Better school district vs lower mortgage (Dallas, Plano: fit in, buying a house, neighborhood)

[TurtleCreek80]

Originally Posted by Seguinite

Think resale. A lot of folks will buy more house in a good district that would never consider sending their kids to private school. Better district here is a big deal. The house is going to appreciate... private school tuition is money spent and gone.

Houses near the top private schools appreciate for the same reason- most families want to live close to the schools and many classmates. My neighborhood's public schools aren't even part of the home buying equation. Of the 100+ school signs in my neighbors' yards, only 3 are for public schools (2 of which are magnets).

This whole conversation isn't a "one size fits alll" answer. Sure, if you buy a cheaper house, it might not appreciate as much, but for us it made sense. We'll have a paid off house within 15 years and then only a low 5-digit annual property tax bill. We'll be able to cash flow one private school tuition by paying off our mortgage before our future kids are in middle school. In HPISD, where we also looked, we would have had a 30-year mortgage and $20k+ range annual property taxes. We'll pay for the second tuition with the money we're not spending on a HPISD mortgage / taxes, and save a bundle on interest by doing a 15 year loan on a house that cost almost half as much. In our situation, it was a no brainer.

Owning a house that appreciates to a $2M value only helps if you want to sell. Until then, you're spending a crap ton of money on taxes and upkeep.

[LeagleEagleDFW]

Let's differentiate between buying a less expensive house in a not-quite-as-good school district when said house is in Preston Hollow, and doing the same in other areas. It's not really a fair comparison.

If your choice is between Preston Hollow and Highland Park, then you've got tons of options available to you.

[kretsch]

Originally Posted by taroberts

I actually went to a top notch private school growing up and b/c of this I would never ever send my kid to private school. I am 100% against it.

[brainofjjj]

We are struggling with this exact question now.

My wife and I have lived near Forrest/Welch for two years now. We have a 2.5 year old and a baby on the way. We both have offices Uptown but don't go in very often, me much more than her. Our current location is uber convenient for work and travel, not to mention to all sorts of stuff to do and friends.

Our big question though is do we spend what's basically a mortgage on private schools vs. moving to somewhere like SL and buying a house on more land. If strictly going by costs it's a no-brainer.

We're going through the private school process as if we're staying but we just don't know, it's a very tough decision.

[EDS_]

Originally Posted by brainofjjj

We are struggling with this exact question now.

My wife and I have lived near Forrest/Welch for two years now. We have a 2.5 year old and a baby on the way. We both have offices Uptown but don't go in very often, me much more than her. Our current location is uber convenient for work and travel, not to mention to all sorts of stuff to do and friends.

Our big question though is do we spend what's basically a mortgage on private schools vs. moving to somewhere like SL and buying a house on more land. If strictly going by costs it's a no-brainer.

We're going through the private school process as if we're staying but we just don't know, it's a very tough decision.

That's a tough one and it's further complicated by the fact that not every kid who wants to go the private route will be accepted.

Best of luck.

[DallasG]

Originally Posted by brainofjjj

We are struggling with this exact question now.

My wife and I have lived near Forrest/Welch for two years now. We have a 2.5 year old and a baby on the way. We both have offices Uptown but don't go in very often, me much more than her. Our current location is uber convenient for work and travel, not to mention to all sorts of stuff to do and friends.

Our big question though is do we spend what's basically a mortgage on private schools vs. moving to somewhere like SL and buying a house on more land. If strictly going by costs it's a no-brainer.

We're going through the private school process as if we're staying but we just don't know, it's a very tough decision.

SL would be a bad commute. You can always buy a condo in HP or you can look into buying a home feeding to Plano ISD in Far North Dallas or Far West Plano. This way you'll have access to good public schools, commute to work/friends/entertainment would be reasonable and in case you still want private schools, good ones will be within short drive. All that and you can pick a pretty spacious house for <$600k.

[BabyDoctor77]

Originally Posted by DallasG

Homes in top public school districts are better investments. They are easier to sell, rent and do appreciate better. Good private schools are $20k+ for each kid so this only works for people with one kid, otherwise you loose too much money. Not good for middle class parents.

What you can do is to buy in a good district but don't go for house too big, too new or too many upgradeds. If you buy a modest home then you can save money and still give kids good education. I'm living in a small HP condo because private schooling for two boys didn't make financial sense for me and I didn't want to put them in second tier public or private schools. By the time they leave schools, I'll have good acuity in my condo and meanwhile we are living in a good area and they are going to best public schools that my income can buy.

You can do HP, SL, Plano or Coppell, whatever suits your finances. All give good schools and good neighborhoods, who cares if your homes isn't the biggest showcase of latest upgrades. Your retirement and your children's education come first.

I agree with DallasG's post. From a purely financial standpoint, it makes more sense to buy in the Park Cities rather than in Preston Hollow and send kids to Private School. That being said, there a lot of families who live in the Park Cities and send their kids to top tier private schools. The education at Hockaday/St. Marks is no doubt at a higher academic level than any public school in DFW, including HP/Plano/SL. It boils down to a personal decision, whether it is "worth it" for a given family to pay the premium.

As a general rule of thumb, buying a house in the Park Cities is a better investment than buying one in Preston Hollow in terms of appreciation, resale, etc.

[hbdwihdh378y9]

Originally Posted by LeagleEagleDFW

What kind of hit would you take in appreciation in an area without a good school district, too?

None. The (predicted) future value of a home/lot is reflected in the current price.

[Seguinite]

Originally Posted by TurtleCreek80

...Owning a house that appreciates to a $2M value only helps if you want to sell. Until then, you're spending a crap ton of money on taxes and upkeep.

Good point ... but I suspect people in that price range aren't quite as concerned as those looking at median priced housing.

[LocalPlanner]

This is such an interesting question. If you're not talking households of the top 1-5% in income, more just middle class or somewhat affluent, how does this play out? Is there a reason that sending a child to a public school which has more moderate (not even necessarily bad) test scores - or, more to the point, more middle and working class households zoned to it - somehow diminishes their life prospects? Is the quality of teaching or other actual school factors going to be that much worse? Or is it just somehow bad to have an more affluent child sitting in the same classroom as middle class or working class children (to say nothing of actual poor kids)?

I speak this as a Houston resident who is amazed at how far home buyers are willing to commute, and how much more they are willing to pay for their house, to live in the outer suburbs here vs. the inner and middle suburbs where homes are considerably cheaper, even new homes, and commutes are likely shorter. The entire reason is the reputations of the public schools (admittedly, there are a lot of inner and middle suburban schools here with pretty poor ratings). DFW has a different layout of suburbs so the inner-middle-outer distinction may not apply as much there.