Would you do it? We looked at an awesome house that backed up to an elementary school (that we would send our kids to once the time came) and DH and I were discussing pros and cons and I wondered what other parents with young kids would think!
Hit me with your pros and cons and what would sway you one way or the other.
wonderful clementine / 24134 posts
Cons - Loud noises in the afternoons (kids playing, school buses). Kids/cars using neighborhood or yard as a cut through.
Pros - Kids walk to school!
nectarine / 2115 posts
We live around the corner from an elementary school and have no cons to share.
pomelo / 5866 posts
The school bells. The night events. People parking and the traffic during start and dismissal times. Other than that it should be good for your family to walk to school. I would do it if I loved the school.
wonderful pea / 17279 posts
Our subdivision entrance is across the street from a middle school that is next to a park.
Pros: our kids can walk to school, lots of green space (soccer field, baseball field, tennis courts etc), teacher parking lot doubles as a great place to learn to ride a bike (or motorcycle- how we used it, or car- how I have seen others use it with their teens), less traffic because the school takes up a good chunk of real estate in our little area
Cons: road congestion during drop off and pick up, but that's only when school is in, a lot of pedestrians to watch out for during those times.
grapefruit / 4321 posts
One con that no one else has mentioned yet: Resale value. You have young kids, but not everyone looking to buy a house does, and people who don't have kids will likely not want to live next to an elementary school.
pomelo / 5228 posts
Our old house backs up to an elementary school and it's a non-issue. I barely hear anything from the school at all. The only annoying thing is that people park on our street during pickup and drop-off.
pineapple / 12566 posts
Our apartment faces a middle school, but it's a city school, so they don't really have an outdoor area. I love it. Evenings, weekends and summers are totally dead quiet! No real cons as we are already up in the morning when kids are arriving.
cantaloupe / 6131 posts
We lived adjacent to a park and elementary school - our yard backed to the park, which flowed seamlessly to the school grounds.
I think the pros are apparent, but for us the cons were:
1. DH works from home and its loud. The kids screaming on the playgrounds, the dogs being walked through the fields, etc.
2. You'd get stuck at this left turn out of our neighborhood for eons during pick up and drop off times.
3. The most unexpected was the lawn maintenance noise. They would have to mow all the grass before school started, so they'd literally be mowing and leaf-blowing starting at like 6am!
When we bought our house, we looked specifically for a home that was at least a block away from a park or school to avoid these issues. Now we live 1 block away and its perfect.
grapefruit / 4800 posts
We did for awhile. I loved it. So easy to take the kids out to the playground. It wasn't a big school and it was a smaller town so congestion wasn't a problem at all. Lots of the kids walked or rode bikes to school so it was a spot with more sidewalks and signs making sure cars slowed down. I thought it was a great spot for young families.
GOLD / wonderful coconut / 33402 posts
I would think the resale factor is going to take longer. Even with having kids, I wouldn't want to back to up to one.
clementine / 918 posts
@Truth Bombs: You may want to check the area about re-sale values, we bought a house same layout, very similar upkeep/upgrades/etc in the same neighborhood as a house across from the school - that house went for $25,000 more than ours and was on the market for like 1 week (I know this because we used the availability of this house as leverage on our offer)
We considered putting an offer in on the above house (until we found out there was that higher offer) and for us the pros were: walk to school, nice park/playground that was pretty active with kids
cons: traffic, noise
I would not have considered if there wasn't a way out of the neighborhood without passing the school ie an escape route during busy school times.
Also would not have considered if there was anyway to "short-cut" through our yard, the backyard had a high fence that would be near impossible to jump (certainly not for elementary students).
That house also had an additional parking spot compared to our current house which would have been important because I imagine street parking would be more difficult to obtain so close to a school
nectarine / 2173 posts
Our backyard is against the back of an elementary school. Our fence line touches the back fields. Because it's the fields and not the school itself, we just get noise from kids during sports. We do t have any other noise. There is a bit of traffic in the morning and it goes slow because it's a school zone. But got us there really aren't any cons. Not much noise and it's nice to see the kids out playing. What I would consider is what part of the school you would be near to think about noise and traffic patterns. On the plus side, you know you'll be able to walk to school!
wonderful pear / 26210 posts
The reason why we bought our home is that it is on the same dead end road as the elementary school. As a result, our neighborhood is extremely desireable and homes are selling quite quickly.
The pros for me outweigh the cons. I can literally stand on my front lawn and see the school. To not have to deal with the car drop off line or put my son on a bus, priceless.
apricot / 388 posts
I live directly across the street from an elementary school and wasn't sure what to expect. It has been great though. I work out of the house and leave before the buses come in and come home after after school is out though so I never really deal with it. The days I am home though I don't even notice it. Major pro is having a playground right there for LO and when he is in school it will be a nice easy walk to get there.
honeydew / 7444 posts
@looch: I agree - our house is not directly in front of the school, but it is a kitty corner away from the school's playground/field. I love that I can look out from the second floor and see the kids playing during lunch. Since our house is behind the school, we don't have as many issues with too many cars.
DH and I don't drive to work so it would be a pain having to drive our kids in the morning. I love the location of our home. I always thought that houses near schools have quick sales, at least they do in my and nearby neighbourhoods.
pineapple / 12793 posts
We lived across the street from an elementary school the first year we were here. The traffic drove me nuts because parents would literally park in our driveway blocking in my car in order to run into the school. If they weren't in the driveway they were blocking it.
The kids also dumped a ton of wrappers in the yard. The candy bar and fast food wrappers were everywhere.
I think I'd rather back onto the school than be across from the main door.
pomegranate / 3779 posts
Our house backs up to the side of an elementary school. We only hear noises when school buses are dropping off and picking up. Doesn't bother us, but drives my dog crazy. We are in a gated community so people don't park or drive on our street for pick up and the gate to the school is just around the corner from our house so LO(s) will be able to walk to school.
A con for us that we did not think of when we bought - we are just outside the city limits and people often come to the school parking lot to set off fireworks on the Fourth and NYE because they are illegal inside the city limits.
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