The house piqued my interest, but I was forced to put a pin in it
Along with millions of people online, if I have a spare moment to waste while on my phone, I’ll look at property. If I’m feeling sensible, I look at homes that I probably can’t afford, within an area that I live.
I do have a slight moan to throw in the direction of estate agents. If you’re on an app and you see a property that piques your interest, then the next logical steps are photos, room layout and location on the map.
This is all well and good until you decide that you’re interested enough to select ‘street view’. I would like to know this. Why is the street view location pin never in front of the property for sale?
I seem to spend far too much of my life travelling up and down a road trying to work out which house it is. Usually, I have to go back to the house pictures and remember the colour of the front door and then cruise around seeing if I spot anything similar.
The issue with the property
I’d seen is that I simply couldn’t fathom where it was. The ‘pin’ on the map via the app had taken me to Inverness and I was left with no option but to do the drive by. The homebuyer drive-by is a tricky manoeuvre.
You have to drive past a property very slowly. You peer in as much as you can. You can go past several times, however, if you’re seen, it looks like you’re casing the joint. Then you have to move on because otherwise the homeowner calls the cops.
I drove out to the location of this particular property and once I realised I had found the hidden gem, I turned the car around and went for the first drive-by. While
Liz Truss again refuses to apologise for the banking crisis in a Sky TV interview travelling at three miles per hour and peering through the gates, a lady appeared at the top-floor middle window. I scurried on and chalked it up to ‘unlucky’.
I turned the car again and went for another look. This time peering through the passenger window at three miles per hour.
Sadly, the same lady was looking out the ground-floor window.
The lady had cleaning products in her hands and looked cross. At this point, I knew that two noticed drive-bys are the legal limit and I decided to park the car. I thought it would be acceptable instead to do a walkpast.
I seem to spend far too much of my life travelling up and down a road trying to work out which house it is
“Jimmy represented what I aspire to be.. strong, brave, loyal and fearless but... loving and connected to his family” Harry James-mills pays tribute to James “Jimmy” Henderson, killed in a Gaza drone strike
I parked. Commenced my walkby. This time the same lady was in the garden. I smiled and walked briskly. I walked around the housing estate back to my car. The decision had been made. I couldn’t buy the house because it was like being in a horror film. Thank goodness I checked.
“Everyone’s cheering and chanting, it’s incredible – I should do this every year”
Lee Baynton, who clocked the fastest ever marathon in an inflatable costume