In a mad scramble to add as many bells & whistles to our flagship Madison real estate site as possible we neglected to announce that we added some important new functionality to our Property Details page: Google StreetView. One of the unique characteristics of Google StreetView is its ability to get a 360 degree view of the surrounding street outside any given property. Check out the screenshot of the Google Streetview for 1622 Meadowcrest Lane in Middleton. Not only does it give you a ground-level view from the street so you can “walk” (virtually, of course) down any street and check out the surrounding areas, it also allows you to "grab" the picture with just one click of your mouse and manipulate the view. This is a great time-saver because it negates the need to drive out to properties that you can now eliminate just by observing the surrounding areas online. You may decide, for example, that it's not worth your time to look at what sounds like an amazingly low-priced property because (aha!), you can easily see that it's located next door to a commercial building. You can even check out what your prospective new neighbors' houses look like. Bear in mind that Google StreetView images are based on a historical snapshot in time, however. So if the owners (or their neighbors, for that matter) have updated the exterior (or removed all that unsightly clutter from their front porch), those changes may or may not be evident from the images you observe online. Why not give our Madison area real estate search a whirl and see Google Streetview in action for yourself? Then let us know what you think. We'd love to hear your views! Posted by Jolenta Averill on
Jolenta - Congrats on the new feature. Your site continues to amaze me with all the cool new features. Do your users ever notice or take advantage of them? That would be a very cool metric to track.
Posted by Cary NC Real Estate on Friday, September 18th, 2009 at 2:53pmJolenta, I would prefer my customers do not have the google street view because the photos from my photographers supply are much better and current. How many features does a customer need to get the information they want without confusing them with too much mumbo jumbo? Overall google street view is ok for real estate, but not necessary.
Posted by Robert Worthington on Friday, September 18th, 2009 at 4:27pmJolenta - Great additions to your site! I'm sure home buyers will get a much more well rounded perspective of the neighborhood by using StreetView and Bird's Eye View.
Posted by Josh Ferris on Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009 at 3:29pmRobert - I agree with you that photographers provide great, more up-to-date photos. In the past I have used StreetView to show clients (virtually) where a home of interest was located. In one instance the builder did an infill project in a not so desirable neighborhood for my client. Using photos of just the home only provided one perspective whereas StreetView offers a 360-degree look at the surrounding area.
You're dead on about too many tools too. I hope in the future IDX vendors give us the ability to add and subtract search tools so that we can tailor our searches to meet the needs of our client base.
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