Portland: Real estate agents show cycling-friendly properties by bike

<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/08/29/bikes-vs-housing-market-o_n_122365.html>

PORTLAND, Ore. — With gas prices high, bicycles flying out of stores and 
a buyers' market for houses, a handful of real estate agents around the 
country are touting the two-wheeled appeal of their listings.

Some even show houses exclusively by bike, wheeling through the 
neighborhood with potential buyers to show off bike lanes and 
bike-focused businesses and repair shops.

Clad in a purple helmet with plastic flowers dangling from her 
handlebars, Portland's Kirsten Kaufman is part of a new generation of 
agents eager to replace the stereotypes of hauling clients around in 
fancy sedans or SUVs.

The mother of three starting hosting bike tours earlier this summer, 
doling out energy bars and apricots to a growing tail of clients whose 
passion for pedaling weighs heavily in their choice of homes. Some are 
hard-core cyclists. Others are moving into the city to avoid 
increasingly expensive and onerous commutes.

"It's becoming more common to see families committing to driving less," 
said Kaufman. "I think it's a part of the market that will continue to 
grow as gas gets more expensive."

Over the summer, sales of homes dipped by more than 15 percent from last 
year, according to the National Association of Realtors, leaving Kaufman 
and other agents looking for ways to spark business.

Bike agents say pedaling with clients is providing that boost. Behind a 
niche market that repsents only a sliver of natinal sales is a bigger 
trend _ a fundamental shift in the way people think about buying homes.

Real estate agents and industry surveys indicate that home buyers are 
placing more importance on cutting their gas bills and commute times and 
that homes near urban centers, and subway, train and bus stops are 
selling faster than those in the distant suburbs.

In June, a Coldwell Banker survey showed more than 95 percent of agents 
say rising gas prices are a concern to their clients. More than three 
quarters of clients say higher fuel costs are increasing their desire 
for city living.

"Living out in the suburbs just isn't a big deal anymore," says Matt 
Kolb, a bike agent who owns Pedal to Properties, a Boulder, Colo., firm. 
"People want to live, work and go to school within a six blocks radius _ 
that's changing the way they look at property."

Pedal to Properties has five agents and a fleet of 48 cruiser bikes and 
big plans for nationwide expansion. Next year, the company will stretch 
into Oregon and Texas.

"For people who want to drive less, it just makes sense that they'd be 
looking for different things in a neighborhood," said 35-year-old Emily 
Gardener, a Portland-woman who has been trolling for a new house with 
Kaufman on the same bike she uses to pedal into the office each day.

"Kirsten was able to see things about places we were looking that I 
don't think a normal agent would have noticed," she said.

Circling neighborhoods in northeast Portland, the duo passed on a number 
of homes. Some were just too far out to ride. Others had no handy place 
to store the bike or were cut off from easy biking by hostile traffic.

Earlier this month, Bikes Belong, a cycling advocacy group, conducted a 
40-state survey that showed more than a third of stores are selling more 
bikes, and more than 95 percent of shops say customers are citing high 
gas prices as a reason for transportation-related purchases.

Portland State University urban planning professor Jennifer Dill has 
studied how neighborhood planning affects cycling habits, and advises 
homebuyers to look for homes in areas with gridded street patterns and 
to avoid cul-de-sacs.

"On a bike, you want to minimize stopping," she said. "You're going to 
want to look at streets with low traffic volume."

But most important, says Dill, is proximity.

Commuters in her Portland-based study rode an average of four miles into 
the office each day.

Even people who don't bike often are finding bike realty to have advantages.

After months of searching, Gardener and Kaufman found similar success _ 
a two story fixer-upper with a sprawling backyard and turquoise trim _ 
surrounded by safe streets and easy access.

"I saw the yard and the garage and I said, 'I have to buy this house,'" 
Gardener said.

But not all agents and clients are cut out for this, cautions Eric 
Rojas, a Chicago agent who pedals to showings and plans to start urging 
customers to ride along with him.

"This is a hard job to do on a bike," he said. "You have to get the 
right people, and the day has to be nice _ you have to be looking at 
property in the same couple mile location."

For som real estate agents the idea of biking with clients is just too 
casual.

"Anything client-involved should exclude a bicycle," said Portland real 
estate agent Charles Turner. "If you're meeting someone on location, 
you're not exactly business-presentable when you show up dripping with 
sweat."

But Rojas says his clients have learned to accept it.

"If they don't want a sweaty realtor, then maybe they want someone 
else," he said. "Most people don't care _ the last clients I took out 
bought an $800,000 house _ they aren't exactly poor people living off 
the earth."

As the real estate market continues to slump, Rutgers urban planning 
professor John Putcher says more agents will turn to niche markets, but 
that bike agents have tapped into a potentially booming business.

As the popularity of bike commuting continues to rise, Kaufman says 
she's eager to see how far the wheels of her dark green Trek will take her.

"Ultimately I want to help people find a home that's going to work for 
them," she said. "This isn't about trying to green-wash real estate or 
profit from a niche market _ it's about helping people make smart 
decisions, both for themselves and for the planet."

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Todd Edelman
Green Idea Factory

Urbanstr. 45
D-10967 Berlin
Germany

Skype: toddedelman
German mobile: ++49 0162 814 4081
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[email protected]
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www.worldcarfree.net

CAR is over. If you WANT it.


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