Homebuyers Researching Schools Most Interested in Elementary Schools

A new realtor.com study shows that a majority of home buyers researching schools on the website are zeroing in on elementary schools. According to the research, 52 percent of Millennials — those born between 1980 and 2000 — said the wrong school district could be a deal breaker versus 31 percent of all buyers. The study found that eight of the top 10 most popular schools viewed on realtor.com served kids of elementary school age. Most of the top 10 cities where people researched the most school information on realtor.com were located “in affordable, suburban communities outside of larger urban areas,” the study further determined. Realtor.com used the findings to publicize its ability to serve up school rankings and test scores as well as to search for residences not only by school district but by individual school attendance boundaries. Because the performance of individual schools can vary dramatically even within the same district, such property search websites as Zillow and Trulia now offer the ability to search for residences served by a specific school. A recent Trulia study determined that a GreatSchools rating of 9 or 10 correlated with a 32 percent higher price per square foot. The research further suggested that, in the long run, parents who shop for bargains in neighborhoods with substandard public schools may end up paying even more if they end up sending their sons and daughters to private schools. | Read More