The quality of schools and education within each Twin Cities school district has a direct impact of the resale of homes in the area.
Local real estate agents with Edge Real Estate can help you find results about a school or district from the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments (MCA-II). The community that your home is located in has standardized test results that correlate to the schools that are located within its sphere (i.e. Twin Cities metro, in a particular county or district, etc.)
Other Things to Know About a Prospective Neighborhood• Crime rates – Crimereports.com is a website that provides free up-to-date crime reports; there are many others as well. You can also request a report from the local police station. A community officer can tell you about property and violent crime trends (if any)
• Sex offenders – the US Department of Justice provides a free searchable database. FamilyWatchDog.us also provides a searchable database.
• Noise and Traffic – Plan to visit the home during different times of the day and different days of the week. Are you close to an airport? Railway? Will the noise bother you? Are there businesses or churches nearby that use a lot of on street parking or generate a lot of traffic?
• Public Services – Are the streets clean and well-maintained? Are the parks clean? Sidewalks? Is there public transportation nearby? Where are the police and fire stations? Any libraries? Are you satisfied with the level of public service?
• Additional Online Resources – Street Adviser (dedicated to neighborhood reviews and information, Four Square, Yelp, City Data (information about an entire city including cost of living average home prices and local attractions, Neighborhood Scout (learn about specific neighborhoods)
