I recently had a funny experience that reminded me of when I first starting using the internet and would tell other people that indeed, "I read it on the internet." Of course, we all know now that the internet is the infallible truth, right?
Point2 Agent offers free sites for agents and other services as well as a paid site. At first it was a cute little template system and has grown into one of the largest communities, template sites, ... basically a globbity gloop of stuff for agents.
In any case, I went to add two new listings I had in my current hometown of Hoschton, GA. You can find out more about Hoschton here, but it's in 4 different counties. Point2 Agent uses where the "capital" or city center is, which in general is a good rule, but in this case can horribly hurt the marketability of a home.
For Example, the home I have listed in Trilogy Park is in Gwinnett County. The home for sale goes to Gwinnett County schools. Homes in Jackson and Barrow county (neighboring counties) go to their respective county schools. These schools are not as sought after. In addition, these counties are typically seen as "too far out." So it's important that the listings be listed in Gwinnett County.
I sent an e-mail regarding the incorrect entry of their neighborhoods, here is the response:
P2A: "I just have a couple of questions to clarify: should Hoschton be in Gwinnett County?"
ME: "Hoschton, should be in both Jackson AND Gwinnett County. A few other sites have done, Hoschon - Gwinnett, Hoschton - Jackson. Duluth, GA is the same way, some of it is in Fulton, and some of it is in Gwinnett County, Alpharetta is similiar with parts of it in Forsyth and Parts in Fulton. Most users won't complain because the error usually helps them. In the same way, Hoschton would be better served in Gwinnett as more people search there, but most of Hoschton IS in Jackson. Both of the neighborhoods you mentioned should be in BOTH cities and counties, as well. Thanks!"
P2A: "Thanks for the email and I apologize for the delay in response. I have researched the information that you have provided to me, although the information that I found seems to be a bit different from what you have provided.
Hoschton is actually a city within Jackson County only, as listed on the link provided here. If you have a reference link for us to refer to, we would be happy to look into this issue a bit more for you, but from the research that I have personally done those are the results I have come up with.
At this time, I am not going to proceed to making changes as I do not have enough information to support your request. "ME: "You might consider expanding your search to tax records to see where things lie. The city center, or city limits or if you prefer, city tax payer areas are indeed correct, but in regards to real estate, especially since different counties mean different schools which in turn means different prices. Obviously, everything on the internet is not reliable. Here is one tax record option, http://gis.gwinnettcounty.com/internet/go?initializeclient=true Here is a direct mail's company site http://www.melissadata.com/lookups/ZipCityPhone.asp?InData=30548 Duluth http://www.melissadata.com/lookups/ZipCityPhone.asp?InData=30097 There's examples of this all over the country, but locally, the main ones I was concerned with were the areas I list."
After this e-mail they did finally update their site. It's still wrong, but it's better.
The whole point of this rant was that a large company like Point2 Agent, laughingly trusted WIKIPEDIA for their data and not the ACTUAL SOURCE! It's also important to pay attention to these things that we are paying for and make sure the exposure is RIGHT.
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