Reply to Capitol Hill families - If you moved to NW or burbs for school, do you have any regrets?

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Reply to "Capitol Hill families - If you moved to NW or burbs for school, do you have any regrets?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Simple. If you’re very unhappy with your DC public middle school options and can’t afford a private you move out of DC. Maybe you will need to live in a modest condo in the near burbs as a result, or go far out in the burbs to find a decent house. Perhaps you will even need to move to a different part of the country or abroad. Some of us bought fixers on the Hill 10 or 15 years ago, then put a ridiculous amount of sweat equity into them to afford to stay with older kids and teens. Our real estate choices have enabled us to swing parochial school if our MS charter options aren’t too hot. Our sympathy for those who didn’t plan as well only extends so far. [/quote]

Look, I'm fine with moving for schools, but the idea that you can't have sympathy for people who maybe were not in a position to "buy fixers on the Hill 10 or 15 years ago" is absurd. People who could afford to buy fixer upper row homes on Capitol Hill in 2007-2002 hit a sweet spot of lower prices and higher inventory (due to the subprime collapse) followed by 15 years of unprecedented price increases. You bought a house you could afford when you could afford it, and it turned out in retrospect to have been the last moment on the Hill when you could do what you did. You got lucky, you aren't a genius.

Being smug about it is gross, but on the other hand, encountering people like you on the Hill is precisely why I don't really mind moving for schools. My kid will get to go to a decent public school with a short commute without having to stress annually about the lottery, and BONUS I no longer have to make small talk with jagoffs like you when I run into you at Eastern Market on the weekends.[/quote]

NP. You sound jealous, lady, very envious. Right, the Hill is expensive now, wasn't in the early 2000s. There was exactly a sweet spot of lower prices and higher inventory for the thousands of ordinary middle-class Hill families who bought dungeons in those years. These folks turned crumbling brick houses into lovely residences after a scores of trips to the DCRA permitting office, Home Depot and Lowe's. They also did a crazy amount of clean-up, tiling, caulking, landscaping, painting etc.

That's the way the cookie crumbles.

If you're OK with moving for schools, great. The point that you might have....seen this problem coming a mile away is still a fair one. It's a no-brainer that those who expect sympathy on the threads for having to reinvent their lives in the burbs are going to meet with pushback from families who can stay due less to luck than an investment mainly paid for in risk-taking and hard work.  [/quote]

You have fallen into a basic psychological trap. When things are going well, people tend to overvalue their own efforts and undervalue random luck and timing. You are a textbook example of Psychology 101. 
I don’t live in CH and never have but we bought our house in 2004 in AU Park. I feel bad as I don’t know how anyone without family money can buy in AU Park anymore. Prices are so high. It is a depressing situation. [/quote]

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