This is is unreal.

[Kevin K]

See if you can find your Scamp in your yard
I Did



Bad picture
I took a photo with my camera of the screen.

1 Go to this web page http://www.zillow.com/
2 Type in your address
3 Click on your address (In the photo)
4 Click on Street View or Birds Eye View (Under your photo)
5 Click on Street View (On Top of your photo)

[Bobbie Mayer]

Pretty cool.... except the home value it lists!

My trailer wasn't in the Washington photo and if in the Fresno one, is parked in the garage. Want to see a picture of the top of my garage?

Mine does come up with the trailer in the yard on Google Earth, I think. But not quite so closeup.

[Doug Mager]

Doesn't come up to B.C. Canada though, ....pity!!!

[Frederick L. Simson]

The Zillow photograph of my property is about 3 or 4 years old, and does not show the Fiber Stream on the patio in the back yard.
The current Google Earth photograph is only 1 year old and DOES show it.

The Google Earth photo was taken on a weekday, since I can find my Honda Odyssey in the parking lot at work, and not at home.

[Steve Dunkel]

I'm not so enamored with the technology. Privacy issues, spying by local officials for code compliance, etc. give me pause for concern.

[Lizbeth]

Very interesting. Arial and street view were taken months apart.

And I totally agree Steve.

[Jim Bennett]

Doesn't come up to B.C. Canada though, ....pity!!!

Doug, I just heard on the news yesterday that they will be doing Calgary soon, I would bet that they will start with the major centers first, then make it through the rest of Canada.

Do they do everywhere, or just larger cities/towns in the US?

[Patrick Mc]

The info isn't correct on ours. They say we have 2 bd 1 ba. In fact we have 3 bd (4 if we give up the den) and 2 ba.

Pat

[Steve Dunkel]

The info isn't correct on ours. They say we have 2 bd 1 ba. In fact we have 3 bd (4 if we give up the den) and 2 ba.

Pat

Careful, most of the information that zillow.com uses comes from public records. In other words, your house may have originally had 2 bedrooms and 1 bath but the other rooms may have been added without obtaining a permit, which usually triggers a reassessment. If the remodel surfaces in an untimely way there could be penalties involved in addition to back taxes.

[Patrick Mc]

Careful, most of the information that zillow.com uses comes from public records. In other words, your house may have originally had 2 bedrooms and 1 bath but the other rooms may have been added without obtaining a permit, which usually triggers a reassessment. If the remodel surfaces in an untimely way there could be penalties involved in addition to back taxes.

The original house was 2/1 but 900 sq. ft. A second story added 2/1 in 1981 and 1100 sq. ft. They have the correct sq. footage posted.

We bought the house after the addition and have done nothing substantial to it since...and it's paid off.

I like the price they claim it's worth, but I bet it ain't!

Pat

[Greg A]

Kinda gives pause to "skinny dippin" in the backyard pool or buff sunbathing in the backyard........

[Raya]

I'm just glad I've always lived far enough from popular cities that they haven't shown my residences. Ugh, what a breach of privacy!

Raya

[Maureen M.]

You might find more up-to-date pictures on Google maps. You may have already heard about this, but check to see if Google has done "Street View" for your neighborhood yet. It's pretty cool. Of course, we're biased, because our son works for them. Here's the link to enter your address:




http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&tab=wl

Click on "Satellite" in the upper righthand corner. That shows the aerial photo. See if your address has a "balloon" pop up where where you can click on "Street View." Then you should see a shot of your house as though you are looking at it from the street. Click and drag around the little arrows and bubbles to "drive around" your neighborhood.

Google Earth also lets you look at aerial photos over the years. It's interesting to see how our trailers have changed over the years and when our new garage suddenly appeared.

Maureen

[potteralice]

my casita shows in the driveway but the map shows my address as my neighbors house! only a block off.

[Mary F]

We built our house 4.5 years ago, and still it doesn't show up on Google Maps aerial photos. Also, they got the street labelling all wrong (which I've reported twice). Oh well. I'm happy to be hard to find.

ON edit: Zillow's got us nailed, though.

[Pete Dumbleton]

I'm not so enamored with the technology. Privacy issues, spying by local officials for code compliance, etc. give me pause for concern.

I used to live in Hillsborough County Florida and every year they hired a company to produce aerial photos in a book with the real estate platted out on one page and the aerial photo of that area on the facing page -- They were doing it at least as far back as the early 1970's when I bought my house, so it's not like it's something new.

The plat books, with photos, were available at the County offices or at the Public Libraries. You could look up the property designation numbers on the plat page in other records to find the owner, valuations, taxes paid, etc., all public records, and Yes, likely the county inspectors used them for code compliance with building permits, etc. Now that stuf is on-line for many tax assessor's offices.

[Raya]

True. I think what's new is that anyone can see them at anytime, from anywhere in the world, with minimal effort. And they can zoom in, map themselves to get there, etc. etc.

So no, not totally new, but taken to a new level.

I guess it's like how cameras have been around for a long time, but if I step outside my door and I'm on someone's webcam fed live to the 'net, it's a different feeling.

R.

[JenPB]

Yeah...technology's not such a great thing sometimes. While property info has been public info for a long time (not really sure why), images like these just seem to be more bothersome. Google Maps has taken it to the street level. Check this out
If it initially turns up a black box, just pick up the little man in the very small box in the lower right hand corner and drag him somewhere else.

Basically, you can do a virtual tour of innumerable communities, including closeups of whoever/whateverwas in your driveway at the time the cameraman drove by.

[Todd Sleeman]

Some villagers in the UK didn't like this either....

Gang of Villagers Chase Away Google Car

Supposedly when viewing your house at the street view, there's a tiny link ("Report a Problem") in the lower left hand corner of the image (squint real hard) that you can use to request the image of your house be removed.

Haven't tried it so I can't vouch for it.