Scarsdale OR Ardsley

[PEmom]

jyyanks, that's exactly my question. if the income in ardsley is comparable to irvington, rye brook and armonk, why wouldn't the home price be comparable? armonk does not have its own train station and not much better a town center than ardsley. historically ardsley home value is not much higher than hartsdale which has a totally different school quality than ardsley.

[jyyanks]

Homes in Ardsley tend to be on smaller lots - less than a quarter of an acre and very close together. Most of the home in Ardsley are older and used to consist mainly of small capes and the "huntley" ranch (tiny!). Ardsley was a modest working class neighborhood with a school system that was a bit of a "secret". The school system exploded in the late 9o's and Ardsley all of a sudden became a hot neighborhood. As the school district started gaining a reputation, people with higher incomes started moving into the older homes and expanding, renovating and building. However, Ardsley is a very small town with a small footprint - not too many places to build bigger homes - there are only a few neighborhoods that can accommodate the bigger more expensive homes.
Whereas, Armonk was always considered more of an "upper class" neighborhood because of IBM. Plus, Armonk is more spread out and you tend to find bigger homes on bigger property.

[MoveInfo]

Many thanks to you all for this very good advice. I'll be heading to Westchester in a week to figure it all out. I appreciate you all having taken the time to answer.

[aliay]

My suggestions would be New Rochelle/Scarsdale border, on the New Rochelle side, Eastchester/Scarsdale border, on the Eastchester side, or Mamaroneck.

Scarsdale proper isn't worth it if you're not planning on using the schools. The homes in Eastchester and New Rochelle that are near the Scarsdale border are just as nice just as close to the same amenities.

I really like the town of Mamaroneck. It's much less "pretentious" than Scarsdale, has a train station in a decent commercial district, and it's right on the water.

[Ekulu]

Originally Posted by aliay

My suggestions would be New Rochelle/Scarsdale border, on the New Rochelle side, Eastchester/Scarsdale border, on the Eastchester side, or Mamaroneck.

Scarsdale proper isn't worth it if you're not planning on using the schools. The homes in Eastchester and New Rochelle that are near the Scarsdale border are just as nice just as close to the same amenities.

I really like the town of Mamaroneck. It's much less "pretentious" than Scarsdale, has a train station in a decent commercial district, and it's right on the water.

Very well said, while driving through Scarsdale you will hardly notice when you cross over to New Rochelle, Eastchester or Mamaroneck.

The homes on the border are usually of the same 'status' (if that is ther right word to use, I mean style, size, lot etc) as the homes in the neighboring section of Scarsdale. Homes on the Eastchester border are very similar to other homes in the 'Edgewood section of Scarsdale' on the border, homes in Mamaroneck are similar to those in the "Quaker Ridge section" of Scarsdale and so on.

Homes on the Mamaroneck border are actually zoned for Scarsdale schools (incase you ever decide to use Scarsdale schools), the kids there attend Quaker Ridge elementary and can use both Scarsdale and Mamaroneck recreational factilities, which is nice.

[Ekulu]

Originally Posted by PEmom

I have always wondered why Ardsley house value is so much lower than that of houses in other top tier school district. Is it just "name" or is there any other reason? It always feel to me that ardsley is a relatively lower income town than those like scarsdale, edgemont, rye brook, armonk. But the school seems to be in the same tier. anybody knows why is that??

There are some very small (perhaps low income) homes in White Plains and Hartsdale that are zoned for Ardsley schools. I think the homes with higer income occupants either have a Scarsdale postal address (but zoned for Ardsley Schools) or are in Ardsley Village proper.

However, I know what you mean even Ardsley Village is mostly ranches and splits, so you don't get the same air of affluence that you get in places like Scarsdale, Armonk, Bronxville, Larchmont, Mamaroneck Rye and Harrison etc with tudors, victorians and colonials. Mamaroneck and Harrison are not uniformly affluent but the affluent areas are clearly affluent. Even the sought after Agnes Circle does not seem so impressive compared to other affluent parts of lower Westchester.

Perhaps, it is this quiet affluence, along with its good school district that makes Ardsley one of the desirable places to live in lower Westchester. I think one reason that the school district is good, is that the parents there are very involved, some may even be considered to be pushy but it is not a 'pressure-cooker' school district.