By Tara-Nicholle Nelson | Broker in San Francisco, CA

4 MORE Reasons to Google Your Address

Posted under: Home Buying | August 27, 2013 2:02 PM | 67,901 views | 29 comments

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A friend of mine recently went on a date with someone she met online. Later, I asked her how it had gone, and she said he was great. But by the following week, she’d changed her tune and said she wasn’t going to see him again. When I pressed her as to why she replied, "he was a felon! Something he said didn’t make sense, so I Googled his name and a bunch of mug shots came up!"

“Why, oh why,” I asked her, “didn’t you Google his name before the date?!” This was incomprehensible to me, but of course, I actually coined the phrase “Google tic,” to describe my personal practice of Googling almost any concept I want to know about.

Now, I’m not saying everyone should have a Google tic. But I cannot think of a subject about which you should be more curious and exploratory than your home, no matter whether you’re buying, selling or simply living in it with no plans to move anytime soon. Your home is the site in which you park your hard earned cash, your time, your belongings and your most precious assets – your loved ones and your body! Most people understand the thought process behind Googling a prospective date or employer beforehand. I submit that you should do the same with respect to your home, before you remove contingencies, set a list price or just on an annual basis.

Here are a few reasons why:

1. To suss out the ‘Street View’ situation. I bought my home about 7 years ago. It was red and, euphemistically neglected. I replaced the windows, added 700 square feet and gutted the place. But until last year, when you searched for my address online, Google still surfaced a street view photo that had been taken mid-remodel, when the windows were cut out and the place was half-red, half-primer!

Most house hunters and real estate websites also pull in either Google Street View images of your home, or listing photos, if they are available. If you know that your home’s actual, current street view is dramatically different from how it appears on Google Street View, there’s certainly no harm in saying so in your listing comments, so the Google images don’t scare buyers off. Street Views and satellite views can help homebuyers understand how a home is situated on its lot and what the neighboring properties are like, which are good reasons for house hunters to Google target properties’ addresses. Similarly, Google Street View can help a home buyer understand whether work has been recently done to a property for purposes of following up, asking for permits and receipts and just generally being aware of the home’s recent history - especially when the seller might not have disclosed those details, as with a foreclosure or estate sale.

2. To avoid harming your health. In the unfortunate rare case, a home can be a health hazard. From methamphetamine manufacturing to radon to things like industrial and airport proximity, there are a number of potentially toxic or health-impacting property conditions that Google searches can help turn up. As I’ve mentioned before, the Drug Enforcement Administration maintains a database of homes that have been identified as drug labs; some of these properties require intensive, expensive cleanup before they are able to be healthfully inhabited. Radon, industrial and airport zones are also pretty easily detected with a Google search – and in most states, also via computerized disclosures that most sellers will provide. (Some people find living near an airport or other noisy zone impacts their sleep, even if there is no chemical concern.)

3. To surface HOA need-to-knows. When you buy a home that is located in a homeowners’ association (HOA), you’ll almost always get a hefty package of disclosures directly from the seller and the association, detailing critical need-to-knows like the community budget, rules and board meeting minutes. But troubling HOA information might not make it into those materials unless and until it rises to a boiling point.

A quick Google search can tip you to brewing issues. It might also hip you to complimentary reviews of the subdivision, complex, managers, neighbors and amenities from residents you might not be able to connect with until after you move in.

A surprising number of HOAs are being reviewed on sites like Yelp! these days – just Googling the name of the HOA or subdivision will usually turn up such rants (and raves). I’ve seen HOA search results turn up everything from neighbors decrying the fact that high unit owner dues delinquencies are preventing them from refinancing, to unit owners giving building managers kudos for turning around the property’s maintenance. Almost every HOA review I’ve seen has also included some discussion of how association rules are enforced – or not, as the case may be.

4. To learn of potential nuisances – and niceties! – that might be coming soon to a location near you. Googling your home’s address, street, neighborhood name and city/state can also help you locate permit applications which have been recently filed with the local authorities. This is particularly true for permits in which the applicant was required to collect environmental or neighbor feedback as a condition for approval. If you’re buying a home, it’s helpful to know in advance if the shopping center behind the property is applying for permits to expand, or if the school across the street is seeking permits for 100 more students (and their parents’ cars). This sort of search is also helpful for homeowners who want to stay abreast of community developments and participate in providing input.

It might seem like buyers who seek out this sort of information are nitpickers extraordinaire. Nine times out of ten, this kind of search won’t reveal anything of concern. But reading online permit applications – and your neighbors-to-be’s City Council meeting arguments against the permit – might help you understand the fuller landscape of community development issues at hand and make a more informed decision about buying a given property.

On the other hand, some planning issues might actually render a property more attractive to you than it was before. I recently saw some Facebook friends swoon (digitally) over news that a Target was coming to their neighborhood – in 2015.

In the same vein, if you are buying a home that is located near a freeway, bridge, subway station, school, park or shopping district, running a search on those places and amenities can also help you detect any coming construction or major changes to these things – for better or worse, and for your own planning purposes. It might also surface things like reviews about your local parks, schools, bridges and other infrastructure and neighborhood hot spots, which I have found to be particularly helpful in planning your daily routes and family activities.

All: What research did you do before you bought your first home? Is there anything you wish you would have done differently?

P.S.: You should follow Trulia and Tara on Facebook!