Visiting an apartment or a house is not always an easy task, especially when you don’t trust the real estate agent at all… There is a simple method to check whether he is taking us for a ride or not!
Visiting a property with a real estate agent can sometimes be a bit of a tricky task! Sometimes, the agent will embellish the reality or leave out some important information in order to close the deal and get their commission. Fortunately, there is a way to verify the honesty of real estate agents in certain specific cases… But how do you do it?
Real estate expert Mehdi Asten shared a valuable tip for verifying what a real estate agent says. It may happen that when you visit a property you have your eye on for a purchase, the professional involved makes you believe that “The facade was redone fifteen years ago” for example, as he explains in a post on Twitter.
But how can you be sure that this key information is true? Because a facade renovation can cost a lot of money and it could scare you away before you even set foot in the apartment you want to visit… All you have to do is go to the tool Google Street Viewwhich brings together a myriad of panoramic images of the country’s streets. For example, when you type the name of the street of the property you are interested in into the search tool, you will be taken to the latest photo that was taken of it.
But if you click on “see more dates“, you will then be able to discover images of the street over the years and how it has evolved. So, was this facade really redone fifteen years ago? You can now be a little more sure of the answer!”Very useful for dates of roof and frame changes or creation of attics” added one Twitter user.
Some Internet users did not hesitate to provide other methods to have the maximum information on the neighborhood or street in which you are visiting a property. For example, one of them recalled the importance of asking to consult the condominium reports, which can provide information on many points and give you some important financial information. Another Internet user also recommended going to the site Remonterletemps.ign.fr which allows you to observe the evolution of a neighborhood through photos and maps of the place.
For your information, let us also recall that a real estate agent does not have the right to lie about the surface area of a property for sale, any false advertisement being punishable by two years of imprisonment and a fine of 37,500 euros.