Contributed by Krystal Meiners

Does it really cost less to live in a walkable neighborhood? Is a neighborhood considered more desirable if there are restaurants, shops, parks, and (of course) a bar minutes from your doorstep? Are accessible sidewalks often overlooked as a home amenity? These can all be answered with an emphatic “YES”!
But why?
The real value added to real estate in walkable neighborhoods can be measured both economically and qualitatively. And choosing a walkable neighborhood to live in can be easy… or difficult. Here are some facts, tips, tricks and people that we rely on at Green Canopy to help us build in the best locations. We want to offer our home-buyers more than just a well-performing home – but a home that people will want to stay in for generations because a whole world is just steps away.
Facts: Where walking makes cent$
Some of the most substantive incentives for purchasing a home in a pedestrian-oriented neighborhood come in the form of higher property values and lower transportation costs. A study released in 2009 called Walking the Walk, compared over 94,000 US homes in 15 different cities and concluded that homes with a higher level of neighborhood and pedestrian accessibility had a direct link to higher property values in 13 of those 15 cities (with Las Vegas and Bakersfield, CA. being the oddballs). This is an astounding figure.
“Even in a turbulent economy, we know that walkability adds value to residential property just as additional square footage, bedrooms, bathrooms and other amenities do,” said Joe Cortright, author of Walking the Walk. “It’s clear that consumers assign a tangible value to the convenience factor of living in more walkable places with access to a variety of destinations.”
While it’s clear that walkable places provide more value to home and business owners, is it more affordable? Affordability can be measured not only in real estate costs but also in transportation costs – which can be substantially lower in areas where you are more likely to leave your car at home.
A neat online tool called Abogo allows you to plug in your address to calculate the average household cost for transportation according to your regional statistics (available from the Housing and Transportation Affordability Index). The tool also calculates the average CO2 emissions associated with your location. Abogo helps shed light on true “affordability”.
Blogger, Siel from Green LA Girl is quick to dismiss complaints from people who claim that they have to drive because of the high cost of walkable neighborhoods. She says “it’s not the high rent of walkable ‘hoods keeping them in the car; it’s the high cost of the car keeping them out of walkable ‘hoods.” I would have to agree.
On another note, do healthier people save money? They do on medical care at least. New studies on the effects of neighborhood walkability on health have shown that people who walk more live an average of a billion years longer. Not really – but here is a link to some actual facts from the Sightline Institute that may help to make the connection between human health and walkability.
Tips: Where are all the Walkable Neighborhoods?
Walkscore, hands down, is the best online tool available for finding out where your feet should hit the pavement. Their online service measures “walkability” by calculating the distance to shops, restaurants, schools etc. from your address and providing a score based on this measurement – the closer to 100 your score is the more walkable your neighborhood will be. This makes it especially easy for home buyers who may not be familiar with an area and it is becoming common-place for savvy real estate agents in making the value-case for home sales.

Access to transit can be another indicator of neighborhood walkability and these days Transit Oriented Development (TOD) is typically a sign of Smart Growth – a proactive approach to neighborhood development where a mix of transit, housing and commercial areas are clustered to prevent sprawl. Neighborhoods in Seattle like Columbia City (pictured at right) are now reaping the benefits of planning for smart growth around the Link Light Rail Station. This area, like many others along the new Light Rail are now becoming very prominent. They are rich in character and diversity and offer an array of amenities such as parks, ice cream and coffee shops all within walking distance to transit.
Tricks: Discovering the Next Walkable Neighborhood
If you can’t quite swing the purchase price for the house next to your favorite bakery – consider some of these tips for choosing nearby neighborhoods and ways to discover the next pedestrian hub.
Biking – The next best thing! Living within biking distance of your favorite neighborhood may seem like we are pushing the limits – but the average cyclist travels about 15mp/h. This means living as far as two miles from you desired location still puts you in the center of everything in less than 10 minutes! So perhaps you don’t want to cough up that sweet $900k for the sleek home near the Alaska Junction – but the bike lanes go all the way to SW Southern St! With infinite mpg – it’s still cheaper (and healthier) than driving!
Main Street - chances are that even a small cluster of shops and restaurants may end up being the perfect site for a vibrant neighborhood center. Downtown Burien (pictured below) is a great example of this. Their downtown strip is now easily accessible by transit due to their fancy new park-n-ride (it really is fancy), and new development is springing up all over. While this area may be hard to find amidst the Fred Meyer super highway know as 1st Ave S, it actually has a very “urban” and human scale when you travel (by foot) down 152nd Ave SW. With several blocks of shops, restaurants, a brewery and fantastic ice cream – you won’t need to walk far for any amenity. (Did I mention the brewery?) Walkscore 92!

Think like a planner: Neighborhood development and walkability doesn’t happen overnight. It can take years before an area will see its first transit stop or bus line – but lucky for home buyers these things are planned far in advance. To get a better view of what an area will be like in a decade – you can browse the Department of Planning website to learn all about future light rail locations, bus rapid transit and neighborhood revisioning. Hopefully when a home-buyer makes a new home purchase they are considering what that area will be like in the future.
People: Advocating for a Walkable neighborhood
If a decade seems like a long time to wait for walkability, you can always become a pedestrian advocate in your new neighborhood! Our favorite peddlers of pedestrian persuasion are the folks over at FeetFirst. They have initiated some of Seattle’s most successful programs for increasing neighborhood accessibility and walkability and have published amazing and detailed pedestrian maps for a dozen neighborhoods in Seattle.
They have several programs currently underway, and perhaps the most notable is this summer’s In Motion program. Feet First has partnered with King County Metro to get people out of their cars this summer by offering discounts, prizes and events all over West Seattle. To reap the rewards, you must first register at King County Metro’s In Motion web page, and then pledge to walk, bike or take transit at least twice a week. You then log your trips to earn a chance to win a staycation and some super sweet free ride passes for metro. Additionally, metro and FeetFirst have partnered with a ton of neighborhood businesses who are also giving In Motion pledgees great deals on things like ZipCar, Alki kayaking tours and more!

In just 8 weeks, 1061 West Seattleites that have joined In Motion, have logged 6,484 trips, clocking 92,413 miles (Equal to 57 trips between Seattle and Portland). They have saved 4,620 gallons of gas and 89,640 pounds of CO2 from the atmosphere!!
There are several more events taking place in West Seattle through October, and a chance for you to log your trips and win more prizes. Check out this link to join the In Motion program and become a pedestrian advocate in your neighborhood!