Sunday, July 17, 2011

Hot Chicago schools making the market

Our client's have been looking for a house in the hot Coonley school district boundaries. They also like the Blaine, Bell and Burley schools. All familiar names to parents with elementary aged kids.




I stopped in to look at the above open house last weekend on North Paulina Street. The house is in the Hamilton school district on a gorgeous block adjacent to the Blaine school district. Hamilton school stretches across some of the best areas of Lakeview.


Despite the house being every bit as nice as $850,000 to $900,000 houses in the former mentioned school districts, it sits unsold at an $865,000 asking price. If it was located on the opposite north east corner in Blaine school it would be sold at list price.





Hamilton from many parent accounts I know in the area is a great school for their kids. There are many instances where some schools with better "buzz" and marketing will be more desired than another adjacent school that has similar test scores. Many parents rely on test scores alone without even stepping foot in a school to gauge if it's a good fit for their children. Others follow the "buzz", even if some standards are lower than an adjacent school district in reality.


Hamilton is not a "buzz" school, but I only see upside. You can get a bargain on a house in this district before it turns into the next Coonley!

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