Bikeability increasingly a selling point for real estate

[OakLeaf]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1219...al_real_estate

[Pax]

Excellent article! One of the major reasons we purchased our new home this summer was the ease of a cycling or walking commute to work/groceries/entertainment...

[Kvixen23]

We will be looking for a new home within the next year or two and have discussed biking as a big selling point already.

I'm so happy that so many people are thinking and going more green in our consumer friendly economy!!!1

[Mr. Bloom]

I believe it!

A slightly different twist to the same conclusion: Due to some structural issues with a nearby bridge, my condo in Bloomington lost it's bus stop for 1 year. Over that time, comparable sales went down about 10% and marketing time increased (although, Bloomington has seen no market devaluation in the recent real estate crisis).

The bus stop was restored last week...maybe we'll see an improvement. Now, our CFO and I will lobby for a shower installation at the office in next year's budget so we can encourage commuting.

[shootingstar]

I was very lucky in a nearly clueless way at the beginning when I bought my home in Toronto. At purchase time, I still had not even returned to cycling. A year later, I found out after meeting me, my partner got me into cycling..that's when I learned that there were 2 major cycling routes from my area (suburbs) to downtown core..through ravine park area and other route ran by a waterfront area alongside Lake Ontario.

And it was a home nearly next door to a subway station. Yes, best of all worlds.

Now, people are much more aware of benefits to live near bike routes and parks, etc. from lifestyle..and real estate investment (yes, for latter it is easier to sell a home when close to amenities, including affordable transportation options).

Admittedly I do get abit defensive when some surbanites criticize city living as a terrible place to be. They should take time to visit, walk and bike around in well-designed neighbourhoods in a city.

There are alot of bike, pedestrian and public transit options near where we live not far from photos in this webpage.
http://www.tourismvancouver.com/visi..._rollerblading

More areas downtown near home, that have separated pedestrian and bike paths. (Oh yea, I guess the waterfront area is ….a recreational boat…and very popular kayak area.)
http://www.seegranvilleisland.com/fc...n/1211-10a.jpg


Architects, urban planners and developers visit our neighbourhood to see how a neighbourhood is made more livable, walkable and bikeable. Latest article just published a few days ago, about sustainable urban planning (including walkability & bikeability)
http://www.canada.com/vancouvercouri...fa0cb5c404&p=5

Excerpts:
“I'm not sure I like the term 'Vancouverism'," says Price, "but you know it when you see it. It's very green and glassy. It embraces density by building whole neighbourhoods of residential towers--lots of thin towers on podiums. It mixes old and new, young and old, well off and not so [well off], jobs and retail, green spaces and hard edges. It's pedestrian-friendly. It's profitable."
Price prefers the term "PoTo," for "podium and tower," which was coined by a UBC student last year.
"It's a reflection of the success of the model," he says. "What happened in Vancouver during the 1990s has turned out to be architecturally significant, and there are a lot of people coming here to see if it works for their city. The fundamentals turned out to be fairly correct."

Below is pic of an area with pedestrian, bike path (which is obscured by the public artwork), boating, there is public sculpture integrated throughout this area. Just down the street is bike store, more cafes, commuity centre, etc.

This area is across the site of the Olympic athletes village for 2010.
Most of my life, I've made deliberate choices to live near affordable transportation options and base services. It is a strong priority for me.

[Grog]

We're not anywhere near buying, but when we rented our current place it was definitely a criteria, and the landlord advertised it as "next to the Ontario bike route". The fact that there were around 20 bicycles in the basement (which we share as storage space) was also heart-warming!

That's all good news!

[Trek420]

When I bought one of my criteria was near BART and public transportation. I had gone through a break up, was newly single and thought of the available public transportation, bike routes to it like a back up car.

Now that I've found the route the car is back up to public transportation, bike to work .

I'm counting on the high price of gas making my small but convenient to anywhere condo attractive when I'd ready to sell. I'm already looking for some weary Bay Area super commuter. For the price of your gas bill .... you could have this condo

[MomOnBike]

That's kind of my problem. I really really like my house's location, half a block from a bus stop, 2 miles from one work place, 4 blocks from the other, close to bike trails, hospital, library, stores, all that.

Except, now that the house is too big 'cause the girls are grown & gone, I kind of want to move to some place smaller. Good for selling, but man, I'm spoiled. I'll never find another house with such a great location.

I guess this is a good problem to have. . .

[kayandallie]

The riding from my place is one reason I wouldn't want to ever leave here. I leave my driveway and can ride probably hundreds of miles of nice country roads. The plus to my location is that most of the drivers are very polite and give me loads of room and then wave to finish it off. I have friends and family who are quite envious, as they have to haul their bikes to places to ride.