Use GPS And Other Seriously Funny, Umm, no, I Mean Irritating Directions is a post I have been thinking about writing for a long time! I started getting lost a few weeks ago trying to find a home that stated: "Directions: USE MAPQUEST". I couldn't just look at the listing sheet and find the house. I had to pull over to the side of the road and input it into my GPS. If that wasn't bad enough (because I was now on the verge of running late) the GPS couldn't find the house either. I tried to call the agent but the agent didn't answer the phone. (I finally found it but by then I was so upset!) I decided it was time to write about it and let listing agents who think that "USE GPS" are adequate directions know that, well, it's just really not!
When I see this: "Directions: USE GPS" or "Directions: USE MAPQUEST" in the directions line of the listing sheet on MLS I sort of start to feel my blood pressure rising! Then I try to laugh a little to keep myself from getting upset. I often see something like this: "Directions: USE GOOGLE MAPS" Another one I read recently (that actually did make me laugh out loud) was "Just a little SE off off Exit 17 from I-70". Is that listing agent serious? I'm supposed to find your listing with those directions? The public who is out driving around is supposed to find your listing? Again, the GPS does not always work. If the GPS has not been updated recently by it's owner (I confess I have not paid to update mine in a while), it cannot find a new street. It does not know about road construction. It's not a genie!
Some other reasons why I would appreciate you taking the time to put the directions in your listing:
- I don't want to get in a car accident while trying to input the address in my GPS or phone while driving.
- I don't want to get a ticket for swerving all over the road while trying to input an address while driving.
- My clients also have to find the property if they are meeting me at the house and not at the office.
What I want you to do dear listing agent, is to take the time to type directions into your listing so that when I print off the listing sheets of the homes I am showing back to back I can just look at the sheet as I head down the road to the next house without having to stop off the road and plug it into the GPS or get myself and my clients lost trying to find it.
Our Multiple Listing System even had a contest recently to try and encourage listing agents to fill out more data on the listings that they input into the Heartland MLS System. How do these agents get and keep work if they are too busy or too lazy to fill out all the data about the homes they are selling?
Please be courteous to buyer's agents, buyers and do a good job for your seller by completing all the information possible on your listing sheets. "Help me to help you sell your listing!"
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