Why are school districts important when choosing a home?

Schools are important to your home hunt for two reasons:

1) If you have kids or are planning to, there are the obvious reasons - you want them in the best schools available.  By first figuring out which schools you are open to, you will greatly narrow your house search from hundreds of homes to maybe dozens.  This is a great way to narrow the search and save time. 

2) Even if never plan to have kids, schools are such an underlying factor that affect property values.  In Guilford County, you will see values change fairly drastically depending on what school district you property is in.  Being in a popular school district might make the difference in selling your home very quickly for a very high percentage of market value versus very slowly for less money as there are less buyers interested in moving to the are with the less popular schools.

All this being said, this is a factor that certainly changes with time, and what is a great school today may , unfortunately be a failing school in years to come.  And vice versa, a school with poor rankings today may very well turn around and be the next hot place to get your child enrolled in years to come. 

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By Zane Gerringer