Home Buyer’s Tip #1 – Checkout the Schools

While information about the quality of schools in a neighborhood is and should be of concern to parents for obvious reasons, it should also be of concern to home buyers without childern. A neighborhood with good performing schools will likely have a better resale value and an easier time selling down the road than a neighborhood with schools that are not performing well.

Although there is no substitute for an on-site visit to the school to talk with principals and teachers, there is a significant amount of information about Arizona’s schools on the Internet. You can obtain information on the public and charter schools, such as; test scores, school ratings, state academic standards and educational resources. For more information visit www.ade.state.az.us click on “Find a School”, select “Public School Search”. From there you will be able to search for schools by name, city, county and zip code.

The Arizona Department of Real Estate (ADRE) advises: “Call the school district serving the subdivision to determine whether nearby schools are accepting new students. Some school districts, especially in the northwest part of the greater Phoenix area, have placed a cap on enrollment. You may find that your children cannot attend the school nearest you and may even be transported to another community.”

Additionally, school attendance boundaries can change from year to year as population shifts in a community. It is recommended to verify with the school that servers a community if there are planned boundary changes that could affect where your children will be attending school as a new student.

Additional websites that might be helpful;

www.schoolmatters.com

www.greatschools.net