For many families, schools are an essential consideration when searching for a new home. However, most property searches only offer property related criteria such as price, beds, baths, and square feet. As such, locating properties that meet the criteria for your family and your child’s education can be challenging, especially when you are less familiar with an area.
For this very reason, this website provides you with the ability to incorporate school ratings directly into your property search as a primary criteria. Additionally, you’ll have access to detailed information and statistics on local schools and neighborhoods on every listing detail page.
In this post, you will learn how to:
When you first start a property search on this site, you will see a menu of search criteria. The Lifestyle section on the right side of the search tool bar allows you to select criteria that reflect your lifestyle preferences. The first option is “School Rating.” Simply select the value that best matches your requirements and the results will instantly update to show only the matches that fit your preferences.
If you are using the map search, hover over any home for summary info; click directly on a property to go to the details page. If you are using the form-based search, click “Search Results” once you are done selecting search criteria. You can then click on any property from the search results page to go to the respective listing detail pages.
To access school information from any listing detail page, just click the “School Information” link in the ‘Neighborhood & School Information’ section of the detail page.
You will have access to detailed information on all nearby schools as well educational statistics such as expenditures per student, students per teacher, and much more.
As you scroll through this page, a great deal of valuable school data can be viewed. To research individual schools, simply click on the school name.
These tools will help you match your ideal home with the educational path of your children. By following these steps and thoroughly researching schools near any potential home, you will be able to pair two of your most vital investments: your new home–and the education of your children.
Buying a home is generally the single largest purchase that we make in our lifetimes and most of us are interested in not only the value of our properties, but also the general value of like properties in our neighborhoods. Whether you have just moved into a new home or have lived there for years, tracking the market value of your property is essential for any informed homeowner.
This website’s property search provides an excellent platform to track property values and market trends in your area. In this post, you will learn strategies for tracking the value of your home by researching similar homes in your area.
The goal is to track for sale and sold properties that closely resemble your own. The asking price (or sold price, if available) on similar properties will give you a better idea of the value of your own home at different points in time.
To begin, navigate to the property search on this site and fill in the search criteria and property characteristics that closely match your home, while setting the price ranges at “Minimum” for the low range and “Maximum” for the high range. Remember that you are trying to find other properties that are as similar as possible to your own. Thus, be sure to include location, property type, beds, baths, square feet, and garage spaces. If you live in a newer home, you may also wish to include a year in the “Year Built” field to filter our older homes.
As you continue to select criteria, you will notice that the number of matching properties will continue to decrease. When you are done entering your property criteria, there should be a reasonable number of similar homes matching the criteria you selected. If not, you may wish to remove some of the less important amenities or add geography to your search in order to establish a better pool of similar properties.
Once you have selected all criteria, run your search to view homes similar to yours. Reviewing the prices of these homes will begin to help you develop a sense of your own property’s value. You may also wish to save your work by saving your searches for future reference. You can also elect to receive email notifications when new ‘like properties’ hit the market.
To use these tools, simply save your search and give it name such as “Comparisons to my home.” You can save your search on the main search page after selecting your criteria by clicking the “Save Search” button. Alternatively, you can save your search on the search results pages by clicking the button “Email Me When New Listings Match This Search.” Both links will take you to the same screen where you will set up your saved search name and email notification preferences.
As you track home values in your area over time, you will also begin to develop a sense of market trends in your area. For instance, if you notice that the selling price of homes similar to your own are increasing, you can typically conclude that the value of your property may be on the rise. If homes similar to yours are on the market for longer lengths of time and have a lower selling price, you could infer that the market value of your property may be decreasing. But, please remember the results of these searches are indicators–not hard science.
These easy, but important steps will empower you to stay informed regarding the value of your home and on the changing marketing trends in your neighborhood.
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Knowledge is power and early knowledge can offer you a powerful advantage, especially in tight real estate markets. Those who find properties first gain an edge by being the first have a chance to see new properties and thus the first to make offers. More often than not, this first to market knowledge pays off.
This post will review how you can leverage the property search on this website to quickly access the newest properties on the market and how to setup email alerts when new properties match your criteria.
It’s important to first point out that this website offers you the most current, up-to-date property information available. In fact, the listing inventory on this site comes directly from the local MLS and is updated multiple times throughout the day. Having access to current and accurate information means another advantage for you.
These tools give you fast access to new listings as soon as they become available. Enjoy the first to market advantage and happy house hunting!
Yet another year comes to an end. Hope 2013 was a good and memorable year for you. As we enter 2014, we wish you the full optimism, energy, and momentum that come with the arrival of a brand new year. We want to encourage you to put your New Year’s Resolutions in writing. It’s been proven that when a goal is written down, you have a much higher chance of achieving it. We hope you will achieve your goals are realize your dreams in 2014!
Here are some ideas for consideration in your real-estate related resolutions:
These are just some ideas. Hope this is helpful to you, if you like to keep an eye on real estate related matters.
Okay! We will stop right here. Happy New Year! As always, if you have any real estate related questions, give us a call! We are happy to discuss real estate even when it’s not business. And, we love referrals!
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