How School Zoning Affects Real Estate Prices
Writen by Phaedra Hubbard
Most people have heard that school zoning for your real estate can affect the value of your property. This is very true in most cities in the United States, and is generally most noticed in densely populated areas. A large percentage of States have implemented a grading system for schools, to help parents decide where they want to live and in what school zone. What we always do when selling a home or buying a home for a client is to get in touch with the local school board and get a full report. This can be done by writing a letter to the County School Board for your desired area. Inside most School reports you will find a list of various important details that will give you a general overview of student and teacher quality.
The primary focus should be on average Grade Point Average, Dropout Rate and College admissions from the school. In a lot of states like Florida they use a standard grading system, similar to how students are graded. If you are lucky enough to be in a state with a grading system, then you simply have to look at the list to see what the local schools are scoring and you can make a simple decision based on a simple grade.
After figuring out the schools quality, you need to figure out what neighborhoods are zoned for the schools that you like. This can be tricky, in Clearwater Florida for example, they currently have something called school choice. With a program like school choice, parents are required to choose three schools that that would like to attend, and if there is an opening at the school you choose, the student is placed there. If you don’t have a program like school choice, then you simply need to make sure the Realtor you are using gets you the correct schools zoned for each piece of real estate you view. If you are not working with a Realtor, then you need to contact the local school board and have them send you the school zone areas for all the areas you are looking at real estate in.
The affect of school zoning is readily apparent with real estate values in a given area. You will notice that buyers will pay a premium to get into a home with the best school system, or if they have a specialty in a certain area like sports, arts, music or technology. The only way to take advantage of this type of market is to focus on families with school age children or for a family that is planning on having children. The average retiree isn’t concerned with school quality or specialty programs offered at the local schools, because they will not be attending. I would not recommend that you buy real estate specifically for the school system if you are buying it as a long term real estate investment. The reason for this is that schools tend to age, and the top school this year, might be below average in 10 years. If you are only looking for short term real estate investments, then buying real estate within the boundaries of a top school could be very beneficial.
Copyright 2006 Phaedra Hubbard. You may republish this article in its entirety, only if you leave the author’s note & website hyperlinks intact.
Phaedra Hubbard is a Realtor that specializes in Tampa Bay Florida Real Estate as well as Clearwater Florida Real Estate . If you need to sell your home or buy a home please visit our website http://www.myfloridahomestore.com, we offer a free Comparative Market Analysis as well as free MLS Home Search.