DCUM Forum

Anonymous

02/08/2026 10:00 Subject: School Boundary Change-Woodward HS

Einstein zoned home that sold for $1.2 million (4250 sq ft, 6 bed 4 bath, built 1992)
https://redf.in/JCxq7L

BCC zoned home that sold for $1.7 million (4564 sq ft, 5 bed, 4.5 bath, built 1987)
https://redf.in/85YDsM

Anonymous

02/08/2026 09:47 Subject: School Boundary Change-Woodward HS

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just in case any prospective buyers are reading all this… we have a fantastic community over here in the area zoned for Einstein. If you’re looking at some kind of spreadsheet with FARMS rates to determine where your kid will thrive and where they won’t, you are mistaken.

There is so much angst over Woodward’s demographics that the fact that Einstein would be even smaller and poorer under this proposal largely gets overlooked.

Einstein has 15 portables. Making it smaller was one of the goals.

Anonymous

02/08/2026 09:44 Subject: School Boundary Change-Woodward HS

Anonymous wrote:Just in case any prospective buyers are reading all this… we have a fantastic community over here in the area zoned for Einstein. If you’re looking at some kind of spreadsheet with FARMS rates to determine where your kid will thrive and where they won’t, you are mistaken.

There is so much angst over Woodward’s demographics that the fact that Einstein would be even smaller and poorer under this proposal largely gets overlooked.

Anonymous

02/08/2026 09:37 Subject: School Boundary Change-Woodward HS

Just in case any prospective buyers are reading all this… we have a fantastic community over here in the area zoned for Einstein. If you’re looking at some kind of spreadsheet with FARMS rates to determine where your kid will thrive and where they won’t, you are mistaken.

Anonymous

02/08/2026 08:59 Subject: School Boundary Change-Woodward HS

Anonymous wrote:Look at the Richard Montgomery 8/10 (same farms as projected Woodward with IB program) and compare the housing prices. Why buy in the inflated Tildenwood/Old Farm/North Farm if you can get more for your $ with better school in RM cluster?

That is a fair point and I agree that Tilden area will not see value appreciations as in recent years. But there are other factors. Proximity to DC and Bethesda is one. Neighborhood appearance is another. Specifically, if we talk about Woodward vs. RM, I find neighborhoods of Old Georgetown Road much more appealing than neighborhoods of Rockville Pike.

Anonymous

02/08/2026 08:40 Subject: Re:School Boundary Change-Woodward HS

Remember when people were saying the sky was falling and to not buy in Kensington because it would certainly be rezoned for Einstein?

Do you know how many politically connected people live in Kensington and Chevy Chase View? Zero chance even the crazy Montgomery County Council and School Board would allow property values to tank in Chris Van Hollen’s neighborhood.

Anonymous

02/08/2026 08:34 Subject: School Boundary Change-Woodward HS

Anonymous wrote:Lookk at the Richard Montgomery 8/10 (same farms as projected Woodward with IB program) and compare the housing prices. Why buy in the inflated Tildenwood/Old Farm/North Farm if you can get more for your $ with better school in RM cluster?

Because a lot of people work in DC and living in the RM cluster increases your commute by a lot.

Anonymous

02/08/2026 08:27 Subject: School Boundary Change-Woodward HS

Lookk at the Richard Montgomery 8/10 (same farms as projected Woodward with IB program) and compare the housing prices. Why buy in the inflated Tildenwood/Old Farm/North Farm if you can get more for your $ with better school in RM cluster?

Anonymous

02/08/2026 08:26 Subject: School Boundary Change-Woodward HS

Anonymous wrote:So let's assume that HS is very important for some buyers. They don't look at FARMS, they look at school ranking. So 2-3 years from now, they will start seeing Woodward and its ranking, instead of WJ. WJ is currently an OK school. It is not like they are killing it academically. Buyers see 9/10 ranking for WJ and that sounds good. If FARMS are such a good predictor, Woodward will be closest to Quince Orchard HS (see the list earlier in this thread) which today sets at 8/10. This hardly calls for a "massive hit" for home values. Not to mention that many buyers don't care about HS as they send kids to private schools anyway, or have older kids or no kids at all.

Yeah, but you’re talking to a small subset of crazies here.

Nobody cares about rankings. Most of the buyers are looking at FARMS and magnets offered.

What?! That makes no sense. Maybe in your race obsessed circles. Most buyers coming from outside don't even know what FARMS is. And why would they. They care about academic reputation of the schools they will be sending their kids to. It is true that FARMS is strongly correlated with test performance and rankings but that becomes serious issue only at very high FARMS as WJ / QO example shows.

As for magnets, the whole county will go through earthquake with the new model and WJ and Woodward will be in the same boat.

Look at the Richard Montgomery 8/10 (same farms as projected Woodward with IB program) and compare the housing prices. Why buy in the inflated Tildenwood/Old Farm/North Farm if you can get more for your $ with better school in RM cluster?

Anonymous

02/08/2026 00:06 Subject: School Boundary Change-Woodward HS

So let's assume that HS is very important for some buyers. They don't look at FARMS, they look at school ranking. So 2-3 years from now, they will start seeing Woodward and its ranking, instead of WJ. WJ is currently an OK school. It is not like they are killing it academically. Buyers see 9/10 ranking for WJ and that sounds good. If FARMS are such a good predictor, Woodward will be closest to Quince Orchard HS (see the list earlier in this thread) which today sets at 8/10. This hardly calls for a "massive hit" for home values. Not to mention that many buyers don't care about HS as they send kids to private schools anyway, or have older kids or no kids at all.

Yeah, but you’re talking to a small subset of crazies here.

Nobody cares about rankings. Most of the buyers are looking at FARMS and magnets offered.

Anonymous

02/07/2026 23:46 Subject: School Boundary Change-Woodward HS

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The real winners (purely from a property values perspective) are the ones in the part of the Woodlin ES district getting reassigned from Einstein to B-CC.

That’s what I was thinking. I live in the Einstein cluster, only a few blocks from the dividing line for WJ. The price difference here is pretty big.

You need to look at the housing and lot sizes. Many of the Einstein homes are much smaller on smaller lots. The bigger homes that are on bigger lots are going for about equal.

Anonymous

02/07/2026 23:44 Subject: School Boundary Change-Woodward HS

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Tilden/Luxmanor/North Farm area should take a massive hit in few years when everyone will know that school is not WJ and not even slightly worse but with FARMS rate in 35-40%.

This. Also FARMS likely to be even higher, since wealthier Tilden/Luxmanor/North Farm families will opt out for privates.

And smart kids will opt out for magnets.

There aren’t nearly enough private and magnet spots for everyone who wants them.

Sorry, people need to cope with 1/3 (the horror!) of the student body receiving free/reduced meals. promise you the sky will not fall on your snowflakes.

This is about real estate. Nobody says the sky will fall, but the house prices in those neighborhoods will be affected.

The schools are not the biggest problem right now. The fed and private company lay offs and firings are and many people stretch and its a problem.

Anonymous

02/07/2026 23:43 Subject: School Boundary Change-Woodward HS

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Tilden/Luxmanor/North Farm area should take a massive hit in few years when everyone will know that school is not WJ and not even slightly worse but with FARMS rate in 35-40%.

This. Also FARMS likely to be even higher, since wealthier Tilden/Luxmanor/North Farm families will opt out for privates.

And smart kids will opt out for magnets.

There aren’t nearly enough private and magnet spots for everyone who wants them.

Sorry, people need to cope with 1/3 (the horror!) of the student body receiving free/reduced meals. promise you the sky will not fall on your snowflakes.

Yes, Wj should remain below 15% FARMS. I don't want those poor kids in WJ.

Just for you, MCPS should bus any students to other schools if their families make under $300K.

Anonymous

02/07/2026 23:18 Subject: School Boundary Change-Woodward HS

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Tilden/Luxmanor/North Farm area should take a massive hit in few years when everyone will know that school is not WJ and not even slightly worse but with FARMS rate in 35-40%.

Tilden/Luxmanor/North Farm area has many things going for it. It is walkable, safe and close to pretty much everything. It is more beautiful than large part of the new WJ area. It is not all about the HS. Plus Tilden MS may end up being better after all MCPS reshuffle is done and, because of the new magnet system, many high achieving kids will end up going to WJ anyway.

Yes, there will be some panicky snowflakes that will rush to throw a fortune for mediocre SFHs in the new WJ zone but that doesn't mean that Tilden homes will drop in value.

HS is very importrant factor in house prices. Not the only factor but veyr important factor. It will be irrational to think that 15% FARMS and 35% FARMS are going to have same value with everything else being equal.

So let's assume that HS is very important for some buyers. They don't look at FARMS, they look at school ranking. So 2-3 years from now, they will start seeing Woodward and its ranking, instead of WJ. WJ is currently an OK school. It is not like they are killing it academically. Buyers see 9/10 ranking for WJ and that sounds good. If FARMS are such a good predictor, Woodward will be closest to Quince Orchard HS (see the list earlier in this thread) which today sets at 8/10. This hardly calls for a "massive hit" for home values. Not to mention that many buyers don't care about HS as they send kids to private schools anyway, or have older kids or no kids at all.

Yeah, but you’re talking to a small subset of crazies here.

Nobody cares about rankings. Most of the buyers are looking at FARMS and magnets offered.

Anonymous

02/07/2026 23:15 Subject: School Boundary Change-Woodward HS

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Tilden/Luxmanor/North Farm area should take a massive hit in few years when everyone will know that school is not WJ and not even slightly worse but with FARMS rate in 35-40%.

This. Also FARMS likely to be even higher, since wealthier Tilden/Luxmanor/North Farm families will opt out for privates.

And smart kids will opt out for magnets.

There aren’t nearly enough private and magnet spots for everyone who wants them.

Sorry, people need to cope with 1/3 (the horror!) of the student body receiving free/reduced meals. promise you the sky will not fall on your snowflakes.

This is about real estate. Nobody says the sky will fall, but the house prices in those neighborhoods will be affected.