HERE'S THE NUMBER ONE REASON TO GOOGLE YOUR ADDRESS IF YOU WANT TO SELL YOUR MADELINE ISLAND HOME

Today, Trulia published a post in its "Real Estate Reality Check" blog, entitled "6 Reasons You Should Google Your Address".  The suggested reasons were all sound ones.  For example, the article proposes searching for area crime data or finding out the price of a nearby property which sold recently..all good reasons, of course.  But the best reason for a homeowner to Google their address, especially for a property owner whose home is currently on the market, is to answer this simple question:

Can potential buyers find your home for sale on the Web?

And if you can't locate your own listed property on the Web, that begs another question,

If you can't find your own home or listed property on the Web, how will prospective buyers find it?

Which may lead you to ask a third question.

Why would a seller list their home with an agent who doesn't know how to market it properly?

We see this all too often.  Last autumn, a seller contacted me about listing her home. That home had been on the market with several competing area real estate firms, without success.  Whan she visited our office, I asked her if she'd ever Googled her property address.  I offered her a seat in front of my laptop computer, then asked her if she could locate her property using Google Search.  She couldn't do it.  And I recently learned about another Madeline Island home seller who has discovered the same problem with the marketing of their listing.

You'd be surprised how may sellers cannot find their own listing on the Web.

If a seller actually somehow manages to find their property via Google Search, ask them how many times it shows up in search results and where it appears. 

Sellers are often astonished to learn how difficult it is for anyone to actually find their listing.

So, if your home is for sale and you can't find your home using Google Search, have you ever thought of asking the listing agent what's going on?  If an agent is incapable of marketing your property so it can actually be found by prospective buyers, why on earth would you hire that agent to market your home for sale?

You hire an agent to market and advertise your property and to give it maximum exposure to the public.

You do NOT hire an agent to put a lawn sign in front of your property and then wait for the phone to ring.

You do NOT pay an agent a commission to put your property on MLS and then work on his suntan all summer.

 Let's try this one last time..if the public can't find your home listed for sale, or if it's difficult to find, if the marketing of your home is anemic or even nonexistent, if it shows up on Google Search results only three or four times, instead of appearing in the major sites on the Web where buyers routinely search for properties, then you've probably hired the wrong agent to list and market your home. 

When you sign a Wisconsin Residential Listing Contract, you are agreeing to pay that real estate company to market your home.  And if you aren't receiving the marketing and advertising your Madeline Island property deserves, MARKETING THAT YOU ARE PAYING FOR, then you may be making a five-figure mistake.

[Listing by address on the Web works.  And when your listing expires, contact Madeline Island Realty at 715-747-6500.  Let us show you a strategy for listing and marketing your home that will produce maximum exposure on the Web.]