Selling house, probably underwater

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
And for everyone that is saying the public school is probably better than i think, would be improved with my parental involvement and diversity would enrich DC - are any of you in a similar situation, or are you all in good/great schools and advising me from a completely different situation???

It has been proven that active parent involvement makes for a better school experience for your child. This is not something new and it does not matter what your socioeconomic level is or the school you attend.

And yes, diversity is good for all students -- unless you are a skinhead which seems doubtful.

wow
Do you have a need to say that poorly performing students do not have parents who are actively involved?
So now it is the parents fault?

I assume people with means send their kids to privates because that statement is not true

Where at all did I say anything about poorly performing students? I said, and I quote, "active parent involvement makes for a better school experience for your child."

Where did I say anything about poorly performing students? Please show me. Thanks!

[Anonymous]

I do not believe in living on a teeter-totter such as trying to rent out your current property and then renting in your desired neighborhood. There are thousands of stories of people who tried this type of deal and ended up in worse shape. What do you do if you rent out your home and at the end of a year or two, you come back to find that your departing tenants trashed your home (go on HGTV and see some of the cases on "My First Sale" where just that happened) and you have to put more money into fixing up the damage before you can rerent the property? You could end up eating up all of your savings. Additionally, being a landlord s*cks if you don't have completely trustworthy tenants. Even if they don't damage the place, but they don't take care of it, you could have costly issues in your property. You properly maintain it when you live there. Many tenants do not and leave the maintenance to the landlords when the landlord comes back to the property.

Financial planning based on horror stories on HGTV. Awesome.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Where at all did I say anything about poorly performing students? I said, and I quote, "active parent involvement makes for a better school experience for your child."

Where did I say anything about poorly performing students? Please show me. Thanks!

a better school makes a better school experience for your child

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NP here.

I personally would stop prepaying on your mortgage. Convert to paying just the minimum amount on your mortgage per month. Put the balance into your savings. Put the money that you were spending on daycare into savings. Put the $35K into a 9 month CD to get a better rate. Cut back on your spending as much as you possibly can. Put all the money into savings. Over the next year, ideally, you should be able to save at least $25K (the daycare money alone is $11K). Whatever you think of the schools, going to a mediocre Kindergarten program is not going to permanently ruin your DC's education. Next year, with the money that you have in emergency and with the new savings, you can sell the house at a loss and get out of the house. Move into a rental in the right area that you can afford to pay for and still save some money so that your kid enters first grade in a school district that you like. You will get back some money on your taxes for selling your home at a loss, put that money into savings. Save and scrimp your pennies for another couple of years and then buy into your new school district for the house you'll live in long term.

I do not believe in living on a teeter-totter such as trying to rent out your current property and then renting in your desired neighborhood. There are thousands of stories of people who tried this type of deal and ended up in worse shape. What do you do if you rent out your home and at the end of a year or two, you come back to find that your departing tenants trashed your home (go on HGTV and see some of the cases on "My First Sale" where just that happened) and you have to put more money into fixing up the damage before you can rerent the property? You could end up eating up all of your savings. Additionally, being a landlord s*cks if you don't have completely trustworthy tenants. Even if they don't damage the place, but they don't take care of it, you could have costly issues in your property. You properly maintain it when you live there. Many tenants do not and leave the maintenance to the landlords when the landlord comes back to the property.

Bite the bullet and make short term sacrifices including having your DC go to SS public school for kindergarten and cutting back on your own personal spending and hopefully in a year, you will be able to move on with a lot less risk than some of the other proposals given here.

This is not true. There is no deduction on your taxes for selling your home at a loss.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most SS public schools aren't very good. But they're still better than any private school in the area that charges less than $20K/year in tuition.

So, according to PP, the only worthwhile private schools are the expensive ones? What an elitist fool.

Thanks for putting words in my mouth and then engaging in name-calling. Very mature.

My point (which I probably should have explained more clearly) is that private schools here are expensive: there are very few in the area that charge less than $20K in tuition. And the one that charge less than that aren't bad places, but they're not great, either -- so they're not any better than the public schools (unless your local public schools are really bad, which SS public schools aren't).

[Anonymous]

With private schools -- as with pretty much everything else -- you generally get what you pay for.

[Anonymous]

So, while telling my wife about this thread, she mentioned another very real concern. If you are considering renting out your current home and either buying or renting in another neighborhood, make sure that you can afford to cover both rent/mortgage on both properties for several months. She pointed out that you could end up with a tenant who stops paying the rent and refuses to vacate the premises. The process to notify a tenant of eviction includes a waiting period, filing period, court date and then scheduling the eviction. Can you wait 30-90 days (e.g. one to three months rent/mortgage) before you can actually evict a non-paying tenant? And then you have to clean up the property and find a new tenant? It can be a nightmare.

For more details, read here:

http://www.courts.state.md.us/district/forms/civil/dccv082br.html#failpayrent

I think it is very risky to try two monthly payments for homes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am also in SS and I hear you on the schools, OP. Looking at the test scores and other data on the MCPS web site for the school we would go to was a pretty stark reality check that we need to do private or move. Kids are so easily influenced at a young age.

Test scores are one data point. The strongest indicator of how a child will do in school is his/her socioeconomic status and parental support. Really.

Our child graduated from a "red zone" school that is routinely cited her as one to stay away from, replete with gangs, blah blah blah. DC attended what DCUM'ers would view as a questionable elementary school (we were fine with it - and it was "worse" from a DCUM POV then than it is now.)

Child is now at a prestigious university in another large city, doing very well. Child's friends are likewise at good schools, headed for bright futures.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most SS public schools aren't very good. But they're still better than any private school in the area that charges less than $20K/year in tuition.

And your basis for this statement is ... what?