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We moved to Westchester County over 2 yrs ago and are very happy with the schools and work commute, but we are dying from the taxes, oil and the cost of living. It's more than we anticipated and the lovely 1920's home we purchased in the mid 600K is truly in need of fixing and and has lost its charm. Husband now commutes to work btwn the northern & SE Westchester, to Soho, and travels a great deal out of LGA. I am considering looking into Fairfield county for the lower taxes. Does it make sense to look to Ridgefield, New Cannan, even Wilton? Or just stay in Chappaqua? If we did move, we would be looking for a even smaller/lower priced home/townhome in the 500K. Advice? Would like children to remain in excellent public school districts; Husband needs convenient access to train line and I need a drivable commute to Chappaqua under 45 min.
Taxes in CT could be less than half or more than NY, so you should be able to afford more house. 500k won't get you much of anything in New Canaan. You may have more luck in Ridgefield and Wilton at that price point. Train access will be an issue, but if your husband can stomach an hour plus commute to GCT, then it could work.
Fairfield has lower taxes but house prices are pretty high...if your husband commutes to SOHO and Laguardia I wouldn't look at Ridgefield because it's a little far. Greenwich would be the closest but house prices are really high. New Canaan and WIlton are good places to look, still expensive and a little further but the schools are really good with lower taxes.
Your commute to Chappaqua is limiting. You don't really want to be anywhere east of Stamford on the shoreline because of that. Ridgefield would work, but that's going to be a much longer NYC commute than he has now. Because Ridgefield is not on a great train line, most people commute from Katonah from there.
Real estate in CT isn't that much cheaper than Chappaqua and is more expensive in some cases (like New Canaan and Greenwich). So you really have to ask yourself if the extra time commuting is worth it. Also, remember that those taxes are deductible from your income tax.
Real estate in CT isn't that much cheaper than Chappaqua and is more expensive in some cases (like New Canaan and Greenwich). So you really have to ask yourself if the extra time commuting is worth it. Also, remember that those taxes are deductible from your income tax.
What about the AMT? Because once you hit the AMT, the property tax deduction goes away. But the mortgage interest deduction remains. So it makes more sense to buy in a town with higher prices and lower taxes (like many towns in FFC). Not to mention that property taxes do nothing to increase the equity in your home.
New Canaan is way more expensive than Chappaqua in term of house price. If you are willing to go with townhouse, why not look for a townhouse in Greenwich, which is still more expensive than Chappaqua, but much lower in tax.
We actually almost bid on a home in NC 2yrs ago in the 700K, that had only $6K in taxes. It was small, but was completely remodeled, had central air, forced heat, all the major home investments were done (roof, etc..) Compared to our home in Chappaqua that was priced lower, but higher taxes and needs fixing up. In hindsight, the extra commute time from CT would have been worth it, b/c the taxes are just going up and up I don't see when it's going to stop. While it's true the home prices in CT aren't that much better that in Westchester, the taxes are - we grieved and are back up to $20K. And it seems from general home searches on Trulia and similar sites that you get more of an updated home in CT for your dollar.
My current understanding is the market in NC (from a friend who lives there) is just going up and up with developers purchasing modest homes, tearing them down and basically flipping them for new homes $1M+. Now we are even looking at a smaller budget, so a townhome looks more realistic if we were to look in NC. Did we miss our window of SFH ownership?
Has anyone ever commuted from NC to Soho? Do many commute from NC to GC or even down to the financial district or soho?
Could you clarify what this property tax deduction is from your income tax? The AMT? Is it helpful? And yes, I completely agree with Mike 75. Our ridiculous taxes are not doing anything to raise the value of our home, and it's just going to get higher.
New Canaan is much more expensive than Chappaqua in term of house price. If you are willing to go with townhouse, why not look for a townhouse in Greenwich, which is still more expensive than Chappaqua, but much lower in tax.
I was under the impression that real estate was a better value for your $ as you move down the train line. Is that not the case between Greenwich and NC?
I was under the impression that real estate was a better value for your $ as you move down the train line. Is that not the case between Greenwich and NC?
You would have to get pretty far down the line to see a big drop in prices.
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