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Let me address the cost of daycare. It depends on the quality of the daycare, but the top daycare centers in Westchester will cost you an arm and a leg. You can easily pay over $15,000 per year per child for very good day care.
Other people have addressed home values in various regions.
I just want to add, that you need to look at taxes as well as sales prices. Some towns have higher taxes than others.
We are looking in a similar price range as you---
We recently saw 2 houses both priced around $799,000. But for one house, the taxes were $12,000 per year, and for the other house, the taxes were $25,000 per year. We can afford the first house, but we can't afford the second house.
In that price range, you can find a *decent* house almost anywhere in Westchester. But for the more elite towns, that price range will buy you something "cozy," but if you move to the 2-nd tier of prestige, then that price range can start to buy you something very nice.
It's true that some daycare is that expensive, but you can get good daycare for a lot less than that. We were happy with ours and it was about 6K a year. Also, if a parent has a flexible schedule or works at home, there are a lot of good community nursery schools which are a lot cheaper (the downside is that they don't have extended hours and you need participate about once a month).
havoc brings up excellent points about taxes and daycare. we pay $1,500/month for a top-notch daycare center for one child. and our property taxes are almost as much per month as our mortgage. also, don't forget you'll be paying for monthly commutation and parking. you should be able to get these figures from the metro-north site.
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