Walk Score

The Local Market Explorer plugin from Zillow is a simple way to add data from Walk Score, Education.com, and Zillow to your blog—and it just got better.

Zillow just released version 2 of the Local Market Explorer.  Improvements include support for neighborhoods and ZIPs, video embedding, and easier customization.

Download version 2 of the Local Market Explorer plugin here or read more on the Zillow blog.

Check out these sample pages on the Geek Estate Blog:

• Pearl District, Portland, OR
• Upper Eastside, New York, NY
• Los Angeles, CA

Enjoy!

One of the most common home search criteria is, “How long does it take me to get to work?’

So why don’t real estate sites ask for your work address and then display your commute time?  We were psyched to discover this feature on ZipRealty:

Once you set up My Places, ZipRealty shows the distance from each property to work.  This helps people reduce the time they spend commuting—which means more time with friends and family and less stress.

ZipRealty is also one of the few sites that shows transit near homes:

The simplest way to reduce your carbon footprint is to live in a walkable, transit-oriented neighborhood near where you work.  With a couple of additional search features, ZipRealty could make these homes simple to find.  And this makes me wonder, is ZipRealty the greenest real estate website?

Looking for a bright spot in the housing market?  CEOs for Cities just released a study based on data from Walk Score and ZipRealty that shows one point of Walk Score is worth as much as $3,000 depending on the metro area.  Read the study.

Upset about your home’s value?  The good news is that you, your neighbors, and government can work together to make your neighborhood more walkable—and a higher Walk Score makes your home worth more.

Here’s the value of one point of Walk Score by city:

In 13 out of 15 metro areas, higher Walk Scores are directly linked to higher home values.  Homes with above-average Walk Scores are worth between $4,000 – $34,000 more than similar but less walkable homes.

So why do Las Vegas and Bakersfield have lower home prices with higher Walk Scores?  My hunch is that those sprawling cities don’t have enough walkable neighborhoods to create a price premium.  Also, in Las Vegas residents may actually pay more to be farther away from The Strip.

Read the research report and let us know what you think!

We’ve got two new research reports hot off the griddle that look at the effect of Walk Score on property value.

The first report by Gary Pivo (U of Arizona) and Jeffrey D. Fisher (Indiana U) was released last week and shows a 10 point increase in Walk Score increases commercial property values by 5-8%. Download the report here.

The second report by Joe Cortright and CEOs for Cities will be launching soon and revels how much one point of Walk Score is worth in different metro areas.  Stay tuned…

We’ve rounded up the top customer requests and are pleased to announce Version 2 of the Walk Score Tile!

New features include:

• Google Street View
• Ability to customize height and layout
• Smooth map scrolling between amenities
• Faster load time (compressed JavaScript)
• Search box to look up additional Walk Scores (links to WalkScore.com)

My favorite feature is scrolling through the amenities near a property with street view turned on—you can see whether the nearby coffee shop is your kind of place!

Here’s another screenshot:

Enjoy and send any feedback our way!

Have you ever wanted to see a Walk Score map with houses for sale overlaid on top?

Thanks to the hax0rs (that is geek for “hackers”) at M Realty in Portland, now you can!

A moving picture is worth a thousand thousand words so here is Garron Selliken from M Realty showing off their Walk Score maps:

Here’s my favorite screenshot of the feature: you can see houses for sale on top of the Walk Score heat map.  Note the difference in walkability between the Hawthorne neighborhood (green = walkable) and the Mt. Tabor neighborhood (red = less walkable).

Thanks to M Realty for being the first real estate website to integrate Walk Score heat maps!  And if you don’t know, Garron and M realty have the most tricked out mobile office in the real estate industry:

I wish I could say that the Boston Globe interviewed me for this article and that I was SO on message that they covered all my talking points.   But I tend to ramble—so maybe this article is so good precisely because I wasn’t interviewed?

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2009/04/05/walk_this_way/

“Walkability has become a buzzword in real estate, as environmentalists and “green” planners advocate compact residential neighborhoods near businesses and public transportation. And some realtors say in this difficult market, houses with high walkability scores are easier to sell: Owners can save money by walking to mass transit, and by using less gas when running errands.”

Diverse Solutions is the first national IDX (real estate listing syndication) provider to add Walk Score to all their listings.

But they didn’t stop there—they also added a gorgeous search by Walk Score feature, the ability to sort results by Walk Score (powered by the Walk Score API), and a slick Walk Score Tile integration.

Sort by Walk Score and Walk Score Tile Integration

Diverse Solutions covers hundreds of MLS feeds with nearly 2.5 million active property listings.  They are also h4ck3rs (our ultimate programming compliment) of the first order: this is one of the nicest Walk Score integrations we’ve seen.  Super fast search,  great attention to detail, <gush>, <gush>.

Best of all, you can try it out right here.

Search by Walk Score, view Walk Score in property listings.

A picture is worth a thousand words:

Kudos to Trace Lofts for really getting the importance of walkability (vibrant culture, less global warming, better health, etc).

ColoProperty.com just released a feature that allows their visitors to search properties by Walk Score.   Wow, those folks are fast–we just made the Walk Score API generally available a few days ago!

Sure, walkable homes are great for the environment, your health, and your community–but in this economic downturn buyers want walkable homes because they’re better investments. Kudos to ColoProperty.com for being the very first website to let their customers search by Walk Score!