Buying in MoCo with school boundaries & attainable housing plan

[Anonymous]

No one buys a single family home, in a neighborhood of single family homes, and expects multi-family housing, or an apartment building to be built next-door because the government has decided to give developers a hand out to do so.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No, what is unsettling is the level of entitlement for people who want to live in a place and will destroy communities and neighborhoods to do so. Equally unsettling is government officials using tax dollars to assist them.

We live in a lovely residential neighborhood with subsidized apartment buIldings a few blocks away from our house. It is a great place to live and the crime (e.g. occasional car break ins) is similar to crime in suburban Bethesda.

The local elementary school is highly regarded by the community and by staff. The FARMS rate for the school is around 30%. I think that is a good level where the needs of the student body are manageable for the staff and it has economic, racial and ethnic diversity which I think is important for kids of all income levels.

I don't know the exact history of the apartment buildings, but it would be preposterous and offensive to suggest they "destroyed the community" - our community is here and doing great and the apartments are part of our community.

The difference is they would do away with homes in an established beautiful neighborhood to build the “lovely apartments”. No, thank you.

If someone sells their home and the developer decides to build a small apt building I am cool with that.

[Anonymous]

You could just as easily say the people who “destroyed” my neighborhood are the ones who tore down normal sized (2000 sq ft) house and built giant McMansions that are oversized for the lots and unaffordable for the vast majority of people.

That’s not the neighborhood I bought into and if someone is going to build a house that bog I am fine if 2 or 3 couples or families end up living there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MoCo is already a oretty dense, urbanized county (at least inside the beltway which seems to be where any new apartment buildings would be).

Where are you looking that you think a small apartment building would change the character of a neighborhood?

It would change that character of many neighborhoods, create overcrowding and bring crime.

Small apartment buildings cause crime?

Low income residents are more likely to commit crime. A resident of a household in the bottom 20% of the income distribution is 6.8x as likely to commit a violent crime as a resident in the top 20% of the income distribution. It only a change in the income composition of a neighborhood to substantially increase the crime rate. Example, the current neighborhood income composition is 50% Qunitile5, 40% and Quintile 4, 10% quintile 3. The average violent crime rate for adolescents would be in 2.8 incidents per 1,000 people. If the neighborhood changes to 40% Q5, 40% Q4, 10% Q3, 5% Q2, 5% Q1, the average violent crime rate would increase to 3.53 incidents per 1, people. So the violent crime rate per 1,000 people would increase by 26% from a small change in the income composition.

Go take statistics 101 and learn what the difference between correlation and causation is, genius.

The correlation between income and crime rates is very real and an increase in the low-income population will increase average crime rates in a community. Anyone who has grown up in poverty knows this fact. Only the very sheltered people who have never lived in a low-income neighborhood don't believe this to be true. You guys are just upset because reality does not confirm with your worldview that everyone is "equal" and poverty is only due to environmental factors

But a neighborhood with different housing types isn't a "low-income" neighborhood.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You could just as easily say the people who “destroyed” my neighborhood are the ones who tore down normal sized (2000 sq ft) house and built giant McMansions that are oversized for the lots and unaffordable for the vast majority of people.

That’s not the neighborhood I bought into and if someone is going to build a house that bog I am fine if 2 or 3 couples or families end up living there.

Agreed- I think it's problematic when a neighborhood is "too anything." Loosening zoning restrictions (within reason) is a way to let the market work some of this out.

I am not sure how I feel about government assisted housing- I am not against it, but I think the programs are flawed and don't know which strategies are best. I def understand why people don't want to suddenly live next door to a recovery home, for example.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You could just as easily say the people who “destroyed” my neighborhood are the ones who tore down normal sized (2000 sq ft) house and built giant McMansions that are oversized for the lots and unaffordable for the vast majority of people.

That’s not the neighborhood I bought into and if someone is going to build a house that bog I am fine if 2 or 3 couples or families end up living there.

Agreed- I think it's problematic when a neighborhood is "too anything." Loosening zoning restrictions (within reason) is a way to let the market work some of this out.

I am not sure how I feel about government assisted housing- I am not against it, but I think the programs are flawed and don't know which strategies are best. I def understand why people don't want to suddenly live next door to a recovery home, for example.

Montgomery county mostly has MPDUs, meaning developers are supposed to reserve like 15% of units for people earning up to 70% of the area’s average income (so like $90k for a couple). It’s not going to solve the housing affordability crisis but it’s also not going to bring a crime wave.

[Anonymous]

Buy within a mile of the high school you want to be zoned for. Or wait for the new boundary decision.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MoCo is already a oretty dense, urbanized county (at least inside the beltway which seems to be where any new apartment buildings would be).

Where are you looking that you think a small apartment building would change the character of a neighborhood?

It would change that character of many neighborhoods, create overcrowding and bring crime.

Small apartment buildings cause crime?

Low income residents are more likely to commit crime. A resident of a household in the bottom 20% of the income distribution is 6.8x as likely to commit a violent crime as a resident in the top 20% of the income distribution. It only a change in the income composition of a neighborhood to substantially increase the crime rate. Example, the current neighborhood income composition is 50% Qunitile5, 40% and Quintile 4, 10% quintile 3. The average violent crime rate for adolescents would be in 2.8 incidents per 1,000 people. If the neighborhood changes to 40% Q5, 40% Q4, 10% Q3, 5% Q2, 5% Q1, the average violent crime rate would increase to 3.53 incidents per 1, people. So the violent crime rate per 1,000 people would increase by 26% from a small change in the income composition.

Go take statistics 101 and learn what the difference between correlation and causation is, genius.

The correlation between income and crime rates is very real and an increase in the low-income population will increase average crime rates in a community. Anyone who has grown up in poverty knows this fact. Only the very sheltered people who have never lived in a low-income neighborhood don't believe this to be true. You guys are just upset because reality does not confirm with your worldview that everyone is "equal" and poverty is only due to environmental factors

But a neighborhood with different housing types isn't a "low-income" neighborhood.

No, it is one where you imported problems so now you are dealing with issues that you did not have previously; in your neighborhood, in your schools, in stress to services, and on and on and on. Why this social engineering through housing? Ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MoCo is already a oretty dense, urbanized county (at least inside the beltway which seems to be where any new apartment buildings would be).

Where are you looking that you think a small apartment building would change the character of a neighborhood?

It would change that character of many neighborhoods, create overcrowding and bring crime.

Small apartment buildings cause crime?

Low income residents are more likely to commit crime. A resident of a household in the bottom 20% of the income distribution is 6.8x as likely to commit a violent crime as a resident in the top 20% of the income distribution. It only a change in the income composition of a neighborhood to substantially increase the crime rate. Example, the current neighborhood income composition is 50% Qunitile5, 40% and Quintile 4, 10% quintile 3. The average violent crime rate for adolescents would be in 2.8 incidents per 1,000 people. If the neighborhood changes to 40% Q5, 40% Q4, 10% Q3, 5% Q2, 5% Q1, the average violent crime rate would increase to 3.53 incidents per 1, people. So the violent crime rate per 1,000 people would increase by 26% from a small change in the income composition.

Go take statistics 101 and learn what the difference between correlation and causation is, genius.

The correlation between income and crime rates is very real and an increase in the low-income population will increase average crime rates in a community. Anyone who has grown up in poverty knows this fact. Only the very sheltered people who have never lived in a low-income neighborhood don't believe this to be true. You guys are just upset because reality does not confirm with your worldview that everyone is "equal" and poverty is only due to environmental factors

But a neighborhood with different housing types isn't a "low-income" neighborhood.

No, it is one where you imported problems so now you are dealing with issues that you did not have previously; in your neighborhood, in your schools, in stress to services, and on and on and on. Why this social engineering through housing? Ridiculous.

Social engineering is when you only allow one type of housing, my friend.

[Anonymous]

Buy a house in Virginia instead. Montgomery County used to be the richest and nicest county in the DMV in the 80s and 90s and has been on a downward spiral ever since. If you think socialists like Elrich are going to attract more business development and be as good of stewards of public funds as the moderate Dems in NoVa, so MoCo can correct course and get back on track and compete with NoVa, you are a fool. It is only going to get worse from here on out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Buy a house in Virginia instead. Montgomery County used to be the richest and nicest county in the DMV in the 80s and 90s and has been on a downward spiral ever since. If you think socialists like Elrich are going to attract more business development and be as good of stewards of public funds as the moderate Dems in NoVa, so MoCo can correct course and get back on track and compete with NoVa, you are a fool. It is only going to get worse from here on out.

I would say make sure your house is within 15 min or less of 3 great private schools regardless of where you live. It's a good insurance policy to protect your property values.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Buy within a mile of the high school you want to be zoned for. Or wait for the new boundary decision.

There are lots of examples of houses within a mile of one school being zoned to another school.