Using Technology to Find the Right School in a Neighbourhood You Love

When it comes to buying a home, there is extra complexity for parents. Not only do they have to find the right home and the right neighbourhood, they also need to make sure their children can attend a nearby school where they will thrive. Technology can turn weeks of research into just hours, or even minutes. That’s why HoodQ has created this Homebuyer Hub.

We've heard from so many parents how painful the school search process can be. Sometimes parents would spend hours finding the right school, only to find out later the neighbourhood wasn’t the right fit for their family. Or they’d find a school and neighbourhood they loved, but then learned the average home price was way out of their price range. Some parents make the mistake of picking a house or neighbourhood and assume the good nearby school will be the one their child attends - only to learn otherwise in September.

Online lists of good schools can be so subjective, can recommend only schools in very expensive neighbourhoods, or focus only on scores and not on how a school will suit your child.

There are so many factors to consider that parents often get overwhelmed. It doesn't need to be that way.

Using HoodQMatch™ and HoodQ School Locator™ to find the sweet spot

No parent wants to compromise their child’s education just so they can have a shorter commute to work, a cheaper house, or some other item on their wishlist. With the HoodQMatch™ Quiz, you’ll be able to find the sweet spots – the neighbourhoods that are matched with all of your specific criteria. This can include factors like you wanting to be a 30 minute car ride from your work address, your spouse wanting to be 30 minutes to their work using transit, and your family wanting to be near a tennis court and an off-leash dog park –while also having good schools your kids will love.

For every neighbourhood, our sophisticated algorithm automatically tells you which criteria of yours matches and doesn’t match. So be as picky as you like!

Once you've found a few neighbourhoods that seem interesting, head over to their Neighbourhood Profiles on the HoodQ Hub, or go directly to REALM to see listings in the neighbourhood.

Another option is to use the School Locator™ tool. While the HoodQMatch™ Quiz will recommend neighbourhoods across any city in our coverage area, the School Locator™ tool allows you to research at the city level. Simply choose school filters that matter to you - like school type, grade level, scores, and special programs - and, like HoodQMatch™, it will narrow down the list for you. When you click a neighbourhood, you'll see the option to go to its SchoolLife Neighbourhood Guide™ which includes an interactive map with all the schools, and their catchments, that serve the neighbourhood.

Perhaps you already know which school you want your kids to attend, or maybe you have a shortlist of schools that are contenders. How do you shop for a home with that as the starting point? Simply enter the school name in the search bar and you’ll arrive at the complete School Profile for that school.

In the School Profile, you'll see the neighbourhood the school is in, as well as other neighbourhoods that overlap its catchment area. In each SchoolLifeNeighbourhood Guide™, there's a map where you can click on a school and see the area of overlap between its catchment and the neighbourhood boundaries, so you can see what part of that neighbourhood you should be looking in.

When you get to the stage where you are looking at specific homes, be sure to check out the Address, Detailed, and School Reports for the home. These reports will tell you which schools are the designated catchment schools for that particular address, as well as provide more information about other schools nearby or other places nearby like parks and transit.