Info please on Stamford and the Catskills area (New York, Rochester: ski resorts, low crime)

[rader2000]

My husband & I are looking to relocate from the Southwest to the North/Northeast and are interested in the area of the Catskills, specifically Stamford. We have three small children and two teenagers and would like a safe community with good schools, older houses with good bones and lots of character and big yards for lots of play time. Can anyone give us the scoop. How are the jobs and are there places to set up our small shop? Thanks so much for any help.

Maybe some info on Bath or Corning also? Much appreciated!

[Hartwick]

Stamford, New York, and the surrounding countryside, is certainly a beautiful part of the state. It is extremely picturesque, quiet, rather isolated from the fast pace of today's more urban lifestyle. The Catskill Mountains, while not exactly "mountains," are still rather steep, tall hills.

Being a picturesque, quiet, isolated area, it has been discovered by many extremely wealthy downstaters from the New York City area, and others as far away as Philadelphia, who are buying up vacant land, old houses, farms, anything they can get their hands on, and building extravagant weekend, get-a-way homes, usually protected behind fences and gates. It is not at all uncommon to see convoys of Mercedes-Benzs, BMW's, Lincoln Navagators, Jaguars, etc., making their way into/out of the Stamford area on weekends. While all this influx of big money is great for the local economy, it is also driving up the tax base, causing school and property taxes to raise, sometimes beyond what locals can afford. The cost of homes are certainly rising to take advantage of the downstaters who buy homes and farms, sight unseen, without regard to cost.

Stamford is located about 30 miles from it's nearest, larger city, which is Oneonta, New York. This is where you will find your Lowe's, Wal-Mart, and other major shopping opportunities. Other areas would include Binghamton, Middletown, and the Albany/Schenectady areas. All of these are quite a distance from Stamford.

There isn't much in the Stamford area as far as industry. Major employers include the ski resorts(seasonal), bed and breakfasts, a lot of resorts, and in Oneonta, two colleges.

Schools are very good and serve a wide expanse of the countryside. Drugs in schools are not a major problem, but they are still in the schools like any other school.

Unfortunately, the area has become quite attractive to meth labs as they can literally hide in the hills and be very isolated and difficult to find.

I dont' know much about Bath and Corning, but you might want to consider the Ithaca, New York, area which is still very picturesque, has outstanding educational opportunities with Cornell University and Ithaca College located there. Ithaca is considered a safe community, and has an abundant cultural lifestyle. It is very eco-friendly. Cost of homes are quite reasonable and you will still find many well-established, older neighborhoods with homes with "good bones." Many artisans reside in and around the Ithaca area as do many internationally-famous scholars( e.g., Carl Sagan, until his death) and authors. Ithaca is within reasonable communting distance to several larger cities that have major employers and industries. Medical care and the schools are considered excellent

Hope this helps. Oh! it snows...a lot...in upstate New York, and gets very cold. There's not a lot of sunny days here either. So, don't expect similar weather to what you have in the Southwest.

[archtopguitar]

Bath/ Corning NY both in Steuben county NY. Bath is the county seat and Corning is the Capital of Corning Glass. This is a rural area that differs from Stamford in that it is not very touristy, although Corning glass has a very nice museum and main st that tourist come to. This area is about one and a half hours south of Rochester NY the nearest city. Once again the area is very rural, Low priced (but high property taxes) and full of old historic homes. Things pretty much stay the same here, good schools, low crime, nice comunities of yesteryear.

[rader2000]

Thank you for your information. My Husband is from Southern Arizona but I grew up in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan...I know about snow and cold!! We spen 6 years there and my husband loves it. The economy is not so good so we came here but miss the seasons and the snow at Christmas. We are researching areas we are interested in so we can set down some roots for our kids. It is about the quality of life when you have a family! Thanks again for you input. We really appreciate the info.