Sylva, NC

It should always be exciting to look for a new home and one thing we’ve learned over the years is that a tremendous amount of stress can be eliminated from the whole process by talking to a lender first and finding out what the buyer is qualified for.

Maria Morton from Kansas City turned on the light bulb over my head this morning reminding me of a pet peeve…mapping listings and lousy directions. So, thank you Maria for your inspiration. She wrote a very cool post with a graphic of a map of Outer Mongolia and some poor seller’s house getting mapped in the center.

Sellers pay our commission and should feel confident that when their listing was entered into MLS, their agent actually checked to be sure the house was depicted in the true location and submitted clear directions. Most sellers never even look at their listings and as a consequence would never be aware of bad mapping, lousy directions, wrong information or terrible photos.

Who uses those MLS maps? Although we have other means to locate listings before we show them, sometimes when I‘m looking for listed vacant lots I will check the MLS mapping as part of my process of elimination. Vacant lots usually do not have a 911 location or typical address. There’s often just a lot number and a development. I can’t begin to tell you the percentage of vacant lots that the listing agent didn’t bother to map correctly.

Irritating to the agent? You bet. But, a good real estate agent familiar with their area can often get a sense that the lot isn’t mapped correctly The consumer however, sitting several states away doesn’t have that same knowledge base to rely on and does utilize the mapping information provided by the listing agency. If the agent has not gone back in to verify the mapping of the listed house or vacant lot, there are a whole lot of people getting harmed by that bit of listing agent laziness. The sellers for sure aren’t getting the best exposure for their property, the buyers might well be missing or eliminating the property because it isn’t in the location they want and the agents (since it’s all about us, really) can be supremely inconvenienced. With gas prices surging it is disrespectful of any agent not to provide other agents with the best and most accurate information about their listings.

So, Maria. I really appreciate you inspiring me about this subject of bad mapping and lousy directions…even though it put me in a mini ranting mode. No problem, it’s a good reminder to go back and double check our own listings. Once I listen to a little Phoebe Snow I’ll be calmed down.