Walk your way to higher property values

According to a survey sponsored by the National Association of Realtors® (NAR), commute time and places to walk are two of the top three most important community characteristics a potential buyer looks for in a home.

Walk Score, a website that assigns “walkability” scores to certain areas, measures the number of typical consumer services available within walking distance of a household, then awards a rating ranging from 0-100, with 100 being the most walkable.

“People are looking for alternatives to long commutes,” said Josh Herst, CEO of Walk Score. “Families living in a house that is accessible only by car spend on average 25 percent of their income on cars while those that live in walkable communities can spend less than half that amount,” he said. “Boomers and millennials are indicating a high demand for walkability and are willing to pay more for it.”

According to Herst, walkability and shorter commutes are associated with higher home values. In an independent study measuring the connection between home values and walkability, CEOs for Cities noted that in a typical market, a one-point increase in Walk Score could be worth up to a $3,000 increase in a home’s value.

Walk Score uses a variety of data sources, including Google Maps to commute the distance between home addresses and nearby consumer services. Points are awarded for each destination that is between one-quarter mile and one mile of the subject’s property. No points are awarded if the destinations are more than one mile away. The most common destinations Walk Score rates include grocery stores, schools, fitness centers, restaurants, parks, hardware stores, drug stores and movie theatres.

Among the products Walk Score offers to real estate professionals include a neighborhood flyer application, which allows Realtors® to create and customize flyers for their listings. The site offers an interactive map that Realtors® can add to their website which shows all of the nearby services in relation to their listed home. Lastly, Walk Score offers an HTML badge that can be pasted into a blog or website such as Craigslist.

“Walk Score is about what’s beyond the four walls of the home,” said Herst. “It’s great for the wallet, health and quality of life. Walk Score helps real estate professionals communicate the value of walkability to clients.”

The website offers a free iPhone mobile app available for download. For users without an iPhone, opening walkscore.com on your phone’s browser is another mobile option.

Launched in 2007, Walk Score declares itself the only international measure of walkability and the leading provider of neighborhood maps to the real estate industry. Currently, more than 10,000 websites use the Walk Score neighborhood map application.