My Real Estate Blog

Park the car and put on the walking shoes. Homebuyers are ranking a home's walking distance to schools, stores, neighborhood parks, and more as high on the list of influences to buy a home. Buyers are interested in purchasing a house that allows them to get around without the car.

According to one study of 90,000 homes in the U.S., being able to walk to nearby amenities can increase the value of the home by as much as $3,000 and if there is "location efficiency"—a calculation that measures transportation costs—the number of foreclosures in a neighborhood is impacted. .

Other influences increasing the appeal of a home's walkabilty are two demographics: the baby boomers and the first-time homebuyers. Both of these groups don't want to be isolated. They want the convenience of having stores and restaurants close by. Also, unstable oil prices, make parking the car a well-liked idea.

Check out www.WalkScore.com.  It figures out the distance from any address to various amenities. However, it is a "as the crow flies" measure. It won't tell you how easy the terrain is, such as if there are hills or rivers that must be walked around because they're lacking a bridge. The website developers are looking into making some adjustments to account for these issues. The website does give buyers an idea of how close a home is to stores and restaurants but it doesn't provide information on safety, upkeep of the neighborhood, whether there are sidewalks or other street designs.