Realtors peddle real estate to bike-happy clients

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, Gardner 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,"' Gardner 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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