Have you graded your neighborhood lately? For some New Yorkers, a school’s reputation is everything, forcing them into the compromises that come with buying into expensive neighborhoods. Yet others have found that schools in less pricey districts suit them just fine — and can even be academically comparable to those in more expensive areas.
An informal comparison by The Real Deal of prices per square foot in various Manhattan neighborhoods versus the performance of schools in those areas turns up a few interesting possibilities for bargain hunters.
If you’re searching for that elusive combination of affordable prices and a good education, it’s important to bear in mind that the relationship between public schools and housing is most important at the primary-school level, when children must attend schools within their housing zone; at the middle and high school levels, neighborhood determines choice of school much more loosely or not at all.
A quick look at Manhattan neighborhoods from north to south reveals parents are often seeking certain schools.
In the last two years, Kenny Pashos, principal broker for Allcity Properties, says he has sold many two-bedroom apartments in East Harlem to families ready to send their kids to neighborhood schools, and that the parents often contact him already knowing which ones they want their kids to attend. Some are looking to send their daughters to the Young Women’s Leadership Academy, which Pashos calls “a jewel of a middle school” that has a graduation rate of more than 95 percent and has attracted the attention of Oprah Winfrey, who spoke at the academy’s graduation ceremony last year.
Other parents choose P.S. 96 on East 120th Street or P.S. 72 (the superior of the two in terms of test scores) on East 104th.
With the average price per square foot of a two-bedroom apartment in East Harlem hovering around $648, the neighborhood is definitely in the lower range for Manhattan apartment prices.
Farther down, on the Upper East Side, P.S. 6 reigns as one of the most popular public schools in the area, but it is also squarely in the most expensive part of the Upper East Side: the East 70s to 80s, from Fifth Avenue to Lexington Avenue.
However, there are also great schools — and better housing bargains — to be had east of Third Avenue, in the same School District 2. Public schools 158 (York Avenue and 77th Street), 183 (East 66th Street) and 290 (East 82nd Street) share high academic ratings with P.S. 6, yet “you definitely get better prices and more for your money east of Third Avenue,” says Hillary Brizell-DeLise, a senior sales associate at Bellmarc Realty.
Parents who want to live on the Upper East Side have taken notice of these schools, says Bellmarc Realty vice president Jennifer Roberts.
“P.S. 290,” she says, “has such a good reputation that some families specify that public school first rather than P.S. 6 when telling me what district they want to look in. Families can get just as good an education for their kids — and also save several hundred thousand dollars.”
Sometimes apartment cost is not even a factor, says Roberts, who cites as an example clients who “lived on the West Side and wanted to send their kids to P.S. 290 so badly that they bought a one-bedroom in the P.S. 290 district so they could use the East Side address; they didn’t intend to live there.”
There is also the matter of diversity: The student population in schools east of Third Avenue tends to be more ethnically and economically mixed than those west of it. “I’m always disappointed that people put so much stock in P.S. 6 only because it is the richest Upper East Side district and will obviously have parents spending thousands to give their kids everything, but more economically diverse, heterogeneous schools have plenty to offer kids too,” says Brizell-DeLise.
Tribeca, which is one of the most expensive areas in the city, with an average apartment price of $2.23 million (price per square foot is about average for Manhattan at $1,069, but apartments run larger) is also home to the highly-regarded — and overpopulated — P.S. 234.
While many people who move to Tribeca do send their children to P.S. 234, others see the school as adding to the value of their property, says Amanda Sawyer, a senior vice president at Douglas Elliman. “People will put their kids in the school, or if they don’t, they feel the school will help the area retain value in the future,” says Sawyer. “Some clients insist on being in that school district and then turn around and send their kids to private school.”
Sawyer has also redirected people who can’t afford Tribeca to Battery Park City, where the schools are not as crowded. The neighborhood is home to P.S. 89, whose test scores exceed state averages in both math and English.
As a plus, Sawyer says, buyers may get a housing price break.
However, according to Joseph Benz, president and broker at Metrospire, although you might initially save on a purchase in Battery Park City, the area “has some of, if not the most expensive, maintenance charges in the city” and does not have good deals on family-size apartments.
Sheena Acharya, a senior vice president at Prudential Douglas Elliman, works primarily in the West Village, an area whose prices are high (about $1,183 per square foot for a two-bedroom) and whose public schools are known both for their academics and their diversity. Some clients, she says, will “cram themselves into small apartments in the West Village just to stay in the school district.”
However, when she has clients who can’t afford to live in the West Village, she often steers them to the Gramercy Park area, which has much lower prices per square foot (about $997 for a two-bedroom). P.S. 40 is often acknowledged as the best school in the neighborhood.
Douglas Elliman agent Christine Sonin, who lives in Gramercy Park and attended public school in New York City, was sending her daughter to private school when she decided to switch her to a neighborhood public school.
“She started out at P.S. 40 and then went to the East Side Middle School,” says Sonin, who is very happy with her daughter’s education. “You still get good prices per square foot in this neighborhood, and there are good schools here all the way from primary schools on up.”
While the East Village and the Lower East Side have relatively low housing costs, they are not known for their public schools (many list test scores below state averages) and both neighborhoods tend to attract young people without children. But there are exceptions, such as P.S. 126, which sits between the Lower East Side and Chinatown, and which, in addition to strong test scores, boasts an economically diverse and well-integrated student body.
In Chinatown itself, there is the excellent P.S. 130.
Amanda Sawyer recalls selling an apartment east of Broadway to a family who didn’t originally intend to send their children to a neighborhood school, but were so happy with P.S. 130 that they kept their children there — even after they moved out of the area.