Possibly Moving to Albany

[jthomasvt]

Julie:

We live in Nassau / Schodack in Rensselaer County great area 1.5 miles from I-90. We know of a good realtor and a house in your price range as we are trying to relocate ourselves. Send me a message if you want more info.

[Logan11]

I'll paste this from another thread about moving to Upstate NY.... You might want to check it out west of Albany because the commute in is much easier than trying to get in from the north (i.e. Saratoga direction). I am 4 miles from the Duanesburg exit on I-88 and I get to the intersection of I-90/I-87 in about 23 minutes on average.

This was in response to someone who was looking to move from NYC to the Cobleskill area initially, but it has some relevance to this thread.....

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I'll put in a plug for my area ...Duanesburg. It is about 15 minutes east of Cobleskill so you get the same bucolic feel, but is at the western edge of the Albany area so it has a much higher household income ...$70k median at last report. I suspect 20 years ago it was very similiar to Cobleskill demographically, but an influx from Albany/Schenectady has changed it. For now at least you get the real rural feel at the edge of suburbia. Land prices have spiked a lot since 2000, but would still seem very cheap to you by NYC area standards. The school district is highly rated and they are building a large new community center with an olympic sized pool etc. (google DACC). We have little league, pop warner football, youth soccer etc....

There are a fair number of farms yet in town ( some dairies, but mostly hay farmers) and a large thoroughbred horse farm on the Schoharie Valley side of town. Supposedly Harrison Ford has a horse farm and I know where it is, but it's a bit of a mystery.

Duanesburg is the western town of Schenectady County, but 100% unlike the city of Schenectady. It is along I-88 and you can be at several malls within 15-25 minutes. You have a choice of the more leisurely shopping in Cobleskill or Amsterdam or the much busier areas near Niskayuna, Colonie, Guilderland. We only have a Dunkin Donuts, but Starbucks is 15-20 minutes away.

The only real negative is the lack of a nice central village. Its a township with several hamlets and the small sleepy village of Delanson, but no vibrant old style village. Altamont (10-15 minutes southeast) is a lovely village and Schoharie (10-15 minutes southwest) is as well.

One great thing about this location is the proximity to I-90 and I-87. You can be in Boston and NYC is less than 3 hours and Montreal in 3.5 hours, closer in... Cooperstown in 50 minutes, Saratoga in 45 mins, Lake George in an hour, Sacandaga in 45 mins, the Catskills in an hour, etc. .. You can drive 30 mins to the Amtrak Station in Albany/Rensselaer and take the train into the city (2.5 hours) also.

Oh we have an excellent fireworks display..but the week before the 4th....

[jfkIII]

Originally Posted by smileyone

The gay community has discovered Hudson and it's only about a half hour from Albany. There are great restaurants, Warren Street is filled with fabulous antiques stores, art galleries, modern furniture and hip home decor shops and the architecture is breathtaking throughout the town. Whether you want to rent or buy, I think you'll love living there.

Manhattanites have discovered this town and have made it a weekend escape. They have really cleaned up the area and have made Warren street a vibrant area. Locals tend to refer to them as Citiots (altho' I don't necessarily subscribe to that, as they've done much good for that area that was on the verge of ghost town a few years back.)

Local Hint: avoid Mexican Radio...the food is excellent...but you'll be paying Manhattan prices for it! Mexican food is usually rather inexpensive (and good) up here...so it seems way too pricey. Beautiful restaurant atmosphere...but you'll pay for it. (The original Mexican Radio is in Manhattan, same owners.) If you want Mexican food, there's a great restaurant on Main Street, in Tannersville.