Finding the dream home on google maps

i decided today to see if i could find my future home on google maps satellite view. i'd love to get the lay of the land before i make it out there in person.

the HGTV website says the house is on Big Mountain in Whitefish, Montana, so i started my search on big mountain road.

next thing i did was sleuth through all the photos available to find out as much as i could about the surrounding area. from this we glean:

• the house is facing up the mountain, with the backyard to to lake
• there is a pretty steep drop off behind the house
• it has a green exterior with a brown roof
• there is a large kidney-shaped backyard patio
• there are neighboring houses on each side; one fairly close and another separated by trees
• in front of the house, there is a street heading north/south with at least two other across it
• there is a stone in front of the house with the house number: 302

with all that info, the first thing i did was search "302 big mountain road"

no luck. i checked around that area, consulted some topographic maps, and changed where i was looking a bit. after searching more to no avail i went back and reviewed the photos again. while doing this, i stopped on an aerial shot that showed the lake in the background. it had a distinct shape and there was also an inland pocket of water behind it. i zoomed out on the map and compared it with the aerial photo.

bingo. using that as a reference point, i figured the house had to lie somewhere in here.

inside that box there are only two roads that look like they could match the location seen in all the exterior photos of the house: elk highlands drive and ridge run drive. so i ran a search for 302 elk high and..

no house. an empty lot.

but, google's imagery might not be recent enough. i looked again at the photo that showed us a glimpse of the surrounding houses. space for a close neighbor? check. neighbor through trees on the other side? check. more houses across the road on the slope above it? check.

just to be sure, i clicked on the marker for the cabin across the street and compared that first photo with the house across from the dream home.

looks like a match to me.

so there you have it. you can send your christmas cards next year to 302 elk highlands drive.

--

total entries: 12