What is a "Radius Search?"

It's simply a search that yields listings within a certain distance of a specified point. It could be a home address, a hospital, shopping mall, park, or any physical location. It's not the same as using Walk Score, and it can be a better way to provide listings close to locations when it's a rural area or very small town center.

Some IDX solutions allow you to build a Radius Search link to produce a search results page. In Diverse Solutions, for example, entering an address and clicking on Lookup will yield the Latitude and Longitude. Then you specify a distance from that center point for listings to appear in the search results. You can also set other criteria like price range, features, etc.

Why would a site visitor want to search for listings within a certain distance of a known location?

• Locate homes for sale near friends or family.
• Elderly wanting to live close to medical care.
• Vacation home buyers wanting to be "near the action."
• Desire to be near a certain town or location, but they want to see if lower prices can be found a bit farther out.
• Minimize commute time to work.
• Locate near a landmark, beach, lake, hiking trails, parks, etc.