A fellow Realtor® blogger – Missy Caulk from Ann Arbor (yes, THAT Ann Arbor!) – wrote a recent post about a neat site that rates the “walkability” of a given home. She said that Ann Arbor is a walking city.
The site is walkscore.com
The area where I do most of my work, Southern Delaware County, isn’t a walking area. I checked my home and it’s rated a 50 out of 100. Trust me, some of the local restaurants, theaters and parks aren’t within a distance that I’m about to walk to, even though the site said they were … but that’s just me!
The site uses Google Maps with the nearby locations identified. Enter the address of the home you want to check, and it will show you nearby sites, etc. You can click on a given icon and it will identify the specific location. You can also “move” the map by holding down the left mouse button to see other nearby sites.
If you’re shopping for a new home and either WANT to be able to walk to local sites or perhaps you want to make sure your new home ISN’T next to commercial sites, you may find this site helpful.
Some of the suburbs around the Columbus metro area that people DO like to walk to from their homes and shop are: Olde Worthington, downtown Westerville, Clintonville, German Village, Victorian Village and downtown Delaware. Dublin and Powell have quaint shops in their downtown areas but people generally drive there then park and walk. Lewis Center is an area, not a city, so there is no downtown area. However, there is a lot of shopping nearby (Polaris Mall and many, many strip malls).
For the most part, residents that live in Southern Delaware County don’t care to live next to commercial or retail establishments and that’s the way the subdivisions have been built. Suburbs in Franklin County tend to have more walking areas since that county is fully built-out.
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Very funny, gotta love those Google alerts on my name.
Hope you don’t lose some visitors to your blog because I’m from that state up there. LOL
Thanks for the mention. You know Ann Arbor people are so into walking everywhere.
I knew you had the Alerts set up.
Not worried about losing people at this time of the year. Now maybe come fall that might be a different matter.
Regarding Ann Arbor walking … uh … don’t you guys make cars up there?
Hey there, Elaine. Just cruising through and thought I’d say hello. The blog looks great! Keep up the hard work, it looks like you’re providing some great info for your clients.
Ryan, thanks for stopping by from Oklahoma. Haven’t spoken with you for awhile. Hope all is well in your part of the country.
Elaine – I loved learning about walking scores – how fun. Most of our area is not walkable
Cyndee, I’m somewhat surprised that your area isn’t walkable. I would think you would have trails along the Gulf.
Bicycling is big where I am. Another option for walking when the distance seems to far to walk.
Bikes are somewhat popular here but mainly the high-speed devotees. Too much traffic makes it somewhat risky.
Years ago, we lived in a home where I often rode my bike to go places. Had a seat for my youngest daughter and a basket for our little dog. It was fun!