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Buying a House? What is the Walking Score of your home and neighborhood? Or is this a Ridiculous Ruse?

By
Real Estate Agent with Florida Property Experts
          Port Orange Real Estate Blog by Lisa Hill, "The Smart Choice" for your real estate needs

walkingAs I was posting the price reduction to all my real estate blogs (using several is great for pushing your web site up the search engines!), for my real estate listing: Daytona Beach house for sale, within walking distance to the beach... as I got to my personal, Trulia real estate blog, I stumbled across a link that questioned the "walkability of the neighborhood". Well I can't say I've ever seen a web site like that before, so my curiosity was piqued. But not only am I a REALTOR®, I'm also a Daytona Beach native, so I already know the statistics and demographics of pretty much any neighborhood; such as whether or not it has sidewalks... how safe it is... and other factors you might want to know, if you like to walk for exercise.

So to do a test on the Walk Score web site, I used my home address as a test subject... and FYI, I live in a gated housing community in Port Orange... (10+ years ago, we knew we wanted to live in Port Orange; and we decided to buy a house in a subdivision, within another subdivision.)

Now before I tell you my own neighborhood's walking score, let me provide a few more details about Port Orange. The whole city of Port Orange has sidewalks on both sides of the street in almost every neighborhood; and even along the sides of the busiest roads! It also has doctors, all sorts of shopping, banking, restaurants, etc., within walking distance of almost every community in the city. It also bears mentioning, the motto for Port Orange is "Unique by Choice, Not by Chance". Needless to say, a LOT of thought has been put into the planning of this beautiful city. Oh, and on a personal note, I frequently walk several miles at a time, sometimes late at night, without a care in the world.

Now to get to my neighborhood score... I input my address and discovered we had been given one of the lowest possible scores. Well, to put it bluntly, that is absurd! So what the heck is the criteria for these supposed walking scores!? I'll let you see for yourself. Just follow the links below. Because the irony gets even better... Check this out!

At the top of the web page, there are links about the sit that say "How it Works" and "How it Doesn't Work". Excuse me for thinking this but if you have to post a link on your own site, that tells you how it goes wrong, you have a serious problem with your system.

So to finalize this, I'm interested in what kind of results you get when you run your own walkability tests. I'm not going to list all the criteria from the How it Works, and How it Doesn't Work links. I'll let you check it out for yourself. And then, I'm VERY interested in what kind of results you get. Run your own little tests, and let me know what you think.

Is the Neighborhood Walkability Score a legitimate test, or a malfunctioning piece of crap? As Broker Bryant would put it... What Say Ye?

Lisa Hill Port Orange Realtor with Adams Cameron Realtors

list real estate in Port Orange FL with Lisa Hill and Adams Cameron Realtors and get it sold

 

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*This post is written and copyrighted by Lisa Hill, The Smart Choice logo, and House logos are also copyrighted by Lisa Hill.

Comments (36)

SarahGray Lamm
Allen Tate Realtors Chapel Hill, NC 919-819-8199 - Chapel Hill, NC
Realtor - 100K Hours of NC Real Estate Experience

Turns out this is a timely discussion...look what just came across my RSS feeds on Walkability

I agree with other commenters above that anything suburban gets a crummy score regardless of how walkable the area is. I live in Carrboro, NC which, as anyone who lives here knows, THRIVES on being walkable. In fact Carrboro has a great score. I am an easy walk of less than a mile from 'downtown' all sidewalk all the way and I have a 14! Go figure.

 

 

Sep 08, 2009 05:15 AM
Tamara Perlman
Referral Network Inc. - Truckee, CA

I think the best test of a walk score is to get out and do it yourself!  Amenities that may be important to you may not be on their list....

Sep 08, 2009 05:51 AM
Michael & Julianne Crum
RE/MAX Prestige - West Springfield, MA

My score was WAY off. Many of the scoring aspects missed the business or amenities right near by. This is very much hit or miss just like Zillow. Sometimes they nail it sometimes I wonder what they were thinking. I would never make a decision base on it.

 Win the day!

Mike

 

Sep 08, 2009 07:26 AM
Michael Bergin
Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage - ABR - SRES - Alexandria, VA
Northern Virginia Real Estate

We've been writing about walkability for over two years and here in Northern Virginia it is definitely an asset.  It reminds me of Mapquest  - it's not 100% accurate but it gives you a great place to start, even if you take a detour.

Sep 08, 2009 08:13 AM
Christa Ross
RE/MAX Select Realty - REALTOR and Green Homes Specialist - Pittsburgh, PA
Helping you buy and sell Pittsburgh's Best Homes

Since I concentrate on green and energy efficient homes I believe that walk score is pretty important since the time people spend in a car is related to the impact they have on the environment.

I have found it to be close but it can't take into account all situations. Our downtown may be walkable but a lot of stuff closes after business hours (although that is improving), on the other hand we have some great neighborhoods that have plenty of businesses that are open and busy but I probably wouldn't advise someone to walk around at night on the off streets, and those places get really high walk scores.

It's a tool and a starting point but if it could tell a person everything about a place then why would there be any value in hiring an agent to help you understand the neighborhood?

Sep 08, 2009 09:43 AM
Jerri McCombs, Broker/Owner
Dogwood Real Estate Services - Hendersonville, NC
Hendersonville Living

I think the idea of the site is to score area that allow pople to park their cars and walk or ride bikes for the majority of their outings. The closer you are to as many different businesses possible the better it works for those who want to park their cars.

So if this is what people are looking for it may be a good site. But one would have to look at the types of businesses they really use on the list they get to see if THAT list will work for them.

Not sure I woud want to rely on it to purchase a home, but I think it is a good tool for a starting point for someone looking to walk/bike and kill the car in their life. Nothing is perfect.

 

Sep 08, 2009 10:12 AM
Lisa Hill
Florida Property Experts - Daytona Beach, FL
Daytona Beach Real Estate

Wow. A lot of differing results for everyone. Based on the ridiculous results I found for my neighborhood, I would have tossed the whole thing out the window, but apparently it works for some of you. I think my neighborhood scored in the teens. Yet we have a Super WalMart about 1.2 miles away. Maybe it thinks that's not close enough. But when I first clicked the "walkability" button, I was approaching strictly from an exercise perspective. I buy way too many groceries to even walk across the parking lot!

So perhaps they need to split the scoring into 2 sections. Why is the walker using the site? Are they looking for a safe neighborhood that has plenty of walking trails, sidewalks, safety, etc., for exercise purposes? Or do they need to walk instead of drive to all their every day errands?

Sep 08, 2009 12:00 PM
Ginger Moore
Wilkinson & Associates Realty - Gastonia, NC

Hi, Well it is an ok site. but I agree, it is not really so accurate..  thanks for the info! 

Sep 08, 2009 12:59 PM
Mark Velasco
West Shores Realty - Whittier, CA
Top Producing Broker Associate

Funny measure of a neighborhood "walkability" Lisa. I like to compare comps instead

Sep 08, 2009 04:52 PM
Lyn Sims
Schaumburg, IL
Real Estate Broker Retired

I really think that this can only work for cities or someone in a town with a complete downtown and lives on that busy street.  I had a score of 37 and said 'car required'.  90% of people in my town have a better walkable score than my area.  Hogwash ....  every place is the same in suburbia.  You have to have a car to go everywhere.  We don't even have a bus! 

Sep 09, 2009 05:25 AM
Elva Branson-Lee
Solid Source Realty GA - Atlanta, GA
CDPE - Atlanta Real Estate & Short Sale Agent

Here in the deep south, almost everywhere you need to go, you'll have ot travel that proverbial "country mile." Being a true northeastern inner-city girl, I KNOW walkability. Outside of the major city intown-areas, the south just doesn't have it. You are hard-pressed to find a sidewalk. No, Honey, don't come here without a car!

Sep 11, 2009 10:27 AM
Lisa Hill
Florida Property Experts - Daytona Beach, FL
Daytona Beach Real Estate

Elva- That's just it though. We HAVE sidewalks everyone in our area. The first house I tried was one of my listings. I don't think there were any sidewalks on that street, and the shopping was all about a mile away. So I tried my own house, where we have sidewalks on both sides of the street, and we're surrounded my shopping, banks, doctors, chiropractors... you name it! And the scores were backward. I have no idea how they're gauging the "walkability" of a neighborhood.  It made no sense.

Sep 11, 2009 01:44 PM
Karen Crowson
Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage - Rancho Bernardo, CA
Your Agent for Change

Lisa -   Just got back from vacation and was catching up on posts.  Saw yours and it caught my eye, as I'd just finished reading this artcile, released by our association.  It seems more scientific in approach, but it certainly doesn't allow you to pinpoint and address like the site you used.  You might want to look at it for fun: http://blog.walkscore.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/WalkingTheWalk_CEOsforCities.pdf 

I put my address in the site your provided and it gives my area a low score too.  I guess it's subjective - to me, walking less than a mile is walkable and we do it occasionally, depending upon where we're going.  But as others have stated, some of the landmarks they use have been closed for years or are completely erroneous.  Not only that, but our development has a walkway/bike path within it, which follows a natural arroyo. Lovely for a nice walks with the kids or pets.  I suppose I'd need to understand their definition of walkability!

 

Sep 16, 2009 01:46 AM
Lisa Hill
Florida Property Experts - Daytona Beach, FL
Daytona Beach Real Estate

Karen- I walk for exercise... usually 3-4 miles. So when I first saw the site, I thought that's what it was about. Being in the fitness industry for 21 years tends to make you think differently than everyone else =/  But after I saw the bad scores I realized they were thinking of people who would like to walk instead of drive. But there are pros and cons to that. Who wants to like right beside a big shopping plaza? You need some kind of buffer zone. I'd think that a mile is not big deal. And what about kids walking to school? When my daughter was in high school, she walked or rode a bike until she started driving. That should be a consideration as well.

I think they have some fine-tuning to do. People should be able to enter their own criteria for why they want to walk, and then tally the score. It's not a one-size-fits-all thing =)

Sep 16, 2009 10:32 AM
Liz Moras Migic
Chilliwack, BC
Chilliwack, British Columbia - Realtor

the new website I'm about to launch will have a walkability button for every listing -how fun eh? :-)

Sep 16, 2009 04:31 PM
Lisa Hill
Florida Property Experts - Daytona Beach, FL
Daytona Beach Real Estate

Liz- That should be interesting. BTW, I just gave you a shoutout and a link back in my last post ;-)

Sep 17, 2009 03:42 AM
Lisa Hill
Florida Property Experts - Daytona Beach, FL
Daytona Beach Real Estate

Liz- That should be interesting. BTW, I just gave you a shoutout and a link back in my last post ;-)

Sep 17, 2009 03:42 AM
Al Dobbs
ADD Real Estate - North Chicago, IL

I wonder how they handle that walking score for those of us who practice in rural areas? Or some cities where just a few feet makes a diffence in the neighborhood. Here in Chicago--the worst hood and the best neighborhood can be seen from the same window.

Sep 23, 2009 08:40 AM
Lisa Hill
Florida Property Experts - Daytona Beach, FL
Daytona Beach Real Estate

Al- I'm afraid your score would be the worst. It seems to me like they really should split the questionnaire in 2. 1 for those who want to walk to appointments, shopping, etc. and another for those who are walking for exercise. The requirements are completely different for each person.

Sep 23, 2009 01:28 PM
Beverly of Bev & Bob Meaux
Keller Williams Suburban Realty - West Orange, NJ
Where Buying & Selling Works

I think like #2 and others have said we have to at least understand it because some clients will be using it. I look at it a little like Zillow. Some public absolutely believes in Zestimates and what's on this site, which makes our job harder and harder. I just turn it now into an opportunity to show my consulting side.

Oct 04, 2009 10:19 AM