When you are searching for real estate listings, do you wonder what the neighbourhood looks like? What is across the street or next door?
If so, you might want to play around a little with Google Street View. It takes a little practice to get the hang of it but it’s not too difficult at all. First, go to Google Maps and type in the address you are looking for. This will take you to a map that looks something like this:
In the upper left hand corner, you’ll see a little pin person like the one I’ve circled in the example above. If you click on it, you can then drag it to the locator balloon on the map. Once you let go, a street view will pop up that looks like this:
You can then move it up or down using the circle on the top left corner or, enlarge it to full screen using the blued out box on the top right corner. You can move up and down the street and even zoom in on particular areas. Once you play with it a little, you’ll see all of the options available.
One difficulty I found is that it doesn’t very accurately pinpoint the address you’ve entered. If you know what side of the road a property is located on, that can help. You can move up and down the street using the arrows until you find a house that looks like the one in the listing picture. Even if you don’t find it exactly, you’ll be close enough to get a virtual tour of the streetscape and surrounding areas.
(I checked out my own house and am so glad they came by after we cut the grass.)
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Tags: Google Street View
