Five Steps To Home Shopping By Schools
If you’ve read most of my previous posts, then you’re probably aware that I’m not a huge fan of the LA Unified School District. However, not all the schools are bad. And in the Valley, there are certainly a good number of educational gems that can be found.
In my conversations with other parents, I’ve found that it’s all too common for folks to move to an area specifically for the school system. That’s just one way to look for a neighborhood and house if you’re not planning on sending your kid/s to private school.
I’m checking out the areas around Woodland Hills for myself, but for today, I thought I’d take a look at Tarzana as an example of how I’d go about searching for a home in a good school district. (If anyone here wants to share his/her own story about home shopping by school district please do!!)
The Redfin search features are a great tool. I used it to sell my home and I’m using it to gather information for great areas for a new home. But I don’t do my entire search there. Here’s how I go about the whole process.
1. I decide what area I want to live in. Let’s look at Tarzana.
2. I head over to GreatSchools.net and input Tarzana in the search function. Whalah! I get a list of schools and immediately see that Wilbur Elementary School (Greatschool score: 9) and Nestle Avenue Elementary School (Greatschool score :8) have high scores and thus, are desirable for me to send my kid to.
3. I click on Wilbur Elementary School first and click on the map this school feature. Now I know where the school is located and where I want to live.
4. I head back over to Redfin.com and do a search for homes in the neighborhood around the school. I decide that I don’t want to spend more than, let’s say $750,000, and I input that in the maximum price criteria. I see a few possibilities.
5400 Crebs Ave./3bd, 1bth/1,037 sq. ft./$579,000
5503 Beckford Ave./4bd, 3bth/2,183 sq. ft./$629,900
5316 Mecca Ave./3bd, 3bth/2,548 sq. ft./$690,000
5. The home on Mecca Ave. is my favorite, but then how do I know it’s really in the Wilbur Elementary School district? I input the address in the LAUSD school finder page. And I find out the house is in Nestle Avenue Elementary’s school zone. So, the search continues!
Happy shopping!
