Relocating To Saranac Lake, NY (New York, Rochester: real estate, coop, houses)

[RET-FDNY]

Anyone have any comments on Saranac Lake?

My wife and I (no kids) are considering relocating from the NYC metro area. We love the mountains, winter and summer sports and the small town feeling that the village seems to have. The village also seems to have a good mix of local and relocated people. Everyone we met went out of their way to be friendly to us.

Does anyone know the maximum size boats that area are allowed on the Saranac Lake system? (we have a 24' boat and wonder if it may be too big)

How bad is the Black Fly season?

Any other information on the area would be very helpful

Thanks in advance

[nomoresnow]

Well, best of luck to you, Ret FDNY. It's an absolutely gorgeous area. A bit on the expensive side (close to Lake Place and all), but, since you're coming from "the City", you may not notice it. I can't answer your boat question, but maybe I have some insight as to the black flies. Naturally, everybody's different, but I found that if you use Backwoods Off, they pretty well leave you alone. If they do bite, it can be nasty (itcy, sore, swollen), but your leg won't fall off on you. Again, good luck.

[RET-FDNY]

Thanks for the reply nomoresnow. Yes, you are right about the expenses in that area, particularly the taxes. But we are going to "cash in" on our real estate investment down here so prices won't be too much of an issue.

I was concerned about the Black Flies because of the short summer season. If I had to spend half of it wrapped in mosqoito netting, it might as well still be winter!

Thanks Again
Tom

[nomoresnow]

If you like outdoors stuff, even in winter, you'll love it. Damn the black flies! Full speed ahead! (My apologies to Admiral whats-his-name)

[Taboo]

I too am moving to the Saranac Lake area kinda..... So far it seems really quaint and having visited 3 or 4 times now, the people are great and very helpful. I would move to Saranac Lake but the schools are not what I want for my kids But since you are not needing schools it would be great for you. Some of the nicest views I have seen on the MLS and in person are in the Saranac Lake school district. Best of Luck to you

[RET-FDNY]

"I would move to Saranac Lake but the schools are not what I want for my kid"

Taboo, are you sure about the school system there? We were told that the schools were pretty good. We don't have children (unless a dog counts!), and this is not a big issue for us as far as our personal needs go. But, the presence of a good school district has a direct effect on the community and the positive image that it projects. Bad schools and a run down community often go hand in hand. We didn't see any evidence of that in Saranac Lake.

From what we have been told, the area has about 7 different schools within the district. The High School looks like a nice new building with lots of athletic fields. Maybe you want to look into it a little further.

Good Luck on your search.

[kitty71]

Sorry, I don't know an awful lot about the area, but my parents did get married there and have wonderful memories of it. Yes, it was a while back but they did visit again about 3 years ago and didn't think it had lost its charm. Good luck - hope your move works out well.

[Taboo]

RET-FDNY... Saranac Lake schools have good scores, do not get me wrong, and Yes, the High School is a nice modern place..however... Petrova, which houses an elementary school and the districts Middle school is a horrid building. We went there during school one day to check out the teachers, kids etc.. just the basic goings on and well... I felt like I could not get out of there soon enough and thinking of sendingcmy kids to that awful building for the next six school years has made me stop looking at homes in that district. We actually found a great place fro 549. mountain views and a georgeous home that I absolutely love but .... that darn Petrova. Best of Luck to you and Maybe we will be close neighbors in the future.

[bellafinzi]

Just so you know, Saranac Lake is one of the coldest (if not THE coldest) city in Upstate New York. Today they got down to nearly -30. That's not wind chill, but the actual temperature. I believe they are in climate zone 3, maybe 4. While the Rochester area to my area is in zone 6.

So if you garden, it really limits what you can grow there. Of course, this is not that important to most people.

[RET-FDNY]

Thanks Taboo, Bellafinzi and Kitty for your replies. Yes, the long winter issue is surely a concern of mine. We don't mind the cold and will have no problem dealing with the snow, but the length of the season is something to consider. I do enjoy skiing and other winter sports; boating, running and biking in the summer. Gardening does happen to be an issue to us, my wife enjoys her flower gardens and I am into vegetable gardens, so we will have to see what we can and cannot grow there. Do you know of any website that will give us gardening info? Someone was telling us about a local farm coop that you can buy into. They told us that it supplied more fresh vegetables than they could handle, the price they told us, if true, would be cheaper than growing them yourself. But then you would miss all the fun.

The house we are looking at has a separate garage with a studio on the second floor. With a little work it can be transformed into a great wood shop for me and artist studio for my wife. That will help us deal with the long indoor season.

We plan on making another trip up there this weekend to investigate a little further.