What is a Virtual Open House? A Virtual Open House is a live walk-through and should not be confused with pre-recorded, virtual tours uploaded to the MLS.
How do I schedule a Virtual Open House? Virtual Open Houses are scheduled just as you scheduled an in-person open house before. Add the open house, choose “virtual,” and then place in the video link for the public or cooperating brokers to join in.
The following live web conferencing services are allowed by Flexmls:
- Facebook Live
- Zoom
- Google Meet
- Microsoft Teams
- YouTube Live
- GoToMeeting
- GoToWebinar
- GoToMeet.Me
- Skype
- WebEx
- join.me
- Whereby
- BlueJeans
- Zoho Meeting
- NOTE: If you have a live web conferencing service that is not on the list, please reach out to tonya@gcar.net or rheta@gcar.net so we can talk with Flex about adding it.
Why can't I find a Virtual Open House in Flexmls that I schedule ot saw a few days ago? Any URL previously entered in the Virtual Open House field that was not a link to a live event was removed by Flexmls.
How do I view a list of Virtual Open Houses? Upcoming Virtual Open Houses can be viewed in the same places where you are used to seeing open houses. When you’re viewing listings on the search results page, click the Detail tab, and then click the Open House link. For virtual open houses, a clickable link will be displayed in the new Link field. To search for upcoming tours or open houses, under Daily Functions on the menu, click Open Houses and enter search parameters. The link to a virtual event will be available in the event details.
How does the temporary Virtual Open House feature impact IDX? Any listing broker who does not wish to have Virtual Open Houses in their IDX feed should email tonya@gcar.net or rheta@gcar.net with that request and provide the names of our IDX vendor(s). In response, our MLS Staff will provide your vendor with a new feed that does not contain Virtual Open Houses, including those of the listing broker making the request.
How does the temporary Virtual Open House feature impact Syndication to the Portals (i.e., ListHub, Realtor.com, Times Free Press & Zillow)? Open Houses previously were in these feeds, so Virtual Open Houses will continue to populate on those portals, pending any programming required on their end to display this slight adjustment on our end.
Virtual Open Houses & Client Portals: Client portals are self-directed by the listing agent, so it’s up to the listing agent to determine what they send to clients they have set-up on portals.
What about branding? It remains a violation of the MLS Rules to include personal contact information in any public fields, so users cannot try to trick the system by entering a URL in public fields other than the Virtual Open House field, which only allows links to scheduled live events.
See additional resources at www.gcar.net/covid-19.