“What do you think about the schools?”

This is a question many buyers ask their agent when looking to purchase a home.

Certainly, the quality and availability of education and options in a specific area is very important to many home-buyers. Websites such as niche.com and greatschools.org offer a service where they have rankings and ratings for schools. These sites also offer reviews, student-to-teacher ratios, location maps etc. There is a plethora of data and information available online from third parties, but more importantly, you can look to the schools themselves.

There is more to a “good school” than test scores, so going directly to the school (the source) is the best way to get information beyond just rankings and test scores. Class size, teacher qualifications and experience, graduation rates, social interaction, college preparation, extracurricular activities, special education – all of these matter.

Often, the agent is looked at as the community expert. However, as a Realtor, you want to be the “source of the source” – providing a customer or client multiple sources that will give them information so that they can make decisions themselves as to whether a particular school meets their needs. Casting opinion and providing subjective information not only can create liability, but it may be a violation of fair housing and be considered steering.

This is why most brokers say it’s best not to discuss schools at all. Yet, in some cases buyers may feel this is a disservice. Still, it is not practical, and it is not an agent’s job to know the ins and outs of every single district and every single school within the district. An agent can supply basic information about the districts and know how to point you in the direction for the information you seek.

To further compound the topic, the business of education itself is more complex than ever. These complexities present numerous challenges not only for the teachers but the administrators, parents, communities and lawmakers. From funding, to keeping schools safe, dealing with rising mental health concerns and the pressures of social media, maintaining discipline and incorporating new technologies, the list goes on and on. There are simply a lot of nuances to what makes a good school and how a person makes the determination as to what is the best fit for them.

In conclusion, if education and schooling are part of the search criteria for your next place to live, then leverage as many sources of information as you can to make the best decision for yourself.  Remember, your Realtor can be the "source of the source" for many connections and resources through the home-buying process. However, true professionals should just keep their own opinions to themselves, because ultimately the only opinion that matters when buying a home is yours.

Dan Petrone is a Realtor in partnership with Bean Group in Peterborough.