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After my Husband was offered a great job in Boston we discovered we couldn't afford to buy a house within a two hour commute of the job. Not wanting to waste our time again, I figured I'd come on here and try to get a little info before the offer comes. Most of the job ads we're seeing are directly in Albany but one or two have been in Schenectady, Rensselaer, Latham and Niskayuna.
Can anyone suggest what towns would be best to look into....We're looking for a 3+bdrm house (250k-280k) in good condition with a decent yard (.25 acre+) in a safe neighborhood with good schools and lots to do for families with small kids (we have a 3yr old). Is this feasible? Where should we be looking?
The hardest part is also the most important. I don't want my Husband to go to work and miss our kids growing up. He has a 15 min commute right now and it's awesome. So #1 criteria will be a 15-20min commute whether by car or by public transportation, but I understand that might be hard since we don't have a specific job on the hook yet.
Pretty much pick any suburb in Albany County, but I'd say that Colonie, Latham, Loudonville(all 3 in the town of Colonie), Delmar, Altamont, Guilderland(last 2 in town of Guilderland) and perhaps parts of Niskayuna in Schenectady County and parts of East Greenbush in Rensselaer County. There are probably a few others as well.
One of the worst kept secrets in the Capital District is that the best commute is to the east to and from Rensselaer County. East Greenbush is a very good option, good schools and lots to do. Just past that is Schodack, their school district is Maple Hill. Very nice area, commute from there to say the NYS Campus is under 20 minutes. Houses are reasonable and plenty of activities for kids, very sports oriented town.
HA! East Greenbush, that would be very funny if we moved there...my Husband's family lived there until he was 5yrs old. He has a lot of extended family in the Albany area but we don't want to ask any of them because we don't want to get anyone's hopes up...especially my MIL who is moving back to the Albany area within the next year!
Hi Dawn, I have a house in East Greenbush that fits that exact bill, great family neighborhood and all, and I'll be putting it on the market in a month or two! Personally, I love E. Greenbush. Other good suburbs are North Greenbush, Delmar, Glenmont. Delmar is on the pricier side.
And if you want details on my house, feel free to PM me!
Locolady, good luck with selling! We probably won't be buying for about a year when/if we move to the region, hopefully your house sells long before that! Thank you for the advice!
I wouldn't want to live anywhere south of Ballstone spa / Burnt Hills area but that is just me.
Quote:
Originally Posted by cheeky1178
SWFL_Native...any particular reason why?
Locolady, good luck with selling! We probably won't be buying for about a year when/if we move to the region, hopefully your house sells long before that! Thank you for the advice!
I agree that BH-BL is a very nice area with very good schools. However if you have family in the EGbush area I would think that's a plus. The commute is very easy to EG and Schodack. There's another plus if you like day trips in its very easy to shoot over to the Berkshires and only a 2 1/2 hour trip down to NYC and 3 hours to Boston on this side of the river.
I wouldn't want to live anywhere south of Ballstone spa / Burnt Hills area but that is just me.
If you live Ballston Spa and north, that will be a fair bit more than a 15 minute commute if the job is in Albany. It will be a shorter commute to Latham, especially if it is in the part of Latham near near the Saratoga Co. border, but still pushing the limits of what the poster is looking for. Plus, housing is higher in much of Saratoga Co.
You should be able to find something in your price range in Colonie, Albany, East Greenbush. A little bit harder in Bethlehem, but do-able. Traffic isn't bad around here, so most commutes take about what you would expect by looking at a map.
Schools are decent in NYS despite the completely inept implementation of the new standards. If you aren't moving for at least a year, hopefully much of that mess will be remedied by then.
Thanks again everyone! I feel like I've got a good list going so when he gets the call for an interview we can spend some time after checking out a few towns closest to the job.
Fingers crossed we can move in the fall before winter sets in. The central heat/air unit in our current townhome is from the 70's and so are the windows, so we'd love to move before we start paying through the nose for heat again.
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