<prompt> Human: Hi all! Id love some input from the group. For those of you with children. When choosing the area you bought your home did you go for the okay very higher priced home in the best school districts? Or did you go with the not great school district with good very affordable homes? How did it work for you? Would you change any thing? Noting that school ratings are not perfect and too testing centered... but for rating comparison, one high school is a 10 on great schools and the other is a 3. Difference in monthly mortgagetaxes about 600-1000 a month. Kids are 8 12. Single parent. Midwest. 100k pre tax salary. 40k savings, 40k student loans. No other debt. Will live in house for at least 10 years.  <response>: Kids, go for the better school district.especially if the difference is 3 versus 10. You want your kids to be playing, learning, and growing up with kids of parents who can afford to care about their school scores. I live in a 5 area but many of the kids are not as well prepared for college as the people in the neighboring 9 district. The price point difference as well as the fact that Ill never have kids is why I chose this house but it would have cost me 150K more to be in the 9 school district and it would have been worth it. The houses in the 9 district lost at most 15 of their value during the recession and bounced back within 2 years. The house I bought just recently got back to its 2006 price range. 