Moving to Poughkeepsie area... (Hyde Park, Saugerties: buying a home, promotional, transfer)

[mzt121]

I've read a lot about the area, mostly how it's not the best place to live but it might be inevitable. My husband will most likely be transferred there this summer. We've talked it through and it will be the best for promotional value. So that being said what areas around Poughkeepsie would be good to move to. We will only live there for about 2 years so we aren't sure we want to buy a house. Although we enjoy working on them and can get huge discounts with labor and materials, we don't want to get stuck.

So my questions are:

1. Should we purchase a house, is the market good enough to at least not show us a loss in 2 years?

2. What are the best areas to look for a place to live?

3. Are there things to keep us occupied other than visiting NYC, Boston etc.?

Thanks

[bzmom1025]

I would not suggest living in Poughkeepsie. If you wanted to stay on that side of the river you could look at Hyde Park or maybe even a bit further up towards Rhinebeck or Red Hook depending on how long of a drive you would want. If you did not mind taking the Mid-Hudson Bridge everyday to get to work you could look at Highland or New Paltz. New Paltz is an artsy town, quite similar to what you may hear of in Woodstock. As far as buying a home in the area and leaving in two years, I think that is really a hard decision to make. A few years ago I probably would have highly suggested it but now that the market has slowed down a bit it could work either way.

There are plenty of things to see in that area other than NYC. There is the Roosevelt Mansion and the Vanderbuilt Mansion if you are into the history stuff. There is also Lake Minnewaska and the Minnewaska trail. There are a lot of wineries in the area as well. About a 45 minute drive you could go up to Woodstock or Saugerties which is artsy and Saugerties has a lot of antique shops. On the Poughkeepsie side of the river you could travel up to Red Hook or Rhinebeck which are both beautiful towns just to stroll through.

If you want you could let me know what types of things interest you and I could try to think of some areas you may like.

Any other questions feel free to ask. I'll try my best! Good Luck!

[mzt121]

Thanks. We are still thinking about the house thing but I love lots of things. Traveling, reading and cooking are my top three things. I love extreme sports and I really want to learn to ski while I'm back up north. My husband wanted to get a boat but he's not sure if he'll get one if we go to Poughkeepsie. We both love going out to dinner. I'm not sure what we'll get into when we move. We won't have friends so I'll have to work on that.

But thanks for the info. He and I will have to talk some more about the area and see where we stand.

[CampingMom]

If your looking into selling again in 2 years, I'd suggest that you'd look into the Hyde Park, Pleasant Valley areas. There are still some lower end homes-some with minor cosmetic fixers.(paint,carpet-etc). In the Hyde Park area you have Norrie Point which has a boat launch available to the public. Time wise neither is very far from Poughkeepsie.

As to eateries-there are TONS here-from 5 star(the Culinary) to great Mom-Pop places the locals go to.

You can do some extreme sports across the river-rock climbing over by Minnewaska/New Paltz, tubing the Esopus River, skiing within 1 hour. I am sure someone must know of good mtn biking around here too.

[mzt121]

thanks for the info....i'll definitely look into those areas and will most likely do those sports...

[brattpowered]

I wouldn't completely write off living in Poughkeepsie. If you like older homes and working on them, there are a lot of grand old homes on the south side of the City of Poughkeepsie (around Hooker Ave, Loockerman St, and far South Hamilton St) for CHEAP. The only reason I wouldn't live in the area is if I had a school age child. I would send him/her to private school, as this district is pretty rough and tumble.

[Xenon-Fr]

We are just moving into the Poughkeepsie are as well. We got a place around Hooker Ave. It's a pretty nice neighborhood. The main thing that appealed to us was the price. It was much cheaper than anything around. We looked in all other towns from Beacon to Hyde Park, and the Hooker Avenue area offered most bang for the buck in a semi-urban area.

The area is reasonably close to the train station, but away from the "not-so-appealing" downtown. And the Vasser College has some nice things to offer. Actually, I was told that downtown Poughkeepsie was getting better, with the new businesses. In a few years, it'll be a pretty nice area, we hope.

[NewToYorkSC]

There are parts of Poughkeepsie that are OK. I worked in Pok for YEARS before moving South. There are plenty of nice towns in commutable distance. Hyde Park, Rhinebeck. Down to Beacon. Wappingers Falls. New Paltz.
Right in the city is not good. Yes they say they are revitalizing it, but that has been said for years!

[cskiwi]

I have lived in the Poughkeepsie/LaGrange area most of my life, and yes, there are nice areas in Poughkeepsie. I bought my first house in the city limits (near Marist College) and am very happy here. If I have kids though, I would not want them going to Poughkeepsie schools. But there are some wonderful restaurants, and it's convenient to the city.

[GottaGetOuttaHere]

I just came back from visiting my cousin in Poughkeepsie for the first time, and I have to say that I really enjoyed her area. She lives in the town of LaGrange, which is right next to the town of Poughkeepsie. There are LOTS of stores along Route 9; it is literally a shopper's paradise!

Like others here, she does not advise living in the CITY of Poughkeepsie, but the TOWN is quite a nice area, imo. I think a distinction needs to be made because whenever some people hear of Poughkeepsie, they automatically assume the CITY, or associate the town with the city, but they are really quite different from each other.

While visiting, we managed to drive through the towns of Hyde Park and Rhinebeck, but because my visit had to be cut short, that's all we could do. Upon my next visit, we plan to stop and stroll around these areas (and maybe even Red Hook), so I can get a better feel for these places as possible areas to relocate. But what I saw on the drive-through alone was very nice; a mix of suburbia with city-type amenities (shopping malls, inns, cafes, hospitals, sidewalks!..lol) Hyde Park also has a nice drive-in movie theater and the Culinary Institute of America, Vanderbilt Mansion and FDR museum are just minutes away.

Good luck in your search!

Jo