(928) 775-0400

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There is so much to consider when purchasing a home.  What is the neighborhood like?  What is the school district?  How close is the school?  How close are you to the store?  Are there buses or public transportation available in the area?  Luckily, many of these questions are answered in the Walkability Score of the property.  You may have heard about a Walkability Score before, but didn’t truly understand what it was referring to.  It is actually a pretty cool and helpful calculation.

Walk Score is a company which “analyzes hundreds of walking routes to nearby amenities. Points are awarded based on the distance to amenities in each category. Amenities within a 5 minute walk (.25 miles) are given maximum points. A decay function is used to give points to more distant amenities, with no points given after a 30 minute walk.”

Additionally, Walk Score looks at pedestrian friendliness, a component which takes into account population density, block length, and intersection density. (Source: http://www.walkscore.com/methodology.shtml).

Rankings are based on a 0 – 100 scale. Here’s how the scores translate to an area’s walkability:

90 – 100: Walker’s Paradise. Daily errands do not require a car.
70 – 89: Very Walkable. Most errands can be accomplished on foot.
50 – 69: Somewhat Walkable. Some errands can be accomplished on foot.
25 – 49: Car-Dependent. Most errands require a car.
0 – 24: Car-Dependent. Almost all errands require a car.

In addition to a Walkability Score, Walk Score also evaluates for Transit Score (how well a location is served by public transit) and Bike Score (whether an area is good for biking).

All three of these scores can help you determine your personal values when you’re buying a home. They can also be useful to profile the kind of buyer who might be interested in a home you’re selling. It’s important to understand that a high or low walkability score is not necessarily bad. It all depends on personal values. (Someone who wouldn’t walk to errands anyway might find themselves bothered by the proximity to a highly-trafficked commercial businesses, for example.)

Find Your Walk Score

If you’re curious about your own home’s walkability score, or you’d like to learn about the most and least walk-able neighborhoods in a given city, you can search for addresses on the Walk Score website at http://www.walkscore.com/.

Want to see a walkability score in action? The team at USA Real Estate would be happy to show you local neighborhoods! Contact the team at (928) 775-0400.

Prescott Valley real estate

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