Hi Tom - I would twist your analogy a bit. Actually, it's like putting your car in the paper, telling what kind of car it is, maybe posting photos on line but not telling where you have it parked. I do understand what you are saying about location and of course, it is so relevant to real estate and not to cars.
Continuing the discussion: the practice of posting addresses is fairly recent in Maine. Until a few years ago, you never saw addresses on the websites, just Realtor contact info. It is not uncommon to leave the address out at the request of the Seller if it is a high end property and/or vacant. Or it could be an elderly person who has concern for security. Or any of the reasons listed below. BUT almost always now, if an address is not included, it is at the request of the Seller - an agent prefers to post to address whenever possible but will always (and in fact must) honor a Seller's preferences in advertising location.

A third and fourth reason to add to Rockinblu's 2 is 3. homeowner has hired an agent to market the home and does not want the address published and 4. homeowner has hired an agent to market the home and does not want people knocking on their door. It depends a lot on where you live, too. In my area it isn't customery to publish the address. If you are working with an agent they can tell you the addresses, and I'm sure the agent would rather you rule out homes in advance rather than driving all over to unsuitable homes.

Hi Tom,
A lot of people don't want strangers coming to their house or even driving by. Sometimes they haven't told their employer that they are planning a move. They could be in a private location or on a long driveway where they would be uncomfortable with people coming by to see their house.
If you don't want to waste a lot of your time, get yourself a buyer's agent. We can do all that homework for you and it usually costs the buyer nothing. Give me a call and I'd be happy to explain how it works.

I can think of two reasons.

1.For sale by owner does not want someone showing up on their doorstep unannounced.

2. Agent wants knowledge of all prospective buyers that come through a buyer agent or otherwise. This can give them some protection from buyers contacting a seller who would cancel from the agent and then "find a buyer on his/her own" as well as protecting the owner from above.