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Adding or Modifying Properties

You can edit most information about a property on the main Property Acquisition screen or on one of its tabs. However, to add a new property, to change the seller or address of a property, or to delete a property from Keystone, click the Add/Delete/Modify Property button to open the Properties: Add, Delete or Modify screen.

Before you start entering properties, you need to go to the Property tab in Affiliate Setup and set the Year and Last Number, which sets the property ID number you'll begin with. If you wish to add properties from previous years as part of entering historical records into Keystone, also see "To add existing properties when using Properties for the first time".

To add a new property

If you want to add existing properties from your records that are from previous years, see "To add existing properties when using Properties for the first time" below.

1. Open the Construction tab in the Keystone ribbon and click Properties.
   The Property Acquisition screen appears.
2. Click the Add/Delete/Modify Property button.
   This opens the Properties: Add, Delete or Modify screen.
3. Go to the new record line.
   Existing properties are listed in separate lines. Each line has three fields that contain information about the property.
   
• ID - is the identification number assigned to each property. This is automatically assigned by Keystone and cannot be changed once it is assigned. You can set up Keystone to assign IDs appropriate for previous years so you can enter historical records by following the instructions under "To add existing properties when using Properties for the first time" below.
  
  The first three digits of the ID indicate the year (the leading 1 causes dates after 2000 to sort after earlier properties). The last three digits are assigned sequentially for new properties defined during the year. Keystone automatically advances the year to the current year based on the date set on your computer, unless Loading Property History is checked in Affiliate Setup.
• Seller(s) - is the name of the property seller. The seller must be included in Keystone as a contact and be assigned to the Category 1 and 2 of General & Administration/Property Sellers, respectively, in order to be available in this field. For more information, see the Categories Tab section.
• Address - is the address or location of the property. This may be the same as the address of a home built on this site, but this is not required.
4. Enter the seller and the address.
   Keystone automatically assigns the ID.
   
   If you need to add a new contact for a seller or modify their existing contact record to assign them to the General & Administration/Property Sellers category, click the Add/Delete/Modify Seller(s) button. For more information, see the Adding Contacts to Your Database section.
5. Click the Close button.
   This returns you to the Property Acquisition screen.
   

To modify a property

1. Open the Construction tab in the Keystone ribbon and click Properties.
   The Property Acquisition screen appears.
2. Click the Add/Delete/Modify Property button.
   This opens the Properties: Add, Delete or Modify screen.
3. Click in the line of that property and edit the information.
4. Click the Close button.
   This returns you to the Property Acquisition screen.

To delete a property, select the property then press the Delete key.

To add existing properties when using Properties for the first time

When you start using the Properties features of Keystone, you may want to add properties you already have in your records from previous years. The process for doing this is somewhat different from the one described above in "To add a new property", which only allows for entering properties in the current year. Entering historical records involves using the Loading Property History function found on the Affiliate Setup screen in Keystone.

1. Open the Tools tab in the Keystone ribbon and click Affiliate Setup.
   The Affiliate Setup screen appears.
2. Click the Property tab.
3. Click the Loading Property History check box - located on the lower left-side of the screen - to put a checkmark in it.
4. If you have not previously set up the various information on the Property tab, you may wish to do that now before continuing. See the Property tab section of Affiliate Setup for more information.
5. Enter the Year and Last Number in the Property ID pane.
   The Year should be the year for which you want to enter historical property records. If you are entering multiple years of records, enter the year you want to start with. When you finish entering records for that year, you will return here and change this to the next year of your records.
   
   If you have no property records in Keystone for the Year you entered, set the Last Number to 0. If you already have some records for that Year in Keystone, enter the number of records you have for that year in the Last Number field. Example - You have four property records in Keystone for 2004 and want to enter more. Enter 4 as the Last Number.
6. Close the Affiliate Setup screen.
7. Follow the instructions above under "To add a new property".
   Keystone will automatically assign a Property ID to your historical record using the Year and Last Number you entered on the Property tab of Affiliate Setup. Continue adding properties until you are finished entering all the properties for that year.
8. Return to the Property tab in Affiliate Setup and change the Year to the next year you want to enter records for, and change the Last Number, if needed, as described in step 6. Continue adding properties until you are done entering historical records.
9. Uncheck the Loading Property History check box the Property tab.

It is very important that you uncheck the Loading Property History check box before you resume entering current data into Keystone. Loading Property History is intended as a temporary way to disable certain calculation functions in Keystone so you can enter historical data, but leaving these disabled can disrupt day-to-day use of Keystone.

If you try to open this screen with the Loading Property History box checked in Affiliate Setup, you will see a message reminding you that you must turn Loading History off before resuming day-to-day data entry in Keystone.