Please don't be offended- What should your HHI be around to consider sending DC to private school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you have a reasonable mortgage ($3K or less) I'd say $400K.

I think this is just about right. Our HHI is just over 310K with a mortgage of $3,600/month and we are struggling to make it work. In fact, we will most likely pull our kids out of private next year to send them to our local public school.

[Anonymous]

Posts like PP's make me very nervous. I'm hoping to make tuition work for one kid next year with HHI $350K and $3000 mortgage. Seems reasonable to me - perhaps fewer fancy vacations - but likely not a significant change in lifestyle. But hard to know until we're actually writing the checks every year.

[Anonymous]

Every month, I sit down with all my bills and credit card statements and fill in a spreadsheet. I know exactly where my money goes each month, and especially how much of it goes to "junk" that I could live without (yes, I have a column called junk . If you do that, you will know exactly if you have enough spare money beyond what you consider more important than school tuition.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:One last shot in the DC vs. 'burbs wars. I lived in NW DC for almost fifteen years (started out in Dupont Circle and moved to Woodley Park). We had a beautiful house in a fabulous location, but had to move because dh absolutely refused to live in the District one moment longer. Paying a premium in taxes for a completely incompetent city government was the last straw. First of all, the poster who claimed that real estate prices are "appreciably higher" than other locations around the DC area has obviously not priced real estate anywhere else lately. Herndon? yes. Old Town Alexandria, or North Arlington? No. Furthermore, most parts of NW DC are really quite suburban in character. It's not bad, but it's definitely not "urban." Last, but not least, my commute downtown is shorter now that I live in Virginia. Take it from someone who used to be in this category -- the only reason people stay in DC is because they don't know any better.

And where do your kids go to school? Public?

Private.

I hope it's not private in DC. Its people like you we gripe about. You moved to the suburbs now stay there.

No worries. The private school is also in the "suburbs." Having escaped the District, why in the world would I drag my child back in every day? And thank you for eliminating any last shred of doubt that the last line of my original post was too harsh an assessment.

First of all everyone pays taxes. You think living in Va you get some special return on your tax dollars? No you still pay for cities like Richmond, you still send millions of dollars down to Southern Va and can't even get new roads in NoVa. You have to pay a car tax and a tax on food and medicine. Your state is still getting screwed on ABC liquor, sorry to burst your ignorance is bliss attitude as if your tax dollars give you streets of gold, because they don't even give you new lanes on 66.

Actually, the ignorance seems to be on your part. You obviously haven't compared Virginia and DC tax rates. I do get a better return on my tax dollars, not only because I live in a city that actually knows how to provide basic services in an efficient way (don't get me started on my DC horror stories), but I because I pay fewer of them (tax dollars, that is). The highest marginal tax rate in DC is 8.5%, compared to 5.75% in Virginia. On our income, I estimate that we save around $14,000 a year (enough to pay about half of dc's private school tuition).

[Anonymous]

$296k HHI (HHI increased by about $100k about 2 years ago), 1 kid (plan to have 2), $2300 mortgage on 3600 sq ft home in Ft. Wash. in PG (not underwater yet). Currently debating moving to better public school district and taking on a bigger mortgage or staying where we are and doing private. Seriously discussing renting our next home as we will likely rent out our current and another investment home in lieu of selling them and after experiencing this market it has left a bad taste in our mouth about buying a home as the American Dream and the inflexibility when you are ready to relocate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:$296k HHI (HHI increased by about $100k about 2 years ago), 1 kid (plan to have 2), $2300 mortgage on 3600 sq ft home in Ft. Wash. in PG (not underwater yet). Currently debating moving to better public school district and taking on a bigger mortgage or staying where we are and doing private. Seriously discussing renting our next home as we will likely rent out our current and another investment home in lieu of selling them and after experiencing this market it has left a bad taste in our mouth about buying a home as the American Dream and the inflexibility when you are ready to relocate.

Before you rent out your houses, I would check out the tax consequences. We considered doing the same thing (rent out our house until the market improves), but at your income level, you will not be able to deduct any losses on the property against your income, AND the IRS will require you to depreciate your property, meaning that your basis is lowered when you do sell. Which means that, unless you can rent the property for enough to cover your mortgage AND maintenance AND depreciation, you will lose money twice. Now, and later when you sell the home and have to pay tax on any profit over your new lower basis. This is true if unless you own enough properties to be considered to be in the "real estate business" (as I recall, the minimum number was something like eight). Why the government would want to encourage people to dump property they might otherwise keep as an investment is beyond me.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:One last shot in the DC vs. 'burbs wars. I lived in NW DC for almost fifteen years (started out in Dupont Circle and moved to Woodley Park). We had a beautiful house in a fabulous location, but had to move because dh absolutely refused to live in the District one moment longer. Paying a premium in taxes for a completely incompetent city government was the last straw. First of all, the poster who claimed that real estate prices are "appreciably higher" than other locations around the DC area has obviously not priced real estate anywhere else lately. Herndon? yes. Old Town Alexandria, or North Arlington? No. Furthermore, most parts of NW DC are really quite suburban in character. It's not bad, but it's definitely not "urban." Last, but not least, my commute downtown is shorter now that I live in Virginia. Take it from someone who used to be in this category -- the only reason people stay in DC is because they don't know any better.

And where do your kids go to school? Public?

Private.

I hope it's not private in DC. Its people like you we gripe about. You moved to the suburbs now stay there.

No worries. The private school is also in the "suburbs." Having escaped the District, why in the world would I drag my child back in every day? And thank you for eliminating any last shred of doubt that the last line of my original post was too harsh an assessment.

First of all everyone pays taxes. You think living in Va you get some special return on your tax dollars? No you still pay for cities like Richmond, you still send millions of dollars down to Southern Va and can't even get new roads in NoVa. You have to pay a car tax and a tax on food and medicine. Your state is still getting screwed on ABC liquor, sorry to burst your ignorance is bliss attitude as if your tax dollars give you streets of gold, because they don't even give you new lanes on 66.

Actually, the ignorance seems to be on your part. You obviously haven't compared Virginia and DC tax rates. I do get a better return on my tax dollars, not only because I live in a city that actually knows how to provide basic services in an efficient way (don't get me started on my DC horror stories), but I because I pay fewer of them (tax dollars, that is). The highest marginal tax rate in DC is 8.5%, compared to 5.75% in Virginia. On our income, I estimate that we save around $14,000 a year (enough to pay about half of dc's private school tuition).

I'm going to stop arguing with you because you're obviously pretty daft and only see what you want to see. I agreed that DC's income tax rate was larger than VAs but there are a number of other taxes that Virginia has that DC either doesn't have or are lower that reduces that gap significantly. I'm all for lower taxes but if you're running around moving because of taxes you probably couldn't afford to live here anyway. Good riddance.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:What is simply out of wack here is that families making $200K plus a year are questioning whether they can send their children to private schools. I am not questioning their questioning but private schools should take note that their history of tuition increases has resulted in the current state. A family with a HHI in excess of $200K is in the top 5% (??) in the country and earns at least 4 times the national average. Such a family should be able to afford private school without begging for FA. Private schools need to get their act together!!

Blame the World Bank and the IMF and their 25K per child subsidy for private school that they provide to anyone who takes a post in DC. They set the tone and the Privates could easily fill there schools entirely with the staff of WB and IMF and never have to give FA if they did not care about economic diversity. After all, these people provide plenty of ethnic and racial diversity. Could be worse: you could be an Afghan Doctor in Kabul who makes less than the driver of his IMF neighbor.

I agree. We make about $240,000 and do get some financial aid. We have three children and now send just two to private because we just can't afford to send the third anymore. Unfortunately we bought right before the housing crash so our mortgage is kind of high. We live pay check to pay check and are constantly worried about money.

I read somewhere in another post that World Bank and IMF don't provide private school subsidies anymore. Is this true?

I'm sick of privates asking me for donations to support other peoples kids who have income. Not referring to the PP. Legal documents are sometimes on the net and I found a doozy with financial aid numbers for a family. Normal years income was high and some years made over 1million. Example: 1,000,000 + 2, 300,000 + 8[300,000] for an avg of 570000. 2 kids. Changed the numbers but this is a real scenario and NOT ONE PENNY should be given in financial aid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:$296k HHI (HHI increased by about $100k about 2 years ago), 1 kid (plan to have 2), $2300 mortgage on 3600 sq ft home in Ft. Wash. in PG (not underwater yet). Currently debating moving to better public school district and taking on a bigger mortgage or staying where we are and doing private. Seriously discussing renting our next home as we will likely rent out our current and another investment home in lieu of selling them and after experiencing this market it has left a bad taste in our mouth about buying a home as the American Dream and the inflexibility when you are ready to relocate.

Before you rent out your houses, I would check out the tax consequences. We considered doing the same thing (rent out our house until the market improves), but at your income level, you will not be able to deduct any losses on the property against your income, AND the IRS will require you to depreciate your property, meaning that your basis is lowered when you do sell. Which means that, unless you can rent the property for enough to cover your mortgage AND maintenance AND depreciation, you will lose money twice. Now, and later when you sell the home and have to pay tax on any profit over your new lower basis. This is true if unless you own enough properties to be considered to be in the "real estate business" (as I recall, the minimum number was something like eight). Why the government would want to encourage people to dump property they might otherwise keep as an investment is beyond me.

Thanks for the reminder, I definitely hadn't thought through tax implications yet. I was getting nice refunds off of one rental property until my income increased and I had surpassed the AGI to qualify (though not complaining about that!). So far our plan is to hold these properties long term and hope to have them as income after we retire hopefully. They were starter homes before marriage and before our careers took off that were not very expensive. Any tax implications will suck but we are ready to move on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you have a reasonable mortgage ($3K or less) I'd say $400K.

Who on earth has a mortgage under $3k?? You can't have kids in a studio!

No offense intended, but now I understand why so many people posting on this forum don't really relate to the average American family and how they feel about paying even more taxes. The divide is very, very wide! Hence, the recent election results.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:One last shot in the DC vs. 'burbs wars. I lived in NW DC for almost fifteen years (started out in Dupont Circle and moved to Woodley Park). We had a beautiful house in a fabulous location, but had to move because dh absolutely refused to live in the District one moment longer. Paying a premium in taxes for a completely incompetent city government was the last straw. First of all, the poster who claimed that real estate prices are "appreciably higher" than other locations around the DC area has obviously not priced real estate anywhere else lately. Herndon? yes. Old Town Alexandria, or North Arlington? No. Furthermore, most parts of NW DC are really quite suburban in character. It's not bad, but it's definitely not "urban." Last, but not least, my commute downtown is shorter now that I live in Virginia. Take it from someone who used to be in this category -- the only reason people stay in DC is because they don't know any better.

And where do your kids go to school? Public?

Private.

I hope it's not private in DC. Its people like you we gripe about. You moved to the suburbs now stay there.

No worries. The private school is also in the "suburbs." Having escaped the District, why in the world would I drag my child back in every day? And thank you for eliminating any last shred of doubt that the last line of my original post was too harsh an assessment.

First of all everyone pays taxes. You think living in Va you get some special return on your tax dollars? No you still pay for cities like Richmond, you still send millions of dollars down to Southern Va and can't even get new roads in NoVa. You have to pay a car tax and a tax on food and medicine. Your state is still getting screwed on ABC liquor, sorry to burst your ignorance is bliss attitude as if your tax dollars give you streets of gold, because they don't even give you new lanes on 66.

Actually, the ignorance seems to be on your part. You obviously haven't compared Virginia and DC tax rates. I do get a better return on my tax dollars, not only because I live in a city that actually knows how to provide basic services in an efficient way (don't get me started on my DC horror stories), but I because I pay fewer of them (tax dollars, that is). The highest marginal tax rate in DC is 8.5%, compared to 5.75% in Virginia. On our income, I estimate that we save around $14,000 a year (enough to pay about half of dc's private school tuition).

I'm going to stop arguing with you because you're obviously pretty daft and only see what you want to see. I agreed that DC's income tax rate was larger than VAs but there are a number of other taxes that Virginia has that DC either doesn't have or are lower that reduces that gap significantly. I'm all for lower taxes but if you're running around moving because of taxes you probably couldn't afford to live here anyway. Good riddance.

First of all, the only tax that Virginia has is the car tax, which is less than $700 per year on a brand-new Mercedes (the reason I'm not exactly sure is because my car is registered at my second, waterfront home -- so much for not being able to afford to live in the District, if I wanted to). Secondly, I said paying an extra $14,000 per year to live in a city with a completely incompetent city government was just the final straw. Not having to live around arrogant, parochial people who think paying a premium to live in a crowded, dirty, corrupt city makes them special was the real payoff.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One last shot in the DC vs. 'burbs wars. I lived in NW DC for almost fifteen years (started out in Dupont Circle and moved to Woodley Park). We had a beautiful house in a fabulous location, but had to move because dh absolutely refused to live in the District one moment longer. Paying a premium in taxes for a completely incompetent city government was the last straw. First of all, the poster who claimed that real estate prices are "appreciably higher" than other locations around the DC area has obviously not priced real estate anywhere else lately. Herndon? yes. Old Town Alexandria, or North Arlington? No. Furthermore, most parts of NW DC are really quite suburban in character. It's not bad, but it's definitely not "urban." Last, but not least, my commute downtown is shorter now that I live in Virginia. Take it from someone who used to be in this category -- the only reason people stay in DC is because they don't know any better.

And where do your kids go to school? Public?

Private.

I hope it's not private in DC. Its people like you we gripe about. You moved to the suburbs now stay there.

No worries. The private school is also in the "suburbs." Having escaped the District, why in the world would I drag my child back in every day? And thank you for eliminating any last shred of doubt that the last line of my original post was too harsh an assessment.

First of all everyone pays taxes. You think living in Va you get some special return on your tax dollars? No you still pay for cities like Richmond, you still send millions of dollars down to Southern Va and can't even get new roads in NoVa. You have to pay a car tax and a tax on food and medicine. Your state is still getting screwed on ABC liquor, sorry to burst your ignorance is bliss attitude as if your tax dollars give you streets of gold, because they don't even give you new lanes on 66.

Actually, the ignorance seems to be on your part. You obviously haven't compared Virginia and DC tax rates. I do get a better return on my tax dollars, not only because I live in a city that actually knows how to provide basic services in an efficient way (don't get me started on my DC horror stories), but I because I pay fewer of them (tax dollars, that is). The highest marginal tax rate in DC is 8.5%, compared to 5.75% in Virginia. On our income, I estimate that we save around $14,000 a year (enough to pay about half of dc's private school tuition).

I'm going to stop arguing with you because you're obviously pretty daft and only see what you want to see. I agreed that DC's income tax rate was larger than VAs but there are a number of other taxes that Virginia has that DC either doesn't have or are lower that reduces that gap significantly. I'm all for lower taxes but if you're running around moving because of taxes you probably couldn't afford to live here anyway. Good riddance.

First of all, the only tax that Virginia has is the car tax, which is less than $700 per year on a brand-new Mercedes (the reason I'm not exactly sure is because my car is registered at my second, waterfront home -- so much for not being able to afford to live in the District, if I wanted to). Secondly, I said paying an extra $14,000 per year to live in a city with a completely incompetent city government was just the final straw. Not having to live around arrogant, parochial people who think paying a premium to live in a crowded, dirty, corrupt city makes them special was the real payoff.

NP, Why are you posting on a blog called DC Urban moms and dads? Who cares is you are saving on taxes, good for you. You clearly are proud to be in the suburbs, please, start a NOVA blog. When I lived in northern NJ, I never posted on the NYC blogs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One last shot in the DC vs. 'burbs wars. I lived in NW DC for almost fifteen years (started out in Dupont Circle and moved to Woodley Park). We had a beautiful house in a fabulous location, but had to move because dh absolutely refused to live in the District one moment longer. Paying a premium in taxes for a completely incompetent city government was the last straw. First of all, the poster who claimed that real estate prices are "appreciably higher" than other locations around the DC area has obviously not priced real estate anywhere else lately. Herndon? yes. Old Town Alexandria, or North Arlington? No. Furthermore, most parts of NW DC are really quite suburban in character. It's not bad, but it's definitely not "urban." Last, but not least, my commute downtown is shorter now that I live in Virginia. Take it from someone who used to be in this category -- the only reason people stay in DC is because they don't know any better.

And where do your kids go to school? Public?

Private.

I hope it's not private in DC. Its people like you we gripe about. You moved to the suburbs now stay there.

No worries. The private school is also in the "suburbs." Having escaped the District, why in the world would I drag my child back in every day? And thank you for eliminating any last shred of doubt that the last line of my original post was too harsh an assessment.

First of all everyone pays taxes. You think living in Va you get some special return on your tax dollars? No you still pay for cities like Richmond, you still send millions of dollars down to Southern Va and can't even get new roads in NoVa. You have to pay a car tax and a tax on food and medicine. Your state is still getting screwed on ABC liquor, sorry to burst your ignorance is bliss attitude as if your tax dollars give you streets of gold, because they don't even give you new lanes on 66.

Actually, the ignorance seems to be on your part. You obviously haven't compared Virginia and DC tax rates. I do get a better return on my tax dollars, not only because I live in a city that actually knows how to provide basic services in an efficient way (don't get me started on my DC horror stories), but I because I pay fewer of them (tax dollars, that is). The highest marginal tax rate in DC is 8.5%, compared to 5.75% in Virginia. On our income, I estimate that we save around $14,000 a year (enough to pay about half of dc's private school tuition).

I'm going to stop arguing with you because you're obviously pretty daft and only see what you want to see. I agreed that DC's income tax rate was larger than VAs but there are a number of other taxes that Virginia has that DC either doesn't have or are lower that reduces that gap significantly. I'm all for lower taxes but if you're running around moving because of taxes you probably couldn't afford to live here anyway. Good riddance.

First of all, the only tax that Virginia has is the car tax, which is less than $700 per year on a brand-new Mercedes (the reason I'm not exactly sure is because my car is registered at my second, waterfront home -- so much for not being able to afford to live in the District, if I wanted to). Secondly, I said paying an extra $14,000 per year to live in a city with a completely incompetent city government was just the final straw. Not having to live around arrogant, parochial people who think paying a premium to live in a crowded, dirty, corrupt city makes them special was the real payoff.

You really are dumb. You pay taxes on food and medical in Va, and have a higher property tax. And in terms of ineffective government are you talking about the state who's DMV was shut down for how many weeks, or started a crazy $3,000 traffic fine? Dirty, crowded? It sounds like you lived in a box in McPhereson square.

[Anonymous]

Northern NJ is not as integrally integrated into NYC. MD and NOVA have neighborhoods that blend into DC. Chain Bridge isn't the Lincoln Tunnel.

[Anonymous]

I have to say that I find both the recent DC and the VA posters to be pretty rude. DC poster - no need to be so rude - people who live in N. Va are not a bunch of hicks and yes, even including the higher property tax and car tax the taxes are much much lower, particularly if you have a high income. VA poster - understand your point of view, but there's no need to be completely insulting of the people who chose to live in DC. Yes, taxes are higher and there's a lot of waste, etc. but many of us like a more urban atmosphere and the shorter commutes and are willing to pay for that.