The Age Old Question: Where to Live? (New York, Yorktown: houses, good schools)

[CT356]

Hi all, we're a family looking for a place to land in the New York Metro area and would really appreciate some advice. Some criteria we're looking for in a home:

— Around an hour into Grand Central. This would have to include getting to the train, not just the train ride itself. (we have a little one and don't want to commute much more than an hour).
— Good schools
— A budget in the $400-500k range
— Some privacy. Ideally, we would love to have a home with some separation from our neighbors. Not looking for a ranch, just not having our neighbors right on top of us—and it would be great to have some trees/wooded areas creating something of a divide.

We really like the vibe of Cold Spring, but it's a bit too far of a commute (and still doesn't offer the privacy we were looking for.

I know this is a common question on this forum, but circumstances are slightly different for everyone, so any advice is much appreciated.

[dr.strangelove]

Originally Posted by CT356

Hi all, we're a family looking for a place to land in the New York Metro area and would really appreciate some advice. Some criteria we're looking for in a home:

— Around an hour into Grand Central. This would have to include getting to the train, not just the train ride itself. (we have a little one and don't want to commute much more than an hour).
— Good schools
— A budget in the $400-500k range
— Some privacy. Ideally, we would love to have a home with some separation from our neighbors. Not looking for a ranch, just not having our neighbors right on top of us—and it would be great to have some trees/wooded areas creating something of a divide.

We really like the vibe of Cold Spring, but it's a bit too far of a commute (and still doesn't offer the privacy we were looking for.

I know this is a common question on this forum, but circumstances are slightly different for everyone, so any advice is much appreciated.

I would look in Cortlandt, Yorktown and Somers for houses with over two acres of land in your budget. You will not find anything south of that for the land plots you describe in that budget. You are right around an hour to the city from those towns. Good luck.

[vladlensky]

Originally Posted by dr.strangelove

I would look in Cortlandt, Yorktown and Somers for houses with over two acres of land in your budget. You will not find anything south of that for the land plots you describe in that budget. You are right around an hour to the city from those towns. Good luck.

Is that train ride alone vs total commute? OP mentioned wanting total commute time to be close to 1hr, which might be tough that far north. I live in Dobbs, and the express train is still around 35-40 mins, and more like 50 if you take a local.

When you factor another 8-10 min drive to the train (weather/traffic permitting) and then de-training and connecting to wherever your workplace is in NYC (mine requires another 15 min subway ride), you're easily over the 1hr mark. My guess would be that commuting from somewhere like Cortlandt would be closer to 1.5hrs total commute each way in ideal weather conditions, assuming your destinations are close to the train on both ends of the journey. I like to pad additional time for traffic, bad weather, connecting delays etc as well.

For the record, we loved Cortlandt and Briarcliff, two very beautiful areas, but the thought of spending > 1hr on the train alone as opposed to 35 minutes in a more southernly situated town was the ultimate deciding factor. Way more privacy and foliage up there though, I agree.

[dr.strangelove]

Originally Posted by vladlensky

Is that train ride alone vs total commute? OP mentioned wanting total commute time to be close to 1hr, which might be tough that far north. I live in Dobbs, and the express train is still around 35-40 mins, and more like 50 if you take a local.

When you factor another 8-10 min drive to the train (weather/traffic permitting) and then de-training and connecting to wherever your workplace is in NYC (mine requires another 15 min subway ride), you're easily over the 1hr mark. My guess would be that commuting from somewhere like Cortlandt would be closer to 1.5hrs total commute each way in ideal weather conditions, assuming your destinations are close to the train on both ends of the journey. I like to pad additional time for traffic, bad weather, connecting delays etc as well.

For the record, we loved Cortlandt and Briarcliff, two very beautiful areas, but the thought of spending > 1hr on the train alone as opposed to 35 minutes in a more southernly situated town was the ultimate deciding factor. Way more privacy and foliage up there though, I agree.

I based it on budget. There is no way anyone is getting a house with a fair amount of space between neighbors in Dobbs Ferry for $400,000Its beautiful, but the price reflects this and the proximity to the city. that budget requires something further north for any house, but one with a large piece of property, its just not realistic south county.

However, you can indeed have a commute from "house to desk" of an hour living in cortlandt. I live in cortland and I now work downtown, but I used to work in midtown on Madison across the street from the north entrance at 47th. My drive the to Croton train was under 5 minutes, the train is 45 - 50 minutes and I had a very short walk, under five minutes to my work. Usually it was under an hour from closing my front door to getting to my desk. Of course weather and such can delay any commute. Now I live further away from the station and I work downtown, so its longer than it used to be, but I would not trade it for anything.