Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Hubby is comtemplating taking a job in NYC...making us leave the Los Angeles Coast.
With that said, we're looking in lower Westchester and would love some recommendations on places to look. Our wants are:
1. Great schools, specifically with special needs kids. Our 4yo has ADHD and pragmatic delays. Don't need a special day class but would love a school that is liberal with OT, ST, etc. and doesn't just cater to overachievers.
2. Easy commute to NYC (less than 40 minutes) and good access to the train station. Do all stations have waiting lists for parking?
3. Newer homes. Are there any areas with newer houses? Don't want a 70's ranch. Don't need a lot of land either. I don't know what the tax situation is there compared to CA, but assume we could afford a $850K house or so ($200K+ a year income). A pretty DT is nice, too.
4. Close to shopping. I need a Starbucks and a Barnes and Noble.
5. Family-friendly. I will be a newly-made SAHM with a 1 & 4 yo. I need a TON of fun activities and cool friends (not snooty) nearby to keep me from shooting myself.
Will I find this in Westchester? Or should we be looking in LI or NJ instead? It seems that CT is out because their schools are so terrible. Thanks!
Westchester taxes are going to be a shock to you coming from LA (we moved here from Playa Del Rey last June) where Prop 13 kept taxes low especially if you owned your home for a good number of years. Here properties are re-assessed every year and due to the way the municipalities and school districts are structured you have town tax, possibly city tax, county tax and school tax. This all adds up to anywhere from about $15k - $25k annually for a $850k house depending on the town and size of the property.
For newer housing there is a nice development in Valhalla that we looked at, which has good schools and a train station with commute around 40 min. I believe Rye Brook has some newer developments and very good schools also but you would have to use the Port Chester train station and I'm not sure what the parking situation is there.
Hubby is comtemplating taking a job in NYC...making us leave the Los Angeles Coast.
With that said, we're looking in lower Westchester and would love some recommendations on places to look. Our wants are:
1. Great schools, specifically with special needs kids. Our 4yo has ADHD and pragmatic delays. Don't need a special day class but would love a school that is liberal with OT, ST, etc. and doesn't just cater to overachievers.
2. Easy commute to NYC (less than 40 minutes) and good access to the train station. Do all stations have waiting lists for parking?
3. Newer homes. Are there any areas with newer houses? Don't want a 70's ranch. Don't need a lot of land either. I don't know what the tax situation is there compared to CA, but assume we could afford a $850K house or so ($200K+ a year income). A pretty DT is nice, too.
4. Close to shopping. I need a Starbucks and a Barnes and Noble.
5. Family-friendly. I will be a newly-made SAHM with a 1 & 4 yo. I need a TON of fun activities and cool friends (not snooty) nearby to keep me from shooting myself.
Will I find this in Westchester? Or should we be looking in LI or NJ instead? It seems that CT is out because their schools are so terrible. Thanks!
If you want good access to a train station, you should pull up a map of Metro North and concentrate on the towns on one of the train lines. The parking situation is different everywhere, so once you have more specific questions I'm sure someone can answer them. Oh, and if you want less than 40 minutes to NYC you'll have to concentrate your search in lower Westchester, generally speaking below I 287. But do you mean 40 minutes on the train, 40 minutes to lower Manhattan, to midtown, where? I'm not sure 40 minutes to lower Manhattan (ie. Wall Street) is realistically possible...but midtown is no problem.
You aren't going to believe the taxes. Be prepared.
If you look in lower Westchester you won't be far from shopping. Northern Westchester tends to get very rural and you have to drive a bit to get anywhere from your house. However, nothing is really that far. People tend to go to different towns for different needs/stores.
ALL of Westchester is family friendly. That's why it exists - people move out of the city to raise families, and they want a great commute. The schools are generally excellent to awesome, and most towns have parks and pools for residents' use.
Having said all that, your budget is going to be stretched in lower Westchester.
I think many towns would fit the bill- Hastings, Dobbs Ferry, Irvington and Tarrytown on the Hudson riverside, Bronxville, Eastchester, Scarsdale in the middle and then Pelham, New Rochelle, Mamaroneck up through Larchmont/Rye would all have what you are looking for.
Thanks for all of your responses. To answer a few questions, it is to Midtown (GC). DT=downtown. The property taxes in Westchester are insane, I will give you that, but they are just about as high in CA (just higher income and sales and lower property tax) so it kind of washes out (but BOY do you people need to vote in some Republicans over there).
For CT, we can't afford Greenich or Darien, and the schools in Stamford seem to have pretty low scores and few white kids...not that I am a racist but from what I've seen in CA at least, few white kids generally indicates bad schools. Is there somewhere between NYC and Darien with great schools that I may have missed?
What is the deal with train parking, though? If you live in Dobbs Ferry, for instance and pay their taxes do you get a permit, or just get one sooner than someone from Ardsley?
The parking situation at each station is different. Generally speaking, town/village residents do get preference at a particular station in their home jurisdiction, but that does not immediately guarantee a spot. Some parking areas are managed by contractor, LAZ Parking, and others are managed by the town/village clerk's office.
Stamford is tricky, since it's a city, and has just about every type of residence, from inexpensive cottages and apartments to large, waterfront houses on Shippan Point, and more country settings in Westover/North Stamford. While there are decent elementary schools, it's the middle and high schools where people leave the public system and use private schools. It's not unlike Mount Vernon, and even New Rochelle, in that respect, though New Rochelle's schools are better, overall, than Stamford's.
You're probably better off in Westchester, too, since Greenwich is 45 minutes and Darien is an hour to GCT. If you're willing to consider those distances, you might find a smaller house in Darien, but a newer house in Darien is going to be difficult to find for less than $1M. Northern Westchester has areas that approach an hour to GCT, but they will be more spread out, and some are semi-rural. Since you don't want too much land, and want a faster commute, I would recommend Low-to-Mid-Westchester, nothing north of Pleasantville.
__________________
All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages.
~William Shakespeare (As You Like It Act II, Scene VII)
Is there somewhere between NYC and Darien with great schools that I may have missed?
You got it pretty much. Stamford is a good commuting hub, but as you noted, schools don't have a good rep. However, the reason why I said to not rule out CT is because you may decide after looking for a while that bang for your bucks in lower Westchester is not much of a "bang" at all. And if you come to this decision, then looking in areas like Ridgefield, Wilton, and even perhaps Fairfield CT (along with northern Westchester) may make sense for you. Commute to Grand Central from these towns are around 1 hr or so, but 20 to 30 more minutes on the train may be insignificant if you consider the benefit of lower taxes and lower housing costs as you get further away.
What about Norwalk and in regards to Stamford public high schools, does it vary between Stamford High and Westhill High?
I would say Norwalk pretty much as the same rep as Stamford. Both districts have certain elementary schools that are more desired than others in their district, but when you get to the MS/HS level, that's when some folks consider moving out or choose private schools. I didn't know Stamford has 2 high schools.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
