Chicago Real Estate Guide

A Property Search on Two Wheels: Chicago Real Estate by Bike

• April 21, 2011

by Jacqueline Zenn

Touring neighborhoods and properties is a basic aspect of anyone’s search for a new home; however, some local real estate firms have given this process a different twist by offering bike tours to clients.

Big Shoulders Realty’s Bike Tours

Recently, StartingPoint Realty introduced their “Bike Your Home Search” program, which encourages property seekers to bike between listings instead of driving. StartingPoint also offers an incentive for their biking buyers – if a client spends at least two days biking with the company and eventually closes on a property with them, they will receive a $250 gift card to a local bike shop near their new home, according to the article linked above from benzinga.com.

Big Shoulders Realty also offers neighborhood bike tours, but the tours are not necessarily given with the intent of selling homes. Rather, it is a way for the firm’s clientele to learn about various neighborhoods from the perspective of a knowledgeable local who also happens to be a real estate agent.

“They are 14 to 19 miles, low-speed architectural tours,” according to Big Shoulders Realty owner Lee Diamond. “The tours are $10 each, and we don’t sell real estate or pitch things on the tour, it is just about the history of the area, and the best examples of great architecture.”

Local realtor Eric Rojas also is a fan of biking, and he’s led bike tours in the past. He doesn’t have any new tours currently planned, but he rides his bicycle to appointments whenever possible.

This article originally published at http://chicago.urbanturf.com/articles/article/property_search_on_wheels_chicago_real_estate_by_bike/3361