Comments on: location, location, location

By: LAL

LAL — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 00:37:48 +0000

Retired Syd, that’s an interesting perspective. I hadn’t considered that. Many people where I live with a great school district still spend money on a private school for some reason. Why? I have noi dea.

By: Retired Syd

Retired Syd — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 22:59:18 +0000

I don’t have kids, but one of my friends that does said something that made perfect sense to me. He said buy the house in the good school district: yes, it will cost you more, but someday, someone will pay that back to you (plus appreciation) when you sell it.

If you move to the not as good school district and pay for private school, you never get that money back.

Since I don’t have kids and am planning on having my house forever, I got the nice house in the not-as-good school district.

By: LivingAlmostLarge

LivingAlmostLarge — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 02:39:56 +0000

I wonder though Meg, if people with today’s economy will look for better public schools versus private education?

By: Meg

Meg — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 04:31:15 +0000

I don’t think school district is as big a deal as it used to be. It used to be that most people buying homes had kids or were about to have kids. Nowadays lots more people who are buying homes are a) not having kids, b) delaying having kids, c) homeschooling, and/or d) planning to send their kids to private school anyway.

Of course it depends on what state and county and city you live in. If you’re in the suburbs and near some great school districts, it may be worth paying a bit more to be over the line in the good district. But if you’re in an area where many families use private schools (upper middle class, urban areas) then it probably doesn’t matter as much.

And if you’re like me and you’re young and buying in a trendy upscale urban area where few have kids and you don’t plan to have kids while living there and even if/when you do move you plan to rent it out (to other single young professionals), then who cares about the school district?

By: JoeP

JoeP — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 20:50:37 +0000

For us, the location factor boiled down to proximity to family, nice neighborhood, not a busy road, good schools.

Our next house will be our last one, so we will need to consider location that is fitting for a couple in their 50’s up until their 70’s or so. The location would likely put safety and proximity to recreation higher on the list. We’d be willing to entertain a gated community on a golf course.

By: Angie

Angie — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 17:28:54 +0000

If you can find a relatively cheap private school, or a really cheap neighborhood, yes, you can pay for private school with the price difference in homes, but you also have to consider that most of the areas with good schools are going to be safer neighborhoods where your kids can have more freedom to roam. Also by going to a neighborhood school, your kids friends will default to kids in your area, so you as a parent will spend less time shuttling them around town to take them to little Johnny’s house for a play date. In addition, if most of their friends come from the same neighborhood as you, there is a higher likelihood of coming from similar economic status, thus reducing the comparisons as they start to get older and wonder why Billy has an i-phone and Bobby gets free lunches. Ultimately, there is a lot more to look at then just doing a strict cost-basis analysis.

We looked at school district first, and housing prices second. We came in from out of state, and learned that within 45 minutes of DH’s work were the 1st and 2nd best school districts in the state. The best had 3 bed houses for 400k , and the other had 4 bed houses for 300k. We went with the second best because it was affordable and closer to work but would still provide great educational opportunities for our kids (in preschool at the time) and allow us to really “fit in” with the neighbors instead of being the house poor people on the street.

By: Fit Wallet

Fit Wallet — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 16:28:41 +0000

My partner and I bought in an “up and coming” neighborhood, basically on the rough edges of a desirable area in the city. Walk two blocks north and you can buy crack; two blocks south and houses are upwards of $300k. It’s a very odd area. We have one set of bad neighbors, but for the most part, we enjoy living where we do. My hope is that the block will improve a lot over the next ten years. We’re getting trees planted this spring, so that’s a start!