Moving to Rochester -- need help picking which suburb to move to (New York: for sale, 2009)

[stephbradshaw]

We will be moving to Rochester for my husband's job in summer 2009, and are at a loss for which suburb would be best for us (we have visited Rochester briefly in the past, but are not at all familiar with the area, and we will only have 1 or maybe 2 chances to fly out there and look for a place to live before moving next summer).
So, here are the things that are most important to us in considering where to live:
We have 4 small children and are expecting our 5th in February (when we moved to Rochester, the kids’ ages will be 5, 4, 2, 1, and newborn). Our oldest will be starting kindergarten for the first time, and our 2nd will be in preschool. Since we have never had a child in school before, this is a big thing for us. Being in a good school district is very important! (We are looking at public schools). But my husband’s job will likely cause us to relocate again in another 3 or 4 years after we move to Rochester, so the elementary school and preschool are what really matter to us, we won’t really need to be searching for good middle schools or high schools. I would like an elementary school that offers a lot of art, physical education, music, and science, on top of the regular curriculum.
Unless we find an amazing deal on a house for sale, we are probably planning on renting a home while we are in Rochester (since it is likely we will not be living there for longer than 3 or 4 years). We need to find something affordable, but in a good neighborhood. My husband will be working at the hospital at the University of Rochester, so a short commute for him would be great. We’d really love to find a rental home with a fenced in yard, an attached garage, preferably 3 or 4 bedrooms, and plenty of space for our family of active little children.
And we would like to find a community that is younger. We are currently living in an area where the average age of adults seems closer to my grandparents’ than my parents’ age, and we feel a bit out of place and are having trouble making friends. It would be nice to live somewhere where there are lots of other young families. And our religion is LDS, if anyone has any info about the LDS wards in the suburbs surrounding Rochester, we would really appreciate it!
We heard that Henrietta was a nice place with affordable housing and lots of young student and medical professionals and their families, but haven’t heard anything about schools there. I have started to look into schools online, and am curious about the [SIZE=3]East Rochester Elementary School – it looks like they have some good art and music programs, and I thought it was really cool that they have a swimming pool for the elementary school students, and that they have a preschool (I didn’t see any other public schools that I had looked at yet that had preschools), but I don’t know anything about the town of East Rochester. And we don’t know anything about any of the other suburbs. We are pretty flexible on where we live, as long as it’s not a long commute for my husband to work.[/SIZE]
If anyone has any suggestions for us that would be wonderful! Thanks!

[notasmoker]

If you can swing it, go for Fairport, Penfield, Pittsford or Webster. Brighton is good too & kids will have the Jewish holidays off from school. Victor is also good, but not sure what their availability for renting homes is. East Rochester has a public preschool because their students NEED a preschool to prepare. That district is not as affluent as some of the aforementioned areas (with the corresponding good school districts). I am partial to Fairport because I live & work there, but there are many other good choices. You might want to use a rental agent. I hope you enjoy your time here.

[momix5]

where are you coming from?

[Meganrose323]

RentRochester.com I would look for Brighton, Penfield, Fairport, Webster, Pittsford, or East Rochester.

[movingdown]

I would like to suggest you do some more research into the Henrietta schools. I am a retired administrator from there and am well aware of the fabulous low class size we offer in the elementary grade levels. You will not find a suburb in the area that can match it!

Our district art and music programs have been recognized as excellent and I think you can get a wonderful education in Henrietta.

It is a very convenient area and the taxes are the lowest in the county. Even if you rent, this will lower the rent you will pay.

Good luck in your search.

[Coasters]

In order of Commute distance: Brighton, excellent schools close to city events, great library, urbane citizenry.
Henrietta, parts are close to U of R similar and near to Brighton
Pittsford, parts are close to U of R. Very good schools. The more affluent of the suburbs
Fairport also good schools and pleasant quality of life but a bit of a commute, a little newer housingwise
Webster, more newer housing but the farthest away. Good schools and great sports.
There is also Mendon, more upscale and rural and Penfield which I don't know about and Chili which has newer developments and is on the Southwest corner.

[DJ-Uno]

ER is a nice little town, depending on the area. The houses are a little close to each other. You would probably be happier in Brighton or Henrietta, but if your budget is tighter there's nothing wrong with ER (I lived there for a while and I live in Henrietta currently).

The only large LDS population I know of is farther out in Macedon and Palmyra (obviously). You probably don't want to add a half hour or more to your husbands commute though...

Originally Posted by movingdown

Re: Henrietta.

...the taxes are the lowest in the county.

That's nothing to brag about, it's still over 3%...

[ROCbroker]

If you and your family will be in the area for 3-4 years, I would suggest exploring buying a home. Housing is usually more affordable here than other cities (depends on where you're coming from) and it usually makes more sense financially if you can swing it.

[stephbradshaw]

We lived in Milwaukee for 4 years while my husband attended medical school. We are now in Utah for a year while he does his internship, and are excited to move to Rochester next year for his residency. I am originally from San Diego, California and he is from Boise, Idaho.

[ckhthankgod]

Here's a couple of very recent articles about the LDS church from the Rochester newspaper:Rochester-area Mormons seek to reach out in new ways | democratandchronicle.com | Democrat and Chronicle

Four from our area talk about what being Mormon means to them | democratandchronicle.com | Democrat and Chronicle

and here are some locations in the Rochester area:Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints in Rochester New York (NY) - Yellow Pages - Switchboard.com