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The train is only 45 minutes if you can catch an express. Before going off what anyone else tells you, you need to look at the MN schedules and actually ascertain when you would travel. For us, there is no getting around a 70 minute train to Croton, and if you are looking for 1 hour door to door you really need to be less than 35 minutes on the train. We are fairly close to the train on both ends and it still takes an hour door to door on the express train from Larchmont, which is very far south.
Croton-Harmon has a great number of express trains (43-45 minutes) and semi-express trains (50 minutes) in rush hour and throughout the day. I've been commuting via Croton 5 days a week for 10 years now and not once have I had to take the local train (which is the only one at 70 minutes). Look at the schedule--in the morning from 6:57 to 8:31 there are 12 trains, only two of which are locals. In the evening from 5:15 to 6:50 there are also 12 trains, one of which is a local. If you're really crazy rigid about what time you leave or arrive you might have to take a 57 minute train, but you'll never have to take a local unless you want to. Even on late nights and weekends I've never taken a local!
Croton-Harmon has a great number of express trains (43-45 minutes) and semi-express trains (50 minutes) in rush hour and throughout the day. I've been commuting via Croton 5 days a week for 10 years now and not once have I had to take the local train (which is the only one at 70 minutes). Look at the schedule--in the morning from 6:57 to 8:31 there are 12 trains, only two of which are locals. In the evening from 5:15 to 6:50 there are also 12 trains, one of which is a local. If you're really crazy rigid about what time you leave or arrive you might have to take a 57 minute train, but you'll never have to take a local unless you want to. Even on late nights and weekends I've never taken a local!
Adding to my own post... by far the most important factor in making a commute "easy" is the number of trains available to you in your commuting time. No matter how good you get at the routine, catching a train is hard and there will be many mornings every week when you're on your way out the door and your kid suddenly wants to tell you something important or your spouse remembers something to discuss, and there will be many evenings when you need another 5 minutes to finish a task or your boss stops by to talk. And in those very frequent times you want to be able to relax because there's another train in 10 or 15 minutes so missing one is no big deal.
I have lived in both Bronxville and Scarsdale and could walk to the train & the commute was basically the same, although Scarsdale is a few stops up from Bronxville. It really depends on if your stop is the first on an express train or the last on a train that makes 5+ stops. Both were a 30 min train commute and I walked prob 6-8 min to train and my office is about the same walk from GCS. Either way...the commute was close to an hour, a bit less in the morning, but you don't always end up on a track close to the exit you need to be at in GCS and in the evening, you need to give youself time for this...i also, agree with how frequently the trains run. The further north you go, it seems to be the less frequent. I just moved above White Plains and its an adjustment if you miss the train.
Almost all towns in Westchester have walkable areas to the train. Some towns the wait list for parking can be years, so this might be something you want to look into. My husband and I ruled out towns b/c of this.
Schools...ck out Westchester magazine. They have an issue each year on the schools, which compares various stats. Also, visit the schools. The best way to get to know areas is to drive around, go to lunch, visit the parks....
White Plains, larchmont, scarsdale, port chester, rye, mamaroneck, tarrytown, sleepy hollow etc... all are nice areas. Each town has an area to avoid, compareschools.org is a good site to help with school districts.. also on best places . net.
But in westchester you can easily drive to NJ , tappen zee bride to many routes to NJ ... garden state, route 17, 287 etc...
...Schools...ck out Westchester magazine. They have an issue each year on the schools, which compares various stats. Also, visit the schools....
The Westchester Magazine comparison is just high schools, and if you're looking in Northern Westchester most of the districts (Chappaqua, Bedford, Katonah/Lewisboro, Ossining, Yorktown, Hendrick Hudson, Peekskill, and Somers) refused to provide any info to Westchester Magazine this year since they say the stats are misleading out of context. So that issue won't tell you much about those schools... I tend to think that greatschools.com has one of the better rating systems.
I bought a house in SE Yonkers that has free Montessori for 14 years. It is 3 min walk to school and 6 min walk to the train. I am above all flood zones. There are major geographic barriers between us and crime, but you can hear some sirens, because we are above it. We have a long clear vista over the Bronx, which I love. The yard is narrow but long. Ours is single family, but there are many multi-family, but they can be higher tax and are a gamble on real estate that I would avoid. Without a car, my commute is less than 1 hour, and I stop to order and pick up an omelet breakfast and coffee. I work in Times Square and walk across town. My house is about 1300 sq ft, but has usable space that is not included, like 2 beds in a low ceiling attic. My taxes are 4,000 after wartime vet discount. The house cost 430,000 and I bid the list price on the day it hit the market, because I needed to get my daughter in the school lottery. You will have time to wait, but I would get in on these interest rates (work on that FICO). So I pay $2500/month including tax and insurance on a 100% loan at 4.25% fixed with no points. There is also a nasty tax when you buy and sell. So be sure you want to stay a while. There is a Yonkers income tax that I think is 10% of the state (check that). These taxes reflect high education spending, so they benefit kids. I also got that 10,000 credit which I think cascaded into state and local, so now that that is gone, the price would be lower. I think you can do $400,000 today for the same thing, but be very careful. Most houses have problems... many with the rock walls around the property or foundations. Houses near me are pre-asbestos, but mine has asbestos siding that was added later (which should be fine, but prevent a major expansion). It is zero maintenance.
The family commute would be pretty easy. We go into Jersey just to shop on occasion.
You are concerned about taxes, but when you compare property Westchester taxes to buying in the NYC you must remember to include your NYC resident income taxes. My NYC resident income taxes, plus the low property taxes of about $2.5K in NYC, actually added up to about the same amount as my Westchester property taxes, so I was effectively breaking even there.
Also, remember that Metro North has much better on time reliability than both LIRR and NJ Transit out of Penn.
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