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My husband works in the East 50s, we are interested in buying a house in the next year or so. Are there any towns where commute would be an hour or less? Our budget is going to be 500-750 depending on this year's bonus and whether we wait and save for another year or not. Just want to start driving up and looking at areas and don't know where to start. We'd love to be around lots of other families with young kids. Thanks!
When you say 1 hr or less, is that in terms of just the Metro North trip time from your local station > GCT? Or you're looking for under an hour total?
Since you didn't give much information, it's hard to suggest anything. For example, are you ok with buying a condo or an older home/fixer-upper? In Lower Westchester (with the exception of Yonkers, parts of White Plains and maybe New Rochelle), you are not going to find much new housing stock under 700, so you'll need to look to the higher end of your budget. The further north you go, you'll have more options, but your commute time will increase. Also, make sure your budget takes into account the taxes, which will run you approximately 15-25k annually for most of the towns.
This is the dilemma that most people face when moving here - low commute time, affordable housing or desirable school district (pick 2).
Hi, we are okay with a fixer upper. Looking for a single family home. We would really like it to be close to an hour door to door, preferably mass transit like train or bus. Right now he is doing one hour and forty minutes door to door each way. That dilemma statement certainly does help! The lowest I am seeing is Hastings on the Hudson around 700k, and they do look like they would need a bit of work but that's okay for us. We have handy relatives. I am not familiar with the train routes up in Westchester, are there any towns inland from the river that also would have trains running through? I was looking at Ardsley.
Hi, we are okay with a fixer upper. Looking for a single family home. We would really like it to be close to an hour door to door, preferably mass transit like train or bus. Right now he is doing one hour and forty minutes door to door each way. That dilemma statement certainly does help! The lowest I am seeing is Hastings on the Hudson around 700k, and they do look like they would need a bit of work but that's okay for us. We have handy relatives. I am not familiar with the train routes up in Westchester, are there any towns inland from the river that also would have trains running through? I was looking at Ardsley.
The only thin I warn is to actually go a run searches of the length of the commute during the hours you expect to travel. Some realtors quote a time for the train length to the city, but do not say that only a single or a few trains run that schedule every day. Some places have one or two express trains, and others that are various degrees longer in terms of time to the city.
For example, on the Hudson side, Croton is much further north than many stations that have "real" longer commute times than Croton because Croton has two trains an hour leaving that have no stops between it and the city, and man stops much further south make as many as ten stops, which adds 15 minutes to the time. So a place that is advertised as having a 35 minute train to the city, may have 2 of those at 7:30 and 8:30 am but none home and most of the morning trains are 45 - 50 minutes. It is worth checking to be sure you are getting what you really want.
Hi, we are okay with a fixer upper. Looking for a single family home. We would really like it to be close to an hour door to door, preferably mass transit like train or bus. Right now he is doing one hour and forty minutes door to door each way. That dilemma statement certainly does help! The lowest I am seeing is Hastings on the Hudson around 700k, and they do look like they would need a bit of work but that's okay for us. We have handy relatives. I am not familiar with the train routes up in Westchester, are there any towns inland from the river that also would have trains running through? I was looking at Ardsley.
Hi, thanks for the additional info. You can probably find a fixer-upper in Hastings for that price; and I'd advise staying more or less South of 287 (loosely considered 'Southern Westchester') to keep your commute time as short as possible. I live in Dobbs Ferry, just North of Hastings and on most days, it's about 35-45 minutes on the train (closer to 50 if its not express). I take the Hudson line and all the trains I take stop in Hastings. On the Hudson line, you can usually catch an express train during peak hours. Ardsley technically has a station, but it is much smaller and since the town itself is more inland you will be driving though Dobbs Ferry/Irvington to reach it, depending on where your house is located. Since there are no major highways leading to the stations, the local roads can become congested in the winter time, and during bad weather, which will add to your total commute time. I'm not aware of any buses from Westchester to NYC (maybe out of White Plains?) but if so, I highly doubt they would reach NYC in your desired time frame.
To give an example, on average, I take the 7:18 out of Dobbs Ferry which reaches Grand Central at 7:56 (38 minutes) + another 10 minutes drive from my house = 48 minutes. Factoring the time it takes to get off the train and out of Grand Central at rush hour, it's pretty close to the 1hr mark, and this is under ideal conditions with no weather or train-related delays. If you use this as a basic baseline, you can get a pretty decent idea of how long it will take from nearby towns (Hastings, Ardsley, Irvington, Tarrytown, etc) on the Hudson line. The variable factor tends to be how far your home is from the station. I'd recommend driving up and looking at the homes sometime - there are probably a few people who can recommend towns on the Eastern or Central side of the county with convenient commute times. Bronxville is a good example, but the house prices may be higher than what you are looking for.
Tarrytown is a very easy 37 minute commute on the express train. It's also an express stop, so all the Hudson-line trains stop there. There are definitely houses in Tarrytown that are in your price range.
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