What a difference a few tweaks can make! On June 18th, Paragon version 5.71 went into effect, and it included a few practical and helpful enhancements. Here’s a brief rundown.
1. Ability to Save Property Search after Customizing Fields
You can now easily – with one click – save a search after customizing your fields. You can open a saved search – add or remove fields – and either save those changes or do a save-as and re-name/create a new search. Before, you had to choose your fields and then remember to go back to Search Criteria and select Save Search. One step, instead of three!
2. Additional Power Search Functionality
With the launch of Paragon version 5.7 last month, Black Knight introduced voice input for searching listings. Using Google Chrome, you can click on the little microphone in the top left search box and say a specific address or MLS® number to call up specific listings.
With this latest update, there are two new voice commands at your disposal, one to search within a certain price range and the other to search for contacts associated with a specific phone number.
For example, to search listings within a price range, click your microphone and say:
Price: $500,000 TO $600,000 (the key word being TO)
You may be less likely to use the phone number search function – because let’s face it, you’re more likely to remember names or addresses before phone numbers – but, it could be handy in certain circumstances.
If you know that the phone number for XYZ Realty is 604-555-1000 and you’d like to contact one of the agents there regarding their listing, but you just can’t remember their name. Click your microphone and say:
Phone: 604-555-1000
And up will come a list of agents associated with that office. Note: right now, this command isn’t working optimally, however as with all new features, Black Knight will continue to make improvements.
3. CMA – Improvements to Calculated Adjustments page
We know that not all members use Paragon’s CMA function. Many members use Cloud CMA; many rely on both, depending on what browser or device you’re using.
This tweak was to the Automatic CMA Adjustments Module within Paragon’s CMA function. They added a sentence to the instructions explaining that while you’re making Adjustments for a presentation, click the Calc Adjust button and it will automatically calculate the adjustments that you pre-added. There’s no change to the functionality, just clearer directions.
4. New Email Opt Out Function
Last but certainly not least, this update included an important bug fix. It will be a relief to many members and is guaranteed to reduce calls to our Helpdesk!
REALTORS® will no longer be opted out of receiving their own emails. We will explain: The typical workflow for members is to set up automated emails regarding listings, send them to themselves and when appropriate, forward to a client, family member or even another agent.
But, if the recipient clicked ‘opt out’ of receiving the email, it would opt you out and not them.
Now, the recipient must follow a few steps to be opted out and the key is, they have to enter their own email address. This makes much more sense!
As always, if you have any questions or concerns related to Paragon or other Board tools, contact our very friendly Helpdesk at 604-930-7626 or helpdesk@fvreb.bc.ca
The next Paragon update is scheduled for mid-July, talk to you then!