How Important is Your Neighborhood School?

When it comes to home resale value, as it turns out, it can matter a lot. In a recent article in the Houston Chronicle by Nancy Sarnoff, a buyer in West University Place paid $100,000 over list price largely due to that neighborhood school’s reputation.  While that huge an increase is rare and other factors are at play in this example (including consistently rising resale values,) paying a significant increase in cost per square foot in areas with highly reputable schools is the norm, not the exception, especially in the suburbs.

And it makes sense – both intellectually and financially. One of the draws to the suburbs is good quality school systems that make the burden of long commutes pay out financially as homeowners save on the cost of a private education. But let’s face it, not all schools are created equal – even within the same district. Smaller districts like Tomball ISD in Northwest Houston or Waller ISD to the west have fewer schools and are less likely to have wide discrepancies in individual school performance whereas the largest districts in the Houston area, HISD and Cy-Fair ISD are prone to much larger variations in school performance. While neighborhoods can be rezoned, schools that are centrally located within a neighborhood are less vulnerable to this and therefore, that school can become a selling feature in the future; but as in most everything, there are no guarantees. Demographics shift and change and with that, so do school ratings.

Web sites like Schooldigger.com and Greatschools.com have become popular in recent years to help home buyers look at that very facet of the home buying process.

So the question remains, “should the school a home is zoned to drive your offer?” Probably not by itself; but it should be a key factor -- along with resale trends, conveniences, lot size, future development, and the home itself. For many buyers, the home itself becomes secondary to those other factors. I tell my clients all the time, “You can build a mansion in the Mohave Desert, but it won’t be worth even a third the price of a shack in West U.” As always, the general rule of real estate prevails … location, location, location … and the neighborhood school is a strong part of that equation.