How a Walk Score Rating Increases Real Estate Values

in Cincinnati Real Estate Development, Florida Real Estate, Real Estate Development

You already know that walking is good for your health. And you probably already know that neighborhoods with lots of foot traffic support a better quality of life for the people who live, work and play in those communities.

But do you know whether your home is rated as a “Walkers Paradise” or “Car Dependent”? Do you know how each of those ratings increases or decreases your home value?

Walk Score rates locations based on how walkable they are. They take into consideration walking distance from a specific address to services, art galleries and museums, clubs and nightspots, shopping, restaurants and delis, everything you need to live without a car.

So, What’s your Walk Score?

To take advantage of the information about a location’s walkability, just enter a street address on the Walk Score website. The site will populate a map of venues within walking distance on a map, and rate the walkability of the location. The Walk Score ratings are:

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 amenities within walking distance.

25-49 Car-Dependent – A few amenities within walking distance.

0-48 Car-Dependent – Almost all errands require a car.

According to Walk Score, the following characteristics make a community walkable: Read more →


Cincinnati Real Estate: Buyer’s and Tenant’s Market

in Cincinnati Real Estate Consulting, Cincinnati Real Estate Development, Cincinnati Real Estate News, Ohio Real Estate Development News, Real Estate Market News

With the continuing housing slump and overall low growth economic conditions, commercial real estate nationwide isn’t expected to begin to turn prices around until 2011 but the local conditions in Cincinnati may have a brighter outlook.
According to a recent article in the Kentucky Post:

“If the market hasn’t bottomed out [in Cincinnati], it’s very near bottom,” said CB Richard Ellis managing partner Ken Murawski, adding that the first half of 2010 will show marginal growth. Then, he says, things will start to get better in the second half of the year.”

Uniquely Cincinnati

Beyond the effects of the national situation, Cincinnati’s circumstances may also be effected by staff consolidations from various spaces in the Central Business District as businesses, particularly American Financial, begin their long planned move into the new Queen City Square office tower. The glut of available office space has caused many landlords to lower rates and negotiate new long term leases before current leases expire.

Buyer’s and Tenant’s Market

All that means, it is a good time for forward thinkers to get into the market for investment and new leased spaces at historically low prices compared to long term trends.

“I think now is an ideal time for real estate investors to begin acquiring properties,” said Keith Yearout, also in the CBRE Investment Properties Private Client Group. He said smart investors will selectively acquire assets now, instead of waiting for the heard to come back to the market at some point in 2011.

“I think investors have to take a hard look at where market rents are, strength of tenants, length of lease terms, but for the deals that pass the little more stringent underwriting criteria, I think there are attractive values out there,” Yearout added.

There are also some cautions pointed out in the article so read the whole thing.