Fwiw the vast majority of MR along the NCC are about $1,000 or less. Not sure where the old goat is buying her hay but it must be 2 day old hay.
Also people without kids going to local public schools buy in great school districts for many reasons. They know property values will hold up because upwardly mobile families will gravitiate to the area. They like being surrounded by people with those values. They tend to be nicer upscale areas. Look at CAR. She homeschools her kids and could have bought alot more house/land by moving 5 to 10 minutes east or north but she choose to pay more to live in nicer area. She may not pay MR but she paid premium for buying within certain school attendance boundaries. My next door neighbor teaches at a local Catholic school and none of their kids attended public school yet they pay a premium + MR + HOA when they could live elsewhere much cheaper.