How would you define walking distance?

jackieblack

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

I can follow the logic on that. But that then raises the question as to why (if EA's are being that "careful" with language used) they often describe properties as being "a few minutes from x" and the second one looks it up on Googlemaps it becomes clear that it isn't at all. What the EA actually means is = few minutes if driving a car. So why don't they put "few minutes by car" - rather than just "few minutes"?

It took me a while of being puzzled as to how 20 minutes to get somewhere could be described as "few" - when I've always understood "few" to mean, say, 3-5 and certainly never as much as 20.

It's like holiday accommodation being described as 'a stones throw from the beach' (provided you are an Olympic shot putter!)

GDB2222

jackieblack wrote: »

It's like holiday accommodation being described as 'a stones throw from the beach' (provided you are an Olympic shot putter!)

Olympic shot put record is only 22 metres.

Just saying ...

jackieblack

GDB2222 wrote: »

Olympic shot put record is only 22 metres.

Just saying ...

But presumably they could throw a stone further than that
Maybe javelin thrower would have been a better example?

gingercordial

It's about five miles to my work, with some serious hills. About an hour and a half or so on foot, slower than it would be on the flat. To me that's "walkable" in that very occasionally I will do so but it isn't what I would normally choose to do.

I would happily walk say two miles/half an hour to work on flat, well-lit pavements. I would not do so if the paths were poorly lit or through dangerous areas, thinking of if I might be walking alone on winter evenings as a woman.

For the shops/anywhere I might be having to carry heavy stuff, I'd want walking distance to be not more than 10 minutes.

Slinky

We're about a mile from our local shops, I'll walk it when I have the time, moreso in Summer than Winter.

We're looking for somewhere to retire to in another area. Ideally I'd like to be closer in case we become less mobile as we age. I want to be somewhere I could feel happy walking home at night on my own.

jackieblack

Who actually takes the estate agent's details as gospel anyway? They're trying to sell the property and IME will put whatever spin on it they need to in order to make it sound good enough to generate maximum interest.

Anyone with any serious interest in purchasing would/should check the agent's claims for themselves.

Surrey_EA

jackieblack wrote: »

Who actually takes the estate agent's details as gospel anyway? They're trying to sell the property and IME will put whatever spin on it they need to in order to make it sound good enough to generate maximum interest.

Anyone with any serious interest in purchasing would/should check the agent's claims for themselves.

I'm amazed that many people still bother to read the description written by the EA. The floor plan and pictures, combined with Google Earth and Streetview should tell you enough to decide whether it's worth viewing.

Out,_Vile_Jelly

Surrey_EA wrote: »

I'm amazed that many people still bother to read the description written by the EA.

Sometimes they're so badly written they make for very entertaining reading!

In London every minute you are closer to a Tube station reputedly adds x to the value of a property. If you are a sensible distance from transport links, shops, cafes etc then this should be mentioned on particulars.

Planet_Switzerland

I'd say it depends on how urban the area is.


I originally come from a village and lived on the last side street off the main road going out of the village. The shops, school etc were a bit nearer to the other side of the village and where we lived was considered a long way out, to the point that many times as a kid when I walked to the shop I had people say to me "you've walked a long way".


In reality, it took around 10 minutes to walk it. That said, it was one of the furthest houses in the village from the shop, plus we had a drive, the traffic was pretty much non existent and more often than not you could park right outside the shop door, so you could get from your front door to the shop door in 2 minutes, if that.


Later on in life, I lived in a largish town which would take me 10 minutes to walk from home to the shopping centre and was considered by many to be virtually in the town centre, even though it was 10 minutes like when I was a kid in the village.


However, where I lived was on street parking and rarely got to park right outside my house. So were I to drive it, I'd have to walk to my car, negotiate town centre traffic, find somewhere to park and then walk from my car to the shopping centre, all of which would probably take longer than 10 minutes (I never actually tried it).


Another thing would be what its walking distance from. For everyday life its going to be more useful having a solitary convenience store down the road than a row of furniture shops that your only going to use very occasionally, and probably take your car when you do use them.