[quote=poorgradstudent]Has anyone already pointed out what a terrible measure of student success API is? All it tends to reflect is the demographics of who lives in the district and to some degree what a student’s peer group would be like at that school. It tells nothing about how likely a particular school is to help a student reach their potential.[/quote]
Overall, this is a great post, poorgradstudent. I’ve been saying this here for a few months now but it has apparently fallen mostly on deaf ears.
[quote=poorgradstudent] . . . A 3/2 in South Park is a lot more expensive than a 3/2 in less desirable areas.[/quote]
Yes, and a lot better-built, as well. But for a family, buying and moving into one of these would entail enrolling their 16-year old in SD High’s renowned International Baccalaureate Program. No takers here.
[quote=poorgradstudent]Santee, La Mesa and Chula Vista are all much cheaper than most of San Diego proper. We’re actually finding that San Diego real estate is expensive not so much in San Diego, but in areas of San Diego we actually want to live in.[/quote]
This is subjective, poorgradstudent. I can’t speak for Santee, but parent-buyers in LM and Chula primarily grew up in the exact same high school attendance area they are shopping in for their own children and can sometimes be convinced to “move away” (=<5 miles) from their "home turf" to an adjacent rival-school attendance area.
[quote=poorgradstudent]From my browsing real estate listings in Seattle, San Jose and Minneapolis in neighborhoods comparable to the ones I like here, I don't see that big a difference in price . . .[/quote]
I've done a little research of my own here and I agree that in cities equally desirable as San Diego (for different reasons), the residential RE is priced comparably with SD.
[quote=poorgradstudent]Off-hand, the only part of the country I can confidently say is cheaper with as good or better of an economy is Houston and Dallas. Notably their real estate market was one of the quickest to recover, and five years from now probably will be just as expensive.[/quote]
A TX buyer will always get more "bang for the buck" due to an abundance of land (read: "cheap") and laws on its books which have the effect of causing its RE to stagnate in value or rise very slowly.
