StickyListings

When inputting MLS data on a listing, oftentimes there are opportunities to “tweak” the city name of a listing in order to make it potentially more attractive to a buyer.  A good west-side example of this is Olmsted Township.

If an agent lists a home in Olmsted Township, they are likely aware of the fact that there is no RITA tax in the township however residences in Olmsted Falls are subject to this tax.  Therefore it makes sense to enter “Olmsted Township” in the city field for your listing…right?

The answer is not clear unless you know exactly how you plan on marketing this listing.  If you feel that your buyers are well-educated and will know the difference between Falls and Township (and the tax advantages) then by all means use Olmsted Township as the city.  But there is a hidden cost to doing this.

The United States Postal Service does not officially recognize “Olmsted Township” as a valid mailing address.  What this means is that many websites (including Google, so watch it!) will end up kicking out your listing from their database if you syndicate it.  The reason for this exclusion is generally because their system will match your address to the USPS database in order to generate maps and locations.  When Google’s software tries to lookup your city of Olmsted Township match it with the ZIP Code of 44138 that doesn’t include Olmsted Township as a valid mailing address, it can’t figure this out and kicks your listing out.

Another example that will be more familiar to east-side agents is Willowick.  Again, the USPS does not recognize Willowick as a valid city for mailing; they require you to use either Wickliffe or Willoughby in order to be compliant.  If your MLS listing data has a listing with the city data being “Willowick”, Google and other sites will reject it.

The same goes for incorrectly spelled city names, so be careful!  Since NORMLS does not use “drop-down” boxes for city selection, it’s up the the data entry person to make sure this is correct.  And it’s up to you as the agent to catch it when you look over your new listing’s MLS printout.

Are there ways around this?  At this time our best suggestion is to be sure that your city name is USPS compliant, then if you have additional information, include this in the remarks field.  That way you can hopefully get the best of both worlds…full exposure via syndication while still being able to include a more “desirable” city name in the remarks.

If you have questions regarding proper USPS formatting for a city, you can use this site to check ZIP Codes and valid city names.  It’s worth the extra time in order to make sure you’re getting the most from your marketing dollars.