Best and Worst areas of Saratoga Springs? (Clifton Park, Clifton: house, live)

[BigJP]

Apology accepted Rumblebelly. To answer your question, I was in Saratoga Springs for a long weekend during racing season. I spent most of my time downtown or at the racetrack. I did get to see some other parts of the city, but not enough to know what the best or worst parts to live in are.

Now I have one question for you - why do you say to avoid the streets with a lot of rentals on them? Since I am looking to rent, at least initially, this is an important piece of information for me to know. Any additional insight you can provide would be very helpful.

Thank you to everyone who has posted a reply, it definitely helps. If there is any other info that anyone wants to provide, it would be greatly appreciated.

[JustSayNo]

Re the rentals, probably to aviod the Skidmore College kids!

In my day it was a dry campus-meaning no greek system, and dorm parties were no fun- so parties were off campus and in the town bars. They did build and open a campus pub in 88 I think, and things may have changed a lot, but off-campus was always where the parties were!

[Rumblebelly]

Well, rentals tend to attract lower income people and college kids. It's probably going to be a hit or miss type of thing. Just consider how the neighborhood looks, how well the homes are kept up. If houses nearby look dumpy, you might get irritated with their inhabitants. It's an obvious sign that the owners don't care about the property and probably don't care who they rent to.

Of course, that nice really nice house next door might be filled with folks that like to tear it up late at night. Or their could be some well-to-do troubled kids that like to cause trouble. It's really hard to tell sometimes.

It is Saratoga Springs so I doubt you'll ever feel unsafe. However, I've seen streets I wouldn't want to live on just because of the reasons I listed above.

Originally Posted by BigJP

Now I have one question for you - why do you say to avoid the streets with a lot of rentals on them? Since I am looking to rent, at least initially, this is an important piece of information for me to know. Any additional insight you can provide would be very helpful.

[KatyERoss]

I live in Middle Grove which is part of Greenfield. If you want to live in the country it's the best. We are about 15minutes from Broadway Saratoga, yet in the middle of the woods. We also are in the Saratoga City School district without living in the city. As people have said there are no bad parts. We moved here from Boston suburbs because it is laid back, no traffic (except track season), less crime, better schools, and most importantly affordable housing. Housing in downtown can be expensive, especially the closer you get to the track. The farther outside you go the less it costs and it doesn't take much for the prices to go down. We saved about $50,000 by going just 15 inutes away! Schuylerville and Saratoga School districts are both excellent. Corinth is not. There really are not any bad parts, but the farther you get away from downtown the more back woodsy it gets. The best thing about the area is that you can choose to live in a neighboord or be truely out in the country with farms or in the mountains with the woods. Just keep in mind downtown gets VERY busey during the summer and parking is limited. It gets even busier during track season (mid July to Labor Day). Recreation is unlimited. The best thing to do is come up for the weekend. It's about a 4 hour drive from the city. You also have to like winter. It gets very cold with lots of snow and lasts from early November through late April, although it is not unheard of to have snow in October or May. I still have tulips blooming and its June! But, for all the winter we have the summers are lovely and not too hot.

[EllieLA]

A friend of mine found her apartment in SS, by driving by places and seeing signs. She was successful in finding a nice apartment on North Broadway, on an amazing block in a beautiful old house.

I'd also suggest trying Skidmore Apartments. They have many buildings all over town and it's a great management company. Their number is 518-587-5220. Ask for Christina, she's great.

You can also check out Saratoga Springs, NY Rentals and Apartments - SaratogaRenter.com

If you have any other questions you can email me.

Good luck!

[BigJP]

Thanks for the info EllieLA. It's a big help. This is the type of info I was hoping to get when I started this thread. If anyone else has any suggestions, I would love to hear them.

[Zyll]

Stay away from it, nothing up there, the track, 1/2 mile of down town, the park THATS IT, oh and way overpriced houses. Otherwise, decent area, but one can do a lot better elsewhere. This area was nothing back in the 70's. Go someplace up and comming, you can make some money off, when everyone else wants to go there.

[dirish18]

I beg to differ with Zyll. Then again, I guess it depends on your situation and what type of life style you are looking for. I currently reside on Long Island, but I have been visiting Saratoga year round for the past 20 years since my family has a house 40 minutes north of it. Long Island is very different from saratoga and I personally would much rather live up there. It is laid back with a clean quaint town. If you are into concerts, SPAC offers many great shows in the summertime. Skiing mountains are within reach...as well as many places for one to enjoy other outdoor activities. (Lakes for boating, fishing, mountains to climb etc.) which you cant get here on Long Island, you just get people on top of eachother with ridiculously priced real estate and no jobs for teachers...

Like I said, it all depends on your situation and what type of lifestyle you are looking for...Good Luck!

[Ellwood]

Originally Posted by Zyll

Stay away from it, nothing up there, the track, 1/2 mile of down town, the park THATS IT, oh and way overpriced houses. Otherwise, decent area, but one can do a lot better elsewhere. This area was nothing back in the 70's. Go someplace up and comming, you can make some money off, when everyone else wants to go there.

It is a lovely area with reasonable housing in the outlying towns and villages (Schuylerville, Gansevoort, Northunderland, etc.) The people are friendly and helpful and it is a great place to live. I am not sure of your suggestion to go to someplace up and coming. Could you be more specific? I would like to know where I could invest some money in up and coming real estate considering the overall market.

[Rumblebelly]

Originally Posted by Ellwood

It is a lovely area with reasonable housing in the outlying towns and villages (Schuylerville, Gansevoort, Northunderland, etc.) The people are friendly and helpful and it is a great place to live. I am not sure of your suggestion to go to someplace up and coming. Could you be more specific? I would like to know where I could invest some money in up and coming real estate considering the overall market.

I think he might be referring to Troy or Schenectady. It might take a while to overcome the poverty, crime, and bad reputation before you'll notice big increases in property values.

From what I hear, Saratoga at one time was kinda sketchy too. Ballston Spa's downtown, just a few years ago, was in really bad shape. But I'm not from around here and I haven't witnessed it firsthand.

Glens Falls, might be an interesting option?