In the Home and School Buying Simulation, I was assigned a $54,000 annual gross income. I also have a car and savings for a down payment. Because of these factors, I had a fairly easy time finding houses to buy in the suburbs surrounding Hartford. In order to find a home, I simply searched for homes in my budget on Craigslist and browsed through multiple choices. This process did not take me very long and I had plenty of options. However, if I did not have a car, I would not have been able to look at homes too far outside of Hartford. I also have money saved for a down payment and minimal monthly debt payments, which both aided in this process. Although I could easily rent property, I would rather own a home in order to build equity.
I researched the four school districts where my children would possibly attend school. South Windsor and Southington seem to have better public schools than Bristol and Manchester. I came to this decision based on CMT scores in the elementary schools, because my children are in grades 3 and 6. South Windsor and Southington public elementary school students either tied or surpassed state average CMT scores. Furthermore, I looked at high school graduation rates because my children will eventually attend these schools. South Windsor has a 95% high school graduation rate while Southington has a 99% high school graduation rate.
Because of my relatively high annual gross income and minimal monthly debt payments, this process was stress-free and I had ample options. However, I would not be able to live in the suburbs if I did not have a car. Therefore, I would live in Hartford and my children would attend Hartford Public Schools. My family is lucky that we can move to the suburbs in order to attend different public schools.
As for improving this simulation for the web, I actually prefer completing it on paper. That way, I can spread all of my information out in front of me in order to make an informed decision.