to be a bit freaked out by the guy taking photos of outside house?

[WombatStewForTea]

Summer holidays so off work and trying to clean the place! Swanky high powered car drives past and pulls up in the entrance to one of the private car parks - I only noticed because of the loud engine revs. Guy gets out of the car and starts using his phone to take photos of the outside of one of the upstairs flats (our road is made up of houses and small blocks of flats) then he turns around and starts taking photos of the flat above ours.
A child who looked about 6 then jumped out of the car and came and sat on the kerb of the main road outside our flat and starts eating a sandwich
The guy then speeds off down to the end of the road, turns round and drives back parking outside my house.
The child stayed there while the guy wandered off in both directions down the road and continued to take photos and stand back to try and look in. Have to admit I started to get a bit freaked out and closed the windows and stood back from obviously watching.
Eventually after 10 minutes they get in the car and drive off.
Is it just me or is that a bit odd?! What reason could someone have to take photos of upstairs flats?! Just something about him made me feel really uncomfortable! I took his reg number not that anything is likely to happen and I'm judging the guy partly because of the car!
So any theories?

Estate agent needing an outside shot?

Estate agent?

Is it all new builds?

Builder quoting for work to repair guttering / windows?

Surveyor?

Planning officer looking at a planning application?

Letting Agent checking out condition of a property?

Buildings are about 15 years old and they're currently extending at the end of the estate.
Letting/Estate agent I'd get if it was one property but it was most of them and only the flats!
Building repair or management company would make more sense!

I'd guess Estate Agent, looking after his child as it's the school holidays (here anyway).

Possibly someone wanting to move to the area??
Or someone from abroad wanting to send/show to a loved family member?

I spotted a man in our street taking photos of my house, I did wonder what he was doing but it turns out he was staying temporarily with my neighbour and had literally just landed from Romania.

I Imagine the house styles here are massively different from Romanian houses so wanted a keepsake/ snapshot to show people back home.

Might be an architect or planner taking pictures to put on an ideas board for a new development or something. Conservation area plans also include examples of existing houses.

Maybe someone was murdered in the upstairs flat and he's a journalist doing a book on serial killers.

Why didn't you go out and ask him what he was doing?

The child could have been an evil dwarf.

Now I'm wondering just what was in that sandwich.

I arrived home one lunchtime to find someone in our front garden taking pictures of our house. She was a TV location scout 'collecting' images of potential places for a production. They ended up filming 3 doors down.

limited I love the theories!
I normally would have gone out but he gave off a reallly dodgy vibe and I didn't want to be murdered

I understand OP.

I probably wouldn't have been scared of him - but I wasn't there and maybe he was strange and you should trust your instincts.

When I was growing up we were never dressed before lunchtime if it was a weekend or a day off. So we would never answer the door. My dad, who used to wash and dress as soon as he got up, always would, but sometimes he'd be out taking the dog for a walk.

I work from home and usually wore a dressing gown until I was required to go to Sainsbury's or try to make an effort for DH. But a couple of years ago I adopted a cat and I didn't want my lovely dressing gown to get covered in cat hair so I now always dress in a small number of gym-type clothes.

They are festooned in cat hair but I look dressed.

I feel the mad cat lady look, often teamed with yesterday's make up and scragged up hair can intimidate people into handing over information about what they're doing in your neighbourhood when you confront them.

Christabelpankhurst you could be right. My mum asked someone why she was taking photos of her totally ordinary house - I've inherited the nosy trait - and she was from a production company doing a drama.

My mum's house was down to the final three. The money was really good. They were going to rework the front garden and put in a different door but they were going to put it back as was or leave it if she wanted and compensate her. The filming palaver wouldn't have bothered her. She'd have loved it.

She was so pissed off when she lost out .

Someone was taking photos of building I used to live in. I asked her why and she was doing a history project.

Thing is I'd get it if it was one house but it was at least 8 different flats! All pretty much identical and non remarkable!

We stopped Google on this private estate so no streetview pictures were taken.

The interesting legal point on public streets is that a house itself has no privacy or data protection rights so you probably can take photos of houses on a street.