Reply to Is DC right for us?

Forum Index » DC Public and Public Charter Schools

Reply to "Is DC right for us?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]We moved to DC from MA about 3-4 months ago and closed on semi-detached townhomeast August. We are a young professional couple (both 31) expecting our first child next February; which is the reason we purchased where we did because we needed a 3 bedroom.

Long story short we had a budget of 600k and needed 3 bedrooms. So we purchased a Federal tow home in North Michigan Park I believe for 550k, about 1 mile from Fort Totten. The concern : schools. The school ratings basically scares us and might be the main driver behind us living the city in the next 4 year or so (before she starts 1st grade).

The other option would be private school but the costs seems like 10k/year and I wonder if my daughter would not be better served by having this money invested in her college fund vs paying for elementary school.  My wife is adamant the only way she will stay here past 4-5 years is if she goes to private school.

Do you think 4 years is good enough for the school system to change for the better?  now we are zoneed for Brookland Education Campus at Bunker Hill?

We like our place while we would have wanted to be closer to downtown understood that for our price range (600k) and what we needed (3 bedrooms) was a non starter. We even declutter and sold/gifted most of our stuff (from 3,200 sqft in MA to 1,600 sqft here including basement).

The school system seems to be the other big huddle for us (when I thought downsizing would be)? [/quote]

You sound like me and my spouse. Opposites attract. One of you is prematurely freaking out about schools and the other cannot recall exactly what he paid for a house 2 months ago nor make a reasonable estimate of non-Catholic private school costs  :)

Your neighborhood is nice and it's up and coming. Prioritize finding a good daycare if that is the route you are going. Get on some waitlists right now near home and work (yes, right now, they let you put down your expected due date and your anticipated start time, to coincide with when your mat/pat leave runs out) and then make your decision later after touring some places and figuring out what your kid/work commute logistics will be.

There are a lot of great charter options near you right now, and your local school is likely good until K/1st at least, so you have 6 years and 3-4 attempts at the lottery. If that doesn't work out for you then, for the price you paid, you can find the same house in Silver Spring or maybe Takoma with more established schools. Plus maybe you will get more price appreciation than those neighborhoods over the next 6 years, improving your options further.

So don't worry too much.

[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics