Walk Scores Are Now on Zillow
By: Drew Meyers, Zillow Business Development Specialist | February 24, 2009
It’s a marriage made in real estate and walking heaven. Last month, the folks at Walk Score tipped their hand that Walk Score values will be added on Zillow. Today, it’s a reality — Walk Score’s functionality is now up and running on all home details pages on Zillow.
Walk Score, originally launched in July of 2007, helps people determine the “walkability” of an individual home with an algorithm that awards points based on the distance to the closest amenities. What does this mean for you? For the buyers, it means that you can now get a general feel for how walker friendly a particular home is. For home owners not currently in the buying process, it means you now have one place to check both the Zestimate and Walk Score of your home, or any of the other 87 million homes that can be found on Zillow.
Some celebrity Walk Scores:
- The White House has a Walk Score of 97.
- The new Bush home in Dallas has a Walk Score of 43.
- Obama’s Chicago home has a Walk Score of 71.
- Mitt Romney’s soon-to-be-for-sale home in Belmont, MA, has a Walk Score of 31. Ouch.
How do you find your Walk Score? Go to your home details page on Zillow and type your address into the search field. Scroll down to the Charts & Data section and you’ll see your Walk Score:
Especially in major metro areas like Seattle, Portland, New York, and San Francisco, the walkability of a home is a big decision in figuring out which homes to look at — and ultimately, to purchase. In my search for an apartment a few years ago, I specifically looked for places that were walkable and close to public transportation. I only drive about once a week since the bus stop, local bars, Trader Joe’s, and pretty much anything else I need are all within 10 minutes of my house. Many of my friends value the same things when searching for a place to call home — though a few friends of mine still prefer the suburbs for the peace and quiet.
I’ve been a Walk Score fan since they first launched and am excited that you can now find their data on Zillow. Here at Zillow, we’re focused on creating the best buyers’ experience possible, so integrating this type of walkability data is a natural fit for us. I’m definitely not alone as a fan of the site; they have served over 9 million Walk Scores thus far, to date. Now, find homes for sale on Zillow and see how walkable they are.
- Stumble it!
- Categories: Real Estate, Zillow
Comments
18 Comments so far
Enjoy this post? Subscribe to the Zillow Blog feed or get updates via e-mail
Walk Scores Live on zillow.com | Property Portal Watch on February 24, 2009 10:21 pm
[...] is now up and running on all home details pages on its website. On the company’s blog, they’ve also given a snapshot of Walk Scores for some key political [...]
psf on February 27, 2009 12:46 pm
seems helpful, but tough to find.
Lindsey on March 1, 2009 11:29 am
I really don’t care about the “walk score” in zillow, I care that my housing value being misrepresented. Is there anyone that can help? I wish someone from zillow would come walk through my home and tell me why zillow shows it as almost 50% lower than the original purchase price (in San Jose, Ca). It is insane and keeps me up at night. I imagine that my house does have a good “walk score” (as if that is any consolation after losing my $200k down payment).
Monica Ray on March 1, 2009 3:34 pm
Drew - this is a cool feature on the Zillow site, Walk Scores are great for urban areas. Thanks for the info.
AnnJo on March 13, 2009 9:41 am
This is a very interesting feature and the whole Walk Score site is fascinating, but the omission of safety as one of the considerations diminishes its utility.
My small town of Edmonds outside of Seattle ranks at 85, while Pioneer Square in downtown Seattle ranks much higher at 99. But I can tell you that making a quick trip to the corner market after dinner or stumbling home after last call in those two places is going to be a vastly different experience. In fact, in Pioneer Square, it would definitely NOT be advisable.
Incorporating street crime risk into the calculation would be challenging, but would result in a much more meaningful product, especially for prospective buyers. It also might give urban police departments a little added push to deal with these problems.
Julie McCullough Hale, Seattle on March 15, 2009 12:24 pm
Great addition Drew! I use ‘Walk Scores’ more for tapping into area businesses and schools, although the walk score itself is interesting as well. This is especially valuable for ‘Metro areas’ of Seattle.
Boston Online Rentals on March 18, 2009 1:10 pm
Thanks for the post. I hadnt heard of a walk score before, but i see how it can come in handy. I work and live near Boston MA and this tool should come in great when showing property to clients new to the area.
Thanks
G.F
Karissa Webster on April 8, 2009 2:50 pm
I love the addition of the walk scores & agree that neighborhood safety is an important factor & would be a welcome addition. Now for us cycling fans, we could use a Cycling Score: access to bike trails, mountain bike parks, scenic rides; info on the challenge of the local topography; condusiveness of area roads to cyclists; distance to nearest cycling shop…. tell me I’m not the only one who would love this!
Tim on April 30, 2009 10:36 am
Is there anyway to use Walkscore as a search criteria? It would be great to search for homes for sale on Zillow with a walkscore >80 for instance.
Christina Viering on May 11, 2009 2:12 pm
Very cool algorithm.
Luxury Boston Apartments on June 22, 2009 5:57 pm
I love walk score. Its being integrated into more and more sites because it’s a very useful tool.
Does anyone know of any other tools to find out what’s in a neighborhood you’re not familiar with?
I found neighboroo.com but i think its down.
vig rx on July 25, 2009 12:50 am
It’s time to see my home walk scores.
this is a new thing for me.
Suzie 100 on August 14, 2009 10:29 am
Great algorithm, can I have the whitehouse then please, as it looks like it has all amenities right on tap!
The Value of Walkability « CoolConnections on September 30, 2009 11:08 pm
[...] made the news when the real estate website Zillow began including Walkscore ratings in its search results. In addition to all of the Walkscore based ratings, which are found in numerous permutations [...]
Pay As You Go MobilePhones on October 6, 2009 4:07 am
So what exactly is included in these permutations?
Property on October 16, 2009 4:24 am
Super information, very useful walk scores algorithm.
Buy To Let on October 23, 2009 4:08 am
Great piece of info, thank you.
Harve on October 30, 2009 6:55 am
It is a good idea, but is only accurate if someone enters the restaurants, theaters, markets, etc onto the Google map for Walk Score. Then those get indexed into the system. Until those are posted in, the walk score does not reflect what is really in the neighborhood, and is misleading. The devil is in the details.