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My husband and I found the perfect house in the perfect neighborhood for the perfect price. Except for one thing...an imperfect school. So my question to everyone is this: Is the perfect home worth sacrificing for a better school??
My husband and I found the perfect house in the perfect neighborhood for the perfect price. Except for one thing...an imperfect school. So my question to everyone is this: Is the perfect home worth sacrificing for a better school??
In my opinion, no. My daughter's education comes first. I choose the schools first, then we looked at houses.
A bad school is going to cause us more stress over then years then any less then a dream house will.
Are we talking a truely bad school or just not 'the best' or 'first choice' school?
And bad schools do effect re-sale value...which may be why you've found it in the first place.
I guess it depends on how bad the school really is, but in Wake county, I would probably not buy a house just for the school because there is NO guarantee that your home will always be assigned to that school. I've seen it happen many times. Our neighbors bought a house in NW Cary specifically to go to a certain school, and that school went year round within a year of their move and has wreaked havoc on their schedules.
Partly this depends on the school system, too; some school districts have such liberal policies on allowing parents to move their kids to other schools that the district isn't as much of a factor. Of course, that requires the eventual future buyer to be as well-educated on this point as the seller.
Also, big difference between (say) a 2/3 bdrm and a 4/5 bdrm house -- for the latter, the school district will likely be much more important than a house better suited to empty nesters/young families with no kids or pre-school kids.
Thanks for your thoughts. I agree with Education first. The thing is -- my daughter is only 2 years old. We are probably going to send her to Catholic school for elem years for some good brainwashing
I don't know if the public high schools will change in the next 12 years and if we should buy the dream home or just "invest" in a better school situation. Oh btw, the schools are Dillard and Athens Drive High -- both in Raleigh. I don't think the schools are terribly behind academically, but the discipline and safety were specified as big issues by parents on greatschools.net
Thanks for your thoughts. I agree with Education first. The thing is -- my daughter is only 2 years old. We are probably going to send her to Catholic school for elem years for some good brainwashing
I don't know if the public high schools will change in the next 12 years and if we should buy the dream home or just "invest" in a better school situation. Oh btw, the schools are Dillard and Athens Drive High -- both in Raleigh. I don't think the schools are terribly behind academically, but the discipline and safety were specified as big issues by parents on greatschools.net
Okay, you've added a few things there that weren't in the orginal post.
Athens Drive is not considered a bad school by most, you already are looking at private schools (you many want to get on some waiting lists though) and your child is 2.
That is not quite the same as buying a home in a subpar school area and tossing a school age child into it, or even having to cope with a resale in a subpar area.
I really didn't think Athens or Dillard were terrible. We just keep bumping into Green Hope and Panther Creek residents who sneer at us when they ask what schools our prospective house is in.
I really didn't think Athens or Dillard were terrible. We just keep bumping into Green Hope and Panther Creek residents who sneer at us when they ask what schools our prospective house is in.
Yeah, and Wakefield parents sneer at Wake Forest and Cary sneers at everyone. LOL! You are always going to have that sort of rivalry...no matter how good both schools are.
I have to agree, people around here can be quite snobby about schools, but honestly schools can change for the better or worse quite quickly in Wake County. Just because Panther Creek is considered a "great school" right now, doesn't mean it will stay that way. Usually the newer schools serving the newer subdivisions have fewer issues at first and are generally less diverse. Panther Creek is so new they don't even have any data on the WCPSS website on school performance, so you never really know.
There is nothing wrong with Athens (I graduated from there myself) and actually I have heard that it has improved significantly since I attended in the late 80's. You also have to keep in mind that what you read on greatschools is sometimes biased by people who have had a bad experience and need a place to vent.
I read the reviews for Athens on Greatschools and honestly I thought they sounded a little fishy (like the same person wrote all three bad reviews or three people who had an issue decided to write essentially the same thing at the same time, same month and year even!).
I know very little about Dillard Drive, but I think you are pretty safe with Athens and probably Dillard too.
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Thanks Desdemona
