These Condos are Cheaper than Private School

[Anonymous]

Consider the hypothetical: I want to sent my 3 kids to the best public schools in NoVA, lets just say Mclean HS pyramid for example, but I only have the budget for $1mil and cant afford a $2m 4bd house in that school district. What if I instead purchased a really nice 4bd home in Price William County for 750k, and a 1bd condo in Tysons Corner for 250k, then claimed primary residence in that condo so that I could send my 3 kids to Mclean schools, even though the whole family actually shacks up in a nice 4bd Prince William house. That little condo could be used as a storage unit, air bnb, rental, or whatever, it would still be much cheaper than paying tuition at comparable private schools for 3 kids.

I am honestly not trying to be facetious with this post. I honestly want to know what's stopping someone from buying a beutiful house in a bad part of town, and securing a top rated public school district with a condo spot, or by pretending their kids live somewhere else. If it is possible, how many people are already doing this? And how can the sky high Mclean property values be supported by school zone exclusivity if just anyone could simply buy into their school district with half the price of a McLean school district home.

[Anonymous]

The rule is that it has to be your primary residence. Enforcement isn't strict but someone could report you

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Consider the hypothetical: I want to sent my 3 kids to the best public schools in NoVA, lets just say Mclean HS pyramid for example, but I only have the budget for $1mil and cant afford a $2m 4bd house in that school district. What if I instead purchased a really nice 4bd home in Price William County for 750k, and a 1bd condo in Tysons Corner for 250k, then claimed primary residence in that condo so that I could send my 3 kids to Mclean schools, even though the whole family actually shacks up in a nice 4bd Prince William house. That little condo could be used as a storage unit, air bnb, rental, or whatever, it would still be much cheaper than paying tuition at comparable private schools for 3 kids.

I am honestly not trying to be facetious with this post. I honestly want to know what's stopping someone from buying a beutiful house in a bad part of town, and securing a top rated public school district with a condo spot, or by pretending their kids live somewhere else. If it is possible, how many people are already doing this? And how can the sky high Mclean property values be supported by school zone exclusivity if just anyone could simply buy into their school district with half the price of a McLean school district home.

That would be residency fraud and you would face tuition for three kids from Fairfax schools. That's a little over $17,000 per kid, depending on which level of school.

[Anonymous]

It’s like paying a nanny under the table, you might get away with it but it’s on your if you get caught.

[Anonymous]

but the commutes ....

[Anonymous]

We’ve known a family who rented an apartment in one FCPS HS’ zoned area. I think only the mom and DC lived there during the week. It was also closer for some of DCs sports stuff too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We’ve known a family who rented an apartment in one FCPS HS’ zoned area. I think only the mom and DC lived there during the week. It was also closer for some of DCs sports stuff too.

Something like this could make sense. You live there during the school week and then have your “weekend” house in the country.

[Anonymous]

I would think listing a 1-bedroom condo as the primary address for a family of 5 would be something that AI could easily flag.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:but the commutes ....

Np, and this is the only flaw I foresee.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We’ve known a family who rented an apartment in one FCPS HS’ zoned area. I think only the mom and DC lived there during the week. It was also closer for some of DCs sports stuff too.

Something like this could make sense. You live there during the school week and then have your “weekend” house in the country.

If your kids attend a school in one area, all their friends, their birthday party invitations, their sports games, etc are all going to be in that one area too. There will be no going back to your weekend home on the weekends.

[Anonymous]

This definitely happens in DC, to access better schools in more expensive parts of town using, for instance, an investment property, while the family actually lives elsewhere in a nicer home in a more affordable neighborhood.

DC makes this easier because the lottery means that people are not surprised to discover a family at a school lives outside the boundary, and assumes they just lotteried in or used to live in boundary but moved (in which case your kids are allowed to finish out at the school).

I think it's unethical but every time it's brought up on this website, I get yelled at and told to mind my own business. Still seems wrong but there's obviously little enforcement and at this point it will no longer impact me at all in a few years so oh well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Consider the hypothetical: I want to sent my 3 kids to the best public schools in NoVA, lets just say Mclean HS pyramid for example, but I only have the budget for $1mil and cant afford a $2m 4bd house in that school district. What if I instead purchased a really nice 4bd home in Price William County for 750k, and a 1bd condo in Tysons Corner for 250k, then claimed primary residence in that condo so that I could send my 3 kids to Mclean schools, even though the whole family actually shacks up in a nice 4bd Prince William house. That little condo could be used as a storage unit, air bnb, rental, or whatever, it would still be much cheaper than paying tuition at comparable private schools for 3 kids.

I am honestly not trying to be facetious with this post. I honestly want to know what's stopping someone from buying a beutiful house in a bad part of town, and securing a top rated public school district with a condo spot, or by pretending their kids live somewhere else. If it is possible, how many people are already doing this? And how can the sky high Mclean property values be supported by school zone exclusivity if just anyone could simply buy into their school district with half the price of a McLean school district home.

Why would you want to buy a home in the “bad” part of town? I know some folks in DC do something like this, but they may actually live in Capitol Hill or another part of town that is actually quite nice, but just has bad schools.

Wouldn’t the commute in your example above be fairly miserable for your kids…I don’t know NoVa all that well, but thought Prince William county is fairly far from McLean. I guess it’s possible your kid once they hit say 15 or so actually lives in the condo M-F.

There is no reason you can’t do it…you want to have whatever is county-based to use the Tyson’s address (voting? Not sure if car registration is county-based) and have some mail sent to the Tyson’s address. So many bills and what not are online and you don’t even receive snail mail…so maybe use the Tysons address for all mail.

[Anonymous]

Logistics. With one kid, sure you can drive them back and forth. But for more than one? Add any activities, are you doing those close to school, or home. Having neighborhood friends or school friends etc etc ?it's doable and I'm sure some do it. But from a make life easier point of view it's not feasible for me at least. We live 10 min drive from our ES and always when one kid goes to MS it'll be a bear with two buses and sets of school events.

[Anonymous]

What about a townhouse in the pyramid instead. I think you could do what you suggest but you would need to live there during the week to make it work. Maybe find two units next to each other and combine them.

[Anonymous]

Condo fees will eventually be more than your mortgage.

Yes you can do this OP but the condo must be your primary and you must live there mid week