Use Walk Score to find houses and apartments in the best neighborhoods

Posted on October 1, 2007 at 10:55 am

Make sure to read other posts from the Real Estate Listings series!

Find real estate, homes for sale, and recently sold properties with Trulia
Find local real estate listings with integrated neighboorbood information
Use Walk Score to find houses and apartments in the best neighborhoods
YourStreet - Read local neighboorhood news on a Google map

As you can see from above, I’ve already written two posts on the topic of helping home buyers and renters find homes for sale, find prices for recently sold homes, find out detailed neighborhood information such as crime stats, school ratings, etc, and lots more. Walk Score is another web site whose aim is to take any property and tell you not only what’s around it, but also to give you a score out of 100 points, which tells you how “walkable” a neighborhood is.

I liked the idea behind Walk Score because it uses the same data that other sites use, but it looks at the data from a different perspective. For example, TeraBitz gives you tons of information on any local neighborhood, but it doesn’t calculate any kind of score for you to automatically compare two different neighborhoods.

Walk Score will give you a “walkability” score for every property you enter into the system. The Walk Score is calculated by taking the distance from the property to other nearby locations such as restaurants, stores, schools, parks, and lots more.

I also liked the purpose behind Walk Score, it’s a site that is trying to get people to buy homes where they can enjoy healthier lives and help the environment also. According to the site, finding a place with a high Walk Score has the following advantages: better health (if you walk to the close-by places), reduction in greenhouse gases (you’re not using a car), more public transportation options, more face-to-face interaction with people (since you’re walking), and stronger local businesses. That’s a pretty major mission statement if you ask me!

Go ahead and enter your address and you’ll see your Walk Score being dynamically calculated. Here’s what mine looks like:

As you can see from my horrid score, my neighborhood is way below average and this is quite accurate considering I’m living in the area where Hurricane Katrina flooded half the homes! Also, you’ll get a map with the nearby parks and other public places and a list along the left side that you can click on:

Here’s how the score is interpreted taken from the site:

90 - 100 = Walkers’ Paradise: Most errands can be accomplished on foot and many people get by without owning a car.
70 - 90 = Very Walkable: It’s possible to get by without owning a car.
50 - 70 = Some Walkable Locations: Some stores and amenities are within walking distance, but many everyday trips still require a bike, public transportation, or car.
25 - 50 = Not Walkable: Only a few destinations are within easy walking range. For most errands, driving or public transportation is a must.
0 - 25 = Driving Only: Virtually no neighborhood destinations within walking range. You can walk from your house to your car!

The Walk Score algorithm does not take into account factors like street width, safety, topography, weather, bodies of water, and freeways. But even so, it’s definitely a cool little web app to check out before you buy a new place or sign a lease!

Technorati Tags: real estate, home buyers, apartments, great neighborhoods, buying a house, finding an apartment, walkable, walkable neighborhoods, compact neighborhood, pedestrian friendly design, urban planning, urban planning walking

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3 Responses to “Use Walk Score to find houses and apartments in the best neighborhoods”

Anny said on : November 14th, 2007 at 6:28 am

I believe that walk score is cool, but nowadays more and more people drive cars. Homes are often located in an area where some establishments are easier to get to by car than on foot. I’ve recently found a type of service on Fizber which is called Drive Score. It shows a map of what establishments are in your neighborhood and calculates a Drive Score based on the number of places within a convenient driving distance.

Safisto said on : December 3rd, 2007 at 4:50 am

Anny, what do you think about they should create a bike score?
Or maybe something else?
If to say seriously, I think that we need to take both into consideration - walkscore and drivecore. It will show the whole picture…