Why I built Will It Be Bright

It started with my apartment search

My last apartment was beautiful, and I loved almost everything about it. It also got no direct sunlight. I didn't realize how much that would bother me until I'd lived there for a while and tried to grow a garden on a balcony that barely got any sun. Nothing in the listing had prepared me for that.

When I started looking again, I wanted to be more careful about the light. A bright listing photo wasn't enough to tell me what the living room would be like in the afternoon or whether I'd get any sun in winter. I spent time looking at maps and trying sun apps, but I still had to piece together what their information meant for the places I was considering.

Will It Be Bright came out of that process. I wanted to enter an address and get an estimate I could use when deciding which homes to tour. The direction a building faces and the sun's position give you a starting point, so I used them to build the calculator.

I live in the Raleigh, North Carolina area and build and run the site myself. Before this, I spent years in marketing and brand strategy, working with more than a thousand social media clients through agency work. I left in October 2025 to build my own products, including this one.

How the tool works

The tool finds the address through OpenStreetMap's Nominatim service, then looks for the building's footprint to estimate which way it faces. It uses the sun's position throughout the day and year to calculate a sunlight grade and explain when to expect direct light.

Some buildings have better map data than others. When a footprint is missing, the tool can estimate orientation from nearby roads. You'll see a confidence level with the result, and you can adjust the direction if it doesn't look right. There's more detail in the scoring guide.

I'd still visit before making a decision, since a tree outside the window or a building next door can change the light considerably. The map won't catch everything, but the estimate gives you something to check during your tour.

A few practical details

The web calculator is free to use without an account. If you'd rather see sunlight grades while browsing Zillow or Redfin, there's a paid Chrome extension. I also built tools for agents who want to include sunlight estimates in their listings.

Will It Be Bright isn't affiliated with Zillow, Redfin, or a real estate brokerage. When you paste a listing link, the tool uses the address to make its own calculation.

If the tool gets your building wrong or you have a suggestion, you can reach me through Contact in the homepage footer. I read all of those messages.