October 22, 2001: Next month's general membership meeting will be held on November 15 at the Ramada Inn on W Clairemont. This meeting the the Annual Food Drive. Lunch for this event will be $10.00 per person, not the usual $7.50. Please be prepared to have exact cash or a check payable to RACV for that amount. Thank you for your cooperation!

October 22, 2001: The 3rd Quarter Sold Books should be arriving on or about October 31.

October 15, 2001: The MLS Committee moved to cancel the bi-weekly books as of February 2002. We received written commitment to purchase only a total of 30 books, not the minimum purchase of 50 that is needed to renew the contract. This cancellation of bi-weekly books DOES NOT affect the quarterly Sold books. Cancellation does not have to be submitted to Risco until November 1 so if any broker has changed his/her mind, please fax a revised commitment to the MLS office at 715/835-4621 prior to that date.

October 4, 2001: Don't miss the Jim Imhoff Seminar on Wednesday, October 24 regarding the Future of Real Estate, including a Real Estate Board update. Cost is $10.00 through October 17, $12.00 after October 17. Call the Board office for registration information.

October 4, 2001: Plan to attend the general membership meeting on Thursday, October 18 at the Midway Motor Lodge. Mark Ploederer and Diane Sherman from Wisconsin DOT will present information on Trans 233, the state statute regulating driveway access to state highways. This is important information for anyone involved in creating a subdivision or dividing land parcels. Exact cash or a check made payable to RACV for $7.50 will help speed up the check-in process.

September 20, 2001: The 2002 Membership Dues Statements have been mailed. Please note that the "I have completed NAR requirements for Quadrennual Ethics Training......" sentence on the front of the statement is explained in the top paragraph on the reverse side. The $20.00 Other charge is also explained in the second paragraph on the back of the statement. Please keep in mind that while the dues are for 2002, they are payable by October 31. This allows the Board office to process the dues at the local level, forward them on WRA for state processing, and then on to NAR. The "lead" time for payment makes sure your membership remains intact and no services to you are interrupted.

September 11, 2001: Our congratulations to the following Realtors receiving awards at the Installation Banquet this coming Friday evening: Rod LaRose, Realtor of the Year; Eau Claire Press Company, Affiliate of the Year; and Dave Engedal, Board Service Award.

August 30, 2001: The Board/MLS office will be closed on Labor Day, Monday, September 3. May you each have a safe, happy holiday weekend.

August 30, 2001: It has been brought to our attention that several offices are incorrectly entering data into Fields #19 & 20: CV CNTY & NW CNTY. CV CNTY contains counties in its pulldown menu typically found in the Chippewa Valley area. NW CNTY contains counties in its pulldown menu typically found in the Northern Waters area. If listings are not in the CV area but are in the Northern Waters area (example: Barron), N/A should be entered in Field #19 and Barron in Field #20. Listings in the CV area (example: Dunn-Pepin) should have Dunn-Pepin entered in Field #19 and N/A in Field #20. At no time should a listing contain N/A or Other in both fields. Please make every effort to enter the data correctly

August 30, 2001: Please remember that Galaxy is not useable with the Netscape browser. You must install and use Internet Explorer 4.0 or newer. You can continue to use Netscape for all other internet activity, just not with Galaxy. The setup for Internet Explorer is in the "Galaxy Getting Started" manual that was distributed at the Voyager2/Galaxy training sessions.

August 30, 2001: When reporting the sales of a selling agent that is a non-MLS member, use the NON-MLS OTHER COMPANIES option from the pulldown menu in the Agent field.

August 23, 2001: The following is a list of ReaderKey FAQS that may be helpful for those who are participating in the new electronic Lockbox system:
1. Does my PIN number change every month? Your 4-digit PIN number NEVER changes. Memorize it and keep it in a safe place. DO NOT tape it to your key, do not write it on the reverse side.
2. How do I turn my key on? Press the RED button and hold it until it beeps.
3. Why does my key go off? When not in use, the ReaderKey will power off after 7 seconds.
4. When do I enter my PIN number? After you turn the ReaderKey and can view the display screen, enter in your 4-digit PIN number.
5. How do I open the key tray? After turning the key on and entering your PIN number, the display screen prompts you to press 1 to release the key tray. Example: PRESS: 1=KEY
6. How do I open the shackle? After turning the key on and entering your PIN number, the display screen prompts you to press 2 to release the shackle. Example: PRESS: 2=SHK
7. How long do I have to open the key tray or remove the shackle? The first time you press 1 or 2, you are selecting that function. You then have 2 minutes to go to the RediSafe, line up the key lens-to-lens with the safe and press 1 or 2 to open the key tray or release the shackle.
8. How do I read the other menu options? After turning the key on and entering your PIN number, the display screen prompts you to press 3 to read the menu. Example: PRESS: 3=MENU
9. What menu options are available to me? If you press 3, the following functions are available to you: a) read last activity, b) read prior 10 records, c) battery in safe status, d) enter new shackle code, e) update key expire date, f) display safe data. Press 2 to scroll forward from option to option, press 1 to scroll backward. Press 3 to select the option, then press 3 again to perform the function.
10. When will my key expire? Your ReaderKey will expire each month. When the key is turned on, the small display screen will show a) your first initial, b) the first 3 letters on your last name and c) the date the key will expire. Example: J DOE EXP 01/01
11. How do get an Update Code for my ReaderKey? Up to 4 days prior to the expiration date of your key, dial into the Lockbox computer system to receive an Update Code that, once entered into your ReaderKey, will validate your key for another month. If you are calling long distance to Eau Claire, dial 888-751-3550. If you are making a local call to Eau Claire dial 835-3298. Be prepared to follow the voice prompts and to write down the update code given to you. DO NOT enter the preceeding zeros on your ReaderKey Serial number. You MUST update your ReaderKey before the last day of the month.
12. How do I enter the Update Code into my ReaderKey? Once you have called into the computer system and written down the 5-digit Update Code, enter that code into your ReaderKey. Turn the ReaderKey on. Enter your PIN number then press 3. Then press 2 five times, then press 3. Be sure the screen is asking you for an Update Code. If so, enter the 5-digit code. The key will display the new expiration date. Refer to Page 10 of you Owners Manual for further details.

August 14, 2001: When entering the names of lakes or rivers into the MLS system please do not include the word Lake or River following those names.

August 14, 2001: When making a selection in the CV CNTY and NW CNTY field pulldown menus, please use the following guidelines: if the property is in Chippewa County, select Chippewa in the CV CNTY field, and select N/A in the NW CNTY field. If the property is located in Bayfield County, select N/A in the CV CNTY field and Doug-Bayfield in the NW CNTY field. Only if the county name is not listed should OTHER be used.

August 2, 2001: If you are experiencing problems with Voyager2 and/or Galaxy, please contact Risco Tech Support directly, at their toll-free number of 877-467-4726. You may want to include that number in your phone files for future reference. Thank you for your cooperation!

August 2, 2001: A 28-page manual of enhancements to Galaxy is available on Risco's website. To view and/or download go to www.risco.net. Then select the link for Support, then the link to Training, then open Galaxy 3 Enhancements.

August 2, 2001: If there are agents in your office that are having trouble accessing the new Galaxy site, please ask them to use this URL address: http://nwwmls.risco.net. If any agents can't download Voyager2, have them go to Tools/Options/Communications Setup and aks them to type this address in the Host Name field: nwwmls.risco.net. They must then click Apply, then Okay. Thank you for helping us resolve some of these communications issues.

August 1, 2001: Residential Waterfront Property is now a Lot Feature in the search parameters on www.realtor.com. Realtor.com is still working on making that search option available in Vacant Land.

July 23, 2001: The MLS server sill be down from 8 am to 8 pm Friday, July 27 to upgrade Galaxy. Please plan accordingly and share this information with anyone responsible for data input. Data can be inputted into Voyager 2, however, will not be able to be uploaded during this upgrade.

July 23, 2001: When making a selection in the CV CNTY and NW CNTY field pulldown menus, please use the following guidelines: if the property is in Chippewa County, select Chippewa in the CV CNTY field, and select N/A in the NW CNTY field. If the property is located in Bayfield County, select N/A in the CV CNTY field and Doug-Bayfield in the NW CNTY field. Only if the county name is not listed should OTHER be used.

July 23, 2001: We began working with realtor.com in Mid-May requesting that waterfront property be included as part of the search parameters for residential and land on our MLS listings on that website. Realtor.com is working on this issue for us and hopes to have it resolved within the next 4 weeks. Thank you for your patience!

July 23, 2001: This is a reminder that the NET PUB field is asking whether or not the listing should appear on two Internet sites: www.realtor.com and www.tdre-online.com. If the listing SHOULD appear, enter Y for YES. If not, enter N for NO.

July 23, 2001: Please keep in mind that you are not accessing a public website when logging into the Galaxy server. When you are ready to leave Galaxy, you MUST "log off" by clicking on EXIT. Thank you for your cooperation.

July 18, 2001: On Friday, July 27 our MLS Galaxy server will be upgraded. Therefore, the server may be unavailable between the hours of 8 am and 8 pm. When you are able to connect, the upgrade will have been completed. However, most users will experience outages of only 1-2 hours. The upgrade will include enhancements on CMAs, Email, Contact Management, Mapping, Financial Tools.