Is there a premium between Chevy Chase MD and Chevy Chase DC because of schools?

[Anonymous]

We are planning to move so that DC attends one particular private school, so we are not concerned about quality of public schools. For a number of reasons, an ideal home would be somewhere around Chevy Chase MD and Chevy Chase DC -- for example, somewhere a one-mile ratio around Western Ave between Wisconsin Ave and Conn Ave. My understanding is that public schools in CC MD are slightly better than those in CC DC (and taxes a bit lower). Because of that, is there a premium between CC MD and CC DC? I would assume that a house in CC DC is a bit cheaper that the exact same in CC MD. Is that so? If so, what is the estimated difference? If it's a non-trivial difference, then it's a no-brainer: CC DC.

[Anonymous]

Taxes are lower in DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are planning to move so that DC attends one particular private school, so we are not concerned about quality of public schools. For a number of reasons, an ideal home would be somewhere around Chevy Chase MD and Chevy Chase DC -- for example, somewhere a one-mile ratio around Western Ave between Wisconsin Ave and Conn Ave. My understanding is that public schools in CC MD are slightly better than those in CC DC (and taxes a bit lower). Because of that, is there a premium between CC MD and CC DC? I would assume that a house in CC DC is a bit cheaper that the exact same in CC MD. Is that so? If so, what is the estimated difference? If it's a non-trivial difference, then it's a no-brainer: CC DC.

The delta is almost entirely due to the quality of the public schools, real and perceived.

[Anonymous]

I read in another thread that delta= $50K. Does that sound right?

[Anonymous]

A few years ago I would have said $200K when we were looking). I think 50K is low even if the desparity isn't as much. After running the numbers for us and looking at a lot of homes less than 2 miles away, we stayed in DC. The taxes are lower and neighborhood is more friendly (at least where we are compared to where we looked) probably a function of more sidewalks and smaller lots - you gotta get along! Also consider that you could get the benefit of $10K per year per kid if they attend public college.

[Anonymous]

Look at houses in your price range in both areas- that's the only way to really guess. However, if I had to say, I would guess that the premium is $50k, if not more for living on the MD side. That being said, there is such a wide variety of both houses and neighborhoods within the neighborhood that you'll see a lot of variation in both CCs.

[Anonymous]

If you are talking about true Chevy Chase*, the houses are uniformly larger on the Md. side. That fuels the conventional wisdom that Md. costs more than DC. It is hard/impossible to find an $800K 3 bed/1.5 bath in CC Md. because what few there were have all been razed to build lobbyist neo-colonials with a porch. On the DC side, there are a lot of little houses left, still.

I've always said this makes sense, because if I'm developer X and I'm looking for a tear-down in order to create a $2.3 million spec house, I'm going to bank on the jurisdiction with the better schools. Most homebuyers plunking down $1.8-$2.3M are going to (rightly) expect certain amenities, such as good government, strong schools, city services, etc. Odds for a quick sale of that spec house go up in Md.

* ie, not the peripheral neighborhoods in Md. west of Wisconsin and north of EW Highway.

[Anonymous]

Disagree with PP. There are plenty of 3 bd houses in Chevy Chase MD, e.g. in the Town. Lot sizes are also the same size. Very comparable - you can look at recent sales and judge yourself, but I think the premium is between 5 and 10 percent.
I think services are slightly better in MoCo as well as the schools. Certainly the police are better and more responsive.

[Anonymous]

Building on PP's comment about police - we live in CHCH, MD, and notice that crime seems to stop at the district line. We're only a few blocks away from the DC line, but there are a lot of petty thefts and break-ins on the DC side and almost none here. We've wondered if the offenders know they're less likely to be caught by DC police and intentionally stay in DC, b/c the rates drop so sharply at Western Avenue. FWIW.

[Anonymous]

Sorry PP the "peripheral neighborhoods" as you so nicely put it are also "true Chevy Chase," but thanks for that lovely note of snobbery.

OP, if you want to try to estimate the markup, look at recent (past year) sales in each zip code or sub-neighborhood (all that much easier to exclude the 'low rent' parts of CC MD if you choose as the PP suggested.) You can begin to get an average range for whatever criteria is most applicable for your interests (eg., 3br/3ba/no garage or whatever.) That should give you a sense of the markup. I'm guessing it's somewhere around $50-100k right now, but I may be wrong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you are talking about true Chevy Chase*, the houses are uniformly larger on the Md. side. That fuels the conventional wisdom that Md. costs more than DC. It is hard/impossible to find an $800K 3 bed/1.5 bath in CC Md. because what few there were have all been razed to build lobbyist neo-colonials with a porch. On the DC side, there are a lot of little houses left, still.

I've always said this makes sense, because if I'm developer X and I'm looking for a tear-down in order to create a $2.3 million spec house, I'm going to bank on the jurisdiction with the better schools. Most homebuyers plunking down $1.8-$2.3M are going to (rightly) expect certain amenities, such as good government, strong schools, city services, etc. Odds for a quick sale of that spec house go up in Md.

* ie, not the peripheral neighborhoods in Md. west of Wisconsin and north of EW Highway.

I disagree with you about the small houses. There are plenty of small houses on small lots in "true Chevy Chase." While the houses above $1.8M are common on the MD side, they're few and far between in CCDC; conversely, I think you see more small bungalows in Section 3 and the area just west of Wisconsin than you see in CCDC, where the 3/4 bdrom colonial is more of the norm.

Most- no change that- all of the people I know in CCMD who live in houses above around the $1.3M mark send their kids to private school anyway. I think the premium is really more noticeable on the smaller houses in CCMD where you see a small outdated bungalow priced at or above what you could get a nicer colonial in CCDC for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I read in another thread that delta= $50K. Does that sound right?

I think it is higher by a couple off exponents.

[Anonymous]

I would say the premium is about 10% rather than a $ amount. There is a bit of cache or soemthing... Looked in CCMD and stayed in DC. Agree with the PP: all my friends also in MD send their kids to private school anyway.