Transparency coming to a neighborhood near you

The Internet used to be a highway of one-way information. Now, it allows everyone to talk back. Along with this open format comes a certain lack of privacy, in the form of an Internet bird known as Street View.

Google Maps' Street View allows real estate buyers to stroll through listings they are interested in and check out not only the house, but the community as well. This view, while adding another dimension to an Internet home buyer's experience, removes a layer of privacy for unsuspecting neighbors.

These street views are now being added to the popular website Trulia's real estate listings. They are also being showcased on the blog StreetView Fun, which is dedicated to posting quirky findings from Street View and encourages its readers to post there too.

Imagine waking up one day to go online and view your street, and find a neighbor bending over in his PJs to pick up the morning newspaper. Not a sight you necessarily want to see. 

How about the homeowners trying to sell their homes? If Street View is available in their area, will it help to move their house, or could a viewing of their street and neighborhood deter a prospective home buyer? 

I live in a great neighborhood, but during "big garbage pickup day," when you can put out anything and everything for the garbage men to take, it might look more like a view from the slumhood. In any case, it wouldn't be an attractive picture for any real estate buyer.

Then there is the site that real estate buyers can visit to investigate "rotten neighbors". Anyone can post about their neighbors to this website. The information is not verified; it is strictly opinions from people who post to the site. Do you get along with all your neighbors? If not, it's possible they could be posting without your knowledge--on this very site--about you.

This post is not intended to spread paranoia, but merely to point out what the Internet is becoming. It is truly an open community that leverages technology to create transparency. But like anything else, it is up to you, the consumer, to put things into perspective. 

Much like life itself, images and words are not always black and white.

If you enjoyed this post, you might want to read:

• Send a flyer of your house to the World Wide Web
• Connect2Agent wants to know what you want from an online real estate website
• 6 places to get more exposure online for your house listing

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Posted by Rebecca D. Levinson