Real estate websites have found another way to rank home desirability that has to do with the top rule of real estate – location. House hunting websites like Zillow and Redfin also feature a transit score in some areas. The folks at Walkscore came up with this tool and use it to measure how well a location is serviced by public transit on a scale from 1-100.
Here’s what the transit score rankings mean:
90-100 – Rider’s Paradise
70-89 – Excellent Transit
50-69 – Good Transit
25-49 – Some Transit
0-24 – Minimal Transit
To determine a transit score, the frequency of public transit and the type and distance are analyzed to uncover how convenient it is to get around using public transit from a particular location (i.e. your home). Laguna Beach currently features transit scores for most homes but Newport Beach does not at the moment.
Just like with walk scores, which measure the walkability of a location, transit scores help homeowners determine the convenience of their location. The Center for Neighborhood Technology found that suburban homeowners allocate up to 32% of their income to transportation. Wow! However, homes that have higher access to public transit and that are located in walkable areas see that figure drop down to as little as 12%. So it turns out that transit scores can play a role in budget as well.
And what about tourism? We know that the beach cities like Laguna are a destination for out of towners, particularly during the summer months. Coast Highway and Laguna Canyon can get terribly congested. The presence of public transit options for guests can help to alleviate traffic and parking.
In Laguna Beach, transit scores tend to be on the low side. Most of them were below a 30, which means there is some transit or minimal transit. In comparison to big cities like San Francisco or New York, it’s no surprise that scores here are much lower. Obviously there are no major train or subway systems here, which would yield a higher score. What we do tend to see here are shuttles and buses, which are more practical for suburban areas like ours.
Of course in sprawling Orange County, riding around town to run errands and going to work in your own car is quite common. However, once the weekends roll around, it is nice to be able to sit back, relax, and not stress about traffic. The Visit Laguna Beach website has a transportation page that touts the public transit options that are available, including the free weekend trolley, buses and even offers discount codes for using apps like Uber and Lyft. You may have never given a second thought to your public transit options, but they may just play a role in your home’s appeal. So go ahead and plug in your address on Walkscore.com and check it out. What’s your transit score?
By Holly Schwartz
Holly Schwartz is a realtor with Villa Real Estate who lives in Eastside Costa Mesa. She has been featured on HGTV’s House Hunters and can be reached at HSChwartz@VillaRealEstate.com.
