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XP: Buying a home for the school district?
I posted this on MM but thought I'd post here to get the perspective of those who are also going through the house hunting process.
DH and I have been on the hunt for a 2012 purchase and we can't really agree on one of the most important things--location. We are most likely going to send our son to private school (definitely for elementary school), but I would like to live in an area with good public middle and high schools (highly ranked when compared to other schools in the area). DH totally disagrees. He is pretty set on private school and feels it's pointless to buy in a particular school district because even assuming we go the public school route, our kid is 1 and who the heck knows what the district zones will look like by the time our son gets to middle school. He'd rather find the house with everything we want (large yard, nice interior, good freeway access, etc) and not worry about the school district. With respect to resale, the next house we buy will be the one we stay in for a LONG time, so we aren't worrying about the effect the school has on resale at this point. The problem is that finding a top school in one of the worst school districts in the country really forces us to limit our search to just a few parts of town, whereas focusing on all of our other "wants" allows us to open up our search.
So what do you all think....buy for the home or find a home in the area zoned for the better schools? If you had a similar decision to make what did you do and why?
Re: XP: Buying a home for the school district?
When we bought our house 2.5 years ago, it was 110% for the location. Meaning the school district, since getting our DDs into those schools was the whole reason we moved in the first place; our current house was fine, it was the schools that were lacking.
To afford that district we ended up with a bank owned home in terrible shape. The windows leaked, the siding was rotting in places, every carpet was stained and the walls were a mess, the bathrooms hadn't been updated in 35+ years (one was even non-functional) and the kitchen wasn't far behind, every outlet and light switch needed replacing, and there was no running water due to numerous burst pipes.
We're still working on the renovations. Should be finished by this time next year. At that point, the house will be almost totally redone, exactly to our tastes, and (since DH is handy and can do a huge part of the work himself) will mean we paid about the same total for this house that comparable move-in condition homes were selling for when we bought. Meanwhile my girls will have had three years of this school system under their belts by then which makes all of the work and inconvenience of living with renovations totally worth it, IMO.
Dup
I should add, the locations are really great for both areas of town where we are looking, it's just that the schools aren't good in one. One of the two zones encompasses a larger area so there are lots of undesirable neighborhoods in the same zone. That's the problem--the ONLY difference is the schools but the price you pay to get in the better school zone is significant (about 200-300K for the better school zone).
Vegas is actually pretty small. The two areas where we are focusing our efforts are about 15 minutes from one another.
Interesting, I'm glad to hear you thought it was worth it. That's something we've considered, buying a fixer in the better area. Both of us agree that land is really important and we want custom not a tract house since in Vegas the tract houses are right on top of each other (it's unavoidable). We could always get a fixer and make the improvements we want.
I'm a Realtor in CA and I've worked with a variety of buyers: parents of young children and seniors who are downsizing. For either scenario I remind all my clients that nothing matters more than location. And the number one thing that effects the location, is the school.
Even if you never intend to use the schools, there is a lot of value in being in a good school district. First and foremost is that it will help to protect the value of your asset over the years. The prices will not adjust as drastically in down market because the homes in the good school districts will still command a premium. For instance, during the recent market adjustments, I've seen homes in lesser school districts loose 50% of their value while homes in the best districts have had minor adjustments of 5-10% down and have already begun to rise again while home values in the lesser school district are still faltering.
Also, as a parent, something else I think of is the neighborhood make up. Even if I intend to use private schools, my child still has many neighborhood friends. Do I want him to be friends with other kids that come from an home environment that values learning and education? Or do I want him to be surrounded by kids that are not encouraged to do well in school? And what about my own friends in the neighborhood: will the parents have similar values to mine when it comes to education and doing well in school? Not all families choose private school but what is important to me is their focus and dedication to education.
So to me, those concerns would support buying in a good school district, even if I intended to use a private school.
Just my opinion and thought process. Hope it helps
Good luck!
Lighthouse State Beach, Santa Cruz.
The one point I would add is--if something happens to the economics of your family and you cannot afford private school, you want to be comfortable sending your child to the public school for your neighborhood. No one plans on losing a job, having a serious medical condition that prevents you from working, etc. but sadly, those things do happen sometimes.
My Valentine Bookends (2~13~13, 2~15~09)
Unfortunately, that is a risk we all take unless you live next door to the school (although there is a big stink here where one neighborhood that is literally across the street from an ES is being rezoned, so you are really never "safe"). However chances are that your neighbors would ban together to try to appeal any such rezoning since they too, paid a premium for the neighborhood.
My Valentine Bookends (2~13~13, 2~15~09)
I won't say it hasn't been hard. There are days when I am so frustrated I could scream, and even just this morning while raking the bajillion leaves in my yard I was muttering under my breath about having one more reason to hate this house. But DH and I never considered any other choice as being acceptable...we do have kids and school came first.
As for the rezoning issue brought up, well...that's always a possibility. No sense worrying about what "might" happen, though. DH and I agree that we'll cross that bridge if and when we come to it.
Sounds like you guys are on the right track and doing a good job of evaluating all the variables.
Good luck & enjoy!
Lighthouse State Beach, Santa Cruz.
It sounds like you have received some good advice. I was only going to add that buying in a "good" school district isn't always an indicator for good real estate location. I think it holds as a general rule. However, I live in a large city that has no zoning, and the schools within the city school districts are overall poor. (or at least what I would consider poor performers) You really have to move out to the burbs if you want a good school district (30+++ miles outside the city centre). However, there are some extremely prime real estate areas within 10 miles of the city centre. You may find some really good elementary schools in these prime real estate areas, but the middle and high schools are mediocre since they pull from larger areas. And I agree with your husband's point that school ratings can change dramatically between when you move to an area and when you actually need the school. I have watched some very strong schools tank over the past 15 years. And with the Las Vegas market, I think it is going to be hard to judge what will happen in the next 5-20 years. I would focus more on buying in a solid area that isn't as affected by the real estate implosion, and also meets your needs.
Good luck!
Click it if you can't say it!
Have you checked out open enrollment? In our state, we can send our child to any school we want, as long as we provide transportation.
We kind of hit school district jackpot, in that we live in one district that whole-grade shares with two other districts. We will have the option of three different districts for elementary and middle school and two different districts for high school.