Walking is free and easy benefit to home buyers
Put this on your trends-to-watch list.
They say sitting is the new smoking.
In this age of incredible technology, everybody is stuck to their seats while they are glued to their computers.
For hours and hours on end.
People are going to get tired of sitting and the media is going to keep warning them of the dangers of leading a sedentary life. (Now a clever inventor has created desks with treadmills attached to them).
Walking is going to be cool again. Research shows 2.5% of Americans actually commute to work by foot. April 6 is National Walk to Work Day.
So how can a savvy real estate broker or agent use this emphasis on personal mobility to their advantage?
The first thing they can do is embed a neighborhood search tool combined with an IDX into their site. SpatialMatch is one of those tools – geo-based, filled with more than a hundred layers of hyper-local data all positioned with the latest MLS listings.
The second thing you can do is pay attention to the walking potential of any property.
You might not be able to locate a person in a home where they can walk to work. Who does that?
But you can take advantage of this new emphasis on walking when it comes to other amenities – such as shops, or schools, or parks.
Take kids. Talk about technology. How often do they put down their Xboxes or PlayStations and get up off the couch?
Wouldn’t a mother love to have a school close enough for their children to walk to?
Even if it wasn’t a school for their particular grades, many times there are basketball courts or open fields available where kids can burn calories.
Maybe a church has a playground area. Maybe there’s a park or ball field.
Heck, they are kids, include distances they can bike to as well.
Okay, what about the parents?
Mom and dad wouldn’t mind an evening walk to a nice restaurant.
Or a morning walk or bike ride to a coffee shop.
The funny thing about this amenity is that it is cheap. A family doesn’t need a big car or a hybrid car to enjoy it.
It’s not like adding a jacuzzi or pool to a backyard.
You don’t need to build an in-home theater to enjoy the benefits.
All a family really needs are sneakers.
But you know the words “walking distance” are going to have a nice ring to it – a ring that will resonate with home buyers.
And they will be impressed with your SpatialMatch technology when you show them all the areas they can either walk to or bike to..for free.
As anyone in sales knows, certain buzzword click with customers.
Walking is now such a buzzword. Add it to your presentation.
