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lostinspace7 · Feb 14, 2007, 05:29 PM

Someone was seen taking a photo of my home today. They pulled off the street and took photos of the street north and south, then took a photo of the front of my home. Why would someone be taking pictures of my home like this? I have not taken out new home insurance. Concerned!

Fr_Chuck · Feb 14, 2007, 05:50 PM

It could be a real estate apprasier who is doing the apprasial of a home in your area, they find similar homes in that area and use their value ( last mortgage, last date of sale ) **all of that is public knowledge. And they photo your home to prove they found home of similar type and value.

Also all of your real estate tax values is all public, in our area you can even go online and find the sale date, price, tax value of any home in the area.

excon · Feb 15, 2007, 07:15 AM

Hello lost:

If it would have been me, I'd have asked him. Now, you'll never know. Or will you?

It could be Homeland Security preparing for an invasion of your home. Got a meth lab?? Or maybe it's terrorists sizing up your home for a suicide bombing. Or, maybe it's Jehovah's Witnesses mapping out the street for their door knockers. Or maybe it's the street department checking out pot holes. Or, maybe it's a guy who likes what you've done to your house and wants to do the same thing.

I don't know. The possibilities are endless.

excon

ScottGem · Feb 15, 2007, 07:19 AM

Any of the above. There is no law against this as long as they remain on public property (the street or sidewalk) to take their pictures. To add to some of the possibilities, it could be a utility taking pictures for line installation, it could be someone looking for homes in the neighborhood and getting picutres of prospects. It could be an architectural student. Maybe your area is of historic interest.

The benign possibilities outweigh the malignant ones (criminal casing your home). So stop being concerned.

kp2171 · Feb 15, 2007, 08:14 AM

I agree with the above posts, in particular with those concerning real estate.

Same thing happened to me two years ago. A woman got out of the passenger side of a car and took a picture of my home from the front. Then got in and moved on.

Two reasons I have taken pictures of homes - first, in HS I had a project dealing with architecture. So I had to drive or walk around some neighborhood and snap pics. Second, concerns landscaping. My wife and I have both done this when we see a home with something we like about the landscaping, as we have some major work to do with ours.

Most of the time we've talked to the owner. But sometimes it was just a spur of the moment thing while we were there.

Also, even though real estate agents can get pics for comp houses from the govt assessors pages, sometimes those are a few years old and not always good. Now... I've yet to meet a realtor who thought it was worth the effort to discard the available pics and drive around the city to take newer ones, but I'm sure it might happen.

And one guy walked down our entire street two months ago and took pics. He had a professional camera and a safety vest. Pretty certain its time for new pics for the assessors site. He just looked like a man than had several hundred pics to take that cold day. Just wish theyd come in the spring when the flowers are up and the snow is gone. Oh well.