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Thank you everyone for your responses. You've given me a lot to think about. We already live in NJ and are not looking to move into the city. We like living in the suburbs for a variety of reasons. As for the comment about not everyone needs to go to a great school district to receive a great education, that is true. However, the rating of the school district does impact resale value of the home significantly and since we don't plan on this being our 'forever' home, resale is something we have to consider.
How much would increasing the train ride 1hr & 15 mins change things? Does that open up a lot more options to us?
OP, if you don't mind a smaller house with a smallish yard, it can be done.
Pelham, Eastchester, Harrison, Ardsley, Dobbs Ferry, Hastings, and Mount Pleasant are all areas that have well rated schools (not top top schools like Rye Brook or Scarsdale, but they are schools that a majority of middle class parents would be happy to send their kids to). If you aren't looking for an acre of property and a 3000 sq foot house, you can find something in any of them for under 600k. It's not going to be the best and brightest house on the block, but they always say it's better to buy the smallest house in the best spot rather than buy the biggest house in the worst spot...
Good luck!
NYC public schools basically stink because the property taxes are low. So you save money on that score but must often pay to send your kids to private school.
NYC public stinks because of all the busing (not in zone) and trying to "diverse". Also its very crowded. A lot of good HS during my NYC days went down the toilet
Note that it's a live listing. May not still be there if you're seeing this a while after I posted it. The summary: 3 bed, 2 bath, 1390 sqft in Chappaqua, $525,000 ask.
At 1390 sqft this house is too small to make the move up to chappaqua worthwhile.
I am not sure why no one has mentioned it yet, but what about Croton, Cortlandt Manor or Mohegan Lake? The latter is the furthest from a train station (15-20 minutes) but the train is less than an hour. You can definitely find something in your budget. I am in the process of buying my first home in this area and my budget was a lot less than yours. Croton is most expensive but I have friends who bought a 3BR in the village over the summer and spent around the mid $500s.
It's been a while since your original post so I wonder if you have found something yet?
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