Almost every person we meet who is relocating to Seattle asks us about the ‘best’ school areas. As real estate agents, we are not allowed to give opinions on schools because it may be construed as ‘steering.’
Steering is defined as: the illegal practice of directing home seekers to particular areas either to maintain the homogeneity of an area or change the character of an area, which limits where they can live.
Now this seems really silly to some people and they wonder if we perhaps know nothing about the schools. The truth is that ‘best’ is subjective, while high test scores may be of number one importance to one family, small classroom size to another, and a successful sports program to the third. In fact, we have to take ‘steering’ very seriously, because even with the best of intentions, agents and brokerages have been sued for giving ‘harmless’ opinions.
Erin and I like to refer our clients to a source we find very helpful. The Seattle Times School Guide has compiled statistics and has good descriptions of the area schools. Of course, visiting the schools is a great way to get a feel for the educational environment.
Susanne
