Monster Media 1993 #2

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P rofessional R eal E state M ade E asier PREME Real Estate Software Instruction Manual Copyright 1990-92 Oak Hill Software Inc. Section A TERMS AND CONDITIONS......... 1 WARRANTY..................... 1 SUPPORT...................... 2 REGISTRATION................. 2 ORDERING..................... 2 QUESTION BOX Y/N............. 3 ATTENTION BOX................ 3 MENU WINDOW HELP............. 4 POP UP LIST HELP............. 4 CHANGEABLE LIST HELP......... 5 FUNCTION KEY OPTIONS......... 5 PROGRAM SETUP................ 7 FILE MAINTENANCE............ 10 DICTIONARY MAINTENANCE...... 11 Section B PROSPECTS AND CLIENTS....... 13 START A NEW CLIENT.......... 13 ADDRESS INFORMATION......... 16 PROPERTY NOTES.............. 19 DISTRICT OF TOWN............ 20 FLOOR PLAN DRAWINGS......... 20 PHONE NUMBERS............... 22 IMPORTANT DATES............. 24 CLIENT TYPE................. 24 CLIENT URGENCY.............. 24 CLIENT NOTES................ 24 GET AN EXISTING CLIENT...... 25 CALL THIS CLIENT............ 27 DELETE A CLIENT............. 28 JUMP TO NEXT CLIENT......... 29 PRINTING A CLIENT RECORD.... 30 MAKING A LIST FOR MAILING... 30 USE THE CURRENT LIST........ 32 WORD SEARCH IN NOTES................. 33 CLIENT IMPORT........................ 34 Section C LETTERS AND MAILING.................. 35 SEND A LETTER........................ 35 SENT TO CURRENT MAILING LIST......... 36 SEND TO SOMEONE NEW.................. 36 LABELS AND ENVELOPES................. 36 GET A CURRENT LETTER................. 37 WRITE A NEW LETTER................... 38 DELETE A CURRENT LETTER.............. 39 SPELL CHECKING....................... 40 IMPORTING OTHER TEXT FILES........... 41 BOLDING IN LETTERS................... 42 UNDERLINING IN LETTERS............... 42 PAGE LENGTH.......................... 43 PAGE WIDTH........................... 43 AUTOMATIC INSERTIONS................. 43 MERGE TO A LETTER.................... 43 Section D MORTGAGE PRESENTATIONS................ 46 MORTGAGE PAYMENTS..................... 46 QUALIFING BY DESIRED PAYMENT.......... 48 QUALIFING BY ANNUAL INCOME............ 48 AMORTIZATION SCHEDULES................ 49 Section E CONNECTIONS BY PHONE.................. 51 DIAL A MLS/BOARD...................... 51 CHANGING A MLS/BOARD ON THE LIST...... 53 DELETING A MLS/BOARD FORM THE LIST.... 53 ADDING A NEW MLS/BOARD TO THE LIST.. 54 CHANGE A PASSWORD FOR THE BOARD..... 56 DISCONNECTING FROM THE MLS/BOARD.... 57 TEXT EDITOR......................... 58 Section F NEAT STUFF.......................... 58 CALCULATOR.......................... 59 PERSONAL PHONE BOOK................. 60 FOOD FOR THOUGHT.................... 61 TIME MANAGEMENT..................... 62 CLASSIFIED ADS...................... 64 FLOOR PLANS (NON PROPERTY).......... 66 NUMBERS PUZZLE...................... 66 BLACK JACK GAME..................... 67 Section G EXITING THE PROGRAM................. 68 BACKING UP YOUR FILES............... 68 RESTORING PREVIOUS BACK UPS DISKS... 70 SAMPLE LETTER WRITING EXERCISE...... 71 Appendix I CLIENT IMPORT....................... 1 TERMS and CONDITIONS This is an agreement between you and Oak Hill Software Inc. which grants you the right to use your copy of PREME. PREME is property of Oak HIll Software Inc. In the original non-registered format, PREME may be given out freely to other REALTORS. Once registered and monogrammed with your name, PREME becomes your private individual program and may not be distributed to others. LIMITED WARRANTY This program is provided "AS IS" without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, including but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. The entire risk as to the quality and performance of the program is assumed by you. In no event will Oak Hill Software Inc. be liable to you for any damages, including any lost profits, lost savings or other incidental or consequential damages arising out of the use or inability to use this program. 1 PRODUCT SUPPORT Normally support calls or messages will be answered within 12 working hours. Oak Hill Software Inc. is pleased to offer FREE support and help to any registered user. Call our support line at 613-837-9571 or message CIS 71520,3110. In the event of a COMPUTER SITUATION message... Like any significant piece of software, it is possible that under certain conditions an error message may occur. In the event of a message appearing on your screen, where you are directed to call Oak Hill Software, call 613-837-9571 or you can message CIS 71520,3110. You will be asked to repeat the message and give as much detail about where you were in the program and what you were doing at the time of the message. PRODUCT ORDERS OR REGISTRATION To register, call 613-837-9571 or message CIS 71520,3110 2 USING THIS MANUAL This manual is designed to help you find your way around PREME and assist you in any area where you might need a little extra explanation of what the program expects from you. Use the empty space in this manual to make notes about the short cuts and special ways you feel that a particular area of the program could be used. We will expand the manual as often as necessary to keep up with the newest features of PREME as they are released. ╓──────────────────────────────╖ ║ ║ ║ Confirm? Y/N ║ ║ ║ ╙──────────────────────────────╜ Throughout the program this type of question box could appear, and it requires an answer. Read the question and answer by pressing either the 'Y' key for a YES answer or the 'N' key for a NO answer. No other keys will allow you to leave the box. ╓──────────────────────────────╖ ║ *** ATTENTION *** ║ ║ Please read this manual ║ ║ press any key to continue ║ ╙──────────────────────────────╜ This attention or warning box is designed to bring something to your attention. Usually a tone from the computers speaker will accompany this box. Pressing any key will remove this box so that you can carry on with the operation of the program. 3 MENU windows appear on the upper right corner of the screen. They usually have a bright highlight bar over top of the first option or choice. You can move this highlight bar by using the Up or Down arrow keys on the keyboard. An easier method of moving the bar is by pressing the "letter" key which is the same as the first letter of the option or choice you want to select. The later method of selection is the most efficient and should be practiced right from the start. Pressing Escape (Esc) while in any menu, will exit that menu. │ Prospects and Clients │ Letters and mailing │ Mortgage Calculations │ Connections by phone MENU │ Neat stuff WINDOW │ Organize the system │ Esc when finished └────────────────────── POP UP lists look very similar to menus, except that they have the word CHANGEABLE in the bottom of them. You can manoeuvre the highlight bar exactly the same as in the menus. The main difference is that these lists put the selected option into the current entry line on the screen. Another difference is the options can be changed, and in some cases added to or removed. │ Mr. │ Mrs. │ Miss POP UP │ Ms. LIST │ Dr. │ Rev. │ "Changeable" └───────────────────── 4 You will be presented with Pop Up Lists to make choices from. These lists might be of cities, districts of town, honorifics (Mr. Mrs. Dr.) or other things. You will get the idea as you continue. If you want to add, remove or change the name of anything on these lists, follow the steps below while you are in the list you want to change. To add to the list, strike the plus key (+) on your keyboard, enter the new item. Confirm the addition to include this item in future lists. To take something off the list, highlight the item with the UP or DOWN arrow key, strike the minus key (-), confirm the deletion. To change the name of an item on the list, highlight it with the UP or DOWN arrow keys, strike the equals key (=). Type in your changes then confirm the change. Pressing Escape while in a pop-up list will remove the list item for the client record. Any items entered into a pop-up list will remain exactly as you type them. PREME has some options which cannot always be seen from the screen. These are called "Function Key Pop Up Options". Function keys are the upper or left hand set of keys on your keyboard marked, ┌────┐ ┌────┐ ┌────┐ ┌────┐ │ F1 │ │ F2 │ │ F3 │ │ F4 │ └────┘ └────┘ └────┘ └────┘ where the F is for Function. Not all function keys hide options in PREME, but the following are the active function keys in the current version. These keys will pop up a feature in almost any area of the program. There are however some restricted areas where the function keys are not active. 5 You cannot damage anything by pressing a function key in a restricted area, but don't be alarmed if nothing happens. F1 - the "HELP" function key, displays help about the area of the program you are in or offers a list of help topics in a window which can be scrolled up and down using the arrow keys. Select the topic by pressing enter. Press Escape to leave "HELP" F2 - the "CALCULATOR" function key, pops up a handy little calculator for doing the things you do with a calculator. Make sure that the "Num Lock" light is on if you want to use your numbered keypad. See page 59 for details on the calculators operation. F3 - the "BLACK BOOK" function key, pops up a personal phone book. See the personal black book section under "Neat stuff" page 60. F4 - the "FOOD FOR THOUGHT" function key, pops up a saying or quote. F6 - the "TIME MANAGEMENT" function key, pops up the appointment scheduler and time management section. For details see the "Neat stuff" section on page 62. Certain areas of the program will change the function performed by one or more of the function keys. These changes will only be active while in those areas and the new operation for the function keys will be displayed on the screen. 6 PROGRAM SETUP The first thing PREME needs to know is some information about you and the type of equipment you are using. From the main menu, select "Organize the system" by pressing the letter "O" key or moving the highlight bar over that option and pressing the Enter key. │ Prospects and Clients │ Letters and mailing │ Mortgage Calculations │ Connections by phone MAIN │ Neat stuff MENU │ ORGANIZE THE SYSTEM │ Esc when finished └────────────────────── Next select "You and your equipment" │ Back up files │ Restore files │ YOU AND YOUR EQUIPMENT │ File maintenance │ Dictionary maintenance │ Esc when finished └────────────────────── Now select "Printer details" │ PRINTER DETAILS │ Modem details │ User details └───────────────────── 7 PREME has some really neat abilities to work with different printers for different tasks. Most IBM compatible computers can have up to 3 printer ports, or spots to which a printer can be attached. If you have a laser printer on port 1 and a dot matrix printer on port 2, your letters can automatically print on the laser and your mailing labels on the dot matrix without you changing or doing anything! You will want to speak to your computer retailer for details on your computer's abilities in this regards. When you first get PREME, you have to tell it what kind of printer you have and where to find it. We currently support standard EPSON compatible dot matrix printers and standard, Hewlet Packard II compatible laser printers. Almost every printer manufactured in the last few years falls into one or the other group. Consult your computer store for further details. You can set the program for printing Letters and reports, Envelopes and Labels separately. If you have only one printer and would like to print all available tasks on it, make sure that each is set the same way. If you have a laser printer, PREME prints letters and reports on standard 8.5 x 11 inch pages, hand feed or tray feed #10 business envelopes or sheets of mailing labels - 2 wide. If you are a Canadian user, obtain Avery AL120 or equivalent labels. If you are an American user, obtain Avery 5197 or equivalent labels. Note that sheet labels for laser printers are NOT the same as sheet labels for photo-copiers, the placement of the labels on the page is NOT the same. If you have a dot matrix printer, PREME prints letters and reports on standard 8.5 x 11 inch pages either hand fed or continuous and mailing labels in single wide tractor feed format. PREME will work with a 1 1/2 inch tall label at least 3.5 or 4 inches wide. 8 This is a standard size and easily available at any office or computer supply place. When completed press Escape to go back to the "You and your equipment menu". Now go on to select "Modem details". │ Printer details │ MODEM DETAILS │ User details └───────────────────── Modem details is the area in which you tell PREME something about your modem. If you do not feel comfortable with this, consult the people who sold you the equipment. You need to set the Comm port to the correct position for your modem. You must tell PREME what BAUD rate your modem is (the speed - usually 2400). PREME needs to know what Dialing type your line is (tone or pulse) and whether you need PREME to set the Office PBX on or off (automatically insert a 9 in the front of all calls to give you an outside line). Again when completed press Escape to leave the modem area and return to the "You and your equipment" menu. Now select "User details" to complete the set up process. │ Printer details │ Modem details │ USER DETAILS └───────────────────── 9 This is where you tell PREME something about yourself, where you work and how people can get in touch with you. Start by selecting the country you live in. │ Canada │ United States └───────────────────── Now fill in the lines as indicated on the screen and PREME will take care of putting these things on different reports as required. The last option, User status can make PREME faster to use. If you feel comfortable with the menu system, select Fast (advanced user) and from that point on you will only be required to press the first letter of any menu option in order to go directly to that area. This saves a lot of Enter key pressing as you progress in the program. Once you have completed all of these areas, press the Esc key to return to the "Organize the system" menu. You may return to the "You and your equipment" anytime to change the set up, so if things are not perfect the first time, no need to panic. The computer needs to do a little housekeeping prior to you going on. Select "File maintenance" from the "Organize the system" menu and PREME will do all the required work by itself. │ Back up files │ Restore files │ You and your equipment │ FILE MAINTENANCE │ Dictionary maintenance │ Esc when finished └────────────────────── 10 "File maintenance" should be done after you have deleted any clients, the deletion process only marks a client for deletion, this area is where the file clean up is completed. Dictionary maintenance is required to get the spell checker portion of the letter writing area in order. Select "Dictionary maintenance" and then confirm you want to proceed. │ Back up files │ Restore files │ You and your equipment │ File maintenance │ DICTIONARY MAINTENANCE │ Esc when finished └────────────────────── "Dictionary maintenance" should only be required again if your computer has quit or the power has been lost while using the spell checker. Otherwise this sort should be the only one required. This process can be very time consuming on the slower (PC or XT) type computers, a quick break might be in order here. Now press Escape to return to the Main Menu. 11 PROSPECTS AND CLIENTS The "Prospects and clients" section is the area where a lot of your time will be spent. Go there now by pressing the letter "P" key or by pressing Enter while the high light bar is over that option. │ PROSPECTS AND CLIENTS │ Letters and mailing │ Mortgage Calculations │ Connections by phone │ Neat stuff │ Organize the system │ Esc when finished └────────────────────── The first option is "Get an existing client" or where you go after you have clients in the system you want to find or work with. In the beginning we must "Start a new client" record. With this in mind, press the letter "S" to select "Start a new client" or place the high light bar over "Start a new client" and press the Enter key. │ Get an existing client │ START A NEW CLIENT │ Mailing lists │ Word search in notes │ Client import │ Esc when finished └────────────────────── 13 You will immediately be offered an entry screen to complete for the various parts of the client's name. Because PREME uses the clients last name in several areas, to make lists and for searching, be sure to put the first and last names on the appropriate lines. A first name or an initial may be skipped, but PREME will not save a client who has not been assigned last name. It is not necessary to press the SHIFT key to capitalize the first letters of names, the program does it for you. If it capitalizes something you don't want to have capitalized, press the Space Bar to force a space where the first letter would normally go, then type the name starting at the second space. PREME will remove the space on the left when it saves the record. You will be offered a Pop Up list of optional Honorifics (Mr. Mrs.). Select the one that is most appropriate to this person. If you need an honorific not on the list, add it now or see "Changing a pop-up list" page 5 if you need some help. Press Escape in the Pop Up List to leave the honorific blank. The highlight bar now shows that the First person section has been completed by adding a tick (√) and shifts to option for the Significant other. All the rest of the items on this menu are optional and may be left blank if you do not want to complete them at this time. If you do select an area, after you leave it you will know that you have been there by the tick (√) added to the end. 14 Selecting "Significant other" displays a screen identical to the First person, complete it in the same manner. PREME again makes an assumption that most of your client's Significant others will have the same last name as the first person. │ First person name √ │ SIGNIFICANT OTHER │ Heading & salutation │ Address information │ Phone numbers │ Important dates │ Type-Urgency-Notes │ Esc when finished └────────────────────── After the Significant other has been entered (or skipped), you are given the opportunity to designate the "Heading & Salutation" information. │ First person name √ │ Significant other √ │ HEADING & SALUTATION │ Address information │ Phone numbers │ Important dates │ Type-Urgency-Notes │ Esc when finished └────────────────────── 15 Selecting "Heading & Salutation", gives you an opportunity to choose how the opening greetings will print on your customized form letters to the client and how you want to set up the address label heading. │ Address heading │ Letter salutation │ Esc when finished └────────────────────── Select "Address heading" to design the way that client information prints as the top line of the address. It will appear as the heading on form letters and on a mailing label or envelope. If neither of the suggested headings are appropriate, select "Type your own" and enter the desired information. The "Letter salutation" option sets up the salutation or greeting line on your custom letters. Select the salutation in the same manner as the heading. If neither of the suggested salutations are appropriate, select "Type your own" and enter the desired information. Press Escape to go back to the Client Entry Menu. Moving along, we are now prompted to choose the "Address information" option. This is where we can store the property and or mailing address for this client. │ First person name √ │ Significant other √ │ Heading & salutation√ │ ADDRESS INFORMATION │ Phone numbers │ Important dates │ Type-Urgency-Notes │ Esc when finished └────────────────────── 16 If the Property and the mailing addresses are the same, you need only enter one, as PREME will transfer the information automatically to both areas once you have finished adding the details. │ PROPERTY ADDRESS │ Mailing address │ Esc when finished └────────────────────── Selecting "Property address" first will allow you to continue entering the notes, district and floor plan information. The property address is in the majority of cases the same as the mailing address, except where the client is living and receiving mail at an address other than this address, eg:a client has a summer or winter mailing address, etc. All street name selections are based on the property street rather than the mailing address street. Mailing lists use the mailing address. │ ADDRESS INFORMATION │ Property Notes │ District/Area │ Floor plan drawing │ Esc when finished └────────────────────── In order to select clients based on a street name you must make sure you put the street number and the name on their respective line. Address line 2 is for additional information such as RR# or PO BOX numbers. PREME does not use this line for searching or sorting. 17 The suggested format for apartment, unit or suite numbers is to follow the street name, and be preceded by the (#) pound sign. For example, ╓───────────────────────────────────╖ ║ Number..: 1234 ║ ║ Street..: Main Street #311 ║ ║ Line 2..: ║ ║ City....: Paris P/S..:CA ║ ║ Country.: Code..: A2A 9D9 ║ ╙───────────────────────────────────╜ The city line will offer you a pop-up list. When the list appears, choose whichever city you would like or you can refer to "Changing Pop Up lists" (page 5) for help on adding to or changing this list. The Province or State abbreviations are approved by the Post Office. If you are unsure of the correct 2 letter code for your needs, then type in an incorrect code such as 'ZZ' and a list of provinces and states will be displayed. Press the first letter of the name you want and then use the up and down arrow keys to point to the exact name, pressing enter now will produce the correct code in the province or state line of the address. The next step if you are a Canadian user is the postal code section or the Zip code if you are American. Assuming you are entering information about a client within your country, select Postal code or Zip code, enter the correct value and strike the ENTER key. PREME will automatically capitalize and space the Canadian code. or allow American users to enter either the old or new style Zip code. 18 If your client lives outside of your country, select the "Other" option. Pick the appropriate country from the list and then enter the mailing code. As with any pop-up list, you can add countries as desired. See page 5 for help. The Property notes area is different from the client notes which are completed in another section. Property notes are items of information about the features and qualities of the property address as opposed to the mailing address. │ Address information │ PROPERTY NOTES │ District/Area │ Floor plan drawing │ Esc when finished └────────────────────── PREME allows you to enter and search notes in a free form manner. You are allowed up to 5 full typed pages of notes. The program will automatically place the current date and time of day at the start of the last note when saved. To Exit the notes, strike the ESCAPE key and answer the save question. Notes tip... when entering details about the property or residence, develop a code for specific features, such as In Law Suites "ILS" or number of bedrooms "4BED". Later when you want to select a group of clients based on features in their property notes, chances of incorrect selections will be greatly reduced. A even better method of coding property features, is to put a unusual character with the code, such as "*ILS", or "4^BED", this will make your searches quick and to the point. 19 │ Address information │ Property Notes │ DISTRICT/AREA │ Floor plan drawing │ Esc when finished └────────────────────── PREME allows you to distinguish different districts of town that your clients may live or own property in. Use this area to assist in the making lists for mailing. A suggestion here might be to enter postal walk info or MLS areas for specific farm searching. Floor plans can be drawn and attached to any property. The normal screen borders disappear and are replaced with a blinking cursor, a cursor locator (in the upper right corner) and a list of available commands across the bottom. │ Address information │ Property Notes │ District/Area │ FLOOR PLAN DRAWING │ Esc when finished └────────────────────── Help is available n this area by pressing the usual F1 key. You save the drawing and leave the area by striking F2. You move the cursor around the screen without drawing anything after striking the F7 key. To draw, strike F9 and move the cursor about the screen with the UP, DOWN, LEFT or RIGHT arrow. As the cursor moves, it leaves a line. If you draw on an area and wish to erase it, move the cursor to that position and strike the F10 key. Moving the cursor erases any lines it comes into contact with. If you wish to leave without saving the drawing, strike the ESCAPE key. 20 If you strike the F7 key and move the cursor to a desired location, you can use any of the computer's keys to type words, numbers or symbols onto the drawing. Watch the read out in the upper corner of the screen. By using the counter as a "scale", you can establish proportions to your drawings like every push of the arrow key = 2 feet or 5 feet, etc. With only a little practice, it is very easy to produce excellent results. ┌────────────────────┬─────────────┐ │ │ │ │ Den 12 x 25 │ Utility Room│ │ │ 14 x 15 │ └─┬──── ─────────┤ │ │┌──────────┐ │ ││|||up|||||│ ┌───────────┤ ┌─┘│|||dn|||||│ / │ │ └──────────┘ │ │ ^ │ 12 x 12 │ │ stairs │ │ │ ├────────────┤ │ │ │ │ Living Room 18 x 30 │Bedroom 2 │ │ / 12 x 12 │ └─────────────────────┴────────────┘ Using the same technique, you can draw site plans or simple road maps showing how to get to the location. When you print out the client's property file you will have the option of including the drawing. It is possible to take this drawing and automatically insert it into a desired location within a letter. If, when you print your drawing you get rows of letters or numbers instead of the neat little lines that you see on the screen, your printer is not set properly. 21 ZDDDDDDDDDDDDDDZ 3 3 3 3 3 printer 3 3 not set 3 ZDDDDDDDDDDDDDDZ Almost every printer manufactured within the last few years can be set to an "IBM Graphics" compatible mode. Unfortunately many brands are set at the factory for the "Epson" mode, giving you foreign, math and scientific characters instead. To change your printer might mean moving a switch or pressing a series of buttons. Consult the manual that came with your printer, the person who sold it to you, the manufacturer or the computer geek at your office. Within each client's record, you can enter up to 4 phone numbers. │ First person name √ │ Significant other √ │ Heading & salutation√ │ Address information √ │ PHONE NUMBERS │ Important dates │ Type-Urgency-Notes │ Esc when finished └────────────────────── Select the desired number from the menu, PREME assumes the most common name for phone numbers such as HOME, WORK, CELLULAR or FAX. These are strictly suggested names and may be changed to any other name you wish. Type a new word or press Enter to accept the displayed word and proceed with the number. 22 Type in the number without entering spaces or dashes and strike the ENTER key when finished. │ First phone number │ Second phone number │ Third phone number │ Last phone number │ Esc when finished └────────────────────── Because PREME can automatically dial the phone for you, enter the number exactly as you would dial it from your location. If it is a long distance number within your area code, start it with a "1". Outside of your area code, include the other person's area code. If you need to have PREME dial a 9 before getting an outside line (office PBX), remember to set this up in the "Organize the system", "Modem details" section. See page 9 From within the client information area, PREME offers you the ability to enter up to 6 Important Dates. Select this menu choice, and the pop-up window offers spots to record the Next contact, Sale anniversary, Listing Expiry date, Completion date, Special date #1 and Other Special date. Select any of these choices and a date line appears, type in the date as MM/DD/YY or press Enter when the date is empty to produce the pop-up calendar. Follow the on screen instruction for selecting dates from the calendar. 23 │ First person name √ │ Significant other √ │ Heading & salutation√ │ Address information √ │ Phone numbers √ │ IMPORTANT DATES │ Type-Urgency-Notes │ Esc when finished └────────────────────── All of these dates may be used for creating lists for mailing. The next contact and sale anniversary dates are obvious, special dates can be any date you use for making special lists, such as birthdays, newsletters or calendar mailing. Sale anniversary date searches are based on the month and day only, the year is ignored when making mailing list. The client type assignment is a means of separating clients into varying categories. The first level of types is joined to an optional second level to allow the creation of very specific descriptors. Examples might be, PROSPECT RANCHER or FARM AREA#1, FARM AREA#2 etc. │ First person name √ │ Significant other √ │ Heading & salutation√ │ Address information √ │ Phone numbers √ │ Important dates √ │ TYPE-URGENCY-NOTES │ Esc when finished └────────────────────── The Client Urgency allows you to describe the urgency of your client. For example, Hot or Cold. This area can also be incorporated into your mailing lists. 24 When selected, the Notes or comments section brings up a window for you to enter detailed information about the client. PREME will automatically place the date and time of day on the note for your information in the future and review the notes. As in the property notes, try and create special codes for information you might want to use to retrieve clients by at a later date. For example "*KIDS Ben Sue Peggy" can be used to recall all the clients who have children. Try to add a special character such as "*" or "@" to common words for better search results. Pressing Escape will exit the notes and offer you the option of saving any new additions or leaving the notes as they were prior to this visit. As you leave the client area and providing you have entered in a street name in the mailing address, you will be asked if you would like to send them a letter right now. If you answer "no", you return to the point where you started. If you say "yes", PREME pops you into "Letters and mailing". Consult the area on "Letters and mailing" for further details at that point. See page 35 Finding and Changing an existing client is done via the "Get an existing client" menu option. │ GET AN EXISTING CLIENT │ Start a new client │ Mailing lists │ Word search in notes │ Client import │ Esc when finished └────────────────────── Select the type of search you would like. A box will appear offering the client's last name, property street, district, next contact date or the first phone number. 25 │ Last name │ Street name │ District │ Next contact date │ Phone number 1 │ Esc when finished └────────────────────── If you choose name, street, district or phone number, and you know the exact name or number, type it in and strike the ENTER key. Otherwise type in the first few letters of the word or number. The more of the word you type, the more direct the search and subsequent display will be. If you choose next contact date, the display will go directly to the list of next contacts nearest today's date. If you missed following up for a day or so, you can scroll back up to see who you missed. If you do not enter any part of the name into the box, and strike the ENTER key anyway, PREME will display the entire list starting at the first item in the selected area. PREME displays the highlight bar over the most likely match to your request. If this is not the correct client, use the UP or DOWN arrow keys to point to the desired one. Once highlighted the client's file can be instantly displayed by striking the ENTER key. The first 7 options on the next menu are identical to the same options in "Start an new client". With an exception being the "Significant other" choice which offers you an opportunity to eliminate the significant other all together. It seems that some people change significant others and it easier to scratch them all at once. 26 │ First person name √ │ Significant other √ │ Heading & salutation√ │ Address information √ │ Phone numbers √ │ Important Dates √ │ Type-Urgency-Notes √ │ CALL THIS CLIENT │ Delete this client │ Jump to next client │ Esc when finished └────────────────────── Select "Call this client"from the menu, Highlight the number to dial and strike the ENTER key. If your computer is equipped with a telephone modem and it is set up properly, PREME will pick up the phone line and dial the selected phone number. Once you hear the other phone ring you regain control of the conversation by you hitting the space bar on the computer's keyboard. We suggest using a telephone headset if you do a lot of calling. This allows you to type notes directly into the client's file with two hands while you talk. To use this feature, the headset or telephone needs to plug into a second phone jack that is built into MOST modems acting as a splitter. 27 After connecting to the client, PREME allows you to open a note file for this client, automatically puts the date and time of day on the note for future reference and saves the note with the Escape key. After completing the call attempt, you can pop a descriptor like "Busy" or "No answer" into the note. You can make use of the "Word search in notes" option later to bring back all the "No answer" or "Busy" records for the purpose of calling back. When you have decided that a client record is no longer going to be of any use to you, you might want to "Delete this client". Just because a client moves or changes their residence, doesn't mean that the record should be deleted. If you have detailed information about the property, put the words "The Occupant" in the first persons last name area and eliminate the significant other. This will retain the property information and make it available for future reference. You can easily recall a record by street or district to put the new owners information into the record when it is available. │ First person name │ Significant other │ Heading & salutation │ Address information │ Phone numbers │ Important Dates │ Type-Urgency-Notes │ Call this client │ DELETE THIS CLIENT │ Jump to next client │ Esc when finished └────────────────────── 28 In a case where you do want to "Delete this client", press the "D" key or highlight the "Delete this client" option and press Enter, confirm the deletion and the client is removed from the list. After the deletion PREME jumps to the next client who can also be deleted or by pressing Escape you return to the selection list. NOTE..: A deleted client record is hidden but not actually removed from the file until after you find some time to do "File maintenance" in the "Organize the system" area off the Main Menu. Pressing the "J" key or highlighting "Jump to next record" and then pressing the Enter key, does just that, lets you skip through the client list one at a time in the sequence you selected from the "Get an existing client" option. This is handy for jumping from house to house down a street or through a district. │ First person name │ Significant other │ Heading & salutation │ Address information │ Phone numbers │ Important Dates │ Type-Urgency-Notes │ Call this client │ Delete this client │ JUMP TO NEXT CLIENT │ Esc when finished └────────────────────── Pressing Escape returns you to the list for further selection. Pressing Escape again takes you back to the "Prospects and clients" menu. 29 PRINTING SPECIFIC CLIENT INFORMATION When a client's information is displayed, "F7 to Print" option will be revealed at the bottom right of the screen. Striking this key will enable you to produce a professional print out of that client's information with the property information included. If notes exist for that client you will also have the option of including the notes along with the printout. MAKING A LIST OF CLIENTS FOR MAILING. │ Get an existing client │ Start a new client │ MAILING LISTS │ Word search in notes │ Client import │ Esc when finished └────────────────────── PREME needs to know if you are going to build a new mailing list or if you want to use the current mailing list. │ BUILD A NEW LIST │ Use the current list │ Esc when finished └────────────────────── When building a new list, PREME starts the selection process by allowing you to restrict the list to a particular range of last names. The earliest last name in alphabetical order from your client list is the assumed first name. If this is where you want to start, strike the ENTER key, otherwise type in the some of last name to begin with. PREME then offers the final last name in your list. If this is OK, strike the ENTER key or type in some of the name to stop at. 30 PREME has a maximum capacity of 1000 names in any one mailing list, try to select 1000 names or less when building new mailing lists. The next screen displays a box on the left hand side of the screen with the Selection Criteria starting with the names you specified for searching and a menu on the right hand side of the screen, offering the available items to search by. │ Street name │ District/area │ Next contact date │ Sale anniversary date │ Listing expiry │ Completion date │ First special date │ Other special date │ Type of client │ Priority/urgency │ Words in notes │ Mailing codes │ Esc when finished └────────────────────── To find a list of client whose "Next contact date" was between any two dates you wish to search, enter the starting date and then enter the ending date. You will see the Selection criteria description of the search factors will reflect this selection. You can have multiple search factors. By setting the "Type of client" as well as the "Next contact date", you can restrict the selected group to an even more precise list. Any combination of the displayed search factors can be chosen, however only one of each at any one time. 31 When you have completed your selection parameters, press Escape to exit the menu and confirm that you want to continue building the list. Depending upon the speed of your computer and the speed of your computer's hard disk drive, this process might be fast or slow. If you have an older computer, slow hard disk drive and a large number of clients, be prepared for a longer wait. Upon completion of the search, PREME will display a list of clients who's records indicate a match with the criteria you specified. This list may now be fine tuned to your exact needs by marking the desired clients to be put into the final list. Individual clients can be marked by pressing the Space Bar while the client is highlighted, mass selection is accomplished by pressing F6 and mass removal is accomplished by pressing F7. F8 reverses the marked clients to unmarked and visa versa. You may find it handy when removing only a few people out of a large list to mark the people you do not want first then press F8 to unmark them and switch the others. Pressing Enter after you have marked the desired records, will finalize the list. Caution, pressing Enter before marking desired clients will discard the entire list. PREME will then report the number of clients in the list and give you the opportunity to print it. Lists may be printed in either a detailed format or a brief one line description. The list is now available for mailing. Any list you make stays current until you make a new list. If you want to bring back the last list you made select the "Use the current list" option. │ Build a new list │ USE THE CURRENT LIST │ Esc when finished └────────────────────── 32 PREME will offer you the list you last built, in the fine tuning list screen. This list may be edited to further remove unwanted clients and then use the space bar or the appropriate function keys to finalize the list for mailing. Again be cautioned that the list will be abandoned if you press Enter without making any selections. Finding a word or words in client or property notes │ Get an existing client │ Start a new client │ Mailing lists │ WORD SEARCH IN NOTES │ Client import │ Esc when finished └────────────────────── PREME allows you to search for up to 4 pieces of information at a time. You can choose either Client notes or Property notes. It will then look through the notes and search for the information requested. The search ignores the case of letters, CAPITAL or small letters mean the same. If you type Smith, you will get Smith, smith, blacksmith, Smithsonian, etc. After choosing up to 4 words or codes, you will be given the opportunity of joining the search words with either "and" or "or". By doing this you can in effect search for files that contain phrases like "buyer and pool and $250000+ and secluded" or phrases like "midtown or uptown or central". The 'AND' joiner will result in a much faster search, continuous beeping is OK, it means that the computer has found several clients with similar text but the text is not exactly as you requested. 33 After starting the search, you are instantly put into the first matching client. You can edit the file, print information, phone them, etc. as usual. When you leave that client file, the search continues and presents you with the next client until all matches have been made. You will then be given the opportunity to start another search. │ Get an existing client │ Start a new client │ Mailing lists │ Word search in notes │ CLIENT IMPORT │ Esc when finished └────────────────────── If you have access to computer based lists of names, addresses, postal/zip codes, property features, etc. PREME can save you an enormous amount of time and effort by automatically bringing that information into the client area without the need for laborious typing. OAK HILL SOFTWARE has already prepared the necessary procedures for some areas and services while others are still under development. If your area has import abilities, see "Appendix I" for details. 34 LETTERS and MAILING After some clients have been entered, the next area we could visit is the "Letters and mailing" section. You can access "Letters and mailing" in one of two ways, by saying "Yes" to sending a follow up letter when you are leaving a client record or by selecting "Letters and mailing" from the main menu. │ Prospects and Clients │ LETTERS AND MAILING │ Mortgage Calculations │ Connections by phone │ Neat stuff │ Organize the system │ Esc when finished └────────────────────── From a client record, PREME makes the assumption that you are sending a letter to that particular client and makes their mailing address available to the letters. If you access "Letters and mailing" from the Main Menu, then you are expected to be using a current list or sending mail to someone new. Included with your PREME package are about 50 letters relating directly to the Real Estate Industry. You can add to, change or delete from the letters as you like. Sending letters is as quick as selecting "Send a letter" from the "Letters and mailing" menu. │ SEND A LETTER │ Get a letter │ Write a new letter │ Delete a letter │ Print labels/envelopes │ Esc when finished └────────────────────── 35 The next menu offers you the options to "Use current list" or "To someone new". The current list would be the last list you built in mailing lists. Use "To someone new" if you would like to mail to a non-client. │ Use current list │ To someone new │ Esc when finished └────────────────────── If you choose "Use current list" the list you last built will be called back into active duty. You must have already made a list. You will next be cautioned as to the number of clients in the list, be sure your printer is prepared. Next you are presented with a pick list of the letters in your system, use the up and down arrow keys to highlight a letter, press the Enter key when the highlight bar is over the letter you want to send and away we go. PREME will ask you if you would like to stop between the pages or not, if you want to change letterhead or have a hand fed system you might want to say "Yes" otherwise say "No". To print matching labels or envelopes, pick "Print labels/envelopes" then choose the same list or someone new option as you did in "Send a letter". PREME uses the same list in the same order to print envelopes or labels as you last used for letter printing. 36 If you want to change a current letter or write a new letter, then select the desired option from the menu. │ Send a letter │ GET A LETTER │ Write a new letter │ Delete a letter │ Print labels/envelopes │ Esc when finished └────────────────────── If changing a letter is on your mind, then select "Get a letter" from the "Letters and mailing" menu. PREME displays the list of letters stored in your computer (we provide about 50 to get you started, the rest is up to you). Select the letter you would like to change by using the UP or DOWN arrow. You can change any letter in any way. Many letters must be changed to accommodate you particular situation. Wherever you see ">>>" you are expected to fill information like you phone number, area of specialty, etc. Position the cursor wherever you wish to make changes and just start typing. The new information is automatically inserted between the existing information. If you would like to type "on top" of the existing words strike the INSERT key on your keyboard. The indicator at the bottom of the screen will change from Insert to Typeover. Strike the Insert key again and you will be in Insert mode again. When you are finished, strike the Escape key, then tell PREME to save your work and replace the previous version of the letter or save your work as a totally different letter with a different name (leaving the original unchanged) or to forget any changes. 37 Strike the ESCAPE key and tell the program to "Save as this letter" will change your original, "Save as a new letter", leaves the original untouched by creating a second letter containing the new contents with a new name, "Forget any changes" returns you back to the menu without remembering the work you just did, or "Esc back to letter" returns you back to the letter. To add letters , from within "Letters and mailing" choose "Write a new letter". Type in the name you would like the letter to be called (the name can be anything... any combination of words to a maximum length of the name box) and strike the ENTER key. PREME will display an empty letter writing window, waiting for you to type. │ Send a letter │ Get a letter │ WRITE A NEW LETTER │ Delete a letter │ Print labels/envelopes │ Esc when finished └────────────────────── To begin, just start typing. DO NOT hit the ENTER key at the end of a line as you would on a typewriter. PREME does this automatically for you. If you strike the enter key at the end of a line you will have all sorts of funny looking characters with some lines only taking up a few inches. After typing your letter, a number of supplementary features are available to you. See "Doing fancy things in your letters" on age 39. Striking the ESCAPE key will let you save the letter or forget the letter. 38 From within "Letters and mailing" choose Delete a Letter. Point to the letter you want to be deleted and strike the ENTER key. Confirm that you want to Delete the letter. │ Send a letter │ Get a letter │ Write a new letter │ DELETE A LETTER │ Print labels/envelopes │ Esc when finished └────────────────────── DOING FANCIER THINGS IN YOUR LETTERS From within the letter you wish to customize, press the F10 function key to reveal a menu window with a list of options. │ Check spelling │ Print this letter │ Import a text file │ Bold │ Underline │ Page dimensions │ Automatic Insertions │ Esc back to letter └────────────────────── 39 SPELL CHECKING Spell checking is the first feature available to you. After writing your letter, select "Check spelling". PREME begins reading every word you typed. If it finds a word that is not in its dictionary, it will highlight the word, offer several suggested alternatives and wait for your command. Across the bottom of the screen, choices are displayed. If you wish to use one of the displayed alternatives, strike the letter next to the desire word. PREME changes the length of the line as needed to compensate for a different size word. Striking the "1" key tells PREME to Skip this word, just this time; striking the "2" key tells PREME to Skip this word any time it finds it throughout the document. These options are used when you know the word is spelled correctly but do not wish to add it to the dictionary. Striking the "3" key Adds the word to the dictionary, so PREME will never highlight it again as not understood. BE SURE the word is spelled correctly! You will use this feature often when you first get the program, customizing it to your name, vocabulary and style of writing. It will be used less and less as time goes on. Striking the "4" key puts you back into the document at that word so that you can manually type in a different spelling. Striking the F10 key after corrections are complete continues the spell checking process. Striking the "5" key allows you to type in the first few letters of the word, then an asterisk (*) to bring up a list from within the dictionary of all words that start with that spelling. 40 PRINT THIS LETTER Designed to allow a quick preview of the changes or new letter you have just written, this option simply prints one copy of the letter you are working in. IMPORTING OTHER TEXT FILES Another fancy feature involves grabbing letters or documents created in other word processing programs. If you do not have or use a different word processor, don't worry about this stuff. If you do and you are not comfortable with the next paragraph, don't panic. Someone you know will understand this and be able to walk you through it in return for your eternal gratitude. Almost all modern word processors have an ability to save their work in a "universal computer language" called ASCII. Please do not call us and ask us how to do this in your favorite program. Consult your other program's manual (probably not as nicely written as this one) or the person who sold it to you. Anyway, assuming you have a document in ASCII text format, position the blinking cursor where you want the imported words to appear, strike the F10 key, select Import a text file and strike the ENTER key. You will be asked for the file's name (and path if it is somewhere else other than your PREME directory). Strike ENTER again and there it is! 41 IMPORTING A FLOOR PLAN OR DRAWING Transferring a floor plan or drawing into a letter can be done in either of 2 ways. If you draw a floor plan , or if you bring up a floor plan that already exists within one of those areas, when prompted with the question about sending a letter to that person, answer "yes". This creates a temporary file called PROPDRAW.PIC Note that you do not have to send the letter at that time or do anything else. That drawing has been stored and will stay available until you repeat that part of the process, the new drawing replacing the old. To put the drawing into a letter, bring up the letter (either an existing one or a brand new one), strike F10. Select Import a text file and when prompted for the name, type in PROPDRAW.PIC Strike the ENTER key and there is your drawing. The other method of bringing in a drawing is from the Neat stuff section of the main menu. Select Floor/site plans, do the drawing and save it. This file is called NEATDRAW.PIC and can be imported into the letter in the same way as PROPDRAW.PIC It will be available until you make a new drawing and it gets replaced. BOLDING AND UNDERLINING Words within your letters can be made bold, underlined, or bold and underlined. To do either, position the blinking cursor under the first character to be changed and strike the F10 key, select Bold or Underlined, strike the ENTER key, move the cursor TO THE RIGHT of the last character to be changed, strike the F10 key, select the same command again (Bold or Underlined) and strike the ENTER key. 42 Small symbols appear on the screen, a funny looking small "ß" for bold and a "Ü" for underlined. Any text between these symbols will be changed to match your command when it is printed. Remember to turn off the "Bold" or "Underline", otherwise the rest of your document will not look quite the way you expected. PAGE DIMENSIONS From within the letter, strike F10, then select Page dimensions to give you an opportunity to set blank space at the top for your compnay logo, right and left hand margins for each letter you write. PREME automatically allows one inch for each of these settings, but by selecting Page Dimensions, you can alter these settings. Unfortunately, each printer and letterhead combination is different and we cannot give you the ideal setting for your situation. Experimentation is the spice of life! Pressing Escape will allow you to either save or forget the changes or the new letter, choose the option you want and the letter is now ready for printing. AUTOMATIC INSERTIONS The most popular feature of our letter writing section is the ability to automatically customize each document as it gets printed. You can easily have PREME put in people's names, addresses, next contact date, etc. Prior to pressing the F10 key make sure your cursor is positioned at the spot where you want to insert the custom information. After the menu window opens up on the right hand side, select Automatic insertions and strike the ENTER key. A list of available insertions appears. Point to one, and strike the ENTER key. You are returned to the letter. 43 Note that the position for the insertion has been marked by a pair of dotted bars '░'. Remember to add a blank space before and after an automatic insertion where the insertion is inside the body of a letter. When you use this feature to send a customized form letter to your pre-selected list of clients, PREME will adjust the number of words on the line to accommodate insertions of various lengths. We suggest that you use the following format for most letters. Experimentation with other designs can be done whenever you wish. ░Heading░ prints "Mr. John Andrews" ░Address 1░ prints "112 Main St. #210" ░Address 2░ prints "Victoria, BC" ░Address 3░ prints "Canada " ░Address 4░ prints "V9B 3L5" ░Salutation░, prints Dear John, Note.. the coma above is not part of the Salutation but was typed in after the automatic insertion was placed on the screen. Be sure to include all 4 address insertions. PREME will not print the country name for addresses within your country. When you send a letter to a single client from within the "Prospects/clients" area, PREME will fill in the automatic insertion values from the information you have put into that clients folder. When you choose do "Letters and mailing" and specify to a pre-selected list, PREME will print a customized letter to each and every client in the list. Be sure that you have only selected clients with information in all of the areas to be printed, otherwise you may end up with undesired results. The "Address heading" is a common item missed when entering some clients. 44 If you use the "Automatic insertions" for first or second "Special date" or the "Next contact date" etc., PREME converts the standard date look (09/26) to English. Thus,"I see by my records that your birthday is on ░Birthday 1░." becomes: "I see by my records that your birthday is on September 26." automatically! To put the date at the top of your letter choose the "Today's date" option and the date will be completed for the date you print the letter. If you do not want the date to be today's date or do not want a date period, type in a fixed date or leave it out as you wish. Pressing Escape from the letters and mailing menu returns you to the Main Menu. 45 MORTGAGE PRESENTATIONS PREME makes Mortgage calculations quick and accurate. Select "Mortgage calculations" from the Main Menu. │ Prospects and Clients │ Letters and mailing │ MORTGAGE CALCULATIONS │ Connections by phone │ Neat stuff │ Organize the system │ Esc when finished └────────────────────── If your client requires some help in calculating the monthly or bi-weekly payments on an amount of money over a particular term, then select "Mortgage payments" and proceed with completing the required information. │ MORTGAGE PAYMENTS │ Payment qualification │ Income qualification │ Amortization schedule │ Esc when finished └────────────────────── Type in the value of the mortgage amount to a maximum of $999,999. If you enter a 4 or 5 digit number, strike the ENTER key, if you enter a 6 digit number, PREME automatically proceeds to the next step. By selecting any of the displayed choices you can easily set the interest rates , maximum debt/service ratio, compounding period and amortization period. When you have the values to your liking choose the "Continue, no changes" option. 46 PREME quickly displays an easy to read chart showing the desired interest rate in the center, the monthly payment value, the annual income required to qualify based on the debt service ratio, the accelerated bi-weekly payment amount, the length of time an accelerated bi-weekly payment would reduce the mortgage by and the total interest savings of a bi-weekly mortgage as compared to the monthly payment style. By using the UP or DOWN arrow keys, you can examine interest values at different levels. Striking the ENTER or ESCAPE keys at this point can make the program perform another calculation, leave this area or print a report. If you choose to Print report, PREME asks for the customer's name to print at the top of the page. It then offers to either Continue, no changes and will immediately print or asks you if you want to Include a buy-down calculation. If you want PREME to calculate the cost of buying down the mortgage from one rate to another, select this option, type in the current rate and the rate to buy down to, then the number of years to buy down over. Note that to make life easy for us, we only allow you to select rates between 3 points above and below the interest rate originally requested in the mortgage calculation. After you provide information about yourself in the "User details" section, PREME can print a professional looking report, showing the date, the customer's name, a "compliments of your name" credit, your company name, your phone number, a short advertising message, the mortgage information and a disclaimer. 47 Qualifing a buyer based upon their desired monthly payment. │ Mortgage Calculations │ PAYMENT QUALIFICATION │ Income qualification │ Amortization schedule │ Esc when finished └────────────────────── Enter the desired monthly payment, change any of the other values as needed (see Calculating mortgage payments for details) and strike the ENTER key. Qualifing a buyer based upon their annual income. │ Mortgage Calculations │ Payment qualification │ INCOME QUALIFICATION │ Amortization schedule │ Esc when finished └────────────────────── Enter their annual income, change any of the other values as needed (see Calculating mortgage payments for details) and strike the ENTER key. 48 Preparing an "Amortization schedule" is very fast and flexible with PREME. │ Mortgage Calculations │ Payment qualification │ Income qualification │ AMORTIZATION SCHEDULE │ Esc when finished └────────────────────── Enter the values as needed (see Calculating mortgage payments for details) and strike the ENTER key. By highlighting a year with the UP or DOWN arrow keys and striking the ENTER key you will be shown the values for that year. To print, strike the ESCAPE key, select Print report and choose either a yearly summary that prints up to 25 years of payments on one page or Display each payment which gives you the ability to print out the amortization on a payment-by-payment basis up to the total mortgage duration. Note that this option may require a large number of pages to print. 49 │ Prospects and Clients │ Letters and mailing │ Mortgage Calculations │ CONNECTIONS BY PHONE │ Neat stuff │ Organize the system │ Esc when finished └────────────────────── CONNECTIONS BY PHONE One of PREME's main features, is the ability to directly connect with your MLS or board computer in order for you to retrieve information on listings and sales etc. From the Main Menu select "Connections by phone" and then select "MLS/Board connections". │ MLS/BOARD CONNECTIONS │ Text Editor │ Esc when finished └────────────────────── Inside the connections area you are offered another menu with options for selecting a board, calling a board or deleting a board etc. Assuming you have already added a board to dial, go now to "Dial a MLS/Board". │ DIAL A MLS/BOARD │ Change MLS/Board list │ Add a new MLS/Board │ Remove a MLS/Board │ Esc when finished └────────────────────── 51 Connecting with your MLS service PREME will offer you a list of all the boards you have entered, select the one you want to call and strike the ENTER key. PREME picks up the phone line and dials the assigned number. Once the other computer answers the phone, the normal PREME screen goes away, to be replaced by the "terminal screen". You can now perform all the normal functions you do when working with your board from most communication programs. To leave this area of the program, AFTER you have hung up from the remote computer (if you don't know how your MLS service wants you to disconnect, call them and ask!), strike the ESCAPE key. Doing things while connected to your MLS service While you are "on line" or talking to the remote MLS computer, you can turn your printer on at any time by striking the F7 key and turn it off at any time by striking the F8 key. If PREME does not detect a printer because it's not turned on, there is no paper in it, it's not on line, etc., the print option will not be shown on the screen. Note that the printer might not stop as soon as you strike the F8 key because it has some information already in its memory to print out first. The amount of printing it will do before stopping will vary depending on the brand and model of your printer. You also are given the ability to force your printer to Eject a page by striking the F9 key. For a laser printer, this will make it spit out whatever is in its memory at that point and start a clean page. 52 While you are on line, you can tell PREME to remember what it is seeing for later reference. This is called "capturing" information. You turn on the capture by striking the F5 key and turn it off by striking the F6 key. You are limited to about 10 pages of capture (or about 25 screen fulls) per session. If you turn on a capture, PREME erases the previous information in its memory first, then starts remembering the new stuff. After you hang up from the MLS service, you can go to the "Text editor" or "Letters and mailing" section. In "Letters and mailing" you can call up a new or existing letter, press F10 and choose "Import a text file", specify the capture file, and have the information brought directly into the letter without re-typing. The name of the capture file is set when you set up PREME to call a MLS/board. If you didn't change the name from the one we pick, it is called CAPTURE.TXT │ Dial a MLS/Board │ CHANGE MLS/BOARD LIST │ Add a new MLS/Board │ REMOVE A MLS/BOARD │ Esc when finished └────────────────────── Changing or deleting a current MLS/board To change, highlight the service to be changed and strike the ENTER key. Any of the displayed items can be changed in the same manner as you originally entered them. To remove, highlight the listing to be deleted and strike the ENTER key. 53 │ Dial a MLS/Board │ Change MLS/Board list │ ADD A NEW MLS/BOARD │ Remove a MLS/Board │ Esc when finished └────────────────────── Adding a new MLS board This area of PREME requires a certain amount of computer knowledge to complete, we couldn't figure out how to avoid it. Luckily, it only needs to be done once for any particular MLS service you wish to call. Do not phone us. We have no way of knowing the settings to use for your service. Talk to your MLS people, the person who sold you your computer or someone in your office who has had experience with setting up a computer to dial that MLS service. Before attempting to dial an outside computer, make sure you have told PREME about your equipment in the "Organize the system" menu, under "Modem details". At this point you will be presented with a number of options which need to be set before connecting to the remote computer. - Change board name allows you to enter the name of the MLS system as it will display in a list of available phone numbers within PREME. After setting different available systems, you will be able to choose the one to be dialed by highlighting this name and striking the ENTER key. - Number to dial is the phone number of the MLS computer 54 - Baud rate at board is the slower speed of the MLS service or the computer's modem that you are using. Most new modems operate at 2400 baud or faster. - Parity rate at board is a setting that you should ask your MLS for. It is usually set for NONE. - Data bits at board is a setting that you should ask your MLS for. It is usually set for 8. - Stop bits at board is a setting that you should ask your MLS for. It is usually set for 1. - File name to save to is PREME's way of asking what to call the file that it sticks things into when you tell the program to remember what it sees while talking to the MLS computer. This gives you an ability to call the MLS computer, tell PREME to start remembering, pull up some information onto the screen, tell PREME to stop remembering, hang up the phone line, go to the text editor section and work with that information. Or you can bring up a letter and then tell PREME to import a text file with this assigned name. The information you told PREME to remember will appear in the body of your letter without having to re-type anything! We pre-assign the name "CAPTURE.TXT" to this file, but you can make it anything you wish. To be used by the Text Editor, the file must be named CAPTURE.TXT. - Time to connect wait is the number of seconds PREME will wait for the remote computer to answer the phone. - Redial time wait is the number of seconds PREME will wait after hanging up the phone on an unsuccessful call before attempting to call again. - Turn auto logon (password) on/off tells PREME whether to automatically send your passwords whenever you call a MLS service. 55 - Change auto logon (password) is the spot where you tell PREME what passwords to send to the MLS computer if you turn on the automatic logon feature. By using this option, you don't have to type this stuff every time you call, the program does it for you! To set the passwords, you need to give PREME an idea of what the remote computer will be asking it and a list of the responses to send. This may take a little experimenting to get working right, but it is worth while. The form of the list is: WAIT FOR ***** TYPE ????? WAIT FOR ***** TYPE ????? WAIT FOR ***** TYPE ????? WAIT FOR ***** TYPE ????? END Where stars(*) next to "WAIT FOR" represent what PREME waits to see and the questions marks(?) next to "TYPE" represent the response or password you want to send. For example, if the MLS system says What is your first password? and your first password is HELLO, the first line in the automatic password section would be: WAIT FOR ? TYPE HELLO where the ? (question mark) is the last character in the line the board sends you and HELLO is the first password you would normally type. 56 Each series of WAIT FOR and TYPE go on a separate line. You can have as many lines in the automatic password as you need. The last line, the one that tells PREME that the sequence is completed is the word: END If you need to send an ENTER or carriage return signal at the start of your sequence, use the line: TYPE <CR> at the beginning of the sequence. Normally PREME sends a carriage return automatically at the end of each line as if you had struck the ENTER key yourself. There are some more available options in the password section, but we suggest that you give us a call on the support line if you need special things done when you connect to your board. After setting up the new MLS service, you will be asked if you wish to save the new number. If you answer "yes", the list of available services to call will contain this new entry. If you have difficulty making your modem dial the MLS service, review the settings for your computer in "Organize the system" "Modem details" area. 57 │ MLS/Board Connections │ TEXT EDITOR │ Esc when finished └────────────────────── Working with the TEXT EDITOR If you captured some information the last time you were connected to the board and saved it to the file called CAPTURE.TXT, PREME offers you the ability to edit or clean up unwanted text prior to presenting the information to a client. Once you have disconnected from the board you need only go to the text editor to tidy up the information. Help is available by pressing F1. The text editor is very handy for printing out Feature Sheet or Hot List information after you have made the changes. │ Prospects and Clients │ Letters and mailing │ Mortgage Calculations │ Connections by phone │ NEAT STUFF │ Organize the system │ Esc when finished └────────────────────── NEAT STUFF For lack of a better name, "Neat Stuff" is both fun and convenience all rolled into one area. Certain items are very useful and some of the options are here as optional features to test your skill. If you do not gamble, please stay out of the Black Jack area. 58 │ CALCULATOR F2 │ Phone book │ Food for thought │ Time management │ Ad writing │ Floor/Site plans │ Numbers puzzle │ Black Jack game │ Esc when finished └────────────────────── Using the pop-up calculator The pop-up calculator is available by pressing F2 or from within Neat Stuff. A pop-up electronic calculator appears on the screen. The computer's "+" key is used for adding, the "-" key for subtracting, the "*" (asterisk) key for multiplying and the "/" key for division. You can set the number of decimal points to use with the "D" key, turn on your printer to give you a "tape" by striking the "P" key, clear the calculator's memory with the "C" key and automatically round off all entries to a certain number of decimal points with the "R" key. Striking the ESCAPE key removes the calculator and restores the screen to its previous display. You can use either the number keys along the top of the computer's keyboard or the "numeric keypad" on the right hand side of most modern keyboard designs. 59 │ Calculator │ PHONE BOOK F3 │ Food for thought │ Time management │ Ad writing │ Floor/Site plans │ Numbers puzzle │ Black Jack game │ Esc when finished └────────────────────── Using the personal phone book From almost anywhere in the program, strike the F3 key or From the main menu, select Neat stuff. A window appears which contains your personal phone book for people who are not customers or prospects (other real estate sales people for example). To add someone new to your list, strike the "F5"key. Type in the first and last names, the phone number and an extension. If you would like to make a note that this number is the FAX, CELL, WORK or HOME number for this person, enter that word in the Extension spot. If the number is long distance, do not enter the 1 in front of the number, PREME will do this for you. When asked if this is a long distance number, say yes and PREME will handle the rest. To call a name on the list, highlight it and press the "F4" key. When the ringing starts, pick up your phone and press the computer's spacebar to release the call to the handset. This only works if your computer has a modem, properly set up for PREME, see "Organizing the system" for details. If you can't make a connection and wish PREME to redial the number until it gets through, highlight the number to redial and press the letter "R". 60 You can scroll through the automatically alphabetized listings with the UP or DOWN arrow keys. If you would like a printed list of the entries in your phone book, press "F2" for a book or "F3" for a list. Before printing you can sort the list either by last name or by phone number. The print out shows names, addresses, notes and the phone number. To edit or delete an entry, highlight the one to be worked on and strike the "F7" or "F6" key on your keyboard. Strike the ESCAPE key on your keyboard to return to the area you were in prior to calling up the little black phone book │ Calculator │ Phone book │ FOOD FOR THOUGHT F4 │ Time management │ Ad writing │ Floor/Site plans │ Numbers puzzle │ Black Jack game │ Esc when finished └────────────────────── Food for thought NOTE: Please do not use this option if you are hungry. This little tid bit is just another example of how creative a bored programmer can be. 61 │ Calculator │ Phone book │ Food for thought │ TIME MANAGEMENT │ Ad writing │ Floor/Site plans │ Numbers puzzle │ Black Jack game │ Esc when finished └────────────────────── Organizing with Time Management From any menu, Press the F6 key The appointment calendar will appear, with today's date blinking and this month visible. Any dates that have appointments will be highlighted. By using the LEFT or RIGHT arrow keys, select a day, the UP or DOWN arrow keys to select a week or the PgUp or PgDn keys to select a month. If you point to a day that is highlighted, PREME will show the number of appointments on that day. Strike the ENTER key with the day blinking and you will be shown the list of appointments. The day's appointments are arranged in chronological order showing a start and ending time. If a check mark (√) shows next to the appointment, this indicates the presence of additional notes. To view the notes, highlight that appointment and strike the F7 key. To add an appointment, strike the F2 key. Type the starting and ending time and jot down a description for the note. The program will not let you accidentally have two appointments at the same time for the same person. This information will be displayed at the start of every PREME session on days you have appointments. 62 To change an appointment, highlight it and strike the F3 key. Make whatever changes are needed. To delete an appointment, highlight it and strike the F4 key. To move an appointment, highlight it and strike the F5 key. Tell PREME when to reschedule it to and it's done automatically. To repeat an appointment strike the F6 key and make the appointment. You will be asked whether it repeats every day at this time, every business day, once a week, etc. It then wants to know how long into the future to book this appointment and that's it. Strike the letter "T" with the day blinking to see a "Time" graph of the day with booked times in dark against the available time in light. If you strike "W" you can see a weekly time graph. Strike the letter "P" with the day blinking to print out the appointment information including notes. Strike the letter "S" and you can search for text either in descriptions or notes. This is very handy for looking up appointments concerning certain individuals or topics. 63 │ Calculator │ Phone book │ Food for thought │ Time management │ AD WRITING │ Floor/Site plans │ Numbers puzzle │ Black Jack game │ Esc when finished └────────────────────── Creating neat classified Ads PREME allows both new and experienced REALTORS to create an exciting ad copy for describing homes and property for sale. The PREME ad writer is not a replacement for your knowledge and creativity, but rather a enhancement tool. The ad writer can be very useful for coming up with words and phrases which might make your ad look and read more like a professional piece of advertising. You can store ads for reference under either a client name, or a property. All or part of these references can be used to find an ad when you need it again. You can store up to 3 different occasions of when an ad was run and with which media. This is to benefit you and your client. The headline is the catchy top line of the ad designed to attract a readers interest. The ad body is the area where you put the details and descriptions about the property you are advertising. By pressing F10, you can pop up a list of general and detailed words which are designed to help make your ad more appealing and interesting to the reader. 64 The closing is where you try to relate a sense of urgency to the reader, causing them to instantly to pick up the phone and call your number. Ads may be printed with either the client or the ad rep in mind. Client reports indicate different media and times that this ad is scheduled to run, while the media rep version only prints the ad. Changing a classified ad You can find ads by a client reference, property reference or a headline reference. Choose one of the reference areas, type in any word which might relate to the ad you are after, and press enter to start the search. Once found, change any area of the ad using the same principals as in creating a new ad. Removing or deleting a classified ad Find an ad the same as for changing ads, then answer yes to the Delete this ad question. 65 │ Calculator │ Phone book │ Food for thought │ Time management │ Ad writing │ FLOOR/SITE PLANS │ Numbers puzzle │ Black Jack game │ Esc when finished └────────────────────── Floor/Site plans are exactly the same as floor plans in the Property area of the "Prospects and Clients" area. The major difference is that this area does not tag any particular clients files with the drawing. │ Calculator │ Phonebook │ Food for thought │ Time management │ Ad writing │ Floor/Site plans │ NUMBERS PUZZLE │ Black Jack game │ Esc when finished └────────────────────── There are two games to choose from, Numbers Shuffle or Black Jack. The number shuffle game consists of 15 squares and one blank. The object is to shuffle the numbers around and put them into numeric order from 1 to 15 with the blank square ending up in the lower right hand corner. If you ever accomplish this, the computer will record the number of moves it took you and display that in the Low Score box along with your initials. 66 To move a square, simply strike that number on your keyboard. If you need to move the number 1, you have to strike the ENTER key so the computer knows you are not going to strike 11, 12, 13, 14 or 15 (the 1 plus another number). Strike the ESCAPE key to return to the previous work area. │ Calculator │ Phone book │ Food for thought │ Time management │ Ad writing │ Floor/Site plans │ Numbers puzzle │ BLACK JACK GAME │ Esc when finished └────────────────────── If you have selected Black Jack. Press F1 in the Black Jack game for general help on how to make a million in just 5 minutes. If you loose at Black Jack, read the help again next time you play, odds are, sooner or later you should win!!! Please do not call Oak Hill Software looking for money, this game is a test of your skill and thinking ability only. It is not intended to encourage gambling or goad you into thinking you should fly off to Vegas, regardless of how well you do. 67 │ Prospects and Clients │ Letters and mailing │ Mortgage Calculations │ Connections by phone │ Neat stuff │ Organize the system │ ESC WHEN FINISHED └────────────────────── Leaving PREME and backing up your information REMEMBER... never turn the computer off while the program is still displaying a menu, always leave PREME via this exit procedure in order to maintain correct file organization. From the main menu, press the letter "E" key or press ESC to select Esc when finished. Confirm that you do want to leave the program and then confirm that you want to "Back up" your data files. The PREME files that came on the disks when you purchased the program are your "Program Files", the information you add to the program is called your "Data Files". The only person who has a copy of your data files is you. We can replace the program files, but your data is only available on your computer unless you back it up onto a set of backup disks. WE STRONGLY SUGGEST (note the use of capital letters) THAT YOU MAKE BACKUP COPIES OF YOUR DATA FILES OFTEN. IF THE COMPUTER DEVELOPS A PROBLEM, IF YOU ACCIDENTALLY ERASE EVERYTHING, IF NUCLEAR WAR OCCURS, A BACKUP COPY OF YOUR DATA, STORED AT A LOCATION OTHER THAN NEAR YOUR COMPUTER, MAY BE THE ONLY THING BETWEEN YOU AND TOTAL DESPAIR. 68 Please note: OAK HILL SOFTWARE is not responsible for damages caused by lost or unrecoverable data. It is your responsibility to ensure the safety and accuracy of the information you put into our programs. We will be happy to help you with advice should you experience problems with your computer. If you tell PREME to make a backup copy of your information, it will ask for a formatted disk in the selected floppy drive (if you don't know what a "formatted" floppy is, talk to your favourite computer person before doing the backup). >> DO NOT use your PREME program disks for backing up.... >> If you develop a problem with your files, DO NOT backup the problem data onto your last set of back up disks. A worst case situation might be that you loose the information since your last backup, but if you backup problem data over good data, you will loose everything. Put the first disk in the floppy drive, tell PREME to proceed. If you require more than one disk, the program will let you know when it is time to feed it another. Label each disk as #1, #2, #3, etc. When completed, take the backup and store it in a safe place, preferably away from your computer. We suggest having two different sets of backup disks, alternating their use. Why do we do this? Because everyone who uses a computer will someday have a problem, need to restore from their backup disks and then discover that their children have been using the backup floppy disks for Frisbees! An extra set of backup floppy disks costs about one dollar but could be worth tens of thousands of dollars to you some day. 69 You should use the backup procedure often. You use the restore procedure (see "Restoring your PREME information from a backup" section) to transfer your data back into the computer. Restoring your PREME information from a backup From the main menu, select Organize the system then select Restore files. This function is used to restore data from a backup disk after the original copy of your PREME information has been made unavailable by computer malfunction or user malfunction. DO NOT, repeat DO NOT..., restore data unless there is a reason, putting old data over top of new data will delete the new. PREME will ask you to "Place disk #1 in drive A: and press any key to continue". At this point, you insert the first disk in your backup set into the computer and strike any key. The program will do the rest. If your backup set is longer than 1 disk, you will be asked to insert each additional disk when necessary. Please Note: If you restore your data files onto a computer with existing PREME information, the restored files completely replaces the existing files. There is NO way to get it back, don't even bother trying! If you are transferring data between two computers, we recommend that you use this procedure only if you are sure you understand all the steps involved and only if you understand that you do this at your own risk. 70 OPTIONAL EXERCISE Sending your first letter... Since most of the REALTORS we talk with want PREME to assist in the mailing of information to their clients and prospects, here's how easy mailing a letter can be. Follow these instructions and we will prepare a letter to Oak Hill Software. The words .. Prospects/Clients .. should be the highlighted option on the Main Selection Area menu. If not go there using the arrow keys or by pressing "P" WAIT ** be sure your printer is ON LINE and loaded with paper 1. Press the ... Enter ...key 5 times (slowly) 2. Press the ... Esc ... key once 3. Press the ... Y ... key (says yes to send a letter now) 4. Press the ... Enter ...key once (selects Send a letter) 5. Press the ... Enter ...key once (selects the first letter) ** If your printer was set-up in Printer Details, you should now be in the middle of printing a letter. If you really wanted to send this letter, you could now select Print labels or envelopes and print a custom label or envelope. When completed press the ... Esc ... key 3 times Talk about being a computer whiz, you are now a word processing whiz as well. You should find yourself back at the Main Menu, experiment with the menu system, and tour the rest of this manual. Topic page A QUICK SAMPLE LETTER ... 71 AD BODY ... 64 AD CLOSING ... 65 AD WRITING ... 64 ADD A NEW LETTER ... 38 ADDING A MLS/BOARD NUMBER ... 54 ADDING A NEW MLS/BOARD TO THE LIST ... 54 ADDITIONAL ADDRESS LINE ... 17 ADDRESS HEADING ... 16 ADDRESS INFORMATION ... 16 AMORTIZATION SCHEDULES ... 49 APARTMENT... UNIT OR SUITE NUMBER ... 18 APPOINTMENT SCHEDULER ... 62 AREA OF TOWN ... 20 ATTENTION BOX ... 3 AUTOMATIC INSERTIONS ... 43 BACKING UP YOUR FILES ... 68 BAUD RATE ... 55 BLACK JACK GAME ... 67 BOLDING IN LETTERS ... 42 BUILD A NEW LIST ... 30 BUY DOWN ... 47 CALCULATOR ... 59 CALL NOTES ... 28 CALL THIS CLIENT ... 27 CAPTURE FILE NAME ... 55 CAPTURE.TXT ... 58 CAPTURING BOARD INFORMATION ... 53 CHANGE A CLASSIFIED AD ... 65 CHANGE A CURRENT LETTER ... 37 CHANGE A PASSWORD FOR THE BOARD ... 56 CHANGEABLE LIST HELP ... 5 CHANGING A MLS/BOARD ON THE LIST ... 53 CHANGING THE MLS/BOARD NAME ... 54 CHANGING THE MLS/BOARD NUMBER ... 54 CITY LIST ... 18 CLASSIFIED ADS ... 64 CLIENT IMPORT ... 34 CLIENT NOTES ... 24 CLIENT TYPE ... 24 CLIENT URGENCY ... 24 CONNECTING TO THE MLS BOARD ... 51 CONNECTIONS BY PHONE ... 51 COUNTRY ... 10 COUNTRY OTHER ... 18 DATA BITS ... 55 DEBT SERVICE RATIO ... 47 DELETE A CLASSIFIED AD ... 65 DELETE A CLIENT ... 28 DELETE A CURRENT LETTER ... 39 DELETING A MLS/BOARD FORM THE LIST ... 53 DELETION AND FILE MAINTENANCE ... 29 Topic page DIAL A MLS/BOARD ... 51 DICTIONARY MAINTENANCE ... 11 DISCONNECTING FROM THE MLS/BOARD ... 57 DISTRICT OF TOWN ... 20 EDIT A CURRENT LETTER ... 37 ENVELOPES FOR THE CURRENT LIST ... 36 ERROR MESSAGE ... 2 EXITING THE PROGRAM ... 68 FAST MENU ACCESS ... 10 FILE MAINTENANCE ... 10 FIND BY A WORD IN NOTES ... 33 FIND BY DISTRICT ... 26 FIND BY LAST NAME ... 26 FIND BY NEXT CONTACT DATE ... 26 FIND BY PHONE NUMBER ... 26 FIND BY STREET NAME ... 26 FINE TUNING A MAILING LIST ... 32 FIRST PERSON INFORMATION ... 14 FLOOR PLAN DRAWINGS ... 20 FLOOR PLANS (NON PROPERTY) ... 66 FOOD FOR THOUGHT ... 61 FORMATTED DISKS ... 69 FUNCTION KEY OPTIONS ... 5 GET A CURRENT LETTER ... 37 GET AN EXISTING CLIENT ... 25 HEADING AND SALUTATION ... 15 HEADLINES ... 64 HONORIFIC ... 14 IMPORTANT DATES ... 24 IMPORTING A FLOOR PLAN TO A LETTER ... 42 IMPORTING OTHER TEXT FILES ... 41 INSERTING THINGS IN YOUR LETTERS ... 43 INTEREST RATE CHANGE ... 47 JUMP TO NEXT CLIENT ... 29 LABELS TO THE CURRENT LIST ... 36 LEAVING THE PROGRAM ... 68 LETTER SALUTATION ... 16 LETTERS AND MAILING ... 35 LIST CRITERIA ... 31 MAKING A LIST OF CLIENTS FOR MAILING ... 30 MAPS AND SITE PLANS ... 21 MENU WINDOW HELP ... 4 MERGE TO A LETTER ... 43 MODEM DETAILS ... 9 MODEM SETTINGS ... 9 MORTGAGE PAYMENTS ... 46 MORTGAGE PRESENTATIONS ... 46 NEAT STUFF ... 58 NEXT CONTACT DATE ... 24 NUMBERS PUZZLE ... 66 ORDERING ... 2 PAGE LENGTH ... 43 Topic page PAGE WIDTH ... 43 PARITY RATE ... 55 PASSWORD LOGON SETUP FOR MLS/BOARD ... 55 PERSONAL PHONE BOOK ... 60 PHONE BOOK ... 60 PHONE NUMBERS ... 22 POP UP LIST HELP ... 4 POSTAL CODE ... 18 PRINT A MORTGAGE PAYMENT GUIDE ... 47 PRINT A SAMPLE LETTER ... 41 PRINTER DETAILS ... 7 PRINTER GRAPHIC SETTINGS ... 22 PRINTER HELP ... 8 PRINTING A CLIENT RECORD ... 30 PRINTING WHILE CONNECTED TO THE BOARD ... 52 PROGRAM SETUP ... 7 PROPERTY ADDRESS ... 17 PROPERTY NOTES ... 19 PROSPECTS AND CLIENTS ... 13 QUALIFYING BY ANNUAL INCOME ... 48 QUALIFYING BY DESIRED PAYMENT ... 48 QUESTION BOX Y/N ... 3 REDIAL WAIT TIME ... 55 REGISTRATION ... 2 RESTORING PREVIOUS BACK UPS DISKS ... 70 SAFE EXIT OF THE PROGRAM ... 68 SALE ANNIVERSARY DATE ... 24 SAMPLE LETTER WRITING EXERCISE ... 71 SEND A LETTER ... 35 SEND TO SOMEONE NEW ... 36 SENT TO CURRENT MAILING LIST ... 36 SIGNIFICANT OTHER ... 15 SPELL CHECKING ... 40 START A NEW CLIENT ... 13 STOP BITS ... 55 STREET NAME ... 17 SUPPORT ... 2 TERMS AND CONDITIONS ... 1 TEXT EDITOR ... 58 TIME MANAGEMENT ... 62 TIME TO CONNECT WAIT ... 55 TODAYS DATE IN LETTERS ... 45 UNDERLINING IN LETTERS ... 42 USE THE CURRENT LIST ... 32 USER DETAILS ... 9 WARRANTY ... 1 WORD PROCESSORS AND PREME ... 41 WORD SEARCH IN NOTES ... 33 WRITE A NEW LETTER ... 38 YOU AND YOUR EQUIPMENT ... 7 ZIP CODE ... 18