Interviewer:  We are here today with Debbie Conner of Equity Colorado Real Estate.  She is the President elect of the South Metro Denver Realtor Association, and welcome to the show Debbie.

Debbie Conner:  Thank you.

Interviewer:  I understand you are on the metro list rules and regulation committee, so you are part of the group that sends our letter out to us?

Debbie Conner:  That's correct.

Interviewer:  And there is a new status that we are talking about today called "Pending", so tell me a little bit about that.

Debbie Conner:  Well we had some requests from the realtors and some changes in what is going on in the industry today, and we were finding that there were some homes that were out there that weren't truly active any more but weren't quite under contract.

Interviewer:  Right.

Debbie Conner:  And you will run into those with REO properties the bank owned properties and once in a while a normal listing where there is some gap in time and to where you are not truly under contract yet, but you are not available for showing any more.

Interviewer:  Absolutely.  So when is this change going to go into effect?

Debbie Conner:  December 21st of this year, it will go into effect and it will be an option that you can check in metro list.

Interviewer:  So how has this type of role change happened I mean can you tell us what type of feedback, or what type of input you got from the realtor community to make this happen?

Debbie Conner:  I can, usually we get some complains and handwritten complaints or phone calls several of them as a rule and it comes before the metro list rules and regs committee to look out to see if there is something that we can do to implement changes to reflect more correct statuses of properties that are out there.

Interviewer:  Right so I am a listing broker.  I have got an REO listing, I've received a verbal confirmation from the bank, but yet its probably going to take two weeks to get my signed confirmation back, is that what we are talking about here?

Debbie Conner:  That's exactly it, that's exactly it, or you may have a seller that's out of town and they do and, you know you can get a hold of them on the phone but you can't get to a fax machine or e-mail, but you have got verbal okay that that's the price that they are willing to us, accept and terms they're willing to accept.

Interviewer:  Oh excellent example.  So does this in any way affect what we have got as far as the short sale listings in the new status change that we have there just can we use this in short sales or...?

Debbie Conner:  No that's a different ball game.  Short sales have their own rules and regulations and short sales are dealt within the terms section of metro list, so you can go in and check the box for short sale or if you have a contract and you are just waiting for that lender to approve the short sale, there is the short sale pending letter notification that you can check in that box and you can actually search on those terms.  So if your buyer wants a short sale, you can find them in the computer much more quickly or if they don't want a short sale, you can eliminate those out of the computer and your search as well.

Interviewer:  So what would happen then, I have it under pending status, I finally get the contract in that, then how do I, what do I do then, how do I change it to just go to the under contract status then?

Debbie Conner:  Go to the under contract status once you have a fully under contract, fully executed contract, you would want to put it under contract and then don't forget to change the status, once you close it and put it under sold.

Interviewer:  Wow, lots of great information Debbie, thank you.

Debbie Conner:  Thank you.

Interviewer:  And I will look forward to using that pending status I have actually got a property I can use that on right now.

Debbie Conner:  Awesome thank you.

Interviewer:  Thanks.

Interviewer:  We are here today with Debbie Conner of Equity Real Estate and Debbie welcome to the show.

Debbie Conner:  Thanks Mark.

Interviewer:  In an earlier conversation we were talking about status change and I guess helping agents, be more accurate in their disclosure of properties, and so what I would like to really talk about right now is just overall creating more accurate listings and entries into metro list.  Now you are on the metro list rules and regs committee and maybe you could describe to us or give us some recommendations on what the best thing brokers can do as far as submitting their properties?

Debbie Conner:  Sure.  Well the most important thing is accurate data.  So we can all perform our CMA's and our everyday duties and be able to rely on good accurate data.  So the first thing you want to do is make sure that you are reporting status correctly in the computer, you have three days to report a status change.  So after active obviously it's how they go in when they are new, if you have a pending status you need to check that within three days, under contract within three days, and then sold within three days.

Interviewer:  Right.  So do you see a consistent problem that still is rising?

Debbie Conner:  It does.

Interviewer:  At metro list on a daily basis as far as accuracy?

Debbie Conner:  It does.  For some reasons the brokers forget to report those sold listings and its, that's probably one of the most critical pieces of our data is knowing when a property is sold and getting that information in correctly, so you have three days to get that in, not six months, three days.

Interviewer:  Right, so we are talking about sold data, the selling broker's ID, the selling agent's ID, concessions all that information?

Debbie Conner:  Correct.

Interviewer:  And that seems to be your number one issue?

Debbie Conner:  That's our number one issue.

Interviewer:  So what about the secondary issue that you are having problems with as far as accuracy and getting information submitted?

Debbie Conner:  Lately it's been short sales reporting the short sales status of getting the short sales box checked in terms, so the brokers can go in and look for a short sale or maybe they want to exclude a short sale when they are searching for properties.

Interviewer:  So how long do we have this short sale box available for brokers to use?

Debbie Conner:  Believe it or not it's been over 12 months.

Interviewer:  Wow. and so where is it then its not under remarks, its not under broker remarks, where is it exactly they are supposed to be submitting or checking when they submit a listing to notify everyone that it's a short sale?

Debbie Conner:  It's under terms.

Interviewer:  Under terms?

Debbie Conner:  Where you find cash and conventional FHE, VE, next to that you will now see short sale.

Interviewer:  Right.

Debbie Conner:  And then short sale, pending when we are waiting for that banker to okay that short sale.

Interviewer:  As far as the status?

Debbie Conner:  Yes.

Interviewer:  So tell me how does that really benefit then say the agents that are working with buyers and yourself included I know, I go out there and I, in some cases don't want to show the short sale properties right?

Debbie Conner:  That's right, that's right some people are out there specifically looking for those.  So you can go in and tailor your search on prime access and check to either include it or exclude those short sale listings.

Interviewer:  So are there any other recommendations you have for realtors as far as creating accurate data and creating accurate listings within metro list?

Debbie Conner:  I do.  The other thing that we see is some confusion with style and square footage and metro list does have a style guideline sheet that is online for all of us to use, its probably good to print that out and keep that handy, so when you are out on a listing appointment you can accurately determine the proper style and how to break your square footage down in metro list?

Interviewer:  So where is that information available up on prime access?

Debbie Conner:  You, its online you go in and look for the style guideline sheet.

Interviewer:  So is that like MLS resources, that area?

Debbie Conner:  Yes.

Interviewer:  So, probably your biggest problems you have is maybe raised ranches and buy levels, is that as far as styles out there?

Debbie Conner:  So those are the front ones and trying to determine what square footage is above grade and what square footage is below grade.

Interviewer:  Great, well Debbie lots of great information we appreciate having you on the show today.

Debbie Conner:  Thank you so much.