Take a virtual walk with me…
Last Friday afternoon a client requested information on a property for a potential listing in Gold Bar, Washington. Gold Bar is a small rural community in southeast Snohomish County about 55 miles northeast from my office in the Eastlake neighborhood of Seattle.
You’re definitely in the high country heading into Gold Bar and the Cascade Mountains on State Route 2. If you continue east you’ll drive through several small towns and burgs then over Stevens Pass into Leavenworth (famous for its Bavarian motif), and finally to Wenatchee on the Columbia River in Eastern Washington. It’s a beautiful drive.
I was given an address of 429 Croft, Gold Bar, WA. But having been in the industry awhile and knowing Gold Bar is about as far off the urban grid as you can get and still show up on the map, chances are (with just one piece of information) it might not be so easy to find. I’m hoping luck is with me.
Did I mention its late Friday afternoon, after 4:00 PM? If you’ve ever spent any amount of time in a title company property information department you know the Friday afternoon axiom. The closer to 5:00 PM the phone rings, the more challenging the task will be.
After looking through my systems, I’m getting nowhere. I opt out to Google Maps to see if they have this address plotted. If I can just get a visual to work with I’ll be on my way. But, Google puts me here and I’m still not finding anything around this location that helps.
I grab every street named Croft in the county along with every address in the 400’s from my database and mash them up in hopes of creating a few matches in Gold Bar. A few do, but nothing close to 429 Croft.
I call the broker and catch her on her cell phone in her car. “You wouldn’t happen to know just one other tidbit of info I might be able to use to compare things with?” She does, “I think it’s a La Hacienda Restaurant.” Great, that should do it and I’m off looking for restaurants. My enthusiasm is short lived, dang, nothing near here.
Using Google satellite aerials I zoom in from above. “We are sorry, but we don’t have imagery at this zoom level.” I can’t get close enough to identify anything.
Okay, Google… this is it, you and me. It’s here somewhere, I know it. I look at the little yellow stick figure guy on the upper left of the map… you know, the drag me to street level icon. I’m assuming this won’t work but what the heck I give it a try…
AND BEHOLD, I’m on the street!
Google puts me here…
I’m not seeing a La Hacienda restaurant, are you?
The good news is Google drove down Highway 2 taking street view imagery and I’m there!
I turn my view in a circle to take a look around me then start clicking my way down Croft on a virtual walk heading east for about 6 blocks and guess what I find?
TA DA! Here it is… The La Hacienda Restaurant… Gold Bar, Washington.
My spirits lifted as I position my vantage point from different spots on the street and find I’m on the corner of Croft Ave and 5th. I gotcha now!
As often is the case, the legal situs address (assigned by the county) is different from the mailing or postal address. The county carries it as 407 Croft, and the mail/street address is 429 Croft. I go to the Snohomish County Assessors website and look up that location on their aerials. Yep, that’s it, and there’s the tax number. ;0)
Who’d a thought a few years ago we’d have digital imagery online that we could virtually walk through?
Photo images #1 - 4 © 2010 Google, #5 © 2010 Snohomish County.
1 year ago