Is it really worth it to pay a premium for a house in a top school pyramid?
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
| Interesting, PP. We're in Marshall pyramid and were thinking of moving to the McLean pyramid for HS, assuming it would be better. Now I'm reconsidering because I think DC may be happier at a more laid back school. It's nice to hear you speak of them similarly in terms of quality. maybe we'll save ourselves some money (and anxiety) and stay in the Marshall pyramid. |
Anonymous
| Yes, it's worth it, but if you can't afford it there's no need to obsess over it, either. |
Anonymous
| Yes as the market demonstrates repeatedly. |
Anonymous
|
We bought into Montgomery County's B-CC cluster in a neighborhood with a top-rated primary school. And then we ended up homeschooling because our kid has some issues that make regular school really unpleasant.
That's about $100k for the premium to buy in this neighborhood and $60k-$80k per year in missed income because my wife is not working and a couple thousand a year in higher property taxes from the more expensive house. Well, I guess we'll make it up when we sell the house, right? |
Anonymous
You can also notice that marshall was rated slightly higher than McLean last year so they are both equally excellent schools. |
Anonymous
Maybe we are answering different questions. Will the more expensive house hold it's value and stay more expensive on resale? Probably. Is the education itself "worth" the higher price (ignoring resale) - totally subjective. |
Anonymous
2012 SATs - Langley (1812), McLean (1755), Madison (1730), Marshall (1702) Fall 2012 National Merit Semifinalists - Langley (13), McLean (11), Madison (9), Marshall (8) Jay Matthews/Washington Post Regional Challenge Index - McLean (14), Madison (15), Langley (16), Marshall (54) US News/State of Virginia Rankings - Marshall (3), McLean (4), Langley (6), Madison (8) GreatSchools - Each receives a "9" on a 1-10 scale. Percentage of Students Receiving Free/Reduced Lunch - Langley (1.55%), Madison (8.60%), McLean (10.18%), Marshall (16.75%). Percentage of Students With Limited English Proficiency - Langley (1.70%), Madison (4.25%), McLean (6.35%), Marshall (10.71%). |
Anonymous
| 1812, Langley score, pretty low... my 12-year old DC has scored better. |
Anonymous
Looks like Marshall is killing it despite higher farms, limited english |
Anonymous
It really doesn't matter, since this is all about perception. Marshall isn't perceived to be as good a school, and that affects the property values around it negatively relative to the other HSs. |
Anonymous
You can look at it two ways. You could argue that the school "punches above its weight" since it has good test scores, but a higher percentage of ESOL/FARMS students than some of the neighboring schools. But you also have to keep in mind that a lot of the ESOL/FARMS students don't take the SATs and that, if the percentage of Marshall students who took the SATs was as high as the percentage at Langley, McLean and Madison, the test scores at Marshall probably would be lower. To address the prior poster who was debating moving from the Marshall district to the McLean district simply for the schools, I wouldn't encourage that, unless there are other reasons to move, such as shortening one's commute. Moving is a big deal, whether it's 10 miles or 2500 miles. Your child likely would be happy at either school. |
Anonymous
You are stuck in the 90s |
Anonymous
No, not really. But you are living in a fantasy world. I'm sure that's reassuring to you, but insisting something is so doesn't make it true. I don't have a dog in this fight. I live in North Arlington. I'm just telling you that when we were looking for houses in 2011, Marshall wasn't even on our radar screen as we considered school pyramids. The other two, however, were big competitors in our homebuying decision. Most people are like that. I'm sure Marshall is a fine school. I'm sure it's even true that perceptions lag reality. But that doesn't change the economics of the homebuying process. Right now, Hyundai is a fine car, but most people still prefer to buy Honda or Toyota. |
Anonymous
Marshall and McLean are both excellent. The choice would be AP or IB. For my family, we tend to gravitate towards science and math and away from the Humanities. AP is a better fit for us. It depends on the child. IME, McLean is much more laid back than Longfellow (MS). Since so many high pressure students at Longfellow go to Langley or TJ or private, the ones remaining do not dominate the culture like they did in MS. There is still a very good academic culture, but it isn't as intense. |
Anonymous
We relocated from up north....rented for 1 year, then purchased in the Langley pyramid. I know many people whom had kids in private, then switched to public, and from public to private, either coming from or going to Langley. The problems in each arte the same. The school is big-all FCPS high schools are. We have had some challenges there. One child was bullied. But the school settled it. My kids' current GPAs are 3.5, 3.8, and 3.6. Is the school perfect? Nope. Are there challenges? Yup. Honestly, the biggest issue I see, is not the kids. It is the tone-deaf parents whom seem disconnected from their own kids, and the kids' behavior. But back to the real estate values question. As the one poster said, if the real estate pay-up was not worth it, wouldn't over time that difference disappear? Good schools help the value of your home. Period. There is a perception that Langley, McLean, etc are very good schools. We have owned 4 homes. Only the first one was in a poor school district, and we blew out of it in a fast-rising housing market. The next three were all driven, primarily, by quality of schools, then, seeing what we could afford, what we wanted, etc. |