Walk Score

ZipRealty, LPS Real Estate Group (formerly FNRES and Cyberhomes), Windermere, San Francisco Chronicle, and hundreds of other real estate sites that use the Walk Score Real Estate Tile are now showing nearby public transit powered by Walk Score.

Read the press release.

And—you guessed it—we also added transit to WalkScore.com:

How does it work?

• Walk Score gets data from transit agencies that publish a public Google Transit Feed.
• Currently, there are about 40 public transit feeds and we’ll automatically add new ones as they’re published.
• We show you the nearest rail stops followed by bus, ferries, funiculars, cable cars… you get the idea.

Not only is transit a key component of the car-lite lifestyle, but homes near transit may be better investments.

In Denver, homes within 1/2 mile of light rail appreciated more than 17% while the overall Denver housing market fell more than 7%.  Colorado residents can see transit powered by Walk Score on ColoProperty and REcolorado.

Does nearby transit affect your Walk Score? We’re working on it!  Visit WalkScore.Org to join the discussion. 

Does your city provide a public transit feed? Transit on Walk Score is a great example of the value of open government data.  If you live in a city that publishes a public transit feed, send your transit agency flowers and a thank you note.

If you live in a city that doesn’t publish a public transit feed, ask them to make public transit data public.

Public transit on Walk Score is funded by a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation.

We didn’t realize that Walk Score helps people learn English! These videos produced by Mike Marzio of Real-English.com feature our own Mike Mathieu talking about the benefits of walkable neighborhoods.

We had no idea the outtakes from Mike’s CNN interview would end up as ESL instructional videos!

It’s also great that they are teaching people English by talking about walkability. It really shows that it’s an important global issue!

We love the intersection of technology and real estate at the Inman Real Estate Connect conference.  This year I’ll be talking about the Walk Score API at 9:15am on Wed. August 5th at Connect Tech.

Stop by to learn the nitty gritty of building an API (or learn what an API is!)—or stop by if you want a sneak peak at the new Walk Score iPhone app… or just stop by to chat about my new Surly bike plus Burley bike trailer kid commuting setup!

And don’t make fun of my pants.  Knickers are the rage for biking in Seattle!

Hit Matt Lerner on Twitter if you want to meet up at the conference!

We’re excited to announce a new partner in online real estate!  LPS Real Estate Group (formerly FNRES and Cyberhomes), a leader in real estate technology, will add Walk Score to their offerings, starting with integration into their rDesk IDX product.

We’re excited to work with the team at LPS Real Estate Group to bring Walk Score to their customers!

We love how fast the folks at Diverse Solutions release new IDX features.  Here’s a screenshot of their Walk Score implementation with the new version of the Walk Score Tile.

Yes, and contrary to popular belief, Los Angeles has a number of walkable neighborhoods!

We’re big fans (along with everyone else who likes technology and real estate) of the Inman Real Estate Connect Conference.   So we’re thrilled that Walk Score is a finalist for the Inman Innovator Award for “most innovative new technology.”

Here’s a full list of the finalists:

• Closing.com
• Dwellicious
• SmarterAgent
• Walk Score
• Zillow iPhone app

Congrats to all the finalists—we’re proud to be in good company!

Come find us at the conference this Aug. 5 – 7th in San Francisco.  I’ll be speaking on the API panel at the conference.

See you there!

We’re thrilled to announce that Zillow just added Walk Score to each of their 87 million properties!

In January of 2009 alone, Zillow attracted over 7.5 million visitors.  Are people looking at Zillow because home prices are low enough that they’re thinking about buying again?  If so, purchasing a walkable home is great protection against future downturns and spikes in energy prices—not to mention it’s one of the easiest ways to save the planet.

Are people looking at Zillow to see how much their homes lost in value? Perhaps… but one thing is for sure: people who own walkable homes have happier Zestimates than people who bought homes in sprawling neighborhoods.

Kudos to Zillow for recognizing that walkability is a core piece of information about a property.  And guess whose home in the chart above has a Zestimate of $284,935,000?!

Nice blog post by Drew Meyers of Zillow here: http://www.zillowblog.com/walk-scores-are-now-on-zillow/2009/02/

Mike Mathieu, founder of Front Seat, will be speaking at Inman Real Estate Connect as part of 7 New Ideas That Will Change Real Estate.  Mike will be discussing the benefits of walkability, how people are using Walk Score to find walkable places to live, and Walk Score’s new services for the real estate industry.

Mike will be wearing his Walk Score on his shirt and handing out samples of our new Walk Score Flyer.  We’d love to hear comments from people at the conference!