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I'm curious about something as someone who is considering the move to Westchester County for many of the same reasons other consider it (schools, space, etc), is there a difference in vibe of the "Hudson side" ie Dobbs, Tarrytown, Sleepy Hallow, etc vs the "Long Island side" (New Rochelle, Larchmont, Pelham). Any reason you would pick one side over the other?
I'm curious about something as someone who is considering the move to Westchester County for many of the same reasons other consider it (schools, space, etc), is there a difference in vibe of the "Hudson side" ie Dobbs, Tarrytown, Sleepy Hallow, etc vs the "Long Island side" (New Rochelle, Larchmont, Pelham). Any reason you would pick one side over the other?
Vibe is not a "side" thing, but is instead a town by town, school district by school district, and even neighborhood by neighborhood thing. You want swanky, blue collar, white collar, ethnic and/or racial diversity, high, low, or middle income level, school competitiveness, or any other factor, there are vibes like these or others in various towns or schools on both "sides" of the county. Unless you want to be close to deep sea fishing or river fishing, I see little difference. I wanted to be closer to my family , so Hudson side worked for us, but we would have found what we liked easily enough on the sound side if that was more convenient for my family needs. Best of luck!
Totally agree with Strangelove. We live in Larchmont, which is right next to New Rochelle, and I think that Larchmont's vibe is entirely different, and the school districts are nothing alike. Same can be said for Sleepy Hollow versus Irvington, and there are many other examples.
I will say that in terms of general vibe, Larchmont and Pelham are fairly similar and lots of couples tend to look at houses in both towns/districts. And of course, Mamaroneck shares a school district with Larchmont, so you have plenty of overlap there as well.
Totally agree with Strangelove. We live in Larchmont, which is right next to New Rochelle, and I think that Larchmont's vibe is entirely different, and the school districts are nothing alike. Same can be said for Sleepy Hollow versus Irvington, and there are many other examples.
I will say that in terms of general vibe, Larchmont and Pelham are fairly similar and lots of couples tend to look at houses in both towns/districts. And of course, Mamaroneck shares a school district with Larchmont, so you have plenty of overlap there as well.
So pardon my ignorance, as I live in NYC for 8 years, but didn't know much about Westchester Co outside of "that's where my superiors at the time live".
In terms of schooling, are we saying Larchmont > New Rochelle and Irvington >Sleepy Hollow. Just based on fact and not anyone's personal opinion. From what I see on Redfin Irvington is more expensive than Sleepy Hollow so I'm assuming yes. I have a currently colleague who is also a former NYer who called New Rochelle "the poor man's Larchmont".
So pardon my ignorance, as I live in NYC for 8 years, but didn't know much about Westchester Co outside of "that's where my superiors at the time live".
In terms of schooling, are we saying Larchmont > New Rochelle and Irvington >Sleepy Hollow. Just based on fact and not anyone's personal opinion. From what I see on Redfin Irvington is more expensive than Sleepy Hollow so I'm assuming yes. I have a currently colleague who is also a former NYer who called New Rochelle "the poor man's Larchmont".
Please do not think of learning and educating yourself as ignorance. I've lived in this area for what seems like forever and I learn about it all the time. I recently posted something in the last two weeks about how much I love this forum because I learn so much here. Sleepy Hollow is part of the Tarrytown school district. I think most would agree with the assessment that Irvington is a better overall school district than Tarrytown. I think most would also agree that the Mamaroneck school district, which Larchmont is a part of, is generally thought of as better than New Rochelle. I've never heard anyone call New Rochelle "the poor man's Larchmont". Those are two vastly different places. Larchmont is very small village (~5000 residents) which is part of the moderately small town of Mamaroneck (~25-30k). New Rochelle is an 80,000 resident city, which makes it one of the largest municipalities in New York. Very different "feels" and vastly different school districts. Both have their pluses and minuses, as all places do, and different people will have different opinions on what is good v bad. All that said, with a few exceptions, even the "bad" westchester school districts are great compared to the rest of the state. However, many would put New Rochelle in that exception category. For whatever reason, many of the school ratings systems like niche or school digger tend to rank it very low in the state. Personally I find those rankings to be nonsense, but there is no doubt they impact home pricing. So the values in this district reflect that. Again, best of luck to you!
In terms of school rankings, statistics, etc., yes exactly, the Mamaroneck district (which covers Larchmont) is substantially better than New Rochelle, and ditto for Irvington versus Sleepy Hollow (which shares a district with Tarrytown). To be clear, I am using the term "better" to mean higher median SAT scores, higher graduation rates, etc., and am not saying that in all cases students are getting superior educations in those districts. But from a statistical perspective, the districts are night and day.
I've never heard anyone call New Rochelle "the poor man's Larchmont". Those are two vastly different places. Larchmont is very small village (~5000 residents) which is part of the moderately small town of Mamaroneck (~25-30k). New Rochelle is an 80,000 resident city, which makes it one of the largest municipalities in New York. Very different "feels" and vastly different school districts. Both have their pluses and minuses, as all places do, and different people will have different opinions on what is good v bad.
Again, I agree wholeheartedly with Strangelove. I've never heard New Rochelle being called "the poor man's Larchmont" and the two places have virtually nothing in common. It'd be like saying that Ithaca College is the "poor man's Cornell" because they are physically next to one another; when they are nothing at all alike and reflect an apples to oranges comparison.
Again, I agree wholeheartedly with Strangelove. I've never heard New Rochelle being called "the poor man's Larchmont" and the two places have virtually nothing in common. It'd be like saying that Ithaca College is the "poor man's Cornell" because they are physically next to one another; when they are nothing at all alike and reflect an apples to oranges comparison.
Again, I agree wholeheartedly with Strangelove. I've never heard New Rochelle being called "the poor man's Larchmont" and the two places have virtually nothing in common. It'd be like saying that Ithaca College is the "poor man's Cornell" because they are physically next to one another; when they are nothing at all alike and reflect an apples to oranges comparison.
I know we can be careful with our wording on internet forums but can anyone expand on this and if you want to PM me that's fine as well. I know Larchmont is wealthier than New Rochelle. And New Rochelle (from what I gather) is more "diverse" than Larchmont. Is that what we're getting at?
Not trying to attack anyone. If people want to be more blunt definitely PM me.
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