs

Here is an article in Inman news on some agents in San Diego who decided to switch to Tempo 5 for their MLS system. According to the article, there has been a bit of an uproar from agents now using this system. I haven't posted here in a while but I felt the urge based on this Inman News story. My short synopsis is this: progress never comes without bugs. Profound no? :-)

We've been using Tempo 5 in NE Ohio for what seems like about six months. Our NORMLS MLS system switched us over after months of announcements, trainings and manuals to download for assistance. Now I don't want to be all Pollyanna like and say it was smooth sailing. To say there were some 'bugs' is putting it mildly. I do a lot of stats and monthly sold data posts on my other blog. For quite some time the stats were not coming out accurately. There were things that normally get added to MLS listings that wouldn't load. Every week it was a long list of 'we are working on......'

But the truth is, there are added features now that really make it better for consumers and that's really what it's all about. And btw, I consider myself a consumer, since I use their service.

1. Attachments: as listing agents we can attach copies of the property disclosures, etc. to the MLS listing now that Tempo 5 is our system. I have town homes and condos for sale and I am able to also attach the condo disclosure sheet that provides contact names and telephone numbers of board members. I've also utilized this as a buyer's agent. I can download the property disclosures along with MLS print-outs for my buyers. You can't always count on these being provided when you do showings. It's very helpful to not have to make a phone call to an office and ask for them to be faxed to me.

2. I get to provide more photo description on my listings. And one more photo. May not sound like much, but it really allows me to showcase my listings.

3. There is capablity for voice overs and virtual tours and other things that can now be handled much quicker than before.

I could go on, but these are just a sampling of what is good for the prospective buyers or listers about Tempo 5.

Do I not think a few things may still be more cumbersome than they used to be? Yes. But when I look at the pros and cons, the pros win.

So i say to all of you who are now getting into this new system to hum the Guns n Roses song Patience and get ready for a user friendly (for the most part) and consumer friendly MLS system. Just MHO.

If you want a glimpse at how it looks on our NE Ohio MLS system, here is the home page for which you do not need to be signed in.

Peace out - 3C

Posted by Carole Cohen Realtor®, ePRO on 06/21/2008 10:51 AM

Comments (31)

listings on mls, ne ohio mls

This post has been included in Ohio Information Cuyahoga County, OH Information
Post is included in group: Ohio Active Rainers
Post is included in group: Cleveland Ohio Real Estate

31 Comments on Tempo Five MLS, Better System For Consumers In Spite of Some Bugs

JUN

2008

The learning curve is always a little hairy. We switched MLS a few years ago and the process was not at all smooth. Now of course...it's pretty good.

Carole I to look twice at my screen when I saw your picture pop up. Nice to see you!!!!!!

Yep anything new takes some getting use to, but ones you get use to it and the bugs are worked out, it is usually worth the change and time investment.

Moni every now and then I still lose patience when it takes a while to get from one thing to another; but yeah now that the system is working better than not I like it too. I didn't realize there was so much controversy about it!

omg George we must have been typing at the same time LOL yes neither of us is posting much what is up with that lol. Very cool to see you too! :-)

We switched to Tempo 5 this past spring. It has a lot of nice features, but overall it takes so much longer to do anything. The info we used to get with 1 or 2 clicks, now may take 5-6 clicks. Plus, it's much, much slower in between those clicks. It's not a program you can check quickly right before heading out the door. I get really tired of watching the blue circle go round ... and round ... and round ... and round

JUN

2008

arole - so nice to see you again. I am one of the SD agents using it, of course, adn overall I am pretty happy with it. yep there were some problems, especially on launch day as one would expect. I like alot of the added fucntionality but stll getting used to the differences. The data are still an issue since many folks have not gone in and fixed theirs. The system seems slow adn that has not improved...adn it sounds like Elaine has similar issues. I get impatient, I admit. :)

Jeff

Elaine, that pesky blue circle! I think it seems to be better (the slowness) the past two months - My real issue is when I am trying to email more than one listing to a client; and sometimes it seems as if it ignores my request for multiple properties to be sent. When my copy shows up I realize I only sent one. That is a glitch that is still happening here.

Hi Jeff it's wonderful to see you too. I've been taking the bus to work so my ability to be more patient is somewhat better (most days lol) - maybe that is why the slowness isn't bothering me as much.

I love the open house features. Now I want them to re-add something we had from our last system, the 'OH' embed that a consumer or agent could click on that took you right to the open house details. I hope they are working on that.

Do you guys find the home tour system to be easier?

There is always a learning curve and bugs to work out. That's just the nature of the beast. In a year you'll forget the old system.

Carole, when you email the listings, a box pops up asking if you want to send 1 property or all selected. You have to have check marked the listings you want to email, then in the pop-up box change the default to be 'send all selected'.

The one thing that I really, really dislike - and no word that it's going to change - is when we want to edit our listings. Rather than being able to choose from a list, we have to enter the MLS number. Who has those memorized? So I always have to look it up in my dayplanner. That's a PITA!

Elaine yes, I know about the box checking but for some reason that is more of a PITA to me than the MLS numbers. I forget! Here is what I do about the MLS numbers; When I want to edit listings, I open a window with my web page listings. The MLS numbers are there so I can copy and paste them as I go along, moving from window to window.

Hi Jay and very true. It's like new blogging platforms; they seem like War and Peace in Greek until you get going lolol

Having been involved in switching MLS systems 4 times I can testify it is almost never a painless experience and you will never make everyone happy.

Always glitches... And most people fear change. They get comfortable, and then anything new is just weird, different, and can't possibly work as good as the old standard...

Carole~

We have a system similar to yours here in Asheville. It's EZ to work with and effective...no voice, though..I'm going to check your system out. THANKS for the interesting heads-up. Congratulations on your Featured post.

Hi Jim, four times? I guess that is the nature of technology advancement huh. Our MLS is also doing a web url within the system for open houses, I imagine that may be common now? Consumers can go in and check out what is open each week. Hope you are well in Knoxville!

Hi Lane, and one thing, no matter how strange it may seem, change is a fact of life. I think that those of us in real estate are really a lot more used to change than we get credit for these days. Look at the way RE was done with DOS and listings books, and not that long ago!

Hi Jane-Anne I hope you are well on this first day of Summer! (I just finished mowing the lawn and am taking a break before more weeding). We just had the most delightful eco agent sign on board with us at our office and I think of you when she and I are talking :-) We have to provide our own voice software to Tempo but it does work.

It's that darn learning curve that agents just dread having to deal with. They just need to master the system.

I've used Tempo and Rapattoni. My strong preference is Rapattoni. Tempo is so much harder to use. (At least for me.) I do feel the pain expressed by the San Diego agents.

Mr/Ms Anonymous: yes I think you are describing fear. for me its more about patience of which I am usually lacking.

Joe, Rapattoni has a nicer name LOL. Named after the person who invented the software maybe?

Sounds like a good system. Change is never easy not matter what it is or when it is

THERE ARE SO MANY BUGS, HOW CAN YOU ONLY SEE THE GOOD? I'm a very positive person, technical, etc. and this has been a major pain in the you know what.. nice try.

Hi Tracy and it sounds really, really frustrating; we had some bugs but maybe not as many as you guys are experiencing. I hope there is relief for you soon.

Hi Carole - You bring up a crucial point about any online experience ... to really make it work for us, we need to have the right music to go with it! Any new system will always have a few bugs and a bit of a learning curve, but it's the agents who take the time to learn it rather than fight it that will fully realize the benefits.

JUN

2008

Oh yicks...it looks like the agent with the most online toys wins....best to brush up on your on line skills or get of the market !

LOL Hi John! Well in this case, I guess Guns n Roses Patience would be the best music :-)

Sally and/or David, hi. Well to have every new toy is rather expensive! But I get your drift lol. Thanks for your comment

Hello Carole from a fellow Buckeye REALTOR! Nice article on the NORMLS MLS! There have been tons of ongoing negotiations about combining with our CRIS MLS just south of your Cleveland market for the greater Akron-Canton area. I'll have to give credit that the page loads extremely fast, which is a good thing. As a consumer, I personally believe there are way too many whistles and bells in all the upgrades. Our Rappattoni has recently been upgraded?. which has caused way too much lost productivity on the part of agents. The system has slowed to a crawl. It is virtually impossible to access it from regular dial up phone modem, and it is even slow on ATT high speed phone modem, as well as the office internet service. Many REALTORS are forced to prematurely upgrade their own computers, along with that upgrade comes Windows Vista which is another discussion, as well as the peripheral equipment like printers etc. I think too many times change for sake of change is forced upon us, and the change is not always measurably better. Do I want to take the extra time for the weather to load on my real estate site that I need to access dozens of times a day? <No>, do I want to see Obituaries? <Heavens NO!>

Time marches on, and the next change is just around the corner for all of us all the time before we can even become proficient with the present systems.

Hi Jim, very nice to meet you! One thing struck me in your comment, and that is you guys have Rapattoni? I am on the side of all of us combining our MLS' -- how long have you been using Rapattoni ? Because now it sounds like we each have new systems which would have all ocurred while the negotiations to combine were going on? If that is true, it would make no sense that we didn't all get the same system!

Another thing, I do not use Vista, I am XP Professional at home and we are XP at work; maybe that makes the system easier to use because while it can be slow at times, mostly it's okay. Just way curious now because if the system was as slow as you are describing I would be pulling out my hair!

Well look who's here: Hi Carole, just saying hello because I don't have a clue about MLS systems. I think ours is OLR. (online residential)

Carole you've become such a "geek" lol

Carole - we're in transition here and I must admit the ability to graph easily, get directions from one showing to next, change report look, improved CMA are all exciting - and yep there's a learning curve - glad to know someone more experienced if I run into trouble :) - we cut over completely in July.

Hiya Mitchell! Yes NYC is a world unto itself lol. It's good to see you, and yes, I'm not here much. Hope this has been a good June for you so far. I'm doing an open house in a bit. Looking forward to catching up soon!

Cyndee the mapping feature is fantastic. I mean, truly fantastic. And the other feature (things are coming back to me today lol) I really like is the CMA portion. Granted, it's time consuming to plug in the details. But when it prints out it looks so good and is, imho, a much better tool than some of the other programs like toolkit. I don't use it a lot but when I do it impresses me. So you are only a few weeks unitl lift off! Good luck and yes any questions feel free to ask!

JUL

2008

Hi Carole, another voice from Ohio saying hi!

I didn't use Tempo as much as I should have, holding out for the proposed merger and trying not to have to learn too much ugh! I also hope they merge, but which system will we get? Some agents love Tempo and others love Rappattoni - and a vast majority just don't want anything to change!

I'm curious about the voice-over that you mention...over pictures in Tempo or created separately with other software?

Thanks!

JUL

2008

Hi Dawn, glad to meet another Ohioan! Yes if we merge, and we certainly should, I have no idea which system we will use and if I get switched to Rappatoni so be it! lol

Tempo 5 allows voice over on the photo element yes. My company bought a voice over feautre we can use elsewhere in videos etc and it's useable on Tempo over the virtual tour feature. I've played with it but am still practicing my Lauren Bacall voice since my normal voice is not exactly uh, dj quality lol

What is your opinion of Rappatoni and how long have you used it?

AUG

2008

Rapattoni is great! I teach Rapattoni classes at several Ohio locations...the software is soooo user friendly but also has incredible features for the user who wants to dig in a little deeper. In regard to an earlier post - it is named after it's founder Andy Rapattoni in CA.

Leave a response…

Name:

Email:
(optional)

Comment:

What does the graphic say?