Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are in North Farm, currently zoned to Farmland ES > Tilden MS > WJ but one of the proposed options (#3) will have our kids going to Kennedy HS. Very long bus drive. My youngest is old enough that it will not affect her. She will be able to finish WJ. My main concern is the real estate prices, since we bought recently, and if it is a dramatic drop it will put us under water. Anyone else in the same boundary? How much do you think the prices will go down? I am almost considering selling it now just in case.

It's not going to be a dramatic drop. Look at King Farm. The parts zoned for Gaithersburg HS are pretty similar in price to those zoned for Richard Montgomery.

Nah, on average - there is difference in prices when it comes to exact same houses. I live in the area.

Anonymous wrote:We are in North Farm, currently zoned to Farmland ES > Tilden MS > WJ but one of the proposed options (#3) will have our kids going to Kennedy HS. Very long bus drive. My youngest is old enough that it will not affect her. She will be able to finish WJ. My main concern is the real estate prices, since we bought recently, and if it is a dramatic drop it will put us under water. Anyone else in the same boundary? How much do you think the prices will go down? I am almost considering selling it now just in case.

In Old Farm area.

We are thinking prices may go down by 5-20% depending on which option gets picked. All options make it worse than current situation but option 3 will simply going to take the prices down by a large margin. Another option with 38% FARMS is also not great for future home prices. Option 3 is just impractical. Lots of families will simply skip the area if you have to take a long bus ride to attend 50% FARMS HS.

All options will take out some buyers. Some options will take out more buyers out. Anyone saying that it won't make a difference is just wrong. Area is not that rich that all families can go private.

Best hope is that MCPS picks an option which balances WJ and Woodward FARMS rate and does not bus kids long distance.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are Wootton and getting rezoned in Crown. We will take a huge hit.

Yay your property taxes are going down

Can you request a reassessment if this happens?

Who would want to pay full price in the neighborhood zoned to a school 8 miles away with 70% graduation rate? If you can go across the street and get into much better ranked boundary? I am all for diversity and inclusion, but aren't schools the main factor driving real estate prices in Bethesda, Rockville etc?

I fear 25% drop in prices if not more. I just can't imagine potential buyers. Empty nesters? Families with kids in privates?

Anonymous wrote:We are in North Farm, currently zoned to Farmland ES > Tilden MS > WJ but one of the proposed options (#3) will have our kids going to Kennedy HS. Very long bus drive. My youngest is old enough that it will not affect her. She will be able to finish WJ. My main concern is the real estate prices, since we bought recently, and if it is a dramatic drop it will put us under water. Anyone else in the same boundary? How much do you think the prices will go down? I am almost considering selling it now just in case.

It's not going to be a dramatic drop. Look at King Farm. The parts zoned for Gaithersburg HS are pretty similar in price to those zoned for Richard Montgomery.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Y'all are overestimating the impact of school zoning.

Nah, similar houses in WJ and Einstein -- A few streets apart. You can see the difference in price.

+1

And how much is that difference? Feel free to give examples.

Unlikely for prices to drop. More likely scenario is that prices will not appreciate as much as areas with better schools until the price is right.

We are in North Farm, currently zoned to Farmland ES > Tilden MS > WJ but one of the proposed options (#3) will have our kids going to Kennedy HS. Very long bus drive. My youngest is old enough that it will not affect her. She will be able to finish WJ. My main concern is the real estate prices, since we bought recently, and if it is a dramatic drop it will put us under water. Anyone else in the same boundary? How much do you think the prices will go down? I am almost considering selling it now just in case.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Y'all are overestimating the impact of school zoning.

Nah, similar houses in WJ and Einstein -- A few streets apart. You can see the difference in price.

+1

Anonymous wrote:Y'all are overestimating the impact of school zoning.

?? It's one of the biggest things that drives prices

We still have bidding wars on houses in my neighborhood.

Einstein is a GS 7 now. If Option 3 actually goes through and Einstein starts taking kids in from Kensington Parkwood ES and North Chevy Chase ES I don’t see how it’s less than a GS 8. So if you’re going to be rezoned to Einstein I wouldn’t panic about resale value in Option 3.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Unchanged here in the Richard Montgomery HS cluster

But RMHS may look differently after the boundary change, which may or may not impact your house value.

-RMHS cluster resident

FARMS are likely to remain around 30%. Unless a huge change happens, RM will look pretty much the same.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, school zoning within a school district plays a major role in the decision making for some buyers. Some. But overall, less than you think. Your perceptions are skewed because YOU care and the people you associate with care, but many don't. There is no data showing, for example, that a truly identical houses sitting very close to each other but in different school zones in Montgomery County are worth substantially different. Yes, this may be the case with identical houses situated miles and miles from each other, sure -- but that's the location effect, not the school zone effect.

DCUM tends to forget that not everything is about schools.

If Option 3 were to be approved, you better believe that the property values in Old Farm and North Farm would plummet. I think it would be difficult to even sell a house in those neighborhoods. There is a difference between a school like Einstein vs. Kennedy (and being bused across across the county on top of that).

Even without option3, we have another option with near 38% FARMS. Going from 18% to 38% means huge hit as well.

It's not just option 3. Tilden area is simply going to take some hit. Less hit in 2 options, decent hit in one option and making it hard to sell houses in option 3.

For anyone looking to buy - those were only initial options and they have said the next round could be totally different.