Google’s Street View has been welcomed by many home sellers, according to Mark Charter, head of residential sales in Carter Jonas' Oxford office.

Street View, which is a new part of Google's mapping capability, provides a useful visual tool for prospective buyers. Mark Charter, while acknowledging the well-publicised concerns over privacy, has already received positive comments from homeowners in Oxford: 

“While we appreciate that some people have concerns about individual pictures, as a whole it doesn’t give any more information than if you walk down the street yourself, which is the general idea behind Street View. Many of our clients are impressed by the clarity and think it really gives you a feel for the street environment before you go to view a property.
 
“It is certainly going down well in Oxford; in fact vendors from around the county who aren’t yet on it are asking us when that might happen,” he adds.

From the estate agent’s perspective, Street View can help them to bring properties to life for home buyers, from the moment they make an initial enquiry: 

“We’ve just made enormous improvements to our website to make it far easier to browse, search and view images of properties.  Street View, along with online tools such as Google Earth and Google Maps, add to these efforts, enhancing overall the online experience for home hunters.”