All said American houses are with high quality, reasonable price and fair market. However, when you really want to buy a house, a series of questions such as: how much money can buy  what kind of houses? what skills need to know for selecting an ideal house? What are the steps to buy a house? What kind of real estate agent is the most suitable for you? etc, will be like a tsunami  overwhemingly coming towards you.

American law states that any child, including children whose parents are illegal immigrants, has the right to obtain free education as long as they live in this school district. Public schools (including 1 year kindergarten) to high school graduation are all free.

As long as you can come up with a list of utility bills for living and a list of vaccinations for children, schools must allow children to attend school. However, if the address of the house does not belong to this school district, the school reserves the right to refuse. The United States is 13 years of compulsory education (K-12). On the day you register your child, you must state the address on the application you submitted. Americans are honest and believe where you write is where you live.

However, they will send someone for spot check. If  they find your child is not living at registed address, this will be a very serious dishonest issue, in addition to fines,  you will have bad faith records, which will bring you great trouble and inconvenience.

The houses of top school districts are divided into two categories, one are apartments/houses around the university, these properties are mostly used for renting to students. Due to the high rate of  in-campus housing and limited quantity to meet the needs of students, most American students choose to rent around the school.  This category houses are limited to those who invest and use renting to maintain the expense of houses; The other category are the houses where top high schools are located.

Public school education funds come mainly from the real estate tax around the school district.  More funds, the school have more financial resources to improve teaching quality. In the United States, if you own a house, you have to pay a real estate tax. Levied by counties or municipalities, the tax rates vary widely, mostly from 1% to 2% (and above 2% in some regions) and real estate taxes are levied on the assessed value of the house.

Local governments publish usage details of the real estate tax every year. Usually, more than half of the total real estate tax is spent on public primary and secondary schools, such as renovating school buildings, purchasing equipment, hiring teachers, carrying out activities and school bus transfers.

if the house price of the school district is high, the real estate tax will be high accordingly, then the corresponding school funding will be sufficient and the school will improve the quality of teaching.  As a result, good schools inevitably attract parents to buy “school district house” to promote house prices.

The division of school districts in the United States is specific to each street and each house number, but not directly related to the administrative district.  Many people mistakenly think that a good school district is the city / region where the school is located. However, if you do not verify the specific address where the property is located, it is very likely that you will not be able to go to a good school nearby even if you buy it in a good school district. There will also be good “small” school district within a so-so school district. So if you want to buy the house for the good school district, you must be specific to the address of each property, check the school district where the property located.

American schools are divided into private and public according to their support and affiliated objects. American private schools are run by religious organizations and individuals and have nothing to do with the area where students live in. Public high schools, primary schools and kindergartens adopt the principle of “near school”. American law states that any child living within a school district has the rights to receive free public education in that school.  Districts with good school quality have become the districts to attract more families to live in, which sounds similiar with Chinese “school district houses”, but essentially there are different.

First, Americans accurately located “school district houses” for high school. American elementary and secondary education is relative easy and high school is the key factor for a student making great learning progress and determining which university can be admitted.

Second, an American school district is good or not usually refers to if economy, environment and culture of the community are good or not. These two are closed related and mutually reinfoced. Generally speaking, if a family choose a good community, the nearby school district will be good. In the United States, each house has a matched nearby school district. Simply enter your home address online to find the school district, school name and address. Each school releases public reports regarding students attendance, achievements and rankings annually. Parents can check applicable schools through internet and then contact the school to register.

It should be noted that if the parents buy school district mainly for the purpose of children’s educatio, they must verify the address of the property. For each address, the child eventually can only choose a school district school. If the school is with good reputation and ranked among top ones, students need wait to be admitted as per selected numbers.

There are many excellent universities in the United States, however, public university tuitions here vary from in-state and out-of-state. For example, if out-of-state tuition (including international) per year is $30,000, then for in-state students, the tuition is $10,000. In order to benefit from in-state tuition, students need live in the state at least one year, no matter which school district.

Different regions in the United States have their own standards of whether school districts are good or not. In New York, the annual school rankings announced by NY Education Department are determined by three indicators: the school environment (including student attendance), 15%; student performance, of which junior high and elementary are based on the student’s English and math exam scores, while high school is based on students graduation rate, 30%; student progress, including whether the school effectively helps students make progress, 55%.

Top school district houses have excellent performance since 2008 financial crisis, a small percentage price decline at the crisis, but during real estate market recovering period since 2012,  price increasing with the fastest pace, which prompts the price gap widening between high quality school district houses and poor quality ones.