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It's not like anyone really cares about your house. After all, it's not a photo of a cute kitten.
I totally get what you're saying OP... It's almost shocking when you see pictures online of your house.. like it's a privacy invasion...as though people would have no clue that houses had rooms.
The above really does apply to all of us.
No one really cares.
It irks me that entities exist just to make money by selling this type of data to as many sources as possible. Also that those photos can and are sometimes misused later on and the present owner can't do anything about it once they are out there. I guess it points out another benefit of selling as a FSBO as I did with our last house. No MLS photos to be sold.
Well services like Zillow, Trulia and Realtor.com can be valuable as sales exposure in addition to the MLS by exposing your property to more Internet traffic (more eyes on it). Despite what I think of these sites (not much) it's difficult to deny that some people start their shopping there, and seeing your house on perhaps Zillow in the area they are thinking about buying in might encourage them to ask for a showing. It won't hurt your sale and it might help your sale, maybe.
I'm an investor and my Realtor uses MLS + Zillow and a few others (actually I think Zillow owns some of the other sites), and I was fine with her putting my listings on Zillow. Of course I've never lived in these houses so my perspective about it is undoubtedly different.
My own residence pictures disappeared somewhere in the last year or so, so I'm guessing most will disappear within a couple years. And anyway, it just shows the previous owner's furniture, not my stuff. Furthermore I'm in a tract with perhaps several different floor plans (maybe fewer) so there's really no difference between the pics of my house and the pics of a similar house a few doors or a block up the street except possibly a mirror image.
I don't see why this bothers anybody. The pictures of the seller's furniture. Once you've moved in nobody can see your furniture, or how you painted the walls etc.
But even if it bothers you, the pictures won't be there forever. And how many people would be that interested in your house to use the Wayback archive to see pictures of what your house looked like before you bought it?
I think people obsess about things too much. There are far worse things happening in the US and in the world than somebody seeing pictures of your house before you bought it.
Once something is on the internet, it's there forever! It will be archived as well. Nothing completely disappears from the internet ever.
The photos aren't of your house if you're the buyer. It wasn't your house then. The items in the house aren't even yours. So how does this invade your privacy? And if you're the seller, it's incredibly hard to sell your house without being on the internet today.
I think you are misunderstanding the poster you quoted. They are saying the BUYER didn't own the house when the pictures were taken.
You are right. The post reminded me of a newspaper columnist who quoted a PNW realtor as saying,"As soon as someone lists a house for sale, someone else owns it." A very strange comment, given who pays the bills for that house.
I happen to like the idea that these interior pictures are available. The 3 homes that I lived in from 1960 to 1973 are shown this way. It really fascinating to see the changes and renovations that have been done over the years since.
Especially in the 1960 house that my step-father and I built over a 5 year period (I was in high school). How they added a 2nd bath is a mystery to me, knowing how the house was constructed. Ranch on a slab, with no plumbing anywhere near the location.
As I've been home shopping and have assisted my sons in finding homes. .. .
It's disturbing that I can go on the internet, look inside a home, know the floor plan, look at the street view, look at a map, and see the value of the home. I can figure out the house lay out and see those door pictures and just how well they can be unlocked. See where the best entry is to the home because you can also look online and see the neighbor's homes, backyards, and spots to hide. It's a home invader's dream. Everything is laid out and all they have to do is execute the process.
I'm sure that's what the original poster's concerns were.
Now on our doors we had the turn knob dead bolt made into a key only lock. The doorknob remains the same with the flip center lock. But the older version was the type where a burglar could break a door pane, twist the dead bolt, and open the door.
As it is I can look up any friend or family address online and see the home they just bought or are living in. Very few homes are 'off the grid'. Is it disturbing? Yes. It is a security issue. On those street views we're not just viewing the house for sale /sold but the ones around it.
If this is a home in a questionable area it's even worse. Just my two cents.
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