Buyers prefer walkable communities. (Photo: iStockphoto)
Americans are looking to drive less and walk more these days. Because so many people are interested in using eco-friendly forms of transportation (than hopping into a gas-guzzling car) that means how "green" your neighborhood is may play into your home's desirability with potential homebuyers.
One measure of this is how walkable your community is whether homeowners can walk to schools, shops, restaurants, schools and places of worship. If your community is a walkable one, it's likely that it'll have appeal to a broader segment of homebuyers than neighborhoods that are not.
My husband and I chose our home in part because of its community. Our home is located in a small New Jersey town, and is only a few walkable blocks to downtown with its stores, restaurants, parks, a library, etc. We chose our home over a similar one located in the outskirts of town, in an area that's off a busy, two-lane, rural local highway and not very accessible to town by foot.
It turns out that my town ranks fairly high for walkability -- at least for a small town located in highway and housing development-filled Central New Jersey . According to the site, Walkscore.com, my town gets a walkscore of 69 out of 100, which means that it's "somewhat walkable," by the website's measures.
My community is probably only rated "somewhat" walkable because while there is a nice downtown, the downtown is small, and the main supermarkets nearby are either across a highway (which offers no pedestrian bridge) or are located a distance away from town and its sidewalks.
One very cool thing about the walkscores is that they can be added to home for-sale listings, so if your community is very pedestrian friendly, you can emphasize that fact to homebuyers looking be a little more green -- or just get more exercise. Or, if you simply want to boast about your community's walkscore to friends, you can email, Facebook or Twitter the results.—Lauren Baier Kim