Monday, December 24, 2012

Back Bay Boston Real Estate


A casual stroll down Newbury Street…
If you were to think of one of the strongest points of the Back Bay neighborhood of Boston, what would it be? In a place surrounded by beauty, luxurious homes and the like, this thought is of course rather difficult to determine. Regardless, those fortunate enough to call themselves locals here or even those hopeful visitors all can agree that a serious draw to the Back Bay undoubtedly is its incredibly simple walkable reality and its overall pedestrian-friendly atmosphere.
According to a leading professor at George Washington University, Christopher B. Leinberger, listings that find themselves within a short walking distance to an array of shops, restaurants and grocery stores score the highest among prospective buyers. This study, conducted in Washington, D.C., is easily relatable to our current situation within Boston and more specifically the Back Bay as well.
Leinberger calls this phenomenon the “DC: WalkUp Wake-Up Call”, and the most savvy and aware real estate agents know to keep wary of this increasingly popular trend when determining how to best showcase, describe and market their listings. In fact, many listings and especially our luxury building listings are even accompanied with something known as a “Walk Score.” This figure informs individuals just how strong of a walker’s paradise the listing’s location truly is in terms of the distance and difficulty to get to main points of interest by foot. With gas prices and greater awareness about the harmful effects of pollution coupled with the heightened sense about staying fit and healthy by walking or biking means that cars and other means of motor transportation are drastically falling in demand.
In the Back Bay there are options to ride one’s own or even rent a bicycle from the recent Hubway bike sharing program that has increased the trendiness and efficiency of getting around outside. From a walker’s perspective, today’s World makes it tremendously simple to navigate throughout major metro areas due to technological advancements in mobile GPS and other applications. No more true can this be seen than in Boston’s Back Bay, where literally at your fingertips is the availability of locating hundreds of the finest shops, restaurants, museums, libraries, other types of housing, offices and more all within mere yards of anywhere you may be standing in this gem of a neighborhood.
Through these valuable findings it has become apparent that of these residences that can be classified as “WalkUPs”, their unique and valuable location resulted in an average annual rental income for the owner’s that was 60% higher than that income from a comparable property but in just an average area. Indeed the ever-spoken phrase of Real Estate once again holds true and proves its worth in the Back Bay, it is all about “Location, Location, Location.”