Bob and Kim humoring me... shopping condos on our bikes!
Maybe it's the gas prices. Maybe it's due to the fact that I'm falling out of shape. But lately I’ve written quite a bit about ditching my car for my bicycle in my day to day duties as a Realtor. This weekend I really had the chance to flex my “Green street cred”. My clients and I set out for showings in East Lakeview on our bicycles rather than driving. We viewed property on the 500 block of West Melrose, 400 bock of West Briar, 3100 block of North Orchard and finally ended up at West Addison and North Southport.
These particular clients have worked with me in the past of a single family home purchase and now are looking for their parents. When I first met them in a non-real estate related situation, they were riding their bikes in the Lakeview neighborhood. They purchased in the winter making it a little more difficult to ride. However, they jumped at the chance this summer.
When looking at properties that are relatively close together, riding makes a lot of sense. In fact, I left from the Ravenswood neighborhood and my clients left from the Edgewater neighborhood to meet at our first showing in East Lakeview. It was about a 20 minute ride for each of us on the lakefront path.
A little helmet hair aside, it was a good day.
5 comments:
How innovative. I don't think I would've expected a Realtor to show properties by bike. I imagine the price of gas hits you guys pretty hard with all of the driving that's typically done.
This is great! More than just clean and healthy, its a great way to show buyers the feasibility of biking in a neighborhood. I'd love to see more agents doing this! I work with an appraisal company in Philadelphia, and I often bike to inspections.
Hey Eric -- have you seen www.walkscore.com? I'm in love with the new walkability map, and can't wait for it to come to Chicago. Would be really useful to cross that with the transit map. When I first bought here, I was still pretty new to the city and it took me forever to research which neighborhoods would be convenient for living without a car. It's great to see some new tools like this to make it easier to find a starting point.
thanks guys... It's a tough industry to ride... but I'm trying.
Eric,
I don't know if we have ever met at any listings but I have taken some clients out with an extra tandem I have and 1 client out on the back of the tandem also. I have been riding my bike to show some of my listings haphazardly since last summer and while it can be tough it has been worth it also. Great to see more agents doing it!
Have a great day.
Patrick Owca
Sudler Sotheby's Chicago
ps: A few agents have definitely thought I was crazy.
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