commute Brooklyn heights to Westchester

[livitup]

yosser - I've no idea how the schools are in bklyn hts but there are NO school districts in westchester that you don't pay a pretty penny for. You MUST look at the taxes for the listings you're considering. Taxes in Bronxville can easily reach $20K/yr. whereas taxes in bklyn hts are usually around $3,500/yr. And for a "small" house, I don't know where tehre are any in bronxville.

you may want to check out houses in scarsdale. bronxville is only 1 mi. square so there's an extremely limited inventory for that school district. scarsdale also has good schools but there's a wider variety of homes to be purchased.

another option could be pelham. great schools too and in the area around the main drag of town, there are houses in the $500K - $700K range. taxes usu. around $13K.

[JLFCPA]

Pelham Manor's probably a great idea. Also, yes, property taxes are much higher in Westchester, but you won't have to pay NYC resident taxes either. Depending on what you make, that can be $4k to $9k on income of $100k to $200k.

[sallyg]

I have lived in Bronxville and Brooklyn Heights. My husband commuted from Bronxville to Wall Street, as do many, which is only one or two stops less on subway than Brooklyn Heights- so it would not be bad. On good days you could do it in less than an hour. But- you will not find a single family home in Bronxville for 750- you will be hard pressed to find much of anything there in this price range. What about Jersey- so many great schools there, beautiful neighborhoods and less of a commute.

[elviento]

I think it's doable. If you live w/n 5 mins walk from the Bronxville train station, you need 35 mins to get to Grand Central, and then transfer to the 4/5 express train which is quite fast. So you could do the whole thing in 1 hr one way.

[ghguy]

yosser,

Check out:

Houlihan Lawrence Real Estate

One of the best real estate outfits in Westchester, it will allow you to search for homes by school district. Other excellent school districts with good commutes via Metro-North are: Scarsdale, Rye, Mamaroneck, Hastings-On-Hudson, and Pelham.

After checking out this site, I have a feeling you're going to re-condiser what/where you're looking for as you're really not going to get alot for $750K, sorry to say....

[lilly1114]

I live in Bronxville and used to work in Brooklyn heights. The commute via Metro North then 4or 5 subway is about an hour. For $750K, you should be able to find a condo. A house in Bronxville village will run you more and the taxes will be high. Bronxville public schools are wonderful, but it is a very small, affluent area, so you may be right to be concerned about the "rich brat" factor. We do not have kids, so I cannot speak to the brattiness factor directly.

[yosser]

What is Pelham like and how are the schools compared to scarsdale or Bronxville?

[ghguy]

Pelham schools are good, but Scarsdale and Bronxville are head and shoulders above all others....

[nadia32]

Pelham schools are supposed to be excellent. Some of the elementary schools are better than others. But all very good. There is more economic diversity in Pelham than Bronxville or Scarsdale, hence lower SAT scores. Still considered one of top school systems in Westchester.