Is it really worth it to pay a premium for a house in a top school pyramid?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How do you know the elite real estate sections of Va and MD will remain high-priced, low-crime, and free of foreclosures? The sequester may be the first prick in the enormous and unprecedented DMV real estate bubble.

Here's a recent jobs quote from on the sequester:

"Oh and the housing market that will be impacted, that should be on the top of people's mind. It has been all rainbows and unicorns with housing. Prices are sky high, people are sitting on huge mortgages. If they lose their jobs and it is happening to a lot of other people trying to fire-sell their homes-that will make it nearly impossible to get out from under a suffocating mortgage. Who are those people? Oh yea, everyone inside the beltway and everyone 10 miles outside of the beltway. "

Buyers beware.

Hilarious.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do you know the elite real estate sections of Va and MD will remain high-priced, low-crime, and free of foreclosures? The sequester may be the first prick in the enormous and unprecedented DMV real estate bubble.

Here's a recent jobs quote from on the sequester:

"Oh and the housing market that will be impacted, that should be on the top of people's mind. It has been all rainbows and unicorns with housing. Prices are sky high, people are sitting on huge mortgages. If they lose their jobs and it is happening to a lot of other people trying to fire-sell their homes-that will make it nearly impossible to get out from under a suffocating mortgage. Who are those people? Oh yea, everyone inside the beltway and everyone 10 miles outside of the beltway. "

Buyers beware.

Hilarious.

Chicken little found the bath salts

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Personally I find school "rankings" to be overrated. The lower ranked schools typically have lower test score averages because they pull from some lower income, diverse areas. I personally think there's a lot of educational advantages to being exposed to cultural and socioeconomic differences.

Plus, I think smart kids have a lot to gain by being one of the smartest kids in the schol, which opens up a lot of opportunities, than one of dozens and dozens of smart kids, as is the case at McLean, etc.

I wholeheartedly agree.

I never wanted my kids at the 'top' school (which is smoke and mirrors anyhow). It is solely based on the homogenity of the population.

DH went to a HS that only had 5% that went onto 4-year colleges. He was very smart and got a scholarship to a very well-known and well-regarded private University. He is very smart. However, he would have been just like many of your typical kids at the top schools in this area.

I was number 10 out of 495 at FairfaX Co. HS which helped in college admissions. It was a middle o the pack school. I don't doubt I would not have been as highly ranked at one of the top HS. I feel the education I received was similar though.

Alo-factor into the type of uber-competitive tiger parents you will have to associate with for the next 12 years. We are in a great neighborhood that feeds into a highly credibe, but diverse HS and I like the attitude here beter. Property values are through the roof and a house rarely comes on the market.

That's great, but some people would read this and wonder about the other 95% at your DH's school. Maybe more of those kids would have gone on to post-secondary education if they had attended a better school. And not everyone assumes that their kid will be the big fish if the pond is, indeed, little.

Nope. DH is the first to say they were offere the exact same education and circumstances. In fact DH was raised by a single mother working two jobs and was one of the more disadvantaged at his school. He said he knew at a young age that he just wanted to get the hell out of there. His brother never went to college and never left.

DH is less sympathetic than I am to kids in adverse situations, btw.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, buy in the best district you can afford that makes sense for your commute. The rest of it is just noise.

We bought as close to our commute midpoints as we could within our budget. The neighborhood has a well regarded elementary and middle school within walking distance. The high school (also walking distance) is middle of the pack for FCPS, but that is still pretty darn good. McLean and some of the other places with the better reputations made no sense for us commute-wise, and we couldn't have had a house with a yard there, anyway.

People get way too wrapped up in the "best of the best" here. A good student can do well at any FCPS school. The socioeconomics of the surrounding student body is the biggest difference among the schools, and in most cases, there is a high achieving, motivated group somewhere there. Just have your son involved in activities, get to know the other parents, etc. I grew up in a less affluent area, and still managed to do quite well in school as my parents were involved in my life. I never got in trouble and had a good group of friends.

The high-scoring schools have problems, too - just a different variety.

Another one who agrees with this. Plus, if you have a good student at a not-so-perfect school, that helps in the college application process. The ones who shine at the not top 5 high schools often get into colleges where they would not had they been in the middle of the pack at the top 5 HS.

+100 - I do believe my DC has had an advantage in the college admissions process by being an above-average student at an 'average' high school, especially for admission to in-state universities. DC also didn't feel the stress that kids at the highly regarded supposedly feel, because there was not so much competition among the students, and has been able to enjoy the junior and senior years.

I agree with the PP. Still think its a miracle I got in to UVA coming from a top Northern Virginia high school where I had a 4.8/5 GPA but still wasn't in the top 10% of my class. And that was a while ago...it is much more competitive now!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Personally I find school "rankings" to be overrated. The lower ranked schools typically have lower test score averages because they pull from some lower income, diverse areas. I personally think there's a lot of educational advantages to being exposed to cultural and socioeconomic differences.

Plus, I think smart kids have a lot to gain by being one of the smartest kids in the schol, which opens up a lot of opportunities, than one of dozens and dozens of smart kids, as is the case at McLean, etc.

I wholeheartedly agree.

I never wanted my kids at the 'top' school (which is smoke and mirrors anyhow). It is solely based on the homogenity of the population.

DH went to a HS that only had 5% that went onto 4-year colleges. He was very smart and got a scholarship to a very well-known and well-regarded private University. He is very smart. However, he would have been just like many of your typical kids at the top schools in this area.

I was number 10 out of 495 at FairfaX Co. HS which helped in college admissions. It was a middle o the pack school. I don't doubt I would not have been as highly ranked at one of the top HS. I feel the education I received was similar though.

Alo-factor into the type of uber-competitive tiger parents you will have to associate with for the next 12 years. We are in a great neighborhood that feeds into a highly credibe, but diverse HS and I like the attitude here beter. Property values are through the roof and a house rarely comes on the market.

That's great, but some people would read this and wonder about the other 95% at your DH's school. Maybe more of those kids would have gone on to post-secondary education if they had attended a better school. And not everyone assumes that their kid will be the big fish if the pond is, indeed, little.

Nope. DH is the first to say they were offere the exact same education and circumstances. In fact DH was raised by a single mother working two jobs and was one of the more disadvantaged at his school. He said he knew at a young age that he just wanted to get the hell out of there. His brother never went to college and never left.

DH is less sympathetic than I am to kids in adverse situations, btw.

The issue is a bit more complex than you and your spouse's personal biographies, impressive as they may be.