Can you believe Christmas is just 8 weeks away?
As I get older, the years seem to roll by even quicker and last Christmas always seems like it happened 3 weeks ago.
What’s exciting about this time is that everyone starts “gearing up”.
The race is on to get the ducks in a row, and to finalise the 2022 “to-do” list.
Whether it’s buying a new home or finalising that big project you’ve been working on all year, we all want to feel like we’ve ticked off the yearly bucket list before Christmas comes around, so we can sit back, relax with a beer (or champagne if you’re more my style) and hold that sense of accomplishment that 2022 is well, done – complete.
Ahh, that’s a good feeling!
And it’s in this next few weeks that buyers will be madly looking to secure their new home just in time for the festive season so they can go to Bunnings, buy the big tree, the blow-up Reindeer, and start the decorating process ready for Santa’s arrival.
If you’re in the process of relocating from outside of Brisbane, I get that laying new roots in a new city can be daunting for some, and it’s often buyers moving from interstate will lean on me for intel when it comes to choosing a location for their new home (or nest) as I like to call it. That’s my job after all.
Should we be northside or southside?
What are the best pockets?
Where are the best schools?
But what and where exactly are these “good schools” that people talk about?
And what even defines a good school?
Firstly, I’m referring to public schools here. Yes, there are many “good” private schools but for the purpose of this article, lets focus on the public schools where you don’t have to pay the exorbitant fees.
But the catch is, to get little Timmy into these schools, you need to live in catchment.
So how do I know if I’m in catchment?
Well, if you log onto EDMap at www.qgso.qld.gov.au you can do a search to see which school catchment your home address (or your intended home address) falls within.
A “good school” is typically given this title because of academic results and its State Overall Score.
A quick search of the Better Education website will reveal where the scores lie for each of the schools in your area. There’s a very handy table on the site that lists primary and secondary schools in order of top ranking. I often refer to this at the beginning of each year to see how the rankings are progressing from year to year.
But Top Schools aren’t ONLY about academic results. They’re also about culture, student to teacher ratio and whether the school values align with your own.
Here are the schools in Brisbane that I’ve found families will fight to get their kids into, and hence, fight to get into catchment. (In no particular order.)
- Ascot Primary – Ascot
- Brisbane State High – South Brisbane
- Mansfield State High – Mansfield
- Rainworth State School – Bardon
- The Gap State High – The Gap
This means if you own a house within one of these school catchment areas, it’s pretty safe to say that your property will always be in demand from families with school age children.
When working with investors, I often target properties that fall within these catchments because I know this is yet another “driver” when it comes to long-term growth potential and re-saleability for their investment.
And for families relocating, whether it be interstate, abroad or even from within the greater Brisbane area, it is often these schools that are consistently brought to attention.
If you’re curious to learn more about each, this is a conversation you’ll need to have with me when you book a consultation.
Happy house hunting!