Moving to NYC, Working in Dobbs Ferry - Where to Live (Yonkers: affordable apartments, car insurance)

[DMJury]

Hey Everyone,
I'm starting a job in Dobbs Ferry in mid-June, and wonder where in the city I could live where I could commute in without too much trouble, and that is relatively affordable (ie, a smallish 1 BR apartment for under $2000K). Another priority is being able to get into Manhattan for socializing, shop, sports, etc.

I'm a single, white, male, professional (white collar) in my early 30s who is both a city person and outdoor fanatic (snowboarding, rock climbing, surfing, etc) and looking for something that allows me to be both when I need to be.

Some friends have recommended upper west side (though parking and commute will be long), Inwood, Yonkers and even White Plains (though this feels far from the city).

Any help is appreciate!

[jojoboulette]

Originally Posted by DMJury

Hey Everyone,
I'm starting a job in Dobbs Ferry in mid-June, and wonder where in the city I could live where I could commute in without too much trouble, and that is relatively affordable (ie, a smallish 1 BR apartment for under $2000K). Another priority is being able to get into Manhattan for socializing, shop, sports, etc.

I'm a single, white, male, professional (white collar) in my early 30s who is both a city person and outdoor fanatic (snowboarding, rock climbing, surfing, etc) and looking for something that allows me to be both when I need to be.

Some friends have recommended upper west side (though parking and commute will be long), Inwood, Yonkers and even White Plains (though this feels far from the city).

Any help is appreciate!

Well, not to trash WP again but... you don't sound like you'd like it there. It's just a city, nothing too special about it. I lived there for 4 months before moving to Northern Westchester Cty.

Have you checked out living in Dobbs or Tarrytown? Still pretty good commutes to Manhattan and more in the price range you're looking for. Lower Westchester Cty is MEGA expensive and mostly dumps in the lower price ranges, at least for SFH.

You might try checking out Riverdale in the Bronx. Some really nice pre-war buildings there. You'll find those in Larchmont and Mamaroneck as well, but not sure you can get under $2K for a 1 Bed though...

Dobbs might actually be a good choice for you, as it's where WC starts to become more rural, but still very close to Manhattan.

I would avoid Valhalla, Thornwood... Pleasantville has some potential for being a nice place to live.

Anything lower than that in WC and your sticker price starts to increase dramatically, while your purchase satisfaction goes down, at about the same rate.

Good luck with your search, WC is a great place to live!

[Justabitoff]

You can certainly find lots of 1 bedroom for under 2000 anywhere in the county. They might not all be in nice locations, but that's a pretty decent budget.

My husband and I live in Rye, and our 1 bedroom is 1650 though it's unrenovated. The other renovated apartments of this size are around 1950 and they are good size. We are across from the train to Manhattan, which is ideal. It's practically like living by a subway station. The street parking is also very decent, and there's the train station lot for nights and weekends.

The commute to Dobbs Ferry would be kinda long, but doable. We can go pretty much anywhere from Rye because it's at the intersection of I-287 and I-95. We just went kayaking in Croton-on-Hudson last weekend and it was about a 30 minute drive.

UWS is great, but Dobbs Ferry is a long drive from there. Inwood and Yonkers would also be pretty far, parking sucks (Yonkers isn't really that nice either, although Inwood is), and you're still a 30-45 minute subway ride to midtown and everything in lower Manhattan. Manhattan is deceptively big when you rely on public transportation.

Just some thoughts! Good luck!

[DMJury]

Thanks for the info guys and gals. I think anything north of Dobbs Ferry may be to far from the city for me. Yonkers and Inwood seem like good suggestions geograhically or maybe Riverdale (though I think I"m subject to the higher NYC tax there.

Anything less than a 30 minute commute is ideal for me at this point.

Please keep them coming!

[SulfurDog]

I second Inwood and would definitely avoid Rye or ANYTHING on the other side of the county. Why do that to yourself. 287 is never a good option. East-west in general is asking for trouble. Best of luck.

[jojoboulette]

Originally Posted by DMJury

Thanks for the info guys and gals. I think anything north of Dobbs Ferry may be to far from the city for me. Yonkers and Inwood seem like good suggestions geograhically or maybe Riverdale (though I think I"m subject to the higher NYC tax there.

Anything less than a 30 minute commute is ideal for me at this point.

Please keep them coming!

Trust me, you don't want to live in Yonkers...

[ehmom]

Do you want to be in a city-like environment every evening? Or are you just looking for easy access on the weekends?

If it's just the weekends, then you can definitely get a place in lower Westchester for under $2000/month. The advantages are, your daily commute will be shorter and cheaper because you aren't paying for tolls, you won't pay the additional NYC taxes and you can probably find a place where you have assigned parking (plus I would imagine that car insurance is lower in Westchester than in NYC, but I'm not certain). The disadvantages are you aren't as close to the city for when you want to socialize and you can't use the subway. While you can get in and out by metro north fairly quickly (most places are going to be 30 minutes or so give or take), the schedule is much more limited on Saturdays and even more so on Sundays. So there's a bit of a hassle factor there. If you do focus on southern Westchester, I would probably stick to the river towns or maybe Harlem line towns - places like Tuckahoe or Fleetwood or even Bronxville PO, which give you walkable areas, easy access to the train and some bars for nightlife (not exactly Manhattan nightlife, but there are young people hanging out). Commuting to Dobbs would be fairly simple from either area. I personally wouldn't look in the sound shore towns - as others have pointed out, east/west travel can be a bear during commuting time.

Inwood would provide a daily city experience without going too far south - but you need to factor in if you want to deal with street parking vs. paying for parking, the expense of city tax and commuting, and higher rents. You would have subway access, and the A downtown is quite speedy and much more frequent than weekend metro north trains.

As for outdoor access - I think any of the above will give you what you need. There's a lot going out outdoors in the city - you'd be surprised with how much you can do. And clearly Westchester and beyond have many options as well. As long as you have a car wherever you go, you'll be fine in that department.

[mdm1]

White Plains is probably the best bet, unless you really want to live in the city, in which case maybe Riverdale? Something to remember is that geographical proximity to Manhattan =/= shorter travel time. Living in Inwood might take you nearly as long, or even longer, to get to where young, white professionals socialize as an express stop in Lower Westchester. (Assuming use of public transport.) And unless you live in or very very close to whatever neighborhood is desirable to you, there isn't going to be much advantage in being physically closer, because you will be an outsider anyway.

Getting a decent sized studio in one of the high rises downtown WP is probably the best for you. Probably 15 minutes to work, ~35 to Midtown Manhattan with tons of trains, with walkability to the train station which means that you don't have to worry about being drunk or park a mile away. Close to lots of major highways so you can get out to the gunks, windham, whatever (for people who like outdoors stuff, pretty much everything except mountain biking sucks south of ulster county). There's a dearth of young single professional types in Westchester (most of them live in the city), but White Plains is somewhere where you could pretty reasonably shop, dine, live and socialize with your peer group without leaving the city or even getting in a car. Hell, there's even two bouldering spots within city limits.

[Justabitoff]

I didn't mean that he should move to Rye (although there's nothing wrong with it). I was just illustrating how one could live affordably in lower Westchester and get to both the city and the outdoors. However, I would not live in Riverdale. Subway access in Riverdale is horrible. Riverdale is built on a hill, and it's very difficult to get to the subway during the winter. If you want convenience to Manhattan, Riverdale is frankly not it... Yonkers is also something I wouldn't recommend. It just isn't that nice.

Inwood is nice... stay on the westside (toward the river) of Broadway. My husband lived in Inwood, so I got familiar with it. However, Northern Manhattan and the Bronx can take *longer* to get to other parts of Manhattan than if you took Metro North. Just because the subway runs 24/7 does not mean it runs quickly! The A train, which we took often, could take 45 minutes to get from midtown to Inwood because it runs local at night, which is when you'd be taking it. On the other hand, it would probably take about 50 minutes to get from White Plains to midtown, however as others pointed out, you have limited options as to when the train actually leaves. My husband also stressed out daily commuting back and forth. Parking sometimes took 20 minutes of driving around, and a 10 minute walk back to the apartment. Even worse when the weather's bad! Parking structures are available for a premium.

I agree with White Plains. Very good trains into Manhattan, good commute to Dobbs Ferry. Has it's own nightlife downtown, and a younger crowd. Affordable apartments. And it's close to the outdoors in Upper Westchester.

[SulfurDog]

"Yonkers is also something I wouldn't recommend. It just isn't that nice. "

PARTS of Yonkers are most definitely not nice. The northeast section is a huge exception, unless you have to deal with schools of course.