Rant on SafeMLS

Recently the Austin Board of Realtors required all Realtors to carry a new device called SafeMLS key. This ‘key’ produces a unique password every time you press its button. You are required to use it every time you login to the MLS system. This is supposed to make the MLS safer by keeping others who may have obatained your password from being able to login as you since they will not have this key. However, it seems to be more of a nuisance than a benefit. I, for one, don’t have a problem with people logging in as me since I don’t give my password out to other people. But now, if I forget my ‘key’ at home than I am screwed. I cannot log in to the system and help clients unless I drive all the way home first. This is ridiculous.

Realtors also use an eKey which is the device we use to unlock lockboxes when showing a property. It is about the size of a pager.  This was a hassle but at least it provided a useful tool. I got tired of carrying this around so I recently upgraded so that I may now use my Treo as my eKey which means one less device I have to carry around. As soon as I did that, ABOR announced this new SafeMLS initiative, so back to more devices to carry. What a hassle.

4 thoughts on “Rant on SafeMLS”

  1. I agree – SafeMLS sucks, and isn’t as effective as IP tracking – they can easily see if there are 2 people logged in at once, and impose a heavy fine…a deterrent that accomplishes the same result. If they want to stick w/ SafeMLS, they need to come up w/ a program to install on your smart phone that generates the password for you. Why don’t you do a little reverse engineering on it?

  2. Or better yet, why doesn’t ABOR just open it up to the public altogether? Afraid of competition?

  3. Why do you drive all the way home to retreive your forgotton device when you can call and get a code via the telephone? Is the system bad or do you not know how to use it properly?

  4. Tracey, when I wrote this, I was not aware you could call to get a temporary code. That does help, but I still think the whole system is ridiculous and overkill.

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