Showing Houses by Bike

From Today’s Wall Street Journal

A Different Kind of Bike Tour
Agents Show Houses by Bike, Pointing Out Paths, Racks, ‘Tuck-Under’ Garage

By NANCY KEATES

Daniel Root for The Wall Street Journal

High gas prices and growing environmental concerns are making more home buyers interested in bicycle-friendly neighborhoods. Seeing a market, some real-estate agents have traded their suits for spandex and are leading clients from house to house on two wheels instead of four.

Targeting the cycling community is a new marketing tool for the struggling real-estate industry. In June, sales of existing homes fell 15.5% from the same month last year, according to the National Association of Realtors. Riding down streets with prospective buyers attracts attention that could result in more business, these agents say. Some Realtors also attend cycling shows and “ride to work” days to boost their client bases.

Wanna improve your curb appeal? Get all your neighbors to ride up and down the street on bicycles. Seriously, a community that is friendly (attitude!) toward pedestrians and cyclists will have much higher property values than one that is not.

2 replies
  1. pmsummer
    pmsummer says:

    I used to lead a weekly urban bike ride in Dallas, Texas. Many of the riders would be suburbanites who had negatives views of the city proper, and the region as a whole (living out in beehives in recently converted cotton fields, knowing nothing of Dallas but the freeways connecting shopping malls and business parks, who could blame them).

    But over the course of a few years, taking people in to older neighborhoods with tree-lined streets, rolling terrain, water courses, and intimate shopping areas, several homes were purchased by the riders as they discovered a human-scale city just beyond the freeway exit ramps they never ventured onto.

    Some of these same folks even ride their bikes to close-in offices now.

  2. Keri
    Keri says:

    I really enjoy leading urban rides. Cyclists who are used to riding outside of town are always amazed at how easy and enjoyable it is. And there are all these cool places you see on a bike that you’d never notice in the car.

    We do a brunch ride a few times a year with the ladies, it would be fun to make a regular community ride. Critical Manners of sorts.

    This interesting little piece came through the news feed yesterday. Happiness comes down to a short commute!

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