This Is the First Thing I Look at When a Home Comes on the Market

When I'm looking for a house to buy, I get excited when a new property comes on the market. Each time I get notified of a new listing, I'm eager to rush over and look at the pictures to see if the home might be a good fit. That's especially true if the property is well within my budget and I know I could get an affordable mortgage to buy it.

When I see a new home listing, though, I don't actually click through to the posted pictures of the home as my first move after checking out the price. I do this instead.

Checking out the surrounding area is a key goal

The very first thing that I do when a property is listed is take a look at the satellite view of the property and the surrounding area.

This is very important to me for a few reasons.

First, I have been "tricked" before by listing pictures that make a home look like it is in a much more desirable area than it is. For example, I've seen properties for sale that make the back yard view look great -- and it is, in one direction. But in the other direction, it overlooks unlovely views like an industrial waste dump or a factory or a railroad track. I am obviously not interested in living in a home that is near undesirable things like this, so I check out the satellite pictures to see what is around it.

Second, looking at a satellite picture of the house can give me a better idea of how close the home is to surrounding neighbors, what the backyard view will be, what the street is like, and where the house is located within a neighborhood relative to amenities like parks and pools. You often can't get a very good sense of this from the listing pictures, but a satellite picture gives you context for the house that enables you to decide if it is a good fit or not.

Looking at the big picture can save you a lot of time and hassle

Before I started using Google maps to check out satellite pictures of homes I was interested in buying, I would end up wasting time going to showings at properties that would never actually work for me. Now, not only do I not spend unnecessary time at showings, but I don't even bother to look at the listing pictures if the satellite aerial view of the house shows it's not in a desirable location or has a bad view.

I know that no matter how nice the inside of a house looks, I'm not going to buy it if the location and exterior view are bad or if it is too close to the neighbors' houses. So, why waste the time checking out the pictures or potentially falling in love with a beautiful interior for a home I ultimately won't want?

If you are also looking for properties and you care more about where a house is and what it is near than what it looks like inside, you may want to consider checking out the satellite overhead view first as well. Doing so could save you a lot of time and aggravation.