What do you do when your kids are already in school and have a big group of close friends in the neighbourhood, but you want to move? Do you make do with a home you’ve long outgrown or put off plans to expand your family?
Realtor® Nick FitzGibbon sees this all the time. Families have kids who are attending a great school that they love, and they worry about moving and starting all over again.
“People fall in love with the schools their kids go to,” he says. “They want to look for a house in the same school zone, which is completely understandable.”
Fortunately, you’ve already built up some equity after living in your home for several years, which makes moving a possibility worth getting excited about.
The numbers are encouraging too, and the latest market stats for the City of Guelph are in. The average sales price for the month of August was $886,089 for a single-family home, $644,811 for a townhome and $534,631 for an apartment or condo.
Another big draw for parents is French immersion schools. In Guelph, houses that are close to a French immersion school are at a real advantage on the market, he explains.
In fact, you can’t really make a bad decision. Guelph has several top-rated schools, including Edward Johnson Public School, Sir Isaac Brock Public School, St. Ignatius of Loyola Catholic School and Westminster Woods Public School, to name just a few.
“All the schools in Guelph that we were looking at were good,” says Chris Valeriote. “My wife and I went through the system ourselves, we had friends who went to all the schools throughout the area. We knew that the quality of the schools in Guelph is high, in our opinion, and so no matter where you want to move, you’re going to get a good experience.”
Moving a young family
Chris and Brittany Valeriote moved in December 2019, just months before the start of the pandemic. The Valeriotes know the area well; both grew up in Guelph, went away and came back, and knew that their next move was going to be into their family home.
“What was most important was we knew the area we wanted to be in. We were very familiar with the area because we grew up in that ecosystem,” says Chris.
As a child, he went to John McCrae Public School on Water Street in Guelph and loved it, especially being able to walk back and forth to school. He wanted the same thing for his own children, so they moved into a home that is a 10-minute-walk from the school his five-year-old daughter attends. She started JK there last year and her little brother, who is two and a half, goes to a daycare run onsite by the YMCA; it allows him and his wife to be able to drop both kids off in the same spot each day.
Chris knew it was important to work with a residential Realtor®. FitzGibbon knew exactly what Chris needed, where the couple were looking and what they were looking for, supporting them through the entire process. There were a few neighbourhood pockets they had expressed interest in, and, in their case, they weren’t choosing a house based on a specific school.
It was more a question of where their house would be located in relation to the school. The Valeriotes wanted their children to be able to walk to school with their friends. There is already a little group of five kids who are able to walk to school together—with their parents right behind them, of course.
Chris can picture how it will all play out. As the kids get older, they can walk to and from school together, go to each other’s houses and play in each other’s backyards after school.
“I think there was a lot of planning on my wife’s part. From my perspective, we kind of fell backwards into a really good situation,” he laughs. “I’m sure it was all set up and it was her grand plan. This was all mapped out.”
His advice for other families is not to worry too much about the school itself. You can pick anywhere and still have a good experience, he advises, whether you’re in the suburbs, downtown or the university area. “You can’t really make a wrong choice. It’s more a question of how does that location work for you? Does it fit the lifestyle you want?”
Advice for buyers
FitzGibbon loves to point clients toward the Find My School website. Just type in the address of the house you’re interested in to find out which public elementary and high schools are nearby.
Just remember there could be a price difference, depending on which school district you’re looking at. “Potentially there could be more expensive houses, bigger lots, maybe even estate housing can come into play,” he says.
His best advice for those considering school district as a factor is to discuss it with their Realtor®. “A Realtor®’s job is to have the inside track and knowledge as to what will be coming up for sale and what is for sale in certain areas. If you have an area you want to be in based on schooling, your Realtor® is going to be your best bet to help you find that house,” he says.
For more information, visit Nick FitzGibbon's Let's Talk Real Estate or call 519-821-3600.