Setting up your MLS export

The short version

1. Find your MLS's custom export screen. It's usually under Settings, Preferences or Admin, and called Custom Exports, My Exports or Spreadsheets. Steps for each system are below.
2. Create an export named exactly AppraiserBench Comps and Market for your residential property type, with the 25 columns in the first table. The order doesn't matter.
3. Create a second export named exactly AppraiserBench Land for your land or lots property type, with the 8 columns in the second table.
4. Choose comma separated (CSV) if your MLS asks, and keep the header row turned on.
5. Each time: run your search, select all, export with the matching template, and load the file. Houses go to either tool with Comps and Market; lots go to CompAdjuster's Site basis step with Land.

The names matter for you, not for us. Six months from now, picking "AppraiserBench Comps and Market" from your MLS's export list is faster than remembering which of your saved exports was the right one.

Columns for AppraiserBench Comps and Market

Add these 25. The order doesn't matter. Your MLS will call some of them something slightly different, so the middle column lists what to search for in its field list. If your MLS lets you rename a column header (Matrix does, for example), rename it to the name in the first column and it will match exactly. If it doesn't, leave your MLS's name: both tools recognize the common spellings and the standard RESO names, and tell you about anything they can't place.

If your MLS has a separate private pool field (often Pool Private Y/N), add it too: it settles whether a pool is the home's own or the community's.

When it's right, the first row of the file reads like this:

Address, City, State, Zip, Subdivision, MLS #, Status, List Price, Sold Price, Pending Date, Closing Date, DOM, Concessions, Financing, GLA, BG Finished SF, BG Unfinished SF, Acres, Beds, Baths, BG Baths, Garage Capacity, Carport Capacity, Year Built, Pool Features

Columns for AppraiserBench Land

Build this one on your MLS's land or lots property type. Same rule: rename to the first column if your MLS allows it.

MLS #, Address, APN, Status, Sold Price, Closing Date, Acres, Lot Size SqFt

Which search goes where

• MarketAdjuster: your subject's competitive market, the same property type, over at least the last 12 months. Include sold, pending and active listings in one search so the market section can count inventory.
• CompAdjuster comparables: your comparable search. Enter the subject first and the app suggests search ranges to paste into your MLS. Actives and pendings can come in with the sales; they go on the grid but never into a rate.
• CompAdjuster land: vacant land sales near the subject, with the land export. They don't need to be as recent as your comps.

Step by step for your MLS system

These steps come from each system's own help pages and from appraisal software vendors' instructions for the same screens. Menus vary a little from one board to the next, so if a label doesn't match, look for the nearest one. Not sure which system you're on? The name is usually on the login page or at the bottom of the screen.

Matrix

Set it up once:

1. Click your name at the top right, then Settings.
2. Click Custom Exports, then Add Export. Some Matrix systems ask for a property type first: pick residential.
3. For Export Name, type AppraiserBench Comps and Market.
4. Find each field in Available Fields (the search box helps) and click Add. Hold Ctrl, or Command on a Mac, to pick several at once.
5. If your Matrix shows a column label for each field, change it to the name in the table above.
6. Set the Separator to Comma and click Save.
7. Repeat with your land property type and the name AppraiserBench Land.

Each time:

1. Run your search and select all the results.
2. Click Export, choose your export from the drop-down, and click Export.

Bright MLS

1. Click your name at the top right, then Account & Settings.
2. Click MLS Settings, then Custom Exports, then Add Export.
3. Name it AppraiserBench Comps and Market, move the fields from Available Fields to Export Fields, set the separator to Comma, click Save, then Done. Repeat for AppraiserBench Land.
4. To use it: run your search, click All, scroll to the bottom and click Export, choose your export, and click Export.

Flexmls

Set it up once:

1. Go to Preferences, then My Exports, then New.
2. Name the template AppraiserBench Comps and Market. Under Show Group Name, choose the option that leaves group names off the front of field names.
3. Select the residential property types (hold Ctrl for more than one) and click Next.
4. Add the fields from Available Fields, then click Save. The MLS number is included on its own.
5. Repeat with the land property type and the name AppraiserBench Land.

Each time:

1. Run your search. Click the More menu (three dots), then Export.
2. Choose Export all matches and Custom Text Export, pick your template, enter the verification code and click Export.

Quicker option: Flexmls's Generic Text Export exports every listing field to a CSV with no setup at all. Both tools pick out what they need, so it's a good way to try things before building a template.

Paragon

Paragon has two layouts. In the newer one, with a gear icon above the results:

1. Run your search (Search, then Inventory, with the statuses you want).
2. Click the gear (Customize), then Fields. Add the fields on the left to the selected list on the right and click Save. If it offers to save the layout under a name, use AppraiserBench Comps and Market.
3. Click the Export icon just left of the gear, then Export to CSV, then Export.

In the classic layout:

1. Go to Preferences, then Reports, then Spreadsheets under Manage Reports.
2. Open one of the default spreadsheets, click Remove All, add the fields, and save it as AppraiserBench Comps and Market. Click Save & Close. Do the same for land as AppraiserBench Land.
3. To use it: run your search, choose your spreadsheet under Spreadsheets, click Get All, then Export, then Spreadsheet Comma Delim. Name the file and click Create File.

Intermountain MLS (Idaho) is on Paragon. In IMLS the residential fields to pick are: Address, City, State, Zip, Subdivision, MLS #, Status, Asking Price, Sold Price, Pending Date, Closing Date, Cumulative DOM, Close Cost Contribution $, How Sold, Apx Above Grade Fin, Apx Below Grade Fin, Apx Below Grade Unfin, # Acres, # Beds, # Baths, # Bathrooms - Below Grade, Garage Capacity, Carport Capacity, Year Built, and the four pool options POOL/SPA-In-Ground, POOL/SPA-Pool, POOL/SPA-Private and POOL/SPA-Community. Both tools read those names as they are, so there's nothing to rename. Take all four pool options: In-Ground alone can't tell a private pool from the community's.

Rapattoni

1. Hover over Admin in the menu bar and click Custom Export Setup.
2. Click Create Export, name it AppraiserBench Comps and Market on the layout page, click Save, add your fields, and click Save again. Repeat for AppraiserBench Land.
3. To use it: run your search, click Exports, choose your export from the Listing Export Option drop-down (custom exports are near the bottom), click Submit, then click the file name to download it.

Navica

1. Click Resources, then Custom Exports, then New Export.
2. Choose Residential and click Next Step. Add the fields and click Next.
3. Name it AppraiserBench Comps and Market, set the header row to Yes, pick a comma delimiter if offered (tab works too), and click Complete. Repeat with your land type as AppraiserBench Land.
4. To use it: from the results drop-down choose Export All and click Go, then pick your export and save the file.

Many Navica systems don't export a list date. Neither tool needs one.

Fusion

1. Run a search and click Results. Click the Grid Manager icon, then Create New Grid.
2. Name the grid AppraiserBench Comps and Market, add the fields, and click Save. Make a AppraiserBench Land grid from a land search.
3. To export: Tools, then Export Data. Set the format to Comma Delimited, choose your grid, and click OK.

Realtracs

1. Go to Reports, then Custom Reports. Name the report AppraiserBench Comps and Market, click Create New Report, add the fields, and click Save. Repeat for AppraiserBench Land.
2. To use it: run your search, check Select All, choose Download Listings from the Functions drop-down, pick your report, and click Create Download.

Stratus

No template needed. Run your search, click Download, check Include field names as the first record, and click Download All Database Fields. Both tools pick out the columns they use.

connectMLS

Run a search and switch to the List View. Click Modify Columns, then Edit Columns, add and order the fields, and save it as a custom report named AppraiserBench Comps and Market. Then export the results with that report. Custom reports belong to one property type, so run a land search and save a second one as AppraiserBench Land.

Other systems

Some MLSs have a ready-made appraiser or market export that may already hold most of these fields: Northwest MLS's Appraiser Spreadsheet, for example. Try it first and see what the tools report as missing. Otherwise look for Export on your search results and a custom export, custom report or spreadsheet setup under Settings, Preferences or Admin. The pattern is the same everywhere: choose fields once, save, then pick that template when you export.

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