Real Estate Site Helps Millions of Homebuyers Secure the Education They Want for Their Children

Individuals selecting a home are usually making one of the biggest financial decisions of their lives. They weigh a wide assortment of criteria, but for many, the schools assigned to each property are crucial. The quality of local schools will directly impact the educational prospects of homebuyers’ children and may shape many aspects of those kids’ future. That’s why one of the United States’ top real estate web portals began incorporating high-quality data about school boundaries into its search results. The company began working with Precisely when it was an early adopter of real estate search technologies in 2008. Now its use of Precisely School Boundaries data is a great example of how a search portal can leverage data to optimize value for its users.

When a website becomes the online resource of choice for more than 50 million unique users each month, it’s clearly doing something right. Still, leaders at one of the largest real estate websites in the U.S. wanted to add one more dimension to the information they offered buyers, sellers and prospective renters of homes: data on local schools. The quality of local schools is the fifth most important factor influencing neighborhood choice among all homebuyers across the country, according to the “2018 Home Buyer and Seller Generational Trends Report” from the National Association of Realtors. For buyers aged 38 to 52, quality of the school district is the fourth most important factor, and convenience to schools is fifth. Moreover, performance of local schools affects property values, so understanding school zoning boundaries is crucial for real estate agents and developers, mortgage originators and other real estate professionals.

The real estate website was already leveraging Precisely ZIP Code Boundaries, Neighborhood Boundaries and Residential Boundaries data to provide detailed information about the area surrounding an available property. When the site’s management team decided to better serve buyers and renters by providing accurate, current information about the schools assigned to each home, it made sense to leverage Precisely School Boundaries data as well.