Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
We're a Chinese couple with three young kids looking for a place we can call home in the northern Westchester area. My husband works in Stamford and I commute to the city. We have a budget of 800k.
Currently on our list: Pound Ridge, Chappaqua, Armonk, Katonah
Are we on the right track to a town that's nice, friendly, commutable and with good schools? or have we missed any? thank you for your help!
What kind of commute are you both hoping for and how do you both get there? Pound Ridge and Armonk are both not close to a train. I also would not consider Armonk friendly or diverse from what I've heard on these boards (do a few searches).
My husband drives to Stamford, and I take Metro North. Since parking seems to be a big issue in many towns. I'd consider driving to North White Plains if we live in Armonk, or to Stamford if we live in Pound Ridge. How is the Pleasantville schools?
How long do you want your commute to be? A commute from Pound Ridge to Stamford is going to take about a half hour or more. You're going away from NYC, too. You are picking two areas that are not typical NYC commuting hubs. You might at well throw in Rye Brook if you don't mind a tough commute.
PVille schools are very good, but they do not offer bussing (many don't), so you'll need to sign the kids up for a private before/after program. I've heard from others that Westchester is not the easiest area to live in when both parents are working, but many make it work with private care, nannies, etc. In the tonier areas like Chappaqua and Armonk, you are going to find a lot more stay at home moms, too.
I'm hoping to keep my commute under 1 hour 15 minutes, and my husband's commute close to half an hour. No busing is a big turnoff especially both of us work. I understand it'll be difficult, but is there a town that's more working mom friendly?
I don't know about working mom towns as I don't work, but many others on the board do. In lower Westchester, it is rare to bus since all of the towns are so small in the 1st place. One needs to be a certain distance from school to qualify for bussing.
Do you mean 1 and 15 door to door or train time? I ask because we live less than 5 minutes from the Mamaroneck station and even so, my husband's commute door to door is an hour factoring in walking from GCC to his office about a few blocks away. You'd be right at your limit in Chappaqua but I doubt less than that from the others. As for your husband, the commute through Greenwich and Stamford can be tough in the morning unless he will be taking the train.
I mean door to door time. My office is a few blocks away from GC. I've looked at Greenwich, but it seems that we don't really get that much house for our price range, and I heard mixed reviews on Greenwich's schools. My guess is that for our budget, we may be living in a questionable neighborhood. The reason we put Armonk and Pound Ridge on the list is the easy commute to Stamford. In that case at least one of us is not that far away.
You might want to check on the CT board about that commute. I know that when we were looking at the west end of Greenwich near Rye Brook, we were told it would be a minimum of 15 minutes just to the main Greenwich station.
Although houses are more in Greenwich, the taxes are substantially less. We did the math and found that an $800K house in Westchester netted out the same as a $1M house in Greenwich factoring in taxes. You have to take those into account.
Greenwich schools are very good. The west end schools are not as good as the east but that is because there is a larger minority population in Byram. The HS is large, though, but still excellent.
You could also do Rye Neck and both take the train.
Thanks Jjinna! I have checked some Greenwich homes. They seem to be prohibitively expensive. You can't get a decent home for under $1M, and that's a stretch for us even factoring lower taxes. Plus I still think the surrounding NY towns have better schools -Armonk, Chappaqua, maybe even Fox Lane and John Jay. Anyone disagree?
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
