The Importance of Schools When Investing in Real Estate

With so many factors to consider when investing in real estate, it’s sometimes easy to overlook one of the most important — local public schools.

The Dallas-Fort Area is dotted with different school districts, each offering a different level of quality in education. And sometimes the quality of elementary and middle schools within a school district varies greatly, meaning the value of your investment can quickly change as you move from one block to another.

If you’re not thinking about schools when investing in real estate, it’s time to start. At HUNTAHOME, we are the DFW property management company that knows the Dallas-Fort Worth market inside and out. If you have questions about schools and their impact on your investments, we’re always glad to help.

To get you started, here’s a list of 4 reasons why schools are so important in real estate investment, plus a look at the best school districts in the area.

1. Ongoing Demand

When your investment property feeds into quality schools, you’ll never lack for demand. Education is essential to families, and parents are eager to get their kids into the best elementary, middle and high schools.

You can try to invest in the trendy parts of town in an effort to capture 20-somethings and single renters. But you’ll never have a more reliable stream of demand than families seeking out great schools.

2. Premium Pricing

Great schools also allow you to charge a premium. Even when a recession hits and home prices and rental rates take a downturn, quality public schools give you a differentiator that keeps rental rates as high as possible.

Again, you can look at the trendiest parts of town where young, single renters are looking. But trends can change over time, and the rent you can demand one year might go down the next. But, when you find stable, quality public schools, your rents can remain consistently high.

3. Ideal Leasing Cycles

When you make a school-driven investment, you fall into an ideal leasing cycle. For example, imagine a family moves into your rental property so their youngest child can go to the local high school. They stay for 4 years, and then they move out in June — right after that child graduates.

You have a few weeks to execute needed maintenance tasks and complete any needed updates. Then, you’ll have no shortage of other families looking to sign a lease that starts in July or August — just before the new school year starts and begins the cycle again.

4. Community Quality

Quality schools are often a reflection of quality communities. That is, if you buy in an area that feeds into great public schools, it’s likely that the same area has a low-crime rate, plenty of parks and recreational opportunities, good shopping and dining, etc.

Similarly, when you invest in an area that offers low-quality public schools, you may find that you’ve invested in a low-quality community. There’s almost always a direct relationship between the quality of a community and its public schools.

The Best School Districts in the Dallas-Fort Worth Area

So where can you look in the Dallas-Fort Worth area for good schools? According to Niche.com, these are the 10 best school districts in the Metroplex:

• Carroll ISD: Located just northeast of Fort Worth, the Southlake area offers great public schools and high home values.
• Highland Park ISD: The Park Cities have great schools, but the home values are often prohibitively expensive for real estate investors.
• Coppell ISD: Also located northeast of Fort Worth, Coppell features schools that can match Southlake’s and Carroll ISD’s in quality — but with homes at lower price points.
• Frisco ISD: North of Dallas, Frisco is one of the fastest-growing suburbs in the country. It’s schools are great, but attendance boundaries are constantly changing as the district expands — which means there’s no guarantee your home’s schools will stay the same over time.
• Lovejoy ISD: As the Dallas-Fort Worth area has grown, formerly small towns have been sucked in and transformed into bustling suburbs. That’s the case with Lovejoy, located northeast of Dallas. This suburb offers great schools and reasonable home prices.
• Allen ISD: Allen is Lovejoy’s neighbor to the west. Best known for its nationally ranked high school football team and its enormous stadium, Allen is also a great place to get an education — and a rental property.
• Argyle ISD: Argyle is a lot like Lovejoy but on the Fort Worth side of the DFW area. This formerly small town is now a thriving suburb with great public schools.
• Plano ISD: Plano is one of the DFW area’s most established suburbs. Located just north of Dallas, Plano and its attendance boundaries are unlikely to change, meaning you can invest with confidence that your schools will remain the same.
• Grapevine-Colleyville ISD: The Grapevine and Colleyville areas are located near Southlake and Coppell on Fort Worth’s northeast side. They have long been great places for public education.
• Prosper ISD: Once upon a time, Plano was where the DFW area ended to the north. Then, Frisco emerged as the next frontier on the Metroplex’s north side. Now, the sprawl of the Dallas-Fort Worth area has crept out to Prosper, located just above Frisco. Again, this is a great community with high-quality schools.

Districts aren’t the only things that need evaluation when choosing properties. Within each district, the quality of elementary schools, middle schools and high schools can vary greatly.

For example, Grapevine-Colleyville ISD includes 12 elementary schools. At the high end, you’ll find Bransford Elementary School (a 10-of-10, according to GreatSchools.org). On the low end, you’ll find Timberline Elementary (a 4-of-10). You’ll be able to charge more for rent at a home that feeds into Bransford than one that feeds into Timberline — even though both are in the same district.

Get Help From HUNTAHOME

At HUNTAHOME, we’re more than just the leading provider of property management in Dallas and Fort Worth. We serve as a trusted advisor to our clients, making recommendations and using our wealth of experience to answer questions and provide guidance.

Are you in the market for a good source of property management in Fort Worth, Dallas or surrounding areas? Contact us to learn more about what HUNTAHOME can do as your DFW property management specialist.