Sky high real estate prices in "good" school districts (Palo Alto: short sales, 2009)

[jzt83]

I've been reading the blog at SF Bay Area Home Price and Mortgage Insanity Blog - Burbed.com and it just makes me laugh at all the postings of modest and minuscule homes that are in the millions just because of the school district its located in. I think people are crazy and wasting money to pay such high prices just so their kids can go to a school with an API higher than 800. For example, check out this 3 bed 2 bath home in Los Altos selling for $1.6 mil with its selling point being close to Trader Joes and Starbucks:
$1.6 million - with easy access to Trader Joe’s, Starbucks, Chevron and more! | SF Bay Area Home Price and Mortgage Insanity Blog - Burbed.com

[Mach50]

It's called hyper-parenting and it is taking over.

I would prefer to send my kids to a 7/10 school which has some elements of the real world. Or how about everyone just lives in the place they can really afford and attend school there? (Yeah right)

[btrflymama]

Where is all this hyper-parenting taking place in the Bay Area? Doesn't sound good to me.

[18Montclair]

If they want to spend money to ensure their kids are in a good school, whats it to us?

[Alexus]

Originally Posted by jzt83

I've been reading the blog at SF Bay Area Home Price and Mortgage Insanity Blog - Burbed.com and it just makes me laugh at all the postings of modest and minuscule homes that are in the millions just because of the school district its located in. I think people are crazy and wasting money to pay such high prices just so their kids can go to a school with an API higher than 800. For example, check out this 3 bed 2 bath home in Los Altos selling for $1.6 mil with its selling point being close to Trader Joes and Starbucks:
$1.6 million - with easy access to Trader Joe’s, Starbucks, Chevron and more! | SF Bay Area Home Price and Mortgage Insanity Blog - Burbed.com

I own property near this location and being in the good school district is paramount. People want a good education for their kids and a home in such a district is priceless. That's why I always urge people to buy a house in the best school district if they can afford to. The homes appreciate slower during a down period and faster during an upswing.

[jzt83]

I'm from Hawaii and this concept of hyper parenting is new to me. On the island of Oahu, most public schools are just mediocre with a couple of stellar performers. Many parents don't bother with being a hyper parent and search for the highest performing schools as one of the mediocre ones would suffice. But in the Bay Area, it seems there are only really high performing schools and really low performing schools and no middle ground. This disparity between schools is just getting larger with the high performer APIs increasing with the low performing schools decreasing. Having such segregated school systems is bad in the long run because those stuck in the low performing schools will just be around those like themselves and ditto to the high performing schools. If parents weren't so API obsessed and self-segregating, the schools would be more socio-economically mixed and not so extremely polarized.

[sonarrat]

Originally Posted by Alexus

I own property near this location and being in the good school district is paramount. People want a good education for their kids and a home in such a district is priceless.

Who is going to care what elementary school your kid went to when it comes time for college, let alone looking for a job? Nobody. Is being in a prestigious school going to keep your kid from doing/dealing drugs if he gets it in his head that it might be cool? No way. It's just elitism, pure and simple.

That's why I always urge people to buy a house in the best school district if they can afford to. The homes appreciate slower during a down period and faster during an upswing.

Is that why there are so many short sales in Los Altos and Palo Alto? In the blog in the OP (which I post to regularly), there are a few diehards who thought their property values would never go down as late as this year. When they finally did, they justified it by saying that they "beat the stock market" by being invested in REAL BAY AREA real estate. Ha.

It won't last. The wages around here can't be sustained by what people actually do for their companies.

[jzt83]

Originally Posted by Alexus

I own property near this location and being in the good school district is paramount. People want a good education for their kids and a home in such a district is priceless. That's why I always urge people to buy a house in the best school district if they can afford to. The homes appreciate slower during a down period and faster during an upswing.

I wouldn't say it's priceless considering the sacrifices many parents make in terms of financial sacrifice and sacrifice in lost time working just to live in a good school district. But you are correct that real estate prices in high performing school districts never ever depreciate.

[Mach50]

It's all about status and more for the parents than anything, they want to say their kids attended Los Altos High.

My philosophy is live where you can afford to live. If that means going to a 5/10 - 7/10 school, then try to make it better.

But hey people are free to join the rank and file of high society, but those will pay heavily for it. Their kids will have to face realty sooner or later, when they jump to real life.

[clairdelaluce]

Well I do not agree. I went to an average middle school (in Michigan). Got good grades. Our family moved into a very good school district for High School. I took Biology, and Chemestry and was lost! My average middle school did not prepare me for real college prep classes. My son is in a "very good" middle school and I see what an excellent job they are doing to prepare him for a quality education. Excellent teachers, real and personal attention.