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So my wife and I are not from the NY area but we both work in the city and are looking to sell our UWS apt and move to Westchester with our two kids (9mos and 3 yrs) in the next 6 months or so. We have looked in most places in Westchester, nothern and southern, and frankly like many of them. Lately I have been thinking that we should strongly consider Northern New Rochelle and Larchmont Woods particularly if we find a house with relatively low taxes not far from the train. My thinking is that by the time my kids are ready for the high school we will know if they have the right stuff for a large urban school but if not we could consider private, hopefully the savings on taxes through the years would justify the expense.
I would apprciate anyone's input about this concept, as well as the area. We would love to know that we were moving somewhere to lay down roots and meet other young families.
If you're interested in an urban school you may want to consider White Plains over New Rochelle IMO. Also lower taxes (by Westchester standards), great commute, nightlife, restaurants, etc. Larchmont also very nice but very different from WP and New Ro.
Northern New Rochelle isn't really that much cheaper than Larchmont unless you are in the over $1M range. Otherwise, we personally found that the difference in taxes was negligible, and the house maybe 5-10% cheaper. You'll lose that savings in closing and moving costs if you have to move to another house when the kids are halfway though school - or in private tuition.
And you can't get parking at the Larchmont station if you are in the Woods. So you have to walk a long way, take a taxi, or drive all the way to the NR station.
WP is much cheaper than Northern NR, so the savings is more justified. But southern NR keeps getting worse, so that's always going to impact your property value to a point. To us it wasn't worth it, but others obviously feel otherwise. We're very big sticklers as far as schools go, so we knew in advance we wouldn't even do the middle school...and with 3 kids, the additional cost to end up in Larchmont was well justified for us at least.
Thanks for the response but I am seeking houses in the 2700-3000 SF range for under 850k and under 17k in taxes. Based upon what I have seen in Larchmont, the equivalent house in Larchmont would barely be 2000 SF and would have taxes in excess of 20k.
In that price range, it would be much smaller in Larchmont. That's true. Stuff here is generally under 1800 sq. ft or over 2600. Kind of a black hole in between. You'll have to decide what is most important to you, and only you can decide that - bigger home, or better schools. I will say that it is much harder to sell in NR, though, so that works to your advantage now at least.
We did the same calculation as you and ended up in Northern NR. To be fair, we had a budget slightly higher than yours. If you must commute to NYC, I suggest you concentrate in the Wilmot Woods/Scarsdale po area as it's closest to the train station. Wilmot Woods is also family friendly and has an active neighborhood association that hosts a bunch of activities throughout the year.
Thanks. Do you have kids and, if so, are you sending them to NR public schools? How do you like them so far? Do you commute into the city and park at Scarrsdale station?
So my wife and I are not from the NY area but we both work in the city and are looking to sell our UWS apt and move to Westchester with our two kids (9mos and 3 yrs) in the next 6 months or so. We have looked in most places in Westchester, nothern and southern, and frankly like many of them. Lately I have been thinking that we should strongly consider Northern New Rochelle and Larchmont Woods particularly if we find a house with relatively low taxes not far from the train. My thinking is that by the time my kids are ready for the high school we will know if they have the right stuff for a large urban school but if not we could consider private, hopefully the savings on taxes through the years would justify the expense.
I would apprciate anyone's input about this concept, as well as the area. We would love to know that we were moving somewhere to lay down roots and meet other young families.
Thanks in advance.
Northern New Rochelle is very nice, especially Wykagl, a great place to raise a family. You also can't go wrong with some parts of White Plains, especially since White Plains has relatively lower taxes. We looked extensively in both areas.
One thing to keep in mind is the parking availability at the train station if you're commuting to the city.
We close on a place in two weeks so I don't have actual experience with the commute. I did call and found parking availability at the Scarsdale train station.
We have two kids, who are not school age, and plan to send them to NR public elementary. There are some great programs in NR schools: a dual language academy, a humanities/arts magnet school, a math/science magnet school. Granted these programs are lottery, but we would be fine with the traditional gen ed program also. Beyond elementary, we will reevaluate. We have heard fine things about the northern NR middle school though, but are likely to try private. We would likely do private/catholic no matter what district we ended up in.
If you're interested in an urban school you may want to consider White Plains over New Rochelle IMO. Also lower taxes (by Westchester standards), great commute, nightlife, restaurants, etc. Larchmont also very nice but very different from WP and New Ro.
I don't think the OP is saying "interested in an urban school" so much as, "northern New Rochelle is nice and a little cheaper than other places that look and feel like it, but the HS covers the whole city, for which the rest of is 'not so nice', so if we move there, we have to think about whether our kids can handle the school when the time comes or go to private school or do we move then?".
Although it could change if it's several years when your kids are high school age, one thing to check out (as I'm not too familiar with New Roc HS) is do they have lots of "honors/AP" classes or do they tend to group the kids together and attempt to differentiate instruction. If it is the "former" and your kids are high academic achievers, they will still be in a pretty nurturing environment (and maybe it would be a plus as they wouldn't have quite the "pressure cooker" atmosphere of some more elite Westchester districts). But if it is more the "latter" they may find HS kind of frustrating and maybe get picked on a lot, etc. Good luck!
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