family towns outside of rochester? (Greece, Irondequoit: best town, real estate, houses)

[mary ellen]

Hi all.

My husband may be taking a job in Rochester. We have three school aged children and would like a nice family community to live in. Good schools, housing, neighborhoods, etc. Can you recommend areas that we should look into within commuting distance to Rochester? Thanks.

[I'minformed2]

any of the suburbs of Rochester would offer you good schools and a family oriented lifestyle. The only thing you are going to hear about from any real estate agent are the more affluent (and more espensive) suburbs of Brighton, and "the P Towns" (Penfield, Perinton, and Pittsford). These are all very nice towns no doubt, but they are not all that metro Rochester has to offer I'd suggest also looking into Webster, Henrietta, and Greece. The best schools are going to be in Brighton and Pittsford, the most house for your money is going to be in Henrietta and Greece, newest housing stock will be in Webster. If proximity to the water is by any chance a priority of yours....Webster and Greece are both right on Lake Ontario.

[mary ellen]

Thanks so much for your input. Funny enough, those are the towns that I have heard mentioned. I am not a great big fan of new housing - like the older stuff and I want our town to have things for the kids to do outdoors - hiking/biking/parks/etc. Any towns you would recommend with the older New England style housing/good schools/stuff to do? Appreciate any info.

[homeward bound]

I'minformed (and others) know the area much better than I do. But Honeoyo Falls and, especially, Canandaigua are very much old-fashioned/old housing stock towns. They're not a far commute, and Canandaigua, which I know better than Honeoyo Falls, is certainly very much a family-friendly town. LOTS of great old homes, a very nice park right on its own Finger Lake (complete with a paddle wheel sight-seeing boat in summer), good shopping both within and just outside of town, fine schools, lots of community feeling and activities, very safe. We were there last summer--and the only problem we encountered was all the little kids on the sidewalks with their bikes and Bigwheels racing to and from little neighborhood parks--no problem at all! It's pretty ideally located, I think: right on the northern edge of the lovely Finger Lakes region, with a lot of pretty farmland around, yet very close to Lake Ontario and a fairly big city too. If our family (we have four kids, ages 9 months to 19 years old) were moving to the Rochester area, Canandaigua would be our first choice.

Good luck and I hope you'll post your decision and experiences!

[Paulfw]

Hi Mary Ellen,
It sounds like you might want to look into Fairport. It has nice parks, trails around town and along the Erie Canal. The schools there are excellent. It has a new community center that most other towns would die for. There is a problem getting through the middle of town, especially during the Summer. You either have a train to wait for or the lift bridge. Lucky there's ways to avoid it. I should mention that anywhere in Rochester and the suburbs you're never more than a half an hour from doing something fun. The snow may slow down Rochestarians a little but it almost NEVER stops us.
Please let me know if I can give you some more info.
Good luck on your future endeavors.

Paul

[melkat]

My sister lives in Canandaigua..the schools are only okay plus in the winter the commute is terrible (plus you will pay a small toll each way to get to the city) there is a good amount of poverty in Canandaigua as well, though overall a nice town I wouldn't live there.

There are many older homes in Pittsford, Brighton etc.. Ours in Brighton was from 1905. Webster and Penfield probaby have the most newer developments. There are many great parks in Pittsford with lots of activites for kids. Not as many larger parks in Brighton. Pittsford also has a canal path as does Fairport. The problem with Fairport is that there isn't really a good direct route into the city and the HS school is HUGE compared to other towns.

Good luck

[I'minformed2]

Also. to check out real estate listings for the area (whcih include the school district, property taxes, indoor photos, and almost anything else you would want) I would suggest you go to nothnagle.com

[kitty71]

We are currently in the starting phases of looking at homes (online only at the moment until we can get up to the Roc (LOL) for a visit.

Most of the homes we are seeing to our liking and price range are a little further out of town than we would like.

A question that may sound strange... does housing get more expensive the further out you go? What is considered an "expensive" house in Rochester? Here in PA a very average house is $200,000 - you get quite a lot more than that in Rochester - is a $250,000 house there considered "expensive"? I don't want to be TOO "up-market", if you get my drift.

[I'minformed2]

$250k is considered expensive if you are in Irondequoit, Gates, Chili, parts of Greece etc....but probably around average in Pittsford. $250k will get you something brand new in any town, and a lot of square footage. Granted the taxes could be upward of 8k or higher depending on where it is.

[mikeny111]

Rochester is a very nice area. If the economy and weather were better this would be the best town in NY State.

outlying towns
(1) Greece is very nice town with houses in all kinds of price ranges. Very large suburb of almost 95k people. Schools are ok
(2) Hilton is also very nice with better schools
(3) Perinton is also a great place if u can afford it
(4) Canandaigua would be my choice, if you can take the commute to rochester.