Last year, 25 percent of home sales were affected by the quality of local schools, according to NAR's Profile of Homebuyers and Sellers. For families with school-aged children, poor schools are one concession that most buyers are not willing to make. In fact, only 3 percent of buyers compromised on the quality of schools last year when selecting a home!

It's no surprise, then, that comprehensive information on local schools is data that buyers covet most. Your brokerage's website is the most effective channel for this information. When integrated with your site's property search function, this data lets buyers zero in on the perfect home. It also arms your agents with a decision support tool that adds value to their client relationships.

RE Technology recently teamed up with Onboard Informatics for a webinar that explored the newest in school-based search for web and mobile. Attendees learned how detailed data like Attendance Zones and School Profiles can help your clients and prospects find a home that matches their needs, and add value to your brokerage's website. Watch the recording below to learn more:

What is a School Attendance Zone?

To better understand what a school attendance zone is, let's compare it to a school district is. According to Onboard, "A school district refers to the geographical area of a local school administration while a school attendance zone showcases which areas 'belong' to which schools."

A school district is a broader geographic region than an attendance zone. It encompasses all the elementary, middle, and high schools within an area. An attendance zone zeroes in on exactly which elementary, middle, or high school a child will attend based on the location of a home. For example, school district information can only tell you that your 15-year old will attend Ann Arbor Public Schools if you buy a certain house. School attendance zones will tell you that your teenager will be going to Pioneer High within that district.

Implementing school attendance zones on your brokerage's website can help you:

• Determine which district, high school, middle school, and elementary school children in a particular home will attend
• Visualize the "coverage area" of a district or school
• Append specific school information to listings as they're entered
• Let web and mobile users search for listings within a desired school attendance zone
• Add SEO pages to your website to capture school and district searches

For more information on School Attendance Zones, see Onboard Informatics' website.