An assistant in a real estate office can be someone who does anything from data entry to answering phones to office manager. Some don't last long; some stay in their job for years. The beginning of the year is a good time to review what assistants have access to the MLS for your office.

Because the MLS is a protected database, security must be high to ensure the privacy of that data. To help with that we have a few measures in place to do that. MLS rules, passwords that need to be changed twice a year, private logins, etc.

With assistants that can come and go, it's very tempting to just give the new assistant the password that the previous assistant used. But that's not allowed. We must know who is accessing the MLS. So each assistant must be registered and given their own ID. The previous assistant's ID will be retired.

Some offices, small and large, can lose track of assistants that have come and gone. The easiest way to see who you have actively registered with your office is to look at the roster. You can search by the office name or ID.

Any ID that starts with an A is an assistant to either the company, office, or one of the agents. By the way, if you see an ID that starts with the letter T, that's a team ID.

Is there anyone you don't know on that list? Just let us know.

Before you report an assistant to be inactivated, try to verify if that assistant works for one of your agents. We'll double check as well, so we might get back with you if we see that the ID is currently in use and registered to a particular agent or team.

If you have any questions about assistants or the admin assistant application, you can call us at 850-244-2411, or email susan@ecaor.com.

~ Susan Beck, MLS Director

Emerald Coast Association of Realtors

Fort Walton Beach, FL 32548