commute Brooklyn heights to Westchester (Yonkers, Bronxville: condos, coop, buying a house)

[yosser]

Am moving work to Brooklyn heights and want to live in Westchester as I have two girls ages 8/10. I was considering Bronxville as I was told that is a good set up/schools and easier commute. We could realistically afford 750k tops. How long would the commute be?
Also concerned about the potential rich brat/entitlement factor in schools-real or apparent?
Many thanks

[livitup]

i live in fleetwood/mount vernon - a stone's throw from bronxville - literally, if you have a really good arm. my brother lives in an apt. at the foot of the bklyn bridge (concord village/adams st off tillary). I've never done that drive during rush hour - and frankly, I don't think I'd want to. It takes me approx 40 minutes w/o heavy traffic to go either via the triboro/queens to BQE or triboro/manhattan to Bklyn Bridge on Sat or Sun. Maybe on a really good day or in the middle of the night, 35 minutes, maybe.

so, suffice it to say, it'd be AT LEAST 40 minutes during rush hour (whenever that isn't). taking a stab at it - I'd say you'd be looking at 1 hr 10 min. each way.

fwiw, I used to work in rye (which is further north but right off 95) with a guy who commuted from bay ridge. he was MISERABLE and destroyed his car.

as to your other question - frankly - i think it's a matter of how you raise your kids. are you saying you're concerned that your kids will feel like "have-nots"? If you're financials are not up to par in bronxville, yeah, sure it's possible. but that's true in any neighborhood like this.

btw 750K won't get you too much in Bronxville - meaning absolutely no offense to you. and even if it does get you something, if you're coming from paying nyc taxes, brace yourself for bronxville taxes. the benefit is though that you shouldn't have to send your kids to private schools. bronxville schools are supposed to be great. the town's only one mile square and the taxes are high as hell so my sense is that the school is the heart of the town. which is a great thing in my book.

best of luck!

[yosser]

I'm planning on commuting by train/metro. I am moving from RI due to terrible public schools here.
Any sense of the commute time by train. A small house is ok by us as we don't need to impress anyone, just want the best education we can give our girls....Are there any other places with an equivalent quality school system but cheaper to live (also not further from NYC!)

[Viralmd]

You're really a glutton for punishment: you're going to have to take the train to Manhattan and THEN take the subway to Brooklyn...YIKES!

[yosser]

Any idea how long this commute would take by train? Are there any alternative areas with suitable elementary/middle schools closer to the city? I think it takes 26mins from Bronxville to grand central-is the trip to brooklyn heights really that bad on subway?

[gbarney04]

I've lived in Brooklyn Heights (very nice) as well as Bronxville. Why don't you move your girls to Brooklyn Heights? I'm not sure about the public schools but the area is lovely so I would definitely check out the schools first. Bronxville has excellent schools but the housing is very expensive. You can probably afford a coop or condot for $750k but I'm not too sure about a house but prices are down. I now live in Greenwich and commute to the City via train. The ride from Bronxville to GCT is about 35 minutes - not long at all.

[gbarney04]

Condos and coops are also expensive in Brooklyn Heights but perhaps you can find a two bedroom for $750k.

[yosser]

THanks for the info. It was my impression that Brooklyn heights did not have good public schools. Is that correct? The primary reason that we are moving is that we don't want to fork out 40k per yr on private schools in RI.
Anyone have any idea of the subway time from Grand central to Brooklyn hts?

[jyyanks]

If you do end up buying a house in Bronxville, make sure its has Bronxville schools. There are many homes in Bronxville with a Bronxville PO and Yonkers schools. Yonkers schools are nowhere near as good as Bronxville and def not worth moving out of RI to.

If you take the Metro North and the subway, consider at least a 1.5 to 2 hour commute figuring in time to get to the train station to catch the train and then transferring in Grand Central to the subway and then waiting for a subway AND trying to squeeze into one with the millions of other commuters.

[crisp444]

Originally Posted by yosser

THanks for the info. It was my impression that Brooklyn heights did not have good public schools. Is that correct? The primary reason that we are moving is that we don't want to fork out 40k per yr on private schools in RI.
Anyone have any idea of the subway time from Grand central to Brooklyn hts?

I've made that ride several times (I live in Brooklyn Heights), and on a 4/5 express train you can get from Grand Central Station (42nd Street) to Borough Hall (Brooklyn Heights / Downtown Brooklyn) in 20 minutes. A door-to-door commute from Bronxville to Brooklyn Heights will realistically take you 75 minutes, and is not terrible because you will ride only two trains: one from Bronxville to Grand Central and one from Grand Central to Brooklyn Heights. This commute is NO WORSE than the average suburbanite's commute into the city, which also involves a train ride to Grand Central or Penn Station and then a subway transfer to a stop near the office.