Which town would you recommend (Rochester, Syracuse: new home, neighborhoods, restaurants)

[norm]

I am retired and when my wife retires this year we would like to move to one of the towns listed below and would appreciate hearing any pros or cons about them. We used to have a vacation house in E. Jewett and love the whole area from Saugerties to Albany.

Saugerties
Coxsackie
Ravena
Colonie
Watervliet
Latham
Renssalaer
E.Greenbush

Our needs are:

House priced $250K and under
A place that has a walkable down town would be nice
Don't want our neighbor's houses to be right on top of us
Must be a close drive to a major hospital.
Large supermarket nearby
Not too far from a good sized mall

Any help would be greatly appreciated

[HomerBrink]

Delmar might have what you are looking for in regard to the walkable downtown (more like a village main street). Don't know much about Saugerties but I hear it is nice. Colonie doesn't have a downtown IMO.

[norm]

Thanks Homer. Having a walkable downtown is not something that is an absolute necessity if we could get most of the other things we'd like.

[ckhthankgod]

You might like either Colonie or Latham, which is a community in the northern part of the town of Colonie.

[annerk]

I would avoid Saugerties. It's a depressed area that isn't getting better, and most of the nicer neighborhoods are too far to walk to much of anything. Shopping options are also rather limited in the area.

There are some parts of Latham that are walkable to various shops and restaurants. Watervliet has some pretty iffy areas.

It's a little further north, but you might want to look at Mechanicville. There are a lot of nicer neighborhoods, but housing is still reasonable, and it's generally a safe, quiet town. There are plenty of shops, restaurants, places of worship, libraries, etc within walking distance of many of it's neighborhoods.

[j12308]

What about Scotia / Glenville area? Guilderland? Ballston Spa?

[Ellwood]

Nice development, Brampton Woods. Homes built around trees, wooded. Near Wilton Mall, Saratoga. New homes, $240's. Also Schuylerville, 10 miles from Wilton.

[OrangeSunset]

I also think Delmar and maybe Saratoga Springs might be a good place to check out. Check the home prices there but I think you might be able to get something small for less than $250K. Stay away from Watervliet & Renssalaer. There are some nice areas in E.Greenbush but mostly very country and you'll need a car to go pretty much anywhere.

You might be able to find what you are looking for in the area surrounding the hospitals in the city of Albany (St Peters & Alabny Med). GL!

[Pismo Clam]

Stay away from areas north of Albany for now. Housing there is grossly overpriced still and the housing collapse has just begun in those areas. The level of ignorant speculation there is mind numbing.

[Rumblebelly]

Originally Posted by Pismo Clam

Stay away from areas north of Albany for now. Housing there is grossly overpriced still and the housing collapse has just begun in those areas. The level of ignorant speculation there is mind numbing.

The burbs north of Albany to Saratoga are growing. This causes demand and in turn causes home prices to go up. Delmar and the surrounding area also has high home values.

You could almost make the argument that cities like Albany, Sch'dy, Troy, Syracuse, Rochester, ect, have artificially low housing values because there was never that housing boom that affected most of the country. No growth means no increase in home values.