Richardson ISD-what's it worth?

Richardson ISD: what’s it worth? A comparison of residential sales prices by school district and municipal jurisdictions in a North Texas suburban region.

The realtors in the Richardson ISD school district proudly display property for-sale signs with RISD logos attached, indicating to potential buyers that a house location within RISD is a strong selling point for many buyers. RISD administration boasts many district awards over the years as one of the strongest performers in public education excellence in Texas and in the DFW metropolitan region. From the evidence suggested, residential properties for sale in Richardson ISD would seem to command a selling price premium over other comparable properties in adjacent neighborhoods located in different public school districts.

This study assumes that families with school-age children would prefer to live in a public school district with higher education quality as measured by state education rating standards and other public measures of school performance. Their preference for a better school district will be measurable in their home-purchasing decisions as a price premium paid for comparable housing and property amenities in one school district versus others nearby. Other categories of home buyers, such as “empty nesters” or “DINK’s” may not be as attracted to the value of a school district, and would not be willing to pay a premium for a property more typically demanded by these segments of the market (i.e., smaller homes, townhomes, condominiums, duplexes.)

Richardson ISD covers geographic areas of the City of Richardson, City of Garland, and the City of Dallas. However, each of these three municipalities is also served by at least one other local independent school district: Plano ISD, Garland ISD, and Dallas ISD, respectively. This study hypothesizes that residential home sales in each municipality served by RISD will command respectively higher prices than comparable homes in size, age and amenities located in the same city jurisdiction but in different ISD service areas. The study will also investigate whether there are any moderating relationships between ISD serving the home and other features of the home itself, such as size, age, and number of rooms. The house size, age and number of rooms are hypothesized to be proxies for the demographic segment of the housing market served (e.g., nuclear family with school age children vs. singles, couples, and retired.)