When a family is shopping for a home in a new neighborhood, one of the most important factors which influences the choice of the family is the school district. Parents are more inclined to purchase a home if it is in the best possible school district zone, and even those who aren’t parents yet – but are planning to be – want to make sure they are in a good school district.

Realtor.com's users requested that schools' information be incorporated in the company's mobile app, so the company updated their app, and the latest version of the realtor.com mobile app contains information on school districts, for the home shopper on the go.

School and school district information is now part of the home search and listing details experience. Homebuyers are able to see school and district boundaries on a map, search for homes for sale assigned to a school or school district, and see which schools are assigned to (or nearby) a property listing.  The Schools tab provides detailed information about the grades taught at each school, including the student-teacher ratio and GreatSchools rating.

Searching for homes by school or school district

The company has designed the school search to be accessed several different ways. On the map, users can display school pins by either tapping Nearby Schools from the home screen, or by tapping the Schools button at the bottom bar below the map.

On the map, users can tap a school pin or school district pin to see more information, display the boundary (if available) or search for properties that are assigned to that school or district (if available). Users can also save searches by school boundaries by tapping the Save button at the bottom of the results screen.

For areas where there is school boundary data,  Realtor.com displays “assigned schools” on the property listing school details tab. For areas where the portal does not have the catchment (boundary assignments) data, it will display “nearby schools” based on proximity. The school district is always based on actual assignment, and private schools are always based on proximity. Realtor.com also displays the schools which the listing agent has identified as assigned to the property. School and district catchment data come from Maponics, and the school ratings come from GreatSchools. The agent-provided schools come from the listing agent via their local MLS.

Listing detail pages for iPhone and Android

For iPhone and Android, the listing detail pages now include tabs for Overview, Details and Schools. Under Details, users will be able to see Property Tax and Sales History (from public records and/or MLS) as well as categorized details about the property listing.

To download the app for Android click here, or for iOs click here.