When NOT to buy a home by school boundary

Sometimes it’s hard to fit a square peg into a round hole.   When you can’t find what you’re looking for, it’s time to think outside the box.

square peg round hole

Can’t find the right home by school?

The Vees are moving to Northern Virginia

A few weeks ago, I met a lovely family, the Vees, who are transferring to Northern Virginia in the near future.

Mr. and Mrs. Vee have 3 young children ranging from Kindergarten-age to a few months old.

Something that they were discussing was the possibility of buying a home using only one of their incomes since Mom would like to stay home more with the kids.

The Vees want a nice home

Like many of us, the Vees want a home with enough space for their growing family, a yard, and a remodeled kitchen.

The homes they liked weren’t in the boundaries they liked

Once we started looking at the homes for sale, they found that the homes that met their needs and their budget weren’t in the school boundaries that they liked.

And when they looked at the homes available in their favorite school boundaries, the homes didn’t meet their needs or their budget.

What to do, then?

Time to start thinking outside the school boundary “box”

It occurred to them that perhaps they could afford a nice home in a school boundary that wasn’t ideal for them, and instead, they could look into private schools.

Could private schools be an option?

They discovered that the range of tuition for private schools varies widely and that some are, actually, relatively affordable.

So an interesting possibility arose: buying a home that met their needs and sending the kids to private schools – and still be on budget!

It seemed like a perfect solution…

Except that most private schools are only K-8

So when the time comes for the kids to attend high school, the kids might have to attend their neighborhood (public) high school.  If that were the case, the Vees would want a high school that met their needs.

What to do by the time the kids reach high school?

On one hand, Mr. V thought that the kids were young enough that they could move by the time they would get to high-school age (if they didn’t think that the public high school met their needs).

On the other hand, Mrs. V thought that time flies and suddenly it would be time to move again and what if homes were more expensive then?  She didn’t want to be stuck in a less-than-ideal situation.

Some private schools are K-12

Luckily, some private schools do offer classes all the way through to high school, so they decided to narrow down their home search to an area convenient for attending those private schools.

The Vees considered an affordable K-12 private school

The Vees were having trouble finding the right home in the right school boundary, so they thought outside the box and considered sending the kids to an affordable private school that covered the kids’ education through high school.

There is no need to fit a square peg into a round hole

square peg round hole

No need to fit a square peg into a round hole, it’s ok to “think outside the box”.

Sometimes tweaking one of your requirements is enough to get you the right combination of home and school that might meet your needs, without having to force yourself into the only seemingly-available options.

Let us help solve your puzzle

If you’re having trouble finding the right combination of home and school, email us or give us a call at (703) 480-6575 and we’ll gladly help you with some ideas (in and out of the box).

Yes, we are Realtors®!,

Why choose a Specialist Realtor®?

Image by epublicist on flickr

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