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I an looking for a good school district and a wonderful place to live for a family with small kids. Any suggestion?
How small is small?
For kids under 12 I recommend center square where I lived.
I have a 2 year old and the play-date/party schedule was grueling.
It was just one of those perfect storm things, the market conditions
were right (cheap homes, great older homes) and a huge number
of families moved in. On my block alone there was 11 families
with under 5 kids.
The local elementary school TOAST (Albany City Schools, TOAST)
had many parents raving. Many of our friends could afford
to send their kids to private Montesorri schools but chose
toast instead.
Also, being a brownstone area there are lots of families within
walking distance and many impromptu get togethers
on "stoops" (called stooping) (i.e. the stairs leading up to the brownstone)
occurred.
In addition, the state and city sponsored many kid centric
activities at Rockerfeller plaza and the Washington Park. Your within
walking distance to museums etc.
HOWEVER ... the middle and high school allocated to center
square (downtown) is not very good. So once your kids
reach 12, people tend to move out to Delmar and Bethlehem
both which have excellent schools and affordable homes.
I don't have any personally, but if you check out Welcome to Alban.y., NY and click on the various links
you'll see lots of photos mixed in.
The one thing I didn't mention before is that its still upstate
new york but it doesn't get too cold or too snowy.
Count on one or two one foot snow storms a year at
most. Being the state capital, roads are ploughed FAST.
I'm originally from Plattsburgh...now THAT'S UPSTATE!!! I'm all too aware of NY winters....often in my neck of the woods, the plows don't get to you until the afternoon....good to know that Albany is more on the ball!! Thanks for mentioning it!...and thanks for the link.
Hey thanks a lot! Where were you when I was posting all my questions! Myhusband and I are considering Albany as a possible relocation spot. We live in New York, and love Brooklyn. Albany reminds us of a certain great neighborhood in Brooklyn but with a fraction of the cost. The crazy thing is...if you are not an exec in NYC you are probably going to make about the same as in Albany (well, that is based on most of the Craigslist positions I have been seeing). So it is nice to know that there is a cool place like that with less of a crunch on money. We really liked the Pine Hills neighborhood. How is walking from Pine HIlls (like S. Lake and yates to Lark) at night? Is it safe? We like to walk/bike lot and that is another plus to Albany. I liked Pine Hills also because of the off street parking it offered. Thanks a lot for being so helpful!
My wife (who is originally from NYC), our 7 year old daughter and I (from Minneapolis) are looking for a place to move to start a new life. We're in Texas now and we just can't stand it, all of us being northerners for life.
I personally have never been out east, so it would be an adventure. I could so use one of those.
Craigslist makes the rent prices seem about the same as other towns we've looked at (Milwaukee, Madison, Providence, Portland ME, Twin Cities), but how is the job market? I'm an experienced IT tech and while we'll have some pretty good $$ saved up for the move, I'll need to find work pretty quickly (within a month).
My wife (who is originally from NYC), our 7 year old daughter and I (from Minneapolis) are looking for a place to move to start a new life. We're in Texas now and we just can't stand it, all of us being northerners for life.
I personally have never been out east, so it would be an adventure. I could so use one of those.
Craigslist makes the rent prices seem about the same as other towns we've looked at (Milwaukee, Madison, Providence, Portland ME, Twin Cities), but how is the job market? I'm an experienced IT tech and while we'll have some pretty good $$ saved up for the move, I'll need to find work pretty quickly (within a month).
Think I'll have too many problems?
I would start a new thread for this if you haven't already. Sorry I have no answers for you.
I know the original poster was promoting downtown Albany as a good place to raise a family, but having lived in the Albany area for 20 years, I'd never even think about it. I don't know about that elementary school that was mentioned, but the Albany middle school and high schools are not good at all. If you want to be in the Albany area, I would look at places like Colonie, Latham, Loudonville (where I live), Delmar, Guilderland, etc. All of these places are a very short commute to downtown Albany and I would much rather not be directly in the city... but that's a personal choice. But understand if you move here that the winters are very long and very cold, so if you don't like outdoor winter activities you might not like this time of year. We are moving to NC in a week because we are tired of the cold and high taxes.
hello inpd
i'm not from albany but was thinking of buying an investment property over by 12202 area because of the low prices, since i'm not from around there i was hoping i could get some feed back as to how the area is like and whether or not its a good area to go to. i know its a low income area but was wondering what crime and schools are like in that area. also i've been reading a bit about a south end revitalization program and was wondering if any one knows more about it. any information anyone could give me about the area or comments of what its like over there would be very appreciative
Lived there for 5 years in center square. If you have any questions
fire away.
I loved the place, but can give balanced opinions.
You are very kind to be helping so many of us with this thread! I was hoping maybe you could give me some insight that would be specific to my situation, too, if you wouldn't mind. I am single (divorced but a few years ago and no children) and 40 years old. I have been living in NYC for many years now, and not only am ready to get out of the big, loud (and over-congested) city, but can no longer afford to stay here. I miss being closer to nature and love being outdoors. I have a dog (medium to large sized) and finding a very dog friendly place that includes a nearby park to take him is a huge factor for me. I also LOVE hiking (with my dog) and now rent a car whenever I can to get out of the city for this. I want to move where there is more "green," and where hiking is nearby and easily accessible for my dog and me. I will buy a car when I leave NYC, but don't want to have to use it for every single thing I do IF possible (I would love to have at least some things walking distance, but the park to take my dog walking distance is more important than anything else). I also know I'm not ready for "small town" living (maybe someday, just not now in my life), simply because I am alone and don't want to be isolated. I also need "culture" around me for things to do (museums, etc.), if you know what I mean. I don't want to move too far upstate b/c do love being outdoors as much as I can, but don't want THAT much snow and for so long, as is much more typical of farther north (like Ithaca, for example, from what I know of it even though I also know how beautiful it is).
Thank you for ANYTHING that you may be able to tell me. I appreciate your (and whoever else) taking the time even just to read all of this!
Last edited by girlandpup; 03-08-2008 at 12:23 PM..
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