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August 11, 2008

Smart Streets Make Property Values Soar

brownstone-street-0808.jpg
What makes your home valuable? Not just the location, the paint job, or the condition of the roof. Turns out, according to a new report by Transportation Alternatives, it's the quality of your street, or rather, the livability of your street, that makes a difference. What makes a street livable? Quietness, for one thing; those with little through traffic saw property values rise nine percent. Every decibel less of noise increases property values by four percent, and traffic calming can increase a home's value by a third. Basically, the better your street is for walking or biking, the better its chances of appreciating in value. Oh, and nearby gardens help, too. The DOT is working on its own program called Sustainable Streets, to help ease traffic and promote biking and decent bus service. In the meantime, the more you hoof it, the better for everyone.
Streets to Live By [Transportation Alternatives]
Photo by David Stockwell.




Posted by lisa at 10:30 AM | Comments (28)
Categories: Streets

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Comments

notice the lack of litter in that pic..

Posted by: dittoburg at August 11, 2008 10:37 AM

Is this MAD TV?

Posted by: DOW8000SP800 at August 11, 2008 10:39 AM

"Women, children and the elderly may be more
sensitive than others to street qualities such as
comfort, safety and accessibility."

i'm sure "women" are happy to know that their sensibilities are comparable to those of "children and the elderly."

Posted by: z at August 11, 2008 10:42 AM

Its nothing you or your bastard brother the What would understand DOW. Stick to prognostication on the economy as a whole. A whole!

Posted by: daveinbedstuy at August 11, 2008 10:42 AM

This article is a bit related:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/08/AR2008080802798.html

Posted by: 11217 at August 11, 2008 10:44 AM

Do you know how the calculate the value attached to the quality/peace of the street?

Posted by: wasder at August 11, 2008 10:51 AM

V = 1 + 1/3(NR) + 7/8(TC) + 15/16(G) + FF

Where: V = Value
NR = Noise Reduction
TC = Trafic Calming
G = Gardens
FF = Fudge Factor

Posted by: daveinbedstuy at August 11, 2008 10:56 AM

So wait a sec...

I'm thinking of buying a fixer upper in a ghetto on a drug trade street. Its only 1.5 mil!

Its super quiet.

Phew I'm relieved.

Posted by: Prodigal_Son at August 11, 2008 11:16 AM

Prodigal - drug trade = gun shots = high DB = bad block. However, if you can convince the drug trade on your block to use silencers....thats a different ball game!

Posted by: troll at August 11, 2008 11:44 AM

Lady Bird Johnson was right all along..."Plant a bush or a shrub..."

Posted by: daveinbedstuy at August 11, 2008 11:47 AM

FF = Froyo Factor

Posted by: SnarkSlope at August 11, 2008 11:49 AM

Froyo stores paying $14-15,000 per month will soon be out of business leaving an unoccupied boarded-up storefront. That would merit a haircut to the blocks valuation in the above equation. And if a Crown fried Chicken came in, then what?

Posted by: daveinbedstuy at August 11, 2008 11:56 AM

A site mentioned in The Times about the pedestrian-friendly aspects of a neighborhood is interesting: walkscore.com

Posted by: Arkady at August 11, 2008 12:01 PM

Hey troll, 11:44
um...I was joking...


I know all about guns, trust me.

Posted by: Prodigal_Son at August 11, 2008 12:14 PM

prodigal - I was joking as well.....

Posted by: troll at August 11, 2008 12:23 PM

troll and PS...if you keep up that lovey dovey stuff you'll get a reputation like Biff and me according to the What

Posted by: daveinbedstuy at August 11, 2008 12:25 PM

This is debatable. Some impact, sure, but how many prospective homeowners ask for a test-drive sleepover in a house they're think of buying?

Some of this noise information can be gleaned from walking around at different times of the day but the vast majority of useful info (What are the neighbors like? What's it like at 2am on a Saturday?) can only be learned once you're living there (and thus have little impact on "value" of a house).

Posted by: Mr Joist at August 11, 2008 12:55 PM

Mr. Joist you are so right.

When my significant other purchased his home we visited the block several times...during the week, on weekends, in the morning, at night, during a hot summer day, on a rainy day, and we even drove by during when the kids in the area were getting out of school.

It's important to try and gather as much information about the block and location as you can on your own. Realtors & sellers will tell you whatever they need to in order to sell the place.

Posted by: A ClintonHillLady at August 11, 2008 2:03 PM

I have live on busy blocks and I have lived on quiet blocks. the quiet blocks are the way to go.

Posted by: sam at August 11, 2008 2:49 PM

ClintonHillLady - While your visiting during the day, weekends, nights and other days....someone could buy the place you were so carefully looking into.

Posted by: troll at August 11, 2008 3:07 PM

Also, you can ask the selelr and if they are not scum they will at lest hint at the answer. I sold a house that was next to a building with lots of section 8 tennants (no racism intended!) and with round the clock noise (hanging out all night, music blaring, drug buyers in and out, etc). I got two high bids. One asked me (through the agent) if there were any noise issues. I certainly down-played it, but I said that there were on occasion. That bidder pulled out. The other one did not ask and now they own the noisy dump. I wish I had asked before I bought it in the first place.

Posted by: shillstoner at August 11, 2008 3:27 PM

Well in this he got the house. And all our driving by paid off!

You have to know what your getting yourself into.

Posted by: A ClintonHillLady at August 11, 2008 3:38 PM

everything is quieter in the winter time. we bought in the dead of winter, snow on the ground and the block looked and felt beautiful. eventhough the block is still fairly quiet in summer - there are tons of mosquitos (we are near a park)which drives us nuts! it's actually so bad we may consider moving if the market ever turns around. it's that bad - worse than anywhere i have ever lived. we can't even enjoy our back yard - and I damn sure won't be mentioning this to a prospective buyer!

Posted by: bkny at August 11, 2008 5:17 PM

someone needs to fake west nile virus so the city sprays again. The spraying really worked well.

Posted by: dittoburg at August 11, 2008 5:46 PM

mosqitos are bad in every back yard during summer months in nyc

Posted by: werner at August 11, 2008 6:59 PM

bkny - which park?

Posted by: troll at August 11, 2008 7:47 PM

Dittoburg -- I've had it mentioned to me that the mosquitoes were never so bad before the spraying for West Nile and that what we have now are the mutant mosquitoes that resulted from the spraying. Anecdotally, it makes sense to me. So careful what you ask for!

Posted by: Schultz at August 11, 2008 11:32 PM

schultz - these mosquito's are infact mutant! they are huge and black & white. they look like those tiger beetles that you see the huge signs about on the subway to look for and report because they destroy trees - they look like they are their cousins.


Posted by: bkny at August 12, 2008 11:34 AM

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