Buying a home is more than just buying a home. Anyone who owns a home will tell you that.
When you buy a home, you are buying into a community. What do I mean by that exactly? Well think about it for a second. The neighborhood where you purchase your home is a community within a community.
That being said, it is important to do adequate research before you purchase. Sure, you may think to yourself, isn’t that the Realtor’s job? Well, the answer to that is yes and no. While your Realtor® is an expert on homes, market values and many other things, they are not necessarily an expert on what is a good “fit” for you.
Case in point, you ask your Realtor if a home is in a “good” school district. What you are really asking for is their recommendation. However, they may not know what classifies a “good” school to you. Is it test scores? Student-to-teacher ratio? Class size? Without even realizing it, the question you thought was so simple in nature has become complicated and full of possible answers.
In my first year of working with clients, I realized the power of assumptions. I have clients that gave me a wealth of information but that didn’t stop me from making some sort of assumption on what was important to them. And it is, after all, human nature to then assume that what is important to me is somehow important to them.
So, as a home buyer, regardless of how great your relationship is with your Realtor®, it is important that you do your own research. Only you will know how important critical factors such as neighborhood information, crime statistics and school information truly are when it comes to making a purchasing decision.
And as Amanda Jones pointed out in her blog, Realtors are also prohibited to give you certain information as it a violation of the Fair Housing Act. So again, you should empower yourself to find answers to questions that are important to you.
Researching Schools in the Upstate:
For online information, please visit these sites:
- Greenville County’s GeoPortal website: Provides the assigned school for a particular house. Because school zoning changes from time-to-time in our area, it is important to double check the school assigned using this site.
- Your Realtor® can also give you a list of neighborhood schools or you can look at a property detail page of any listing on allentate.com. Click on the “Nearby Schools” folder under the pictures. If you click on the hyperlink of a particular school, it will give you details on the school testing and award achievements, as well as number of students to teachers, the percentage of students that attend college, and much more.
- TateMap, the interactive map search on allentate.com, also highlights schools. However, just because a school is close to a particular property, do not assume that it is the school that home is zoned for. It is always good practice to double check this information on the Schools District’s website.
- In Greenville County, there is a wealth of information about our schools available online. Visit http://www.greenville.k12.sc.us/index.asp for a school specific facility profile, a list of awards/ honors, programs/ features, and so much more.
For similar info on other counties in the Upstate:
Of course, there are a number of private schools available that have websites with great information, as well.
Researching Neighborhoods. For statistical information, try these resources:
- To compare communities, Allen Tate has a community profile file on each of our listings found on allentate.com. Simply look at the property detail page on any of the listings and click on the “Community Profile” file. The Community Profile lists housing inventory, population growth and demographics, housing stability as well as levels of education, employment and finance for your zip code. Additionally, you can compare one community to the next through the Community Comparison tool, which may help you determine between two different areas of town or two different areas of North Carolina or South Carolina.
- Greenville County police provide an interactive site for crime mapping that allows you to put in a specific address and search crime incidents and history.
Are there other sites that you would recommend to clients and friends about neighborhoods in our area?
By Amanda Serra
