Cleveland Real Estate News

Many of us have gone to walkscore.com  to check out how this national study rates our own home/street in terms of walk ability.  But if you are looking for a new home, how valuable would your investment be if it had a high walk ability score? My opinion? It adds a lot of value.

Think about the trend towards homes being near public transportation, schools, shops, parks, restaurants, movies, libraries…..if anything, my buyers over the last two years have considered these amenities to be even more important than before. High fuel prices have played a part, for sure.
So you want to buy a house, you want it to be a good investment, even if you are living in it as a home to enjoy for many years. Even if YOU don’t care to walk, I’m here to tell you that it’s one of the least expensive ways to add value to your home. Given a choice between a home with a poor walk ability score and a high one, all other things being similar, I’d go with the latter.

People have always moved to places like Lakewood and South Euclid (among others) because they want to be close to bars, shopping, food, parks, shops, etc.  And it’s true that both of these communities have a lot of amenities to offer.  But not all streets are the same.  Some streets in Lakewood and South Euclid get below 70 pts which means less walkable.

I have a few examples, using 1300 sq feet minimum of living space, a garage, a yard, move in condition (although paint colors could matter) and priced between $95k and $125k.  Both communities had over 30 homes meeting this criteria. But not all were considered walkable.

Here are two in each community with so many amenities nearby they were rated very walkable!

Lakewood: first, a two bedroom ‘condo alternative’ single family with front and back porches, and you can move right in. $99,000 is the price (cheaper than renting for most of us). And an amazingly high walk ability score. This home is on Morrison.

Second home is a 4 br with a newer kitchen and lots of other updates, on Rockway.  Rockway is what I call central Lakewood and this home is within walking distance of many things (like the new Nunzio’s pizza branch, yum). It’s listed for $109,900.

 South Euclid: a 3BR brick home, clean, close to Cedar and Warrensville so very high walkable score (and close to Geraci’s…I should never post when I’m hungry, but you get the message lol). It’s for sale for $95k and is on Warrendale.  About 1400 sq feet of living space.

The second home is a huge split level, so different era. over 2000 sq ft of space, a/c, very large yard, close to hardware store, shops, and a coop food market, among other things.  So high walk ability score.  It’s listed at $109,900 and is on Rushton.

The next time you are making up a list of homes to see with your Realtor®, go to Walk Score and type in the addresses.  Not only does it rate the walk-ability, but the left hand side bar lists names of parks, schools, shops, bars, etc within walking distance of that home.

Peace Out -3C