Relocating to Westchester NY (New York, Rye: day care, homes, neighborhoods)

[jdhall1]

Ridgefield, CT is very nice. I live just across the northern border of it in Danbury. It tdoes have top rated schools and lots of protected open spaces, but the major highway are either 15 minutes North, South or East of the charming downtown area. There are a good amount of rentals in your price range listed on the Multiple Listing Service. It would be about 90 minutes from downtown to Wall Street and a few minutes less to Times Square, and 70 minutes to Fordham Road according to Mapquest but I know that it can be done a lot faster than that.

[J&A'sMOM]

We to Fairfield CT here from Metro Detroit area last Januray. I feel it's really isolated because it's hard to find a neighborhood unless you move to the beach area. We actually have our house up for sale since July. I'm going to look in the Larchmont NY area and I also would highly recommend Ridgefield. If I bought in Ridgefield I'd only move into the village so we could walk around town and have sidewalks. I have a 2 and 4 year old and really miss sidewalks. You DO NOT get a side walk community in CT unless you really get lucky. I HIGHLY advise you to rent first. I wish we would of rented so I could of gotten to know the area first and then bought. Your whole perspective changes in a year. We have a big beautiful home and I thought I'd be happy but after being here for 3 months I learned that I'm to isolated with the young children. I grew up on a horse farm and I thought that it would be fine but with young kids I need neighbors with young kids around. My advice is to rent first, explore the area and then buy. Otherwise we love this part of the country - people are great - a bit more private then MI, but we are starting to get to know more people. Can't tell you enough even though it's a more work I would of rented first. GOOD LUCK :-)

[J&A'sMOM]

The communte from Ridgefield to NYC is more than Fairfield. Using the Harlem line getting off at Brewster. Someone else may know a better way???? You have a 15 minute drive to the train and a 80 minute train ride. The Fairfield train ride to GCS is 72 minutes. Using the New Haven line. You can get the train schedule on the internet and see all the stops. The train ride from Marmaronek is 38 minutes. Don't for get you still have to get to your office. Most people tell me their communte from Fairfield is 90 minutes door to door. The train schedule is Metro North Railroad you can google it and see the times and cities. That's why West Chester County is sooo expensive but well worth it if you are commuting. Also Westport is very nice and the housing prices are really gone down and the commute is 64 minutes instead of 72.

[J&A'sMOM]

Sorry for sooo many replies but I living this right now. In MI we always ate as a family but people work like crazy in CT and NY. I tease my husband and say remember when you worked "part-time" in MI. We very rarely eat together during the week and he works in Norwalk. He sees the kids when they go to bed (usually) and on the weekends. I spend more $$ on babysitting to give myself a break then I could of ever guessed could be possible because babysitting cost is 50% higher in CT. He even works weekends. - He's gone right now. Anyway I think that is a huge concern when looking for a house - the Dad's are not around to help out so a sidewalk neighborhood is even more important around here. That's my 2 cents. Thanks for reading. Feeling better already. LOL

[jdhall1]

Originally Posted by J&A'sMOM

The communte from Ridgefield to NYC is more than Fairfield. Using the Harlem line getting off at Brewster. Someone else may know a better way???? You have a 15 minute drive to the train and a 80 minute train ride. The Fairfield train ride to GCS is 72 minutes. Using the New Haven line. You can get the train schedule on the internet and see all the stops. The train ride from Marmaronek is 38 minutes. Don't for get you still have to get to your office. Most people tell me their communte from Fairfield is 90 minutes door to door. The train schedule is Metro North Railroad you can google it and see the times and cities. That's why West Chester County is sooo expensive but well worth it if you are commuting. Also Westport is very nice and the housing prices are really gone down and the commute is 64 minutes instead of 72.

There is a shuttle from just south of downtown Ridgefield to the station in Katonah,NY. It's about a 25 minute ride on that then 1 hour on the train.

It is true that Westchester County is in a more convient location, but I feel the high property values and property taxes are not worth it. I have a colleage that is locating a couple from Larchmont who pay $10,000 a year in property taxes on a regular 2 bedroom 1 bath condo! $10,000 a year would cover about 2 3/4 homes on my street (normal 4 bed 2 bath 2000 square foot ranches each on an acre). Westport and Fairfield's are more reasonable, but it still is a very large investment to buy there compared to the northern part of the county.

[shwee]

Originally Posted by jdhall1

There is a shuttle from just south of downtown Ridgefield to the station in Katonah,NY. It's about a 25 minute ride on that then 1 hour on the train.

It is true that Westchester County is in a more convient location, but I feel the high property values and property taxes are not worth it. I have a colleage that is locating a couple from Larchmont who pay $10,000 a year in property taxes on a regular 2 bedroom 1 bath condo! $10,000 a year would cover about 2 3/4 homes on my street (normal 4 bed 2 bath 2000 square foot ranches each on an acre). Westport and Fairfield's are more reasonable, but it still is a very large investment to buy there compared to the northern part of the county.

Just as a point of clarification, it would be an hour by train to GCT and then another 20-30 minutes by subway to Wall Street.

[Newtony]

First of all - all the new people that are moving there - we should get together and form a new families club:-)

We are also going to be moving in summer timeframe to this area - the husband will be working in Stamford CT. We want to live in this area because the schools are good and I want a manageble commute if I find a job in NYC. With that said - all the residents of this are please help us out -

Which are the better towns to live in - Pelham, Larchmonth, New Rochelle, Mamoreneck etc

Which are the snobbish ones - I definately do not want to deal with too much attitude:-)

We have a 6 and 2 year old, so will be looking for summer camps, daycares etc etc.

ANy info you can provide would be valuable.

Lastly - do most people drive or take the train from this area to Stamford - and how long does it take.

Thanks a bunch

[Monikini]

We currently send our children to a Catholic school in Alexandria and are relocating to Westchester county. Since Catholic schools do not publish their test results, I'm having a hard time evaluating the Westchester Catholic Elementary Schools. I realize Westchester has phenomenal public schools - but we would also like to evaluate the parochial option. Appreciate any thoughts or leads on where to get the inside scoop on the schools. Thanks

[J&A'sMOM]

We went to Kotonah and it is absolutly adorable. I think Larchmont's prices will keep us out of Larchmont because we'd have to get less than half our our current square footage for the same price. Our house was listed for 6 months in Fairfield CT and didn't sell so I think we will be staying in Fairfield. I'm getting to know more people and we'll be fine. I do wish we bought in a walkable neighborhood or community because relocating can be very lonely espeically if you buy into a 2 acre minimum area like we did. If our house would of sold (we bought Nov. 2005 and moved Feb. 2006) we would of looked for a walkable community in Westchester County or CT. Good Luck to everyone relocating. My suggestion is RENT first get to know where you want to buy and then buy. I know it's harder that way but I'm stuck in an area that is very isolated and we can't sell in this market. So we'll make the best of it. ** Also if you get a relocation package like we did we hate to walk away from everything they paid for us. We'd lose all that money moving again. I really wish we would of rented to get to understand the area and then bought.

Good Luck everyone.

[M. Bulger]

My Wife and I are thinking of moving to westchester as well. Both work in the City - Midtown - , and for the time being, our 2 year old is going to day care. Our biggest concern is that it seems that the pre-k or k in any "east westchester" school (new rochelle, larchmont, harrison, etc) area is from 8.45 to 3.00PM, and we work until no earlier than 6.00 PM. Does anybody can give us more insight if this is true and how to handle it?