I've been looking for a house to rent for my folks, who are moving out this way. I found listings through the usual sources -- CraigsList, the local newspapers' classified ads, a local rental agency, and so on. But what I really liked was the ability to check out each house before going over and actually, you know, walking around in it.
So, for every listing, here are some of the steps I took:
- Went to Google Maps and ran a search of the neighborhood. Using the Street View option, I could virtually walk up and down the street, look at the nearby houses, and so on.
- Looked up the county property records to find out how old the house is, how many rooms it has, how much of the house is on the main level, how much the house is assessed for, how long the owner has had the house, and so on.
- Headed over to Zillow to get some background on the house. What's Zillow's estimate (admittedly flawed)of the value of the house? Does the rental price accurately reflect that? Note that, if your county doesn't make property records available online, some of that information may be found in Zillow.
And this is just the low-hanging fruit that this non-public-records researcher could get to easily. I think back of when we simply circled ads in the newspaper, went to the property, and prepared to be surprised - either pleasantly or unhappily. [And the other perspective is to reflect on how creepily easy it is to be a virtual stalker.]
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