Home : Blogs : Missy Caulk-Ann Arbor- Realtor(R)- Ann Arbor Real Estate : Ann Arbor and Saline Michigan Real Estate

Google Maps...New Feature for Real Estate Listings

Today Google announced a new feature for Real Estate.

The announcement is that you can now search for homes on Google Maps. I had heard "something" was coming. Tonight I had the opportunity to check my listings and see how they were showing up.

First you have to make sure ONE of your sites is syndicating to Google Maps. This is NOT Google Base.

When I check 5-6 of my listings the first one to show up was from my VFlyer of that listing. Another big syndication site taking advantage of this new feature early on it ListHub.net.

According to the Google Blog:

First of all, we've made it easier to find real estate listings. Now, you can simply select "Real Estate" from the 'More' button on the top right of any Google Map to discover listings. From there, it's a simple matter to refine your search using the left hand panel - price, bedrooms, bathrooms, and so on. Of course, you can still pan the map to search for the perfect neighborhood and it'll automatically update with more listings.

Here is a visual I did on my listing at 170 Whitlock in Saline, MI so you can see it.

Google Real Estate Search

See the link to VFlyer.com this takes the consumer straight to my vflyer.

One the map side you will see the Google Map.

View Larger Map

Go though and check your listings and see how they are being syndicated. Actually I didn't check all of mine, just enough so that I could see how this would work.

I think it is a really great feature as the it gives buyers or sellers one more way to find you and the listing goes right back to you with your contact information. More questions just read the Official Google Blog.

***************************************************************************

KW Logo Missy Caulk & Team can be reached at 734-216-2822 or email: Missy@MissyCaulk.com

Our TEAM of 6 buyer associates are available to help you relocate to Ann Arbor, Saline, Dexter, Chelsea, Milan, Ypsilanti Township, Clinton, Manchester, Whitmore Lake, or throughout Washtenaw County, MI.

Free Home Evaluation

Search the Ann Arbor Area MLS.

Google Profile

Market Reports in Real Time Updated Weekly

Profit from Technology for Realtors and Lenders

Posted by Missy Caulk-Ann Arbor- Realtor(R)- Ann Arbor Real Estate on 10/30/2009 09:22 PM

Comments (171)

Google Maps in the ActiveRain Channel

google map

Originally posted at: Ann Arbor Undressed : Google Maps...New Feature for Real Estate Listings

Post is included in group: The Art Of Marketing You
Post is included in group: The Ninety-ninth Percentile
Post is included in group: Addicted to Active Rain

171 Comments on Google Maps...New Feature for Real Estate Listings

OCT

I am checking. So much to keep up with and so little time. Hopefully next year I will check up

Good to see this one go into effect. Free tools are the best tools when powered by Google.

Wow another great google feature. I'm so glad I stopped in to see what you are up to. Now where's the time to check this one other thing?

I have been seeing some Google map listings. Looks like a great tool.

I like what they have done...

This is HUGE. Our Assn is hooked up with ListHub so all our listings should show up. Now I have to go check.

Thank you Missy. I will check this out. You are always on top of things and up to the minute.

Hi Missy...You've done it again! Thanks for bringing this to our attention. I'm a big Google fan.

Let's see if we can get this featured.

Kate

I saw this a few weeks ago. I didn't know it was something new. I'm not sure I agree with the decision Google has taken with getting the information fed from a variety of sources. The alternative would be for Google to work with local mls's IDX to upload every listing. My complaint is that not all listings show up, so that's a disservice to the public, but it's a good thing for the agents who know how it works and take advantage of it.

My only problem so far is which site google chooses to send you to... I would rather customers go straight to my site that my company site.

Very Interesting! Thanks for sharing

Missy.. this is great news .. I will have to go check this out.. Set up my Vflyers again too..

Thanks.

Missy, you are consistently on the cutting edge! Thanks for letting us know about this new feature. I'm off to check it out.

Does the active status change when the home goes under contract, and sells, or do you think it will be like some of the other sites, and have buyers wonder why their new home still shows "For Sale" 5 weeks after they bought it.

OCT

Great idea. i'm going to have to try this. Thank you!

Thanks for the update. I will definitely check this one out.

Humm-- we heard this was coming --- but have not seen it in action on ours yet -- will have to see if there is something wrong on the syndication.

Thanks for the information Missy. I liked your V flyer. Great work. Have you tried using Real Estate Shows?

Virtual Tour

It is a nice program. Let me know what you think.

Hi Missy, always like learning new "stuff." Definitely will check this out. Thanks! ;-)

Missy - This brings out the issue of the value of listing information. Many Brokers/Realtors have lost control of their listing data...Google can easily send buyers/sellers to any aggegrator's website vs your own.

I tried it tonight and at first it didn't show the homes for sale. I had to go into Google Maps and then put in my zip code and real estate. Finally a search box opened up so I could narrow my search of home using number of bedrooms, etc. All my listings were on Google. Every single one either through Raveis.com (my broker) or vFlyer.com. Thanks for staying on top of all this. What would we do without you?

A lot of listings in my neighborhood are coming in from Cyberhomes. Will be interesting to see what effect this has on traffic to agent's IDX sites.

Missy- I use the map search widget from Realbird that pulls from google base but it is not and neither will this be something that a buyer can depend on. They can use it as a means to start a search but like down here out of 100 homes for sale, only about 40 of them will be syndicated online. It's just the way it is, agents just don't spend time getting their listings online. The other thing I hope is that Google doesn't sell us out like Yahoo did and get with one of the big (Prudentials, etc) companies to sell back all those leads to agents. I have some other concerns to share with you- later- that i just discovered. Katerina

OK, I know what I'm doing this weekend...

Wow...this is great. My listings seem to be coming through on Google through Postlets. Thanks for the heads up!

Missy, how cool is that? ★ Congratulations on the feature ☺☺☺

Helping you live your American dream...

Wow! I wonder what they will do next? Thanks for the info.

I have used Google maps for area and community video. Worked and still works very nicely.

Hi Missy,

I had seen something announcing this but then I forgot about it. Thanks for the post. This is a great idea to make sure that we are using a syndication that will feed Google Maps.

Marketing knowledge just keeps changing at a growing and somewhat alarming rate !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have always found V-Flyer does an excellent job and is well worth the money for internet saturation. With this Google enhancement is should show a measurable result of increased hits.

I keep saying that google is going to take over the world.

{Goes off to check it out.}

Mine showed up, looks like it pulled from listhub & hotpads as well as from ads I manually entered on Kijiji.

wow! thanks for the update on this one!!!

Google is inch by inc becoming a big player in real estate now. . I see the in ten years more dominate this market

Missy, awesome! Congrats on the feature. Now...off to check it out!

Thanks Missy! :)

Very nice. Nice house too.

Good Morning,

One of my biggest all time questions that I have asked many people, IS "which site does Google or any of the search engines syndicate from?'

No one has really been able to tell me. when I went to search my own listings I found it was VFlyer, ListHub and yes Hotpads.

I am sure most of the vendors will be working on this, but as Aaron of VFlyer told me last night they have been working on Google API's for a long time.

Yes, Katerina, this is not 100% accurate at this time. Our own IDX feeds will always be more accurate and have all the listings. But, you know consumers they go to the Big Guys first. Google will not sell us! That was short sighted on Yahoo when they went with Prudential and I think they figured it out. All the millions of Brokers and Realtors pretty much stopped using Yahoo. Right?

Google is a Search Engine...their focus and mission is to give consumers the BEST RESULTS for what they are looking for.

When a listing sells anywhere.....it is the responsibility of the Listing Agent to either take it down or mark it as sold. Very simple in VFlyer, your MLS and Real Estate Shows.

Dora and Vincent, Google will send the consumer to the best site. If you blog and know how to use your IDX that is where they will go. When we use 3rd party vendors (all but Realtor.com) the consumer inquirining on that listing comes to YOUR own site and gets YOUR information to contact you.

Aaron, that is what Remax did, ask them how much fun that was? ListHub now handles all the KW listings. The data is out there, it is not coming back to just the Realtors. Our value is in what we know, our skills, knowledge of the market, negotiating, inspections, lenders NOT in the data. Google will not be contacting our MLS's and getting our data. But.....if they did I would give it to them.

Missy, just tried it out. What will they think of next! I'm off to find all my listings.

Missy thanks for letting us know about this new feature. Katerina's concern as to where this could lead is any important one.

I am going to head over.

Missy - great new feature...I checked and my listings are there via HOTPAD.

Missy, Great heads up for the rest of us out here....thank you!

Missy,

I saw this yesterday, but didn't take the time to read it and comment. I'm glad I came back!

Mike in Tucson

I saw that some days ago but haven't figured out yet how it can serve a buyers agent with no listings.

Maybe I'll figure it out tomorrow.

I love the new Google RE search (and posted a link to a Google RE search post this morning). So many neat new things coming out. I'm crazy about Posterous!

Julia mentioned it pulled from Kijiji, will it pull info from Craigslist I wonder?

Missy, Thanks for the pictorial of what happens on Google maps now. I've got it on my list to check out over the w/e.

I use it and you are exactly right- it works, < A href ="http://www.everettmortgageonline.com">Everett-Mortgage-on-Line

Cool tool, keeping up with all the new stuff is a full time job in itself!! Thanks for the post.

Thanks Missy, I use Vflyer and our MLS uses Listhub. I also have a custom web site with a feature that allows me to find the latitude and longitude of an adress and Google Maps it for that too. This is good news.

Thanks Missy ~ As a google addict I always want to be in the loop on their latest and greatest gadgets. Just lately I am starting to wonder whether they are getting a bit too big and all this trust we have in them will come back to bite us. Hope not, time will tell I guess.

Denise

Most of the mapping API's available from google, yahoo etc are pretty good about accurately mapping locations by address with one exception... NEW HOME COMMUNITIES.

It may take years before new streets and subdivisions show up correctly using these services.

For new home builders or agents that specialize in new construction, you can overcome this by passing the lattitude and longitude of the property in stead of an address.

Charlotte Homes For Sale

Thanks, Missy - did not know about this. Just checked - mine are there from ERA syndication, I had to fight to get ERA to put my contact on my listings, not the office, but they finally did. Many large chains direct all leads to the company and them refer them out. I hated that.

This is very cool! Thanks for the heads up and the tips! I will check on mine today!

I've been waiting for this to come out for a long time. They had a v1 version under a different name for a while. It was pretty bare bones the first time I saw it. I can't wait to play with this. Bookmarked for later use.

Missy It just proves that we always have to alert to know "what is coming down the pike", but also how we can use it to our advantage

Hi Missy, Thanks for the update. The folks at Google just keep on with the cool new features.

Interesting. I need to go check this out. I just recently started mapping all of my listings on Picassa after completeing my photo shoots. I wonder if these will now show up?

Very nice Missy. You're always on the cutting edge of technology. Thanks.

Love it! Thanks Missy!!! BTW - using you as my 500,000 points or more Active Rainer for the Scavenger Hunt. That amazes me!!!!!!!!!

DeeDee

Missy, I would like to check my listings and see if they show up, but I am not sure how to search Google Maps.

Thank you for this. I will certainly check this new feature out.

Awesome info! One more thing to add to my listing presentation as a benefit to listing with me! :-)

Thank you for posting this information, Missy......... I will be
telling my broker (Diane Rice) about his development.....

AWESOME !!!!! =-)

Getting google in on our marketing efforts is awesome!!!

woohoo !!

Thank you for this fun and informative post! Excellent work. I appreciate it.

Wow - one more thing for us to keep up with! LOL Sometimes it feels like information overload, but if it brings attention to my listings....I'm in! Thanks for sharing!

Once again, Missy, another great idea. I just can't keep up with all the things I need to do. Thanks.

I am going to through this in with my next video tour I post here, thanks for the idea.

Thanks for the info. Google is always coming up with cool stuff.

Thanks, Missy. I always appreciate an opportunity to increase my marketing efforts.

Missy: another example of how Google runs the world. :) Thanks for the update!!!

Laura

NOV

Missy - Thanks for letting me know about the latest and greatest from Google to help us market our listings.

Missy - this is great news, IMO. Yet another reaason why on-line marketing is so important.

Jeff

Another great product/feature of Google. I checked my listings and they showed up through Postlets.

Lynlee

Missy, Thanks so much for the information. I really appreciate your sharing it with us!

Jerri McCombs

Hendersonville NC

Hi Missy,

Thanks for the info - much appreciated - important stuff to pass along to other agents.

Andy

Hi Missy,

Thanks for this info. My listings are being pulled from ListHub.net and The Real Estate Book. I need to check out VFlyer that you are all mentioning. Yes, where do we find the time for all of this?

Missy, thanks for the info. I can't find my listings. ARGHHH!!!

Sounds great...too good to be true? Time will tell but certainly worth checking into

This is great news! Google is so innovative. They are really focused on delivering what people want. This is really going to help our clients and us.

Thanks for keeping track of developments like this. As long as people keep innovating like crazy it's good to have somebody spreading the news.

Missy - Google rocks for sure ! Great update on these innovative features. Pretty amazing stuff.

Thank you for the info... it is amazing how far technology has come in such a short time!

Thanks for the info! Going to check my listings right now...

Our whole MLS is syndicated so it is good to look them up on Google Maps - you may want to change what you put in comments becuase you are no longer writing them for MLS print outs - but for syndication sites.

Wow, when they come out with Google purchase and sale agreements, then the circle will be complete, and I can enjoy much more time off.

Great post! Postlets does the same as well.

Always something new---head's spinning.

Thanks for this good information. I am visiting with my daughter's BF in DC who works for ESRI - - and he is going to make sure I understand how all of this works!

ESRI - The GIS Software Leader

ESRI is the world leader in GIS (geographic information system) modeling and mapping software and technology.

Kathleen Barnato k@kathleenbarnato.com www.kathleenbarnato.com

South Coast, Santa Barbara county, California

This is sweet. I am going to have to check out our listings and see if they all show with the property active / contingent / pending status. Although it is not google, there is another great map search out there using syndicated listings that pre-analyzes cashflow. http://FinestExpert.com So, you can actually search by investor financial criteria in addition to all the usual stuff.

Thank you for the heads up. I also use Vflyer. I will go check it out. Thank you

Thank you very much for this information.

I would like to know if other agents are having a good response from using VFlyers.

Thanks!

Gina/GinaFagnani@aol.com

I want to see how it plays out. As some one that works primarily with buyers I am concerned it will take traffic away from my sites.

Thanks for this update- more free resources, I love it!

I wonder if they will join this with the real estate postings on Google business directory as well.

Tina in Virginia

Outstanding tip! Thank you and I'm off to make sure our company listings are Googlized...

Just another way for us to lose control over our own listings. Good, bad or indifferent, it's my listing and if I choose not to have it on Google, Yahoo, etc., it should be my option.

Too many buyers exclude listings purely on the scant description and the few pictures that don't show the true scope of the property.

This is one reason I won't put a virtual tour on my listings. Makes it too easy to eliminate the home from being on the buyer's tour list.

Too much information can be just as bad as too little.

In the long term this is not a good development for Realtors .Even if google does not move to control the listings data more it will make it easier for some bright mind to use what google is providing to enter the realm now dominated by Realtors .

Just my opinion !:)

Jim Straughan
Sales Representative
Realty Executives Elite Ltd.Brokerage
519 649 6900
voice 519 641 4355
Email jim@straughan.ca
London & Middlesex Real Estate
www.straughan.ca

don't you just love the features of listhub and syndication? I use postlets and I am seeing my properties as well. It's a great way to expose your listings

more opportunity for listing visibility . . free, happy about that! will take a look at some listings.

yahooooo, ooops-- Google-- wtg!! Thanks for the info. Make it a great day!!

Missy,

Thank you for a very helpful post. We will all now be checking into this thanks to you.

Jeana Cowie, Broker Associate, Re/Max Real Estate Ltd, Bergen County, NJ

Pretty cool Missy. I noticed something else the other day that I can not figure out. When I go to Google Maps and enter a neighborhood name in my area it gives my website as the link for the neighborhood. Obviously that is incredible but I don't know how it has happened!

Thanks for the tip Missy.

Love it, it is Google-lious. Now, one more thing to be exploring.

Hi Missy: I always enjoy your blog and thanks for the information. This is very helpful.

Sharon Bruner

Keller Williams Historic Charleston

I suppose it's good to get your information online in as many places as possible but I really wonder if much of it isn't incorrect or outdated. Of course, there's no way to find all references & keep them up to date. If you find an error, sometimes you have no idea of how to get it corrected...

Hi Missy. I tried to post reply without signing in and I don't think it showed up. Thanks for the information! I checked it out and.....my both listings are on there!

I'm not sure how this works--- Do our listings automatically get this if they are on Point2 or in the MLS ??

Missy,

Thanks for sharing! I checked it out and it's definitely something I can use!

Our new MLS system goes live tomorrow! There's going to be a tremendous amount of time spent on learning and checking for accuracy! Maps will be on-hold for awhile.

Kathy Opatka

Hi Missy, This looks great! I have used Postlets however have never used the VFlyer. Guess I'll have to look into that too. Thanks for the information!

Not unless your MLS has given a IDX feed to one of the syndication sites. Point2 does syndicated but that did not show up in my results.

Bill, I have no idea either, but that is really awesome. If you have posted on neighborhoods and I know you have then that is good.

Jim, the data is out there, we lost the data years ago, when the internet and Realtor. com came into play. LOL Now we have to use the data to our advantage and drive traffic to our site. That is so far what Google is doing. The link that they pulled takes the consumers to our sites.

Peter, that is your choice to market how you see fit. But, aren't the sellers going to wonder WHY their home is not showing up?

Gene, Buyers will go where there is the most data, the easiest to navigate and the most resources.

Dean...LOL

Sybil got to Google.com/maps Type in a address of your listing and it should come up, if not go to MORE, drop down box, click real estate, photos, videos.

Missy, Thanks for getting this info out there. I have lots to do.

Missy, thank you for the heads up. I can't wait to check all my listings. Thanks also for the Vflyer info.

Thanks for sharing this great information, Missy! Excellent, as always!

Missy - as usual you're a fountain of information (wish I always understood it all). Checked my listings and they're there (hotpad).

Missy,

I have this on my listings. I do it in connection with Visual Tours and it is awesome!!! I even got a lead of of it one time....who says you don't get anything for free!!!!

Mahalo for the info. I checked it out and they have both my Maui listings and my Oahu (Honolulu) listings. This is Great!!! I use V-Flyer too. I liked it as well.

Aloha!!!

Missy, that would be such great news as I also LOVE Google but List Hub is a problem for me.

My company ,Coldwell Banker HPW, syndicates to List Hub, then sells the leads back to the agents. I have 30 minutes to respond to a lead on my listing and pay a 35% referral. If I don't respond THEN the lead goes to an agent who pays the company a fee to belong to lead router plus a 35% referral fee. I hate that because I always enhance my listings with many photos, tours, attachments and videos and then to have the lead go to another agent.... Keeps me up at night.

Going into Turlia etc or doing postlets myself doesn't help because List Hub from the broker always takes the ad away from me.

So good news and bad news for me.

Thanks for the update.
Great to know.

Misty great feature. Thanks for bringing this to our attention Im going to go check it out on some of my listings now. I swear I love Google, they are the best!

wow this is great I will investigate if this is available for Canada. Thanks for sharing.

Marianne, that is a broker problem not Google's or your marketing. I would NEVER EVER in million years pay ANY Broker on my own listings.

When I was with Remax (lead street) we got all the leads that were on one of our listings...no referral fee. Same thing at KW.

Missy - revisiting for the scavenger hunt

This will be be a big advantage to the agents on my multi-contributor city real estate blog. More exposure for them! I love google.

Way cool, thanks for sharing, can't wait to go check my listings.

Looking for my one listing not there. Boo Hoo. Not sure why or if this is good or bad.

Pretty soon we will need a full time tech assistant to keep up with everything...

Missy ~ Thank you for this information I will check it out tomorrow. I don't know how to bookmark. I tried to find it AR today. So I will come back to my comment.

Hello Missy,

Thank you for the heads up! I will definitely check it out! Again, thanks for sharing the information!

Rita

It is getting easier to ask what is Google not going to do?

Very cool! Thanks for the heads up on this. I will have to try Vflyer- people mention in in posts on AR all the time.

Missy,

i still do not understand how you manage to watch all this stuff. Very interesting. Thank you for this cool stuff

Hello Missy, I love that listings are now available through Google Maps searches and like the benefits to Listing Agents, but the very serious issue with it, as you and others pointed out, is the source and status of the listings. Many Agents other than Listing Agents advertise thousands of listings on VFlyer, Postlets, and other sites and never delete the listings when their status changes (and there are even Listing Agents who don't delete the listings when they're no longer available). This causes sites like Google Maps, Trulia, and others that allow syndication of data from VFlyer and similar sites to have vast amounts of inaccurate listings that are very confusing to Buyers who are searching.

The comment above is interesting..

Anyways..

I've been using REW for my IDX service that maps the listings from the MLS on Google Maps for my site for quite some time.

I wonder if Postlets or any of my other syndications are sending this to Google. I'll have to check it. Thanks.

NOV

Just checked it out, and it is showing my listings. I can see where this would be useful for the consumer. It seems as though there are many syndications sending their info, but wonder as a percentage, how many of what shows on the MLS are showing up on Google Maps.

Thanks for the update, much appreciated!

Thanks for the info Missy. Comment 142 is interesting, data intergrity. What a task. Hopefully Google will come up with a great system to ensure data is valid and up to date.

Missy thanks for the info, I've bookmarked it, there is a lot of discussion about where Google is going in the Real Estate world. We shall have to see.

Well, Missy, Thank You for the post!

At least this got me into My KW and KWLS this morning, where I realized I did not have ListHub switched on.

Try to Google Hill Top Farms Grafton MA. When I do that it gives my website for the search result. I have never ever seen that and can not figure out how it happened. I certainly want to as I would do it for lots of neighborhoods!

Missy, nice job. May I have permission to repost this on my blog giving you lots of kudos?

I was about to write a post on this and I can't do better than yours!

Amy yes but I didn't want to allow reblogging on it. But you are welcome to repost.

Mike, LOL that is good.

This is a great tip. I am going to see if my listings show up and try to back track the source.

Maybe they just fornally announced this but I saw it about month and half ago for the first time. I have contacted several of the people that propagate my listings and suggest they get with the program! It .

Vicky...I believe they reference the source right on the listing on the left hand side

Oh man is Google innovative, this could be the most significant change in Real Estate marketing in years. No one will ever have to go to an agents web site again to search listings. Changes are a happening!

This is neat. Our MLS is switching to Microsoft Bing for mapping - it is actually superior to Google. But I fear that this little widget will keep people coming back to Googlemaps for a while.

Is there such a word as googlerific? Just keep the freebies coming....

Hi Missy, Way cool. I'm off to check on mine!

OK, I just checked out some of my listings. It goes (thru the link mlsfinder.com) right to my web page! 'Tho I noticed an active listing also showed up w/ a higher price as expired (which it was last spring). Listings that I just closed last month didn't show up at all. Interesting. Another tool for the toolbox. Tip for Marianne, #126. There are many quality companies who don't charge agents for the leads that their hard work actually generated. My firm has a byline "Your listings, your leads".

I'm confused... I swear that real estate option has been around for at least a year now. Did they take it out and bring it back?

I love goggle maps. I will try to learn more about this new feature a try to use it to help my buyers.

Thanks

Donald

Mine are there thanks to my broker using ListHub! Awesome!

NOV

Hmmm....I saw one of mine through List Hub, and other agents through Homes and land which I also use. I'll have to look into this further.

One more good tool for us!

Dear Missy,

Thanks for another great post. I love GoogleMaps! By the way I am at KW in Austin TX and we don't get the leads from our listings, they go to whomever is on phone duty at the time the lead comes in. So it must be determined by each office as to how leads are distributed. Good luck!

Betina

Missy, thanks for highlighting this...unfortunately, many of the real estate listings in my area on Google Maps are old listings that have not been updated by the agents. This will cause frustration on the part of the Buyers.
Maybe Google will find a way around it. :)

This feature has actually been around since the summer. It is very interesting. Could it impact the ongoing concept of an MLS?

NOV

Before I say anything, I have to put out there that I'm a big fan of Google and the many apps they create. And, I really like a few things about Google's real estate mapping as opposed to Bing's. Bing has a great real estate mapping function and our company site will be using it by the end of the year. But, I am surprised though by the number of positive comments. It seems to me that Google is cutting the Realtor out of the picture to a degree. Why bother going to the company website to search by map when Google can do it for you and steer the consumer right to the listing agency?

This is great. Hopefully Canadian agents will start placing their listings on Google so we don't have to be so reliant on MLS. There's another good story on how online real estate listings are changing at blog.buzzbuzzhome.com