Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Differences between public and private schools

2500 sf for $600,000 in Lexington, Concord, Newton, Wellesly et al? Impossible. I'd be interested to see if a second toilet could be got for that.

OK, so excluding foreclosures and including every house under $600,000 (bidding wars! They'll sell for another $50,000+), there is a home selling for $599,900 in Lexington. The only one under $600,000, and it's 3/1, 1300sf. Concord's more reasonable, there are a couple at only $450,000-$500,000, big condos, 1400sf, one with three bedrooms. Wellesley has a house with 3/1, 1400sf, and some condos. See what I mean? And rentals are way worse. These would be a $3000 mortgage and rent for more than that per month.

For $160,000 (4yrs at $40,000), plus not paying closing costs on selling the $600,000 house when they graduate (5% is $30,000), plus not paying interest on that amount (which is also dead money), I know which decision would be wisest. And that's not including the possibility that that supposedly awesome district is really very awful, which is a situation a lot of my friends have been in. And then you're stuck with the enormous mortgage/closing costs and private school fees.

I rather think that mithawk was only talking about the loan amount and assuming that the 600k would not be the total value of the property.

A house advertised for $600,000 won't sell for anywhere near that, particularly the cheapest house in town when the next cheapest is $700,000+, and the next cheapest is $850,000. And then there are the houses with two toilets!

I meant that he is probably assuming a minimum of 20% of the purchase price to be already in hand so the 600k would represent the difference that would need to borrowed.,,

Tallulah,

Since you want to keep going, let's dig into Lexington, for the following reasons:

1. I don't live there.
2. Lexington High School is widely considered a gold standard among public schools.
3. It is mid-pack in terms of housing costs among the top school districts.

But first, let's back up. It is theoretically possible for a homeless family to have their child study in Phillips Academy for free, but that's certainly atypical. Everyone else will pay for housing. So in that vein, let's compare Lexington to a neighbor equally close to Boston, Waltham, where the schools are so-so and try to discover the "good schools premium". Note that I am ascribing 100% of the cost difference to schools, and completely ignoring that Lexington is a desirable place to live because of its rich history.

Suppose a family is renting because they haven't saved up a downpayment. They could rent a 2800 sq ft , 2.5 bath place in Lexington for $3000/mo.

http://www.zillow.com/homes/for_rent/Lexington-MA/house,condo,apartment_duplex,townhouse_type/56496978_zpid/19005_rid/days_sort/42.512475,-71.139822,42.389487,-71.309423_rect/12_zm/?view=map

In Waltham, the best deal I could find was a place with 3200+ sq ft, but it only had 1.5 baths. It was available for $2100/month. I will go out on a limb and say it's possible with enough searching and patience you could do better in Waltham at say $1800 per month.

So in this case the "good schools premium" is at most 12* $1200 = $14,400 per year. And for that you could send any number of children to the public schools there, for free.

Let's move onto buying a home with a 20% downpayment and a $600K mortgage, or a $750K target. Buying a home in these towns is a multi-month process, but if you had to buy something "today", there is one close at $780K with 3 bedrooms, 3 baths and 2226 square feet:

http://www.zillow.com/homes/for_sale/Lexington-MA/56491151_zpid/19005_rid/0-800000_price/0-2947_mp/days_sort/42.512475,-71.139822,42.389487,-71.309423_rect/12_zm/0_mmm/?view=map

I will leave it as an exercise for you to determine the "good schools premium" vs. buying an equivalent property in Waltham, and the difference in mortgage payment. And as I said, Lexington is mid-pack. Further away from Boston, homes are generally cheaper in many towns with great school systems.

I guess this is where I should feel lucky that my zoned schools don't matter due to our admission-based magnet system for middle and high schools (actually, elementary too--we are on track to never have either child attend his/her zoned school at all). I get the schools with all the "goodies" (IB/AP, NMS in spades, advanced math track out the ears, etc) without having to buy a house in those zones. There's a cost, though. My family has been worrying about grades since my child was 9 years old.

Boston has three exam schools as well, including Boston Latin. But it is only available for people who physically live in Boston.

I know a family who lives in a neighboring town and bought a condo in Boston so the child can attend Boston Latin. The father and son lived in the apartment during the week (the father works in Boston) and go back to their other house during the weekends. It met the letter of the requirements, if not the spirit.

You're using Waltham and Lexington as your polar opposites? No. I'm sorry, this is going to be an unbearably dull for people to read, skip over unless you're a member of the endless Mass schools debate.

Lexington is hot house central, highly prized by a certain segment of the population who are trying desperately to get their kids into Harvard, and some very unfortunate people who moved there for 'good schools', then discovered they're not good, they're just high pressure, status driven places. Which suits some, sure, and they're welcome to it. But not people like us with kids like ours. But in this comparison, it's close to Boston/Cambridge, and properties have that schools premium.

Waltham does not have a reputation for much of anything, does it, sandwiched in between Newton, Belmont, Lexington and Concord, the 'good schools' districts and the rich Weston, Wellesley and Wayland. It just suffers the price increase from beingin there with decent schools, like Melrose or Reading. If you want a cheap town within reach of a good private school better to go with Medford, Burlington, Billerica, some of those towns on the T. If you're shooting for Phillips, why not compare housing in Wilmington? For Concord Academy, Billerica, for Milton Academy, Mattapan, for Commonwealth or BUA, anywhere on the T, like Lynn. For many of these towns you'll have multiple options well under $400,000.

Tallulah,

You responded to my first post with:


I have shown that the "good schools premium" for renters cannot be more than $36000 per year for any number of children, and that assumes that living in other places is free. Using some of the places you show, the premium is no more than half that. And that ascribes zero value to the more expensive towns having other benefits such as being generally safer, having a vibrant downtown, or a rich history.

Since that line of attack failed, you now feel you have to attack the school. I admit that Lexington can be a difficult school system for kids who are not academically strong, or even gifted kids with learning disabilities. But most EG/PG kids I know thrive there. Only you can decide if it is right for your child. I also know a few kids at Exeter, Milton, and BUA, as well as teachers at Phillips Andover. I think you are mistaken in thinking those environments are more relaxed.

Anyway we have beaten this to death. We are both entitled to our opinions. And before you start wondering if we are tiger parents who hot-house our kids, anyone who knows us finds us just the opposite. The last time my daughter did badly in school, my wife baked her cookies, and my daughter joked she should get bad grades every day.

My opinion of the Lexington public schools is similar to mithawk's. Whenever there is a statewide academic competition, Lexington is at or near the top.

It is not clear to me where you draw the line between supportive and engaged and "hothousing" parents. Very few parents think *they* are hothousing.

A community with lots of bright children that values education will also attract afterschool programs for bright children. IDEA Math meets at the Lexington High School. The Math Club http://www.themathclub.com/ meets in Lexington. The KT Byte computer science academy https://www.ktbyte.com/computer-camps is in Lexington.