prowest 
How much can you find out about a property online?
With social distancing now a way of life, many people are choosing to do a lot of their real estate research online before fronting up to a property in person.
Luckily, modern technology and property websites allows us to find out a great deal about individual properties – from what the neighbourhood is like to how much they have sold for in the past.
There’s plenty to learn about a property before you take the next steps to inspect it in person.
Here’s where you can start:
View property profiles
You’ve no doubt looked over a property’s online listing in detail, but there’s still a lot more information you can find out about it by looking up the address on other websites.
Sites such as realestate.com.au, onthehouse.com.au and domain.com.au all offer property profiles that might provide you with information such as past sales and rental history, an estimated price range, and maybe even past photos of the property. This can be useful in determining if the property has been renovated recently or not.
These websites will often also show nearby properties that have recently sold to help with determining a property’s price.
Get to know the neighbourhood
Another way to learn about a property is to find out about the area it’s located in.
Microburbs.com.au is a useful website that provides detailed demographic information about suburbs and neighbourhoods. You can find out the population density, the leafiness of the area and where local shops and cafes are located.
It’s also well worth searching for property information on the relevant local council website. You will be able to check whether any relevant zoning rules apply and you can also search for nearby development applications.
Contact agents
If you’re after any particular details about a property before you want to commit to seeing it in person then don’t be shy about asking the selling agent.
There’s a good chance they’ll be able to obtain any extra information for you, and provide you with any details you’re looking for about the area you plan to buy in in general.
