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1) Pleasantville - good schools, walkable town (we are about an 8 min walk from train station 0.3 miles), easy access to highways, very central, right smack in the middle of westchester. Good people vibe. Good restaurants, bars, movie theater (jacob burns prob best indie theater around).
2) Pelham - good schools, good housing stock. Also good people vibe. We almost bought here. Know people who live here and like it. The houses were were looking at were very close to 95, thought. Lots of traffic on the hutch.
3) Eastchester - we really like the neighborhood to the south of Garth Rd. Lots of tudors. Tudor lane, Warwick Ave, Rutgers Place. That area. Schools are similar to Pelham and Pleasantville. About 3/4 mile walk to Scarsdale train station. Lots of housing stock in your price range, although the "tudor" neighborhood is probably the priciest part of the town.
4) Briarcliff - very similar to Pleasantville. If you only base school rankings on test scores (we didn't), then briacliff has an edge up. We focused on the "Tree-lined Street" neighborhood. Specifcally, Valentine Rd and Jackson Rd area. Not walkable to a train station though. Pleasantville is about 2 miles away. Not sure whether there is another train station nearby. Housing stock may be somewhat in your price range, but things do show up. We found a gem of a house sub $700k in this neighborhood, tried to outbid someone, but was unsuccessful (our coop hadn't sold yet).
5) Edgemont - We focused on the area of Edgemont that was west of Central Ave. Very good schools, test score ranks top 5 each year. Relatively small school district which has its plusses and minuses. Hard to find decent house in your price range. Would be tough to find 1800 sq. ft. in your price range. Would prob need some work, too.
6) Chappaqua - We liked Chappaqua. Top 5 school based on test scores. Good woodsy feel, similar to Pleasantville and and Briarcliff. The houses in your price range will be pretty far from the train station...or need alot of work.
7) Croton -Good schools. Pretty good housing stock in your price range. Although pretty far north, the croton harmon station has express to Grand Central.
We've kind of ruled out Briarcliff and Chappaqua because the taxes were steep for us for the houses we saw. Pelham was never really an option. I think Eastchester is too far east and a commute across to NJ would not be fun. We like Pleasantville, but generally the area just north of the town in those hilly areas. How is that relative to the area closer to town?
Were you considering the commute as a drawback when you were comparing commuting times during your search between Eastchester and the other towns?
We've kind of ruled out Briarcliff and Chappaqua because the taxes were steep for us for the houses we saw. Pelham was never really an option. I think Eastchester is too far east and a commute across to NJ would not be fun. We like Pleasantville, but generally the area just north of the town in those hilly areas. How is that relative to the area closer to town?
Were you considering the commute as a drawback when you were comparing commuting times during your search between Eastchester and the other towns?
Eastchester is not east at all. It's 16 miles from the GW Bridge, and heck of a lot closer than Pleasantville. If you're near the Bronx River Parkway it is very convenient.
I would think Mount Kisco and Croton would have comparable. Maybe a little more for Mount Kisco given its further east. Commuting time varies based upon how close your house is to a highway and time you leave. How long does it take you to get to a highway from Mt. Airy section? Plus door to door for your wife to Grand Central would be 1 hour +, right?
I would think Mount Kisco and Croton would have comparable. Maybe a little more for Mount Kisco given its further east. Commuting time varies based upon how close your house is to a highway and time you leave. How long does it take you to get to a highway from Mt. Airy section? Plus door to door for your wife to Grand Central would be 1 hour +, right?
Is Mount Kisco over an hour via Metro North to GCS? I guess if you take into account drive to train, correct?
I would think Mount Kisco and Croton would have comparable. Maybe a little more for Mount Kisco given its further east. Commuting time varies based upon how close your house is to a highway and time you leave. How long does it take you to get to a highway from Mt. Airy section? Plus door to door for your wife to Grand Central would be 1 hour +, right?
Commute times to Manhattan will be comparable from Croton and Pleasantville. The trains from Pleasantville are a little longer than the express trains from Croton and the same as the semi-express. I think Croton has more trains. The train from Mt Kisco is 10 minutes longer. Driving to Jersey City, I would guess Pleasantville would have the edge. Mt Airy is close to 9, but that's not the fastest highway.
Eastchester is not east at all. It's 16 miles from the GW Bridge, and heck of a lot closer than Pleasantville. If you're near the Bronx River Parkway it is very convenient.
I agree with this. Eastchester sorta hugs the BXP. You can take BXP to cross county and either take 97 down to GW or 9A-westside highway (which is quicker but there is a toll into Manhattan.).
Is Mount Kisco over an hour via Metro North to GCS? I guess if you take into account drive to train, correct?
Fastest train from Mount Kisco is 57 minutes. Most are over 60 minutes. And once you factor departure time (drive to station, parking, waiting for train) and arrival time (takes at least 5-8 minutes to get out of grand central, plus whatever walk you have), you are looking on average 1.5 hours. Pleasantville train into GCS is 50-59 minutes. On average it takes me about 1 hour 10 minutes from the time I leave my house to the time I take my first step out of GCS. And I only have a 0.3-4 (or 8 minute walk to the station).
Croton-Harmon is about 5 minutes faster than pleasantville if you get the express trains. But I would bet the time it takes to get from your house to Corton-Harmon station and park is more than the 5 minutes you will save on the train ride.
We've kind of ruled out Briarcliff and Chappaqua because the taxes were steep for us for the houses we saw. Pelham was never really an option. I think Eastchester is too far east and a commute across to NJ would not be fun. We like Pleasantville, but generally the area just north of the town in those hilly areas. How is that relative to the area closer to town?
Were you considering the commute as a drawback when you were comparing commuting times during your search between Eastchester and the other towns?
I take the Tappan Zee. Its actually faster to Tappan Zee from Pleasantville than it is from Eastchester.
I'm assuming you are referring to the area north of pleasantville on the east side of 117? One of the things that appealed to us about Pleasantville is being able to walk to town. It would be a far walk to get to town from that area. You prob get more land in that area though, and the housing might be a little cheaper.
I wouldn't rule out Briarcliff. See below some houses that have sold in the last year that meet your price and tax parameters (BTW, redfin is a great website to use for this sorta stuff).
I'm assuming you are referring to the area north of pleasantville on the east side of 117? One of the things that appealed to us about Pleasantville is being able to walk to town. It would be a far walk to get to town from that area. You prob get more land in that area though, and the housing might be a little cheaper.
Yes - some nice ranches up there.
That's something too - we tend to shy away from older style colonials and capes. Tudors as well.
Since we're not in a rush, we can be a bit pickier and spend more time choosing where we'd like to land.
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