December 2021 update - We recently removed all crime data from realtor.com®. As part of our commitment to fair housing, we want to ensure we are providing you with the most valuable, fair and accurate neighborhood data so you can make informed decisions about where you want to rent or purchase your next home. Stay tuned, we are closely examining what neighborhood safety means for site users so we can reimagine how we can best integrate safety data on realtor.com® in the future.
Read this post for tips on the latest map and site features to personalize your search.
Have you ever looked at moving to a new town or neighborhood and wished you knew more about the area? It would be nice to have all the information right at your fingertips as you search on the map, right?
Well, now you can! Introducing our new map layers, your personalized guide to exploring neighborhoods. It's like having your own personal tour guide showing you where the best local coffee shops are, the top schools, how safe a neighborhood is, and how close you are to public transportation or bike routes.
Explore the Map Layers
When you search for homes using the map view on realtor.com®, you can now enable different layers on the map around a specific home or the homes in the neighborhood you are searching.
The map layers on the left-hand side let you search by school, show crime on the map, look up local lifestyle amenities, and transit options.
Simply click on one of the toggle options on the bottom left-hand side of the map view. You'll be able to view schools and their public school ratings, a crime heat map, different lifestyle points of interest, and transit details.
Your map view will change depending on the option you select in the toggle menu.
Educate yourself on local schools
To see schools on the map, just select the school overlay in the bottom left-hand side menu, and check the boxes for the types of schools you are interested in.
When it comes to school ratings, we give you the ability to sort and view schools by ratings on the map. For example, if you only want to see schools that carry a "Great Schools" rating of 7 and above, you can do that. Simply move the slider to your desired school rating, and the map will automatically update.
See schools instantly by using the "school" map overlay.
We even give you the ability to only show elementary, middle, high school, private, and district offices if you want to make your home search more specific around a type of school.
Play it safe using our crime heat map
Our crime heat map allows you to get a good sense of which neighborhoods are the safest. If you're not familiar with a city or neighborhood, this tool can be very helpful in choosing which home you want to buy.
The crime heat map will give you a good sense of the safer neighborhoods when searching for a home.
Getting around with transit
On desktop, we have integrated a few transit options that you can layer on the map to help you figure out the best way to get around. You can include real-time traffic data from Google to see how busy the roads are and how long your trip might take.
Clicking on the transit layer of the map will show you options for transportation, including updated traffic, public transportation, and bike lanes.
Whether you prefer using public transportation or biking to work, we've got you covered. You can see how close a bus stop is to your home or how your bike commute will be to work. This is especially useful for those living in big cities where public transportation is more prominent.
Local lifestyle amenities
Are you a coffee snob who wants a home near a good local coffee shop? We've got you covered. Our lifestyle map layer offers a wide variety of local options that populate on the map, provided by Yelp.
See grocery stores, restaurants, coffee shops, and more using the map filter.
Whether you want to know how close grocery stores or restaurants are to your prospective home, we can show you. These are just a few of the many options available with our new lifestyle overlay.
We believe these great map features will enhance your home buying process by giving you more information at your fingertips. Here at realtor.com®, we are always looking to bring you new features to delight your home search and make it as simple as possible. Give these new features a try on realtor.com® and on our Android or iOS mobile app today!
