The economics of upgrading home to better school district (San Jose: mortgage, loan)

[aramax666]

I have a child who will be going to school next year. And the schools in our neighborhood is a 5/10 on great school. We bought a home ~ year and half ago. And I have been doing some math on

Option 1: Send him to private school. Which will cost 14-15K from what I gather/ year.
Option 2: Save , Save and then upgrade to a home with good schools.

Present Equity in Home : 200K
Liquid Savings : 50K

I reckon I need to save 200K more. ouch!

I figure that if I buy a home valued at 400-500K more , then that amounts to ~ 5K of additional property taxes,
I would probably increase my mortgage by max of 1K a month.

That would roughly pay for itself If i don't pay for school. Anyone else in the same boat?
On the flip side this would ensure that all my liquid savings and a majority of all my assets would be tied to this "new house"

Any thoughts?

[Standingroom0nly]

Personally, I would try the local public school with a positive and open mind. You should get a decent assessment of parent involvement, teacher satisfaction, how happy your child is in the classroom, etc in that first year which will give you a better idea whether you should continue in the school. Don't let fear of the unknown (scores aside, the school really is an 'unknown' to you) keep you from letting your child go to the local school. If after a year you find it severely lacking and worth making a move, find a way to make a change.

Editing to add; If I remember correctly you are in south San Jose? Charter is also an option if you submit your application on time (they use a lottery selection of students). There is one off of Bailey on 101 just north of Morgan Hill. There must be others in San Jose or nearby cities.

[comingbacktocali]

Originally Posted by Standingroom0nly

Personally, I would try the local public school with a positive and open mind. You should get a decent assessment of parent involvement, teacher satisfaction, how happy your child is in the classroom, etc in that first year which will give you a better idea whether you should continue in the school. Don't let fear of the unknown (scores aside, the school really is an 'unknown' to you) keep you from letting your child go to the local school. If after a year you find it severely lacking and worth making a move, find a way to make a change.

this is really good advice. go and see the school for yourself and give it a chance. parental involvement is far more important than test scores. K and 1st grade are all about being read to, learning to print, learning the calendar, and cutting and pasting. these are easy things to make sure your kids are on top of.

if the school is unsafe or an unfit learning environment, that's another thing.

[Ultrarunner]

My friends loved their home and bought with a 6 month old... then a year later had a daughter.

As school age was approaching they decided to sell the home they loved and bought a 1.6 million home in Orinda in 2012 for schools.

Well, there were very unhappy with the Orinda Public Schools and now send their kids the Royce in Oakland which is very expensive...

If they had it to do over again they would have stayed in the home they loved in the Oakland Hills and simply went private...

It can be hard chasing school districts... the bright side is your kids will be off to college before you know it.

[Chuck5000]

aramax, I'd look more carefully into the local school. Have you talked to parents? Talked to anyone else who knows the district? It could be rapidly improving. There was a great thread on schools recently on the SJ forum, where parents talked about the intangibles of their districts.

I just found it: Help me understand school scores?

If you will have a 2nd child, I'd say moving would be more likely to pay off. If you're sticking to one child, go private. I think the math for this is strong.

[capoeira]

Originally Posted by aramax666

Option 1: Send him to private school. Which will cost 14-15K from what I gather/ year.
Option 2: Save , Save and then upgrade to a home with good schools.

Option 3: Visit the local school and meet with an administrator. You might like it. The teachers at average schools are just as good as the teachers at high performing schools. The main difference in school scores is the demographics of the area. For extra enrichment consider a program like Kumon which will put a child in the top 10% of any math class.

[aramax666]

excellent suggestions. Plan 1 is definitely to go see the schools and get a feel for it. I am even considering the 1st year public.
just figuring out my plan IF we definitely decide to move.

And , yes, we will look into charter as well.

[shooting4life]

Originally Posted by comingbacktocali

this is really good advice. go and see the school for yourself and give it a chance. parental involvement is far more important than test scores. K and 1st grade are all about being read to, learning to print, learning the calendar, and cutting and pasting. these are easy things to make sure your kids are on top of.

if the school is unsafe or an unfit learning environment, that's another thing.

I agree completly.

Plus being one of the smarter children at an average school is much better for college than being an avergae student at a getter school.

Parental involvement is paramount to chasing great school ratings.

[jk88cal]

Hard to say what is better for you, because it depends what is your ease on your current mortgage payment and how much more you can afford. Just my general assessment without knowing your details: For $1k more per month, you will likely be much better off with neighborhood with better school.

5/10 on great school.org is below average. That doesn't mean your kids cannot excel. I think every parent want their kids in environment that promotes learning. Not knowing the details about your school, I suspect chance of 5/10 school providing that great learning environment is low.

To get more details about the school, you should use schooldigger.com. This website compiles the latest California test results.

Good private elementary school tuition (Challenger, Strattford) is $15k. Good private high school tuition is easily $25-30k plus. And school tuition will increase with inflation. Whereas mortgage payment remains constant for duration of loan.

If you buy into good public school district, it's good chance your house value will appreciate more than your current home. So it is a good long term investment.

[sav858]

I'm in the same boat but my kids won't be in Kindergarten for another 2 years. We bought in an area with pretty mediocre to bad schools a year ago because we couldn't afford a better school district with the amount we pay in child care right now. I figured when the kids are in school we can afford at least another $250K or so for a house which would put us in an area with good schools. So our plan is to upgrade in 4-6 years with the intention of sending them to better public schools. Our twins won't be in kindergarten for another 2 years and they will either start at the local public or private school. Tuition is pretty much on par what we pay for child care now so it's a wash. We haven't decided whether we will send them to public or private in the interim until we can upgrade to a better area. We plan to check out the local elementary school and if it seems good we probably will send them there. I'm ok with a lower scoring elementary if it seems like a good learning environment but would definitely go private for middle and high school if we can't send them to good, higher scoring public schools by then.

Personally I prefer an area with better public schools than sending them to private. At least at the moment, I know some people still have issues with good/excellent public schools and prefer private. One of the reasons aside from better schools is that it puts you in a better area.