If you notice someone taking pictures in your neighborhood …

… it MIGHT be the real-estate site Zillow. We got a note from Michael in Gatewood this afternoon, saying someone suspicious was taking photos of houses along his street. A neighbor, he told us, asked the person what they were doing; they said they were with Zillow. After we tried contacting the company via Twitter just to ask, they called us to confirm yes, it’s a project they’re working on, to “improve the images on (their website)” comparable to what you might see on Google Street View. However, the spokesperson assured us, they aren’t taking photos with people in them, and if you tell the photographer not to take a picture of your house, they’ll honor the request. Just thought we’d share what we found out.

trickycoolj August 1, 2014 (3:59 pm)

Interesting. They were doing the same thing during the work day on my street in High Point a month or two back. The neighbor called down to the woman from his open upstairs window and asked what she was doing and she brushed him off and wouldn’t tell him. At the very least they could wear identification and identify themselves politely when asked! I felt very uncomfortable at work finding out someone was roaming around my house taking pictures.

Joe Szilagyi August 1, 2014 (4:11 pm)

While some of us may not like it, it’s also generally quite legal to take photographs of just about any sort of property from the public right of way. The police — or myself as a home owner — would have no authority or right to try to stop someone from taking a few photos of my house, or even me in my yard. Depending on the circumstances of how those photos are used, there may be some limitations — but I could walk every single street in Seattle and take a picture of all 60,000 or so homes if I wanted to, for better or worse.

Eric August 1, 2014 (4:12 pm)

This kind of thing happened to me a couple of years ago. The person acted as if I were out of line for asking why he was taking pictures of my yard. I told him to leave, which he did

Gatewood Guy August 1, 2014 (4:26 pm)

You can ask them to not take a picture, if you happen to be home in the middle of a work day when they come past your house? Nice.

WSB August 1, 2014 (4:39 pm)

As Joe points out, anything and anyone visible from a public space, sidewalk, street, whatever, is fair game for photography. The Zillow rep who called us (again – unsolicited – I tweeted “at” Zillow just because some larger, online-savvy companies are actually more reachable via Twitter than if you try to make your way through a phone tree, and did NOT include our number, so they went to the trouble of looking it up) volunteered that people could ask the rep not to take a pic; it wasn’t the response to a question. Google Street View goes by regularly. Bing’s corresponding service was seen in West Seattle recently. If you look at Redfin and Zillow -type services, there are satellite shots of your home too. Just a datapoint … TR

trickycoolj August 1, 2014 (4:47 pm)

I agree it’s fair game to take pictures from the right of way, I have used Google Street View so many times for all kinds of reasons. But when it was some random person not willing to identify herself, it seemed sketchy. The county assessor would most definitely identify themselves (I hope!) so it made me skeptical that someone was going to try to profit from pictures of our houses in some way, which I wasn’t really comfortable with. Especially given the concepts around High Point who knew if it was something innocent like Zillow or the agent for the house that later went on sale across the street or some type of shady media outlet trying to smear High Point or SHA. I wouldn’t be thrilled if someone used pictures of my home for something negative about my neighborhood!

Either way I took solace that I had just installed two very kitschy pink flamingo yard ornaments that week!!

Christopher Boffoli August 1, 2014 (4:52 pm)

Anything that can be seen or photographed from the public right of way is fair game as there is no reasonable expectation of privacy. I have a hard time understanding why people get themselves so worked up and get so aggressive about things like this. I don’t find it the least bit suspicious.

KatherineL August 1, 2014 (5:07 pm)

A young man was taking pictures of houses on my street a couple of days ago. I asked him what was going on, then saw that he had “Zillow” written large on his shirt. He confirmed that was what it was for.

Michelle R-R August 1, 2014 (5:11 pm)

I saw him here in Gatewood, too. FWIW, it did look he had a badge with ID on a lanyard around his neck. He wasn’t being intrusive, just on the sidewalk at the time I drive by.

Me August 1, 2014 (5:37 pm)

As an amateur photographer, I often photograph buildings that I find interesting looking. So what. Seems to me, someone’s being awfully paranoid…

Me Too August 1, 2014 (7:18 pm)

I have far bigger things to worry about than someone taking a photo of my house. It certainly won’t be the only one on the internet.

Beth Davenport August 1, 2014 (9:15 pm)

I pulled up to my house as he was taking a picture of it. I asked why. He told me he worked for Zillow and showed me a badge. I said okay and we both moved on. I’m not sure why being curious would make me suspicious or paranoid.

zorazane August 1, 2014 (9:35 pm)

I don’t think anyone is being “paranoid”. I too saw a person taking pictures and I asked him why, and he told me for Zillow and I noticed he had a i.d. badge, and I took his picture with my phone – glad to hear others are taking notice. I hear too many stories of burglaries and such where the burglars acted like they were supposed to be at a house and no one asked, took information or whatever. Also, bank representatives do things like this to harass homeowners whose houses are in danger of foreclosure. Love that a lot of my West Seattle neighbors keep an eye out for all of us.

Mike August 1, 2014 (10:28 pm)

Actually Joe Szilagyi, it’s not that simple. If Zillow was not profiting from it, yes. However, they are. I’d also go as far as to say they probably don’t have proper permits to take pictures for profit in city limits. Oops, the multi-billion dollar company might just have a class action lawsuit brewing over this.

Twobottles August 1, 2014 (11:22 pm)

Permits to take pictures for profit in the city limits? Yes, it is that simple, they can. Whether for Zillow, Google, or any other “for profit” company, I can walk on public property and take all the pictures I want to. Restrictions occur only in how I use said pictures.

Smitty August 2, 2014 (6:05 am)

If it was illegal to stand on public property and take pictures of private things you would solve the paparazzi issues that celebrities have. Imagine how annoying THAT would be!

Azimuth August 2, 2014 (7:53 am)

Hopefully they didn’t take pictures of my house last month when I hadn’t touched my yard in 5 weeks. It looks much, much better now Zillow!

Beth Davenport August 2, 2014 (3:08 pm)

@Azimuth. That’s funny. I actually appreciated the angle he was shooting my house as it didn’t show the bush that needs to be pruned on the south side.

tim August 2, 2014 (3:49 pm)

@zorazane And now the burglars will wear fake Zillow uniform and ID badges.

Winston August 13, 2014 (1:35 pm)

I called Zillow and the gist was they don’t hire people to take pictures of anyone’s house. Real estate agents submit pictures to them all the time so I find it odd the person said he worked for Zillow.

Winston August 13, 2014 (3:29 pm)

As a follow up a Zillow rep sent me an email saying it was probably someone from Zillow after all. They did say however, “…our photographers are supposed to have ID on them at all times, so if you encounter this again and the photographer cannot produce an ID, try to get more information on the person and please let us know. Thank you.”

So, all-in-all, if you see someone taking pictures from the street, no need to worry. If they are sneaking around your backyard taking picture through your windows, time to worry. :-)

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