Moving to Orange County, NY (New York, Monroe: affordable houses, buying, best schools)

[1stTimeDad]

I'm planning to move to Orange County in about 2 months. I've looked at some homes in Monroe & Middletown. I know Middletown is not as good a place to live as is Monroe, but the home prices are cheaper. My question is about the schools in Middletown. I have lived in the Bronx all of my life, and I know a little something about bad schools. Can anyone tell me about the schools in Middletown? I have two stepchildren & an infant child and I want to know the real deal about Middletown schools. Any input would be appreciated. Thanks.

[hjlacey]

You do NOT want to put your children in Middletown schools. Monroe -Woodbury school district is one of the best. If you choose to go to the Middletown area, try to make sure you are in the Minisink school District or Goshen.

[IMPERIALBROWNS]

Originally Posted by 1stTimeDad

I'm planning to move to Orange County in about 2 months. I've looked at some homes in Monroe & Middletown. I know Middletown is not as good a place to live as is Monroe, but the home prices are cheaper. My question is about the schools in Middletown. I have lived in the Bronx all of my life, and I know a little something about bad schools. Can anyone tell me about the schools in Middletown? I have two stepchildren & an infant child and I want to know the real deal about Middletown schools. Any input would be appreciated. Thanks.

Click search above and search posts by user Mae03. Much information on Middletown schools and best schools in the area. Last post on the Middletown, NY thread was 3/20/07. If you need any further help just let me know. I live in the area. I'm from Manhattan and know the bronx area. STAY OUT OF MIDDLETOWN SCHOOLS. Pine Bush, Minisink, Goshen are some of the better schools. If you have a problem with the search let me know. What price range are you looking for?

[settlepa]

I live in Scotchtown with Pine Bush schools with a middletown P.O. box. Yes the homes are cheaper but there is always a reason. Its very hard to resell a home with Middletown school district. Check into Scotchtown area, much better off.

[1stTimeDad]

Thanks for the all the replies. I'll try to stay out of Middletown.

[Squidpuppy77]

I grew up in this county and yes, it has it perks. Middletown is decent shopping and not far from the bustle of the city. However, the schools have had trouble for years. My mom is a teacher in the district and there's been problems with the system for quite some time. Someone responded earlier and recommended Scotchtown as a place to get the best of both worlds: Pine Bush schools, Middletown address and cost of living. Yes, this is also true and Scotchtown is pretty nice, too. Something you might consider is that if you choose Scotchtown and stay there, your kids will have a long bus ride to school once they're in High School, if they don't have cars of their own. The middle school and elementary schools are much closer to Scotchtown. Consider Pine Bush, it's not a far trip to Middletown, also parts of Sullivan and Ulster county dip into the Pine Bush district as well. Sullivan is very low-key and affordable. Stay away from Wurtsboro as it's Monticello schools, and they're somewhat similar to Middletown. Best of luck!

[MBRIVERA]

Hi I lived all my life in the Bronx & decided my family needed a change in lifestyle & better quality of life. We moved to middletown & rented to see if we could get used to the commuting before making a home purchase & being stuck seeing as I still work in the Bronx. One thing everyone did tell me was that the school system in middletown was very bad & heavily congested with gangs. I still went to middletown because I knew we were'nt going to be there long & also because since I still worked in the Bronx I never pulled my kids out of school there. There are 2 parts to middletown the Bad part which i believe is like exit 123 or 122 off of 17k, and then there's the middletown where we moved to which was in the town of walkill right by scotchtown & my kids were actually zoned to the pine bush district which I've heard nothing but great things about. FYI the houses are cheaper in middletown because they are not selling. Everyone is trying to get out & there are houses still on the market that were there from even before I moved. It's not worth buying there just because it's cheap because your property value is not going to be much. I moved out of middletown & bought a house in maybrook ny right outside of montgomery. My sister lives in monroe & she loves it, plus the school district is really good also. Monroe is better than middletown hands down. Just be careful because they also have affordable houses but a lot of those were once used only as summer homes & they are on trails which are impossible to get to & from in the winter snow days. Let me know if you have any other question although i believe i went over pretty much everything & thensome.

[joeymarine]

Originally Posted by settlepa

I live in Scotchtown with Pine Bush schools with a middletown P.O. box. Yes the homes are cheaper but there is always a reason. Its very hard to resell a home with Middletown school district. Check into Scotchtown area, much better off.

Not necessarily so....It is actually more difficult to sell a home in the Monroe-Woodbury School District right now than it is Middletown. It all depends on pricing...if you price your home correctly, you get it sold. If you overprice it, you don't get it sold. It really doesn't matter what school district you are trying to sell in, as long as you price your home right.

[sid77]

Will be in New York by September 4th and interested in purchasing a 3 bedroom 2 bath single level home in lower Orange County . Must have natural gas municiple sewers and water. Would be interested in hearing from anyone who has a home with the above qualifications.

[joeymarine]

Originally Posted by sid77

Will be in New York by September 4th and interested in purchasing a 3 bedroom 2 bath single level home in lower Orange County . Must have natural gas municiple sewers and water. Would be interested in hearing from anyone who has a home with the above qualifications.

What is your price range...there's plenty out there...it's just a matter of what you want.