Why I Love Google Maps Street View

I cannot believe I didn't find this sooner. Google maps street view is pretty much the coolest thing ever. Google sent a car out with 8 or 10 cameras, that snapped millions of pictures of almost every street in Philadelphia (and lots of other cities but this is the only one I check out). The result is you are about to walk through a composite of billions of pictures of the city and look around in almost 3 dimensions.

The other big news that is part of this post is that I will be buying a house this spring in South Philly. I have been pre-approved and have started to spend the majority of my weekends snapping pictures of granny fixer uppers and researching comps. I will certainly be posting more about this in the near future. What is great about google maps is I can see the house and tour the street before riding my bike to go visit it. It is really an amazing tool.

Here is how to see where I currently live on google maps.
1) Go to http://maps.google.com/
2) Type in 1204 South Street Philadelphia - you should get a tiny little picture of a corner with a pizza shop
3) Now in the upper right hand window click on street view (all the street should turn to blue highlights)
4) Move the little orange man to the green arrow, a window with a photo of the street should pop up
5) Glick and drag the photo in the screen to view 360 degrees. Get comfortable with turning and walking
6) When you notice the Gennaro's pizza shop on the corner then you are looking at my street. You should see a white 3 story building with 2 windows on the ground floor and 4 windows on 2nd and 3rd floors. This is my building. I live on the 3rd floor.
7) Take note of how amazing it must be to live between a pizza shop and a convenient store.
8) Go to the left and head down South Street to see what Philly is all about.