Is your neighborhood walkable?

These days, most people looking for houses that are in neighborhoods that have the same community spirit that was prevalent in the 60′s, 70′s & 80′s.  These were neighborhoods where everyone knew each other and their kids all grew up together.  You didn’t have to find a babysitter, there was probably one next door.  How is this type of community created?  One way is to slow down the pace of our lives and to stop trying to schedule every hour of every day.  In place of rushing here and there, people need to take the time to walk around their neighborhood.  It’s pretty interesting to meet all of the neighbors on your street in maybe a one block radius.  In my old neighborhood in Seattle, there was the grade school a block away that drew every kid there after school, on weekends and you almost couldn’t help getting to know each other.  Most neighborhoods have a central core area that defines it.  Within the core area there are grocery stores, restaurants, coffee shops, movie theaters, parks, libraries, bookstores, fitness centers, drug stores, hardware stores and clothing stores to name a few.  All of them are within walking distance of where people live.  In most instances, mass transit is available within a block or two that can take you to and from work. Which means…you don’t need a car!  Wow, what a cost savings that would be.  Just think about how much you’d save not having to pay $2.00 – $5.00 for a gallon of gas, your annual insurance cost, upkeep and maintenance, licencing…etc. 

A lot of people are thinking this way and are looking for this style of living.  But how do you find it?  There are plenty of ways to do this.  The first is to start from where you work and decide how far out you want to commute.  Once you determine that, you look at the communities within the radius of that commute time and bingo, you should have found neighborhoods that you’d like to live in.  Then go and visit the neighborhoods and see what’s there.  Are there the activities that you’d enjoy?  Does the school in the area meet the quality you’d want for you kids?  Are there groceries and clothing stores?  If you don’t have enough time to work on all of that, you might try looking up the walkscore for the house that your looking at.  What’s a walkscore?  It’s a numerical score that takes into account all of the items previously mentioned.  You can then compare the different houses and their walkscores to help you decide on the perfect house for you.  The website is http://walkscore.com and it does most of the areas here in the Greater Seattle area.   

Communities are built on people and if you think back on the nicest place you’ve ever lived, it is probably where you felt the most comfortable.  What makes most people comfortable, is living in an area where people know and respect each other.  That brings safety as people watch out for each other.  So when you do walk down to the neighborhood coffee shop and see your neighbor you’ll realize that you picked the right place.  Happy walking!