For real estate agents, it’s hard to overstate the business value of specialization in building a profitable practice. As buyers and sellers become increasingly diverse, being “all things to all people” is no longer a viable strategy – if it ever was.

It’s also hard to overstate the importance of neighborhood factors like local schools in the home buying decision. That’s why it’s surprising that so few agents seem to specialize in local schools. It’s a great potential draw for parents, or anyone who understands the importance of school quality on neighborhood property values. Here are some great ways for real estate pros to help buyers size up local schools:

Standardized test scores - Standard scores such as SAT and National Merit Scholar awards can provide insights for current students’ academic performance.

Student / teacher ratio – Unusually large class sizes may be cause for concern. Sources such as eNeighborhoods have this information as well as librarian-to-student ratio and facts such as expenditures per student and what percent of total school funds are spent on instruction. Again, this information may not show good or bad, but it provides a useful way to compare schools.   

Faith in real estate – Have buyer prospects already expressed interest in a specific type of church, temple or other house of worship? This may be an important factor in their choice of schools. Do your homework now to learn about the affiliations for private and public schools available in your area.

School specialties - Just as real estate agents promote their specialties, many schools are happy to tell you about distinguished programs in sports, science, technology or the arts. What are the school’s clubs and associations? Knowing how to match a prospect's children with a school where they can follow their dreams can quickly lead to a sale.

Show, don’t tell - Create a map showing the names and locations of local schools to use in your presentations and reports. Use your mapping tool to add personal notes like “Here are the practice fields for your little soccer stars!”

As a bonus, real estate pros can avoid steering and fair housing issues by providing objective information about local schools. Provide information from a number of reputable sources and let your prospects make their own informed decisions regarding the quality of local schools. School and neighborhood information was a key driver when we founded eNeighborhoods a decade ago, and it's equally important today for today's real estate pros.

One effective tactic is to visit neighborhood schools in person. Request a tour, take photos, make notes, shake hands and meet people. You’ll be better able to answer questions, and what buyer wouldn’t be impressed by photos and firsthand local school information on your agent website?