Westchester county New York=nothing affordable?! (Yonkers, New Rochelle: condos, low crime, how much)

[Annieproductions]

Hi all! I was born and raised (NYC, BX, YNKS) and have lived in a small 2 bedroom condo in the burbs for the last several years! I love Westchester county, and at times had 3 jobs just to pay my mortgage. I remarried 2 years ago and my tiny condo is too small for my new hubby (a self proclaimed clutter bug-who was living in 1100 sq ft outside of Hartford, CT). My hubby was born in NY and has lived many places. He wants to get out of NY because of the taxes, etc. I keep trying to tell my hubby to be happy with what we have and we should stay put until we absolutely have to move (we are in our late 30's and want to have one child). He refuses to believe me when I tell him there are NO affordable houses in Westchester county, that are in low crime areas with good schools. Affordable for us would be an 1100 sq foot house for under 500K that doesn't need to be gutted. His cousin is moving to New Rochelle, but I don't really care for New Rochelle, it reminds me of Yonkers and I moved to the burbs to be away from the traffic, noise, crime, etc. We want a house but would consider a financially sound condo...the one we live in has major issues, assessments, etc. 1. Am I correct in saying there is nothing affordable in westchester? 2. Do you know of any nice towns that maybe have Condo's that are not falling apart & do not have large assessment fees? 3. Does anyone agree with me that we should stay put? 4. Any advice? Thanks so much, I have been reading the posts in this forum for weeks and enjoy the information and honesty!
Thanks so much!
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[NooYowkur81]

For 500k or less you can get something really nice upstate. I know its hard to face the fact that you have been priced out of a certain area, but it's a cold reality a lot of New Yorker's unfortunately are coming to grips with. Your husband seems to be having some trouble dealing with it.

Some parts of PA might be available to you at that price range as well.

[Annieproductions]

Hi, yes, I agree Hubby is having a hard time coming to grips with it. He thinks I am being irrational, but I am just a realist! Have a great day, thanks for getting back to me.

[rscap]

I think the prices on some of the least expensive areas of Westchester may be getting below 500k, especially if you are looking for a small house. I would try these places, all have good schools:
Croton
Valhalla
Hawthorne
Thornwood

If you are ok with living more in the upper westchester "country",
South Salem
North Salem
Somers
Yorktown

Somers in particular is a great place to live, great schools, and they have a handful of neighborhoods where the homes are cute little updated bungalows - Shenorock and Lincolndale. And Somers taxes are comparatively cheap(Westchester wise). It's very popular with people just in your position, starting out and ready to start a family.
Good luck!

[Annieproductions]

Thanks for the info, I will check out Somers!

[rscap]

No problem. My additional advice would be...if you can't find what you are looking for in Somers or Yorktown, then you are correct, you are priced out of Westchester and should consider other areas...I'm having the same argument with my hubby, who seems to think living in Westchester is worth working 2 jobs each.

[mead]

Have you considered the Southeast part of Yonkers? West of the Bronx river parkway and east of the Saw Mill. Neighborhoods around Dunwoodie and Woodlawn are nice. The whole area is pretty calm and safe. You can find houses in the mid to high 400k range, and 2br condos near the train are in the 200's.

The only problem with this area is that the public schools aren't good in Yonkers, but if you're only planning on having one kid then sending him to Catholic school shouldn't really be a financial burden.

[Natalpaz]

Annie - you might want to investigate Heritage Hills (condo development) and Willows (townhomes on Krystal Dr) in Somers. There are nice 2 and 3 bedroom units in either one for under $500K. Yorktown is also a good option - lots of houses on the market right now in that price range. Good luck with your search!
Natasha

[Dejola]

It's not on the market yet, but I plan to retire and move at the end of the year.
My house was built around 1950. It sits on a private half acre in Yorktown Heights. Lots of privacy.

The house has four bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a living room with a fireplace in which I have gas logs that look great, a dining room and kitchen with vaulted ceilings, a foyer, a downstairs family room. 20' x 20' deck.

New roof about five years ago, new heating system (oil-fired hot water baseboard) about two years ago, all new windows about two years ago.

It'll probably go for around $450,000.

Haven't really decided whether to sell or rent.

You can reach me at johnandjanet@gmail.com

[Annieproductions]

Hi all. I haven't be on line in a few days! I am replying to all in this post at once...yes westchester is worth working 2 jobs BUT it is not worth it when you get burnt out, tired, depressed and miss all the fun your friends and family are having without you. I only speak from experience having had 3 jobs consuming 7 days a week with no days off only Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years Day.
I will consider the condo's and townhomes in Somers but at this point my husband is sick of association fees, common charges and assessments.
As far as the house in Yorktown, NY, sounds nice. do you mind me asking about the taxes? If they are 12K that would be an additional 1K a month on top of the mortgage, and we cannot afford that.
I spent 16 years in Yonkers and though I frequent Yonkers to visit friends and family, I don't appreciate that they tax you to live there, I was working in CT and I had to pay NYS TAX, CT TAX AND YONKERS TAX. Yonkers needs to take all the money they are now making from Yonkers Raceway casino and put it back into making Yonkers a better place to live.
My husband is ready to leave NY soon and is constantly showing me how much more we can acheive (house size, etc) else where, GA, NC, SC, MD, WV...hhhmmm, I wish the state of New York knew how much I LOVE NY--maybe they would give me a tax break -hahaha, I know there is no place like New York (NYC-especially) but I am considering a move if necessary...everything would have to be right, great house, great location, great schools and maybe a few transplanted New Yawkers!