fabsroman
Ultimate Member
If the plan goes forward that was presented on the HoCo website, there are going to be some majorly pi$$ed off people just north of Rt100 around Rockburn. They are going to be moved to the Long Reach high school instead of Howard High. Those are some pretty nice houses and neighborhoods that are going to be moving to the "slum" of Columbia.
Unfortunately for me, we will always be in the Long Reach HS area. We knew this when we bought our house and plan to move before our son hits middle school.
Yeah, but the "slum" of Columbia is still better than most of the state. It just isn't the best offering in Howard County.
I honestly cannot believe how far my high school has fallen in 28 years. The test scores, etc. are abysmal and where I was initially supposed to go to high school, Albert Einstein in Kensington, the scores are even worse.
When my daughter was born, my wife and I had the motto of, "We are moving into a tool shed in the best school district possible within 5 years." My parents moved us the summer before I was to start high school, and I know it wasn't a financially easy thing for them to do.
I just looked at Long Reach on Great Schools. Looked at Howard too. My wife would not consider Howard High School when we were looking 6+ yeas ago. Anything below an 8 was unthinkable to her and even an 8 was questionable. For me, I wanted to be west of 32 both because because of the schools, the green open areas, and less traffic. Figured we could find something that was good for our kids all the way around. Then, my wife fell in love with a certain neighborhood and we put offers on 3 foreclosures in the neighborhood. However, we spent 3 years looking.
My parents spent several years looking and then by some miracle came across something they could afford with owner financing. Albeit, the owner wanted a decent amount of interest on the note, but they signed on it.
If you are planning on moving before your son hits middle school, start looking right now and buy whatever you can afford in the best school district possible. Bargains pop up every now and then, but if you aren't looking you will never find them. If you are currently looking, disregard everything I just wrote in this paragraph.