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School Data API Enhances The Value of Properties And School Districts

school data school house

A School Data API can be an incredible resource to position yourself as THE resource on local schools.

As a real estate agent, you love helping families find the home of their dreams – especially when your valuable knowledge and expertise can assist them in this big decision about the future of their loved ones

But when it comes to one of the biggest purchasing factors for a family, do you have all the right tools to truly offer them the assistance they need?

You can make a quantum leap in this direction by simply adding a School Data API (Application Programming Interface), which is simply a widget or few lines of code, to your website.

School Data API helps with major factor in home buying

Unless you yourself have school-aged children, you may not be aware of the enormous impact of local school districts on the value of real estate.

In fact, school quality is one of the main considerations for a family looking to move in. A recent survey indicated that over half of buyers would go beyond their stated budget in order to be in a highly rated school district.

Of those respondents, nearly 10%  stated they would even spend as much as 20% over budget. More than half of the respondents indicated that they would forego a pool, a big yard or even a bigger home in favor of a desirable school district.

Here’s a very big number – 90% of home buyers said school boundaries are “important” or “somewhat important.”

Why is this such a big deal? Higher-ranking school districts may boast higher tests scores, lower dropout rates, and keep students on track for a successful career and even life.

For parents hoping to give their children the best start, moving  near a great school just makes sense.

Even older folks and those who don’t plan to have children may be thinking of the potential resale value someday when choosing to buy near a certain school district.

How to become a local expert on schools

school data API

School list found on District Houston Realty website.

Now that you see the importance of being well versed in school district information as a real estate professional, you may be wondering how to take action and teach yourself.

Did you know that there is a window into a vast warehouse of data offered by information aggregators such as Home Junction Inc.?

These aggregators have the ability to scoop up scores of datasets about schools in any district.

They are ability to then filter the data, keep it current and feed it to local brokers and agents.

That information could include:

– School district boundaries – super important because this basically tells you which schools are serviced by different properties).

– School attendance zones – again, a very critical piece of information. A home might be located in a great school district, but the attendance zones will indicated which schools are available to students.

– School enrollment number

– Student/teacher ratio

– Demographics

– and much more

By adding a School Data API, your clients will be able to access this school data from your website, ensuring they don’t go into the arms of a competing site in order to help them.

What constitutes a great school district?

So you’ve pulled up some school data and you have an idea of how many schools are in the area, where the district boundaries lie, and even the general demographics of the students.

How do you evaluate this information to be able to talk to clients credibly about the quality of a school?

You can actually compare all of the local schools by reviewing their test scores, the ratio of teachers to children, after school programs, and other activities.

You may also be able to find graduation rates.

Finally, consider having a sit-down with some long-time locals who can tell you what the schools looked like ten years ago and where they feel they’re headed today.

Talking to buyers about using school data

You know your clients want to evaluate the local school data and choose the best district. Often times, they like to surf the web to conduct this research on their own. That’s fine. But be sure to let them know one place to start if your real estate websites and all the information provided by your School Data API.

Also as with most client-consultant professions, the best way to guide them through this process is to get to know them and find out more about their unique needs for their children.

Perhaps they are interested in private schools.

Or perhaps schools with different religious affiliations.

You School Data API can supply all that info.

Potential buyers should also try to arrange a visit to the schools for themselves so they can get a feel for them. With Home Junction real estate market data, your website will have the school’s address, proximity to a property your are considering, the principal’s name and contact info and other helpful information.

They should also ensure availability. Could there be anything worse than investing in a new home in a desirable area only to find out that there are no spots open in a prime school?

Ultimately, while you can provide quality resources and your knowledgeable opinion, your clients will have to come to a decision that is right for their family.

But  they’ll feel much more comfortable about it with you and your in-depth School Data API on their side.

How To Use Neighborhood Data, Uber and Open Table To Show Off Local Amenities

neighborhood data and amenities

Use amenities in the community and neighborhood data to add impact to your presentations.

Neighborhood data and the attractiveness of a community can sometimes be the main catalysts to a deal on a home.

Are you familiar with the latest strategies to best promote community amenities?

Because some real estate agents are getting very creative when it comes to selling a neighborhood.

Here’s one idea that’s floating around.

When prospects come to an area, how about booking an Uber or Lyft ride for them to show them around? You can do that remotely with you ride app.

Oftentimes, many homebuyers never get a chance to really visit an area where they might be moving. There are time constraints, deadlines, etc.

Then there’s the other issue of unfamiliarity. People moving into a neighborhood might not know the best places to go. Or they might miss that one crucial area, say a park or other amenity, that could really be the impetus to make a move.

If the agent can’t give them a tour themselves, then book them a ride on Uber or Lyft. These car services can pick people up wherever you want and take them wherever you want them to go.

Have an Uber drop them off in a cute downtown area. Give them time to explore the trendy restaurants, coffee shops and retail stores. Soak in the location.

Then arrange for them to be picked up again.

Or, if the regional mall is the place to be, send them there.

Perhaps the local golf course has an incredible clubhouse with long views overlooking the 18th hole. Don’t want to miss that if the prospect is a golfer.

Lots of towns now provide very exciting water parks. They are massive. Some are indoors for use during the winter. Many are practically mini-Disneylands.

Why not arrange for an Uber to transport a family there?

The smiling faces on the children might just be the touchpoint that gets this couple to say “We want to make an offer.”

To really impress the prospects, you could spend a few extra dollars and order UberLUX – where the car that pulls up to pick up your customers is a Mercedes or something similar. Talk about pulling on the emotional levers.

Book a reservation for prospects at a top restaurant

There are other tech tools agents are using to sell a neighborhood.

For example, say a husband looking to relocate is coming back to town with his wife to view a property.

Using web apps like Open Table, you can book them a reservation at a top restaurant in town.

Frankly, many people might not want to have dinner with an agent, or any salesperson for that matter. Don’t take offense.

If you pick the right restaurant in the right area, you don’t need to be there. All the amenities will make your case for you.

Imagine that couple enjoying a succulent meal with a few glasses of fine wine. Then going for a stroll outside in the downtown area where the trees are lit with beautiful lights, the sounds of soothing music pours from a few clubs and beautiful old buildings portray a town with an interesting history.

That couple might just knock on your door later that night and ask, “Where do we sign?”

Neighborhood data is the other critical high-tech app

There’s another new technology out there that every real estate broker and agent should be using to facilitate how neighborhoods can be a key selling feature.

That tool for real estate agents is neighborhood data.

In the past few years, there have been incredible advances made in “big data” technology. Data aggregators such as Home Junction have the ability to gather and store an incredible amount of real estate market data of all types.

Tapping into various sources – county records, business listings, school databases, etc., Home Junction basically does all the legwork Their techies gather a massive amount of information that is important to home buyers – including neighborhood data.

The big advancement in technology is that a local broker or agent doesn’t have to have a gigantic IBM server in the back of their office to store all this stuff.

All they need to do is embed a few lines of code from a real estate data API into their website.

After that, they have access to a gigantic warehouse of data.

Slice and dice that data for each area you are farming, either by zip code, city or even down to the subdivision level.

Post that data on your website where you want it.

That neighborhood data could be:
Market trend data
• Recent property sales
School databases – this is obviously critical – school rankings, enrollment numbers, student/teacher ratios, contact information, etc.
School attendance boundaries – again, very important to families
Business listings in proximity to a property
Boundaries – county and municipal, which means taxes and other governmental impacts, such as zoning restrictions etc.
Demographics
Crime statistics
Cost of Living data

Now picture this ideal scenario.

An Uber driver pulls up to the curb. He’s driving a shiny new Cadillac Escalade.

Your prospects get in the SUV and he whisks them off to a popular, Zagat-rated Italian restaurant nearby. One where there’s a month-long waiting list to get in.

A dinner reservation is already arranged for the lucky husband and wife.

They enjoy a fantastic meal.

While they dine, they look over the MLS information you provided to them about the property they are considering.

In that packet, are several printouts of neighborhood data extolling the benefits of the community.

That data can also be tailored to match the particular needs of that couple.

If they have children, then check out all this information gathered from your school data API about the local schools.

Not just public school data.

But information about private schools, religious schools. All schools.

There’s also information about charter schools and magnet schools.

And that’s current data. Not stale or outdated.

Say the couple is older. Well, perhaps your Demographic data shows that the property they are considering is in an area where many of the people are over 35. Perhaps a large number of college graduates, just like them.

They’ll like that picture.

Here’s the icing on the cake. The data desert if you will.

Home Junction also offers geospatial integration of this neighborhood data. For example, you can show all the businesses that are located within a certain distance of a property in question.

Perhaps the wife loves yoga. Well, here’s a very popular yoga studio located just one mile away from the property.

A broker or agent can also integrate all of this key data onto a map. So they can pull the property from the MLS listing and then show the schools, businesses, boundaries in question, and illustrate this data on a map.

Print out those maps and put them in the brochure.

Very strong visual impact.

After digesting that fine dining and all that key information, the couple feels great.

The town looks great. The food at this restaurant tastes great. The neighborhood data is great.

As an agent, you are basically letting the neighborhood sell itself.

Be the agent using these new high tech resources, such as Uber and Open Table, combined with a massive amount of neighborhood data from Home Junction, to make an impressive, 21st Century presentation about community amenities.

School Data API Helps Sellers Justify Higher Prices

school data apiUsing a School Data API is frankly one of the quickest and easiest ways to defend home prices.

First of all, where kids go to school is a hot button with home buyers. It’s near the top of the list of their concerns. It’s emotional. It’s a major cause of concern and worry.

Secondly, data shows that people are willing to pay more for homes in top school districts.

In fact, according to one study, more than 50% of home buyers said they would be willing to spend over their budget to get in a house with great schools.

Breaking those numbers down even further, 9% said they would they would be willing to go from 11% to 20% over budget and 21% said they would go from 6% to 10% over.

What would those surveyed give up for a great school district?

About 60% would skip a pool and 44% would forego an extra room in the house.

It’s obvious, the quality of schools is a powerful, persuasive asset when it comes to home seekers.

School Data API provides instant school data expertise

So how do you as a real estate professional address this concern?

How do you as an agent in a crowded field of other agents, persuade a seller that you are the best choice for them to emphasize this school district selling point?

There’s a very simple answer.

Add a School Data API to your website.

Data aggregators and software developers such as Home Junction use “big data” technology to create national school databases that have just about everything a home buyer would need to answer their questions about schools in a particular area.

The beauty of a School Data API is that the agent does not have to go out and dig up this local school information on their own.

Who’s got time for that?

Secondly, even if you did find your local school data, how are you going to keep it updated and current?

Third, and this is a critical point, there are websites that already exist that are sources of hyper-local school data. But why would you want to send home buying prospects to other people’s websites? You risk losing them to other agents or national mega-lead generation websites.

Heck no.

Simply add a School Data API to your website by inserting a few lines of code (Home Junction will assist you) and make your website the local resource on school data.

All relevant school data on agent’s website

This is what that School Data API will be able to show:

– location of the school

– location of the school relevant to the location of a property pulled from the local MLS listings

– school district boundaries

– school attendance zones (this is supercritical)

– school attendance zones outlined geo-spatially on a map in relation to property addresses

– school enrollment figures

– school rankings

– student demographics

– student/teacher ratios

– dollars spent per student

– name of the school’s current principal

– private and public schools

– the religious denomination of private schools

– school website address

And more.

Now that’s a local school database.

Imagine approaching a seller and telling them, “Look. I know your home is located in a desirable school district. But I’m not going to just tell home buyers, ‘By the way, schools are great here.'”

At that point, pull up an example of the massive amount of data supplied by the Home Junction API.

“No, Mr. and Mrs. Home Seller, I am going to show that home buyer this huge amount of key school data, to drive the point home about why their children should attend this school. And that’s why they might have to pay slightly more for a home in this district.”

Everybody knows home prices in northern California, particularly the San Francisco area are high, practically insane.

Well, guess what? A recent article in the San Francisco Chronicle pointed out that many families were willing to pay $200,000 more for homes that were in popular school districts.

That just goes to show the power of schools.

That also illustrates the power your School Data API can have on how you attract home sellers and buyers.

Use School Data API as source for social media posts

Think of the many opportunities you can create to promote the fact that your website offers this hyper-local school data.

Nearly 91% of agents say they post on social media.

With your ability to tap into Home Junction’s national school database, you have something of value to post.

With your School Data API, you have a wealth of critical school data to draw upon for interesting content.

For example, say you are farming a certain neighborhood or subdivision.

Post a notice on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram about this school data you now have available on your website.

Pull out little snippets of school data from time to time.

Say, for example, the school’s ranking changes. Or the student/teacher ratio gets smaller. Maybe there’s a new principal.

Keep pushing this school data out on social media. You will establish in the minds of your audience that you are the go-to source for local school information.

Use this data in your email blasts as well.

Test various phrases for the subject line.

For example, “Click here for latest update on school data for Got To Be There Middle School.”

That will catch the attention of parents. Not only potential home buyers, but also people who are thinking about putting their homes on the market.

You can accomplish this all with an embedded school data widget.

(By the way, Home Junction also offers a wealth of other real estate market data such as Recent Home Sales, Market Trends, Demographics, Boundaries, Cost of Living Data, Crime Data, etc. There’s also a geo-spatial component that puts all this data together on a map. For example, the map can show school district boundaries for homes for sales from a local MLS database. And Home Junction has an IDX to tap into MLS databases as well).

This is the digital age. The age of “big data” technology.

Computers now have the ability to tap into a huge national school database.

All you need to do is add this simple School Data API to provide that school data on your website.