Using Google Maps to view foreclosures

[christopherboffoli]

Forgive me if I’m late to the game on this one, but I just discovered this morning that you can use Google Maps to view real estate foreclosures, in West Seattle and beyond. It is an interesting way to get a birds eye view of the current foreclosure situation and, when zooming out over Seattle, to see parts of the city where clusters of foreclosures are more dense.

To do this, go to http://maps.google.com/ and type “West Seattle” into the search window. In the upper right corner of the screen, where you can define the map displayed (traffic, transit, etc.) select “Real Estate.” The sidebar to the left should default to real estate currently offered for sale. But if you check the “Foreclosure” box and uncheck “For sale” it will display only the troubled properties.

I’m not sure how current the data is. Some of the red foreclosure dots are a bit oblique and only display intersections or a general vicinity. But otherwise I think it provides an interesting snapshot of the breadth of real estate foreclosures in our community.

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[JoB]

Christopher,

I duplicated your instructions and looked at my neighborhood. I know there are bank foreclosed properties that don’t show up with the foreclose only button but do with for sale and foreclose.

the foreclose only option appears to under-represent the problem.

i wonder if the foreclose button shows only those homes that have reached the public auction stage?

someone out there probably knows…

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