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We are a small family from India (myself, DH and DD-5 years old) who will be moving to NYC in spring 2017. DH's office will be in Midtown Manhattan. I am a Certified Public Accountant and will be looking out for a job once DD settles in school, maybe a couple of months down the line.
We will initially rent then we plan to buy a 2 Bed condo in 1 year time. Our budget is 500K-800K. Good Public schools are very important to us and not just Elementary schools but till High schools. I would look out for jobs in Manhattan as there are good prospects for a CPA in Manhattan. I want my door-to-door commute to be max 1hour, as all the schools i checked across NYC and in suburbs have the before-school starting at 7am and the after-school ending promptly by 6pm. So cant live very far from Manhattan!
I did check out places like -
Upper East side,
Upper West side,
Astoria,
Park Slope,
Scarsdale,
Bronxville,
Riverdale,
Great Neck
Is there any other neighbourhoods/suburbs which you can suggest with GOOD schools and max 1 hour commute to Manhattan?
Also one question, I did check Riverdale where the houses are reasonably priced but the schools are not a 10 rated ones. But there are good private catholic schools there.
Which is better - affordable neighbourhood with top-class catholic schools OR costly neighbourhood with top-class public school?? WE ARE NOT CATHOLIC. And we cant afford a 40K non-catholic private school.
Any advice is welcome! We would love to hear from you guys. Please help/suggest us.
I am not sure what condos in NJ go for, but suspect your budget is too low for the areas you listed. I am most familiar with the one Brooklyn location (Park Slope) where a 2BR condo goes for over a million
I had similar criteria to yours a few months ago. I hate the suburbs so I can't comment on the ones you listed, also Brooklyn doesn't work for me geographically, but I looked into UES, UWS, Riverdale and Western Queens.
I think you are asking too much.
2-bed condos for <800K: definitely in Riverdale, closer to 500-600K possible too. Astoria with great difficulty. UWS, UES forget it. You have the option to start looking into co-ops and this will increase your choices, but not substantially.
Schools: I think the Riverdale elementary is very good and I would be fine with an 8 or 9. Good middle and high schools are impossible to find in affordable areas.
I think your options are:
1. squeeze yourselves into a tiny 2-bed in UWS, UES (co-op) - be aware that what people call 2-beds are most likely not what you expect, more like 1 bed and a tiny room, although in my opinion it's fine for a child. But if you want family to visit? You'll have to get them a hotel. You will get great schools up to graduation. Also look in Midtown west. There are some areas with good schools too.
2. relax your criteria re middle and high schools. Zoning changes, your kid may manage to get himself into a gifted & talented class, who the hell knows, you may go back to India or to Europe by then, worst case you move. Buying a co-op in Riverdale may actually give you the money to pay for private school if you have to. Also private schools are not 40K anymore. More like 50K. Crazy I know.
I had similar criteria to yours a few months ago. I hate the suburbs so I can't comment on the ones you listed, also Brooklyn doesn't work for me geographically, but I looked into UES, UWS, Riverdale and Western Queens.
I think you are asking too much.
2-bed condos for <800K: definitely in Riverdale, closer to 500-600K possible too. Astoria with great difficulty. UWS, UES forget it. You have the option to start looking into co-ops and this will increase your choices, but not substantially.
Schools: I think the Riverdale elementary is very good and I would be fine with an 8 or 9. Good middle and high schools are impossible to find in affordable areas.
I think your options are:
1. squeeze yourselves into a tiny 2-bed in UWS, UES (co-op) - be aware that what people call 2-beds are most likely not what you expect, more like 1 bed and a tiny room, although in my opinion it's fine for a child. But if you want family to visit? You'll have to get them a hotel. You will get great schools up to graduation. Also look in Midtown west. There are some areas with good schools too.
2. relax your criteria re middle and high schools. Zoning changes, your kid may manage to get himself into a gifted & talented class, who the hell knows, you may go back to India or to Europe by then, worst case you move. Buying a co-op in Riverdale may actually give you the money to pay for private school if you have to. Also private schools are not 40K anymore. More like 50K. Crazy I know.
I kinda lumped co-op and condos together when I answered. I assumed OP is not familiar with co-ops since they are mostly an NYC arrangement and many foreigners are not aware of them.
The thing is Riverdale doesn't have many condos to begin with so while the OP's budget is fine, the options won't be that many. A house in that budget in Riverdale would certainly be tough though, so the OP would likely have more options looking at co-ops. I agree about the UWS and UES... Forget it in that price range. I would recommend Kew Gardens as NooYowkur. Forest Hills is pretty much in the range of Riverdale price wise, but Kew Gardens may be slightly less expensive than both areas.
By condo I also meant Co-ops (I know its a typical NYC term)
In both Riverdale & Great neack area I see 800-1000sqft area condos (with good scools zoned to it) within a price range of 500K. For Scarsdale if we need the Ivy league schools then it starts from 500K but yes you can manage within a 700K to get a 2bedroom 1bath co-op/condo. UES, UWS and Park Slope have crazy prices with honestly very few that fit in our budget. I dont mind staying in a smaller condo (as someone said, the 2nd bedroom being smaller). But yes if its somewhere in Manhattan area I would prefer it anytime over others! Location is important to us.
I will check Forest Hills and Kew Gardens. My source of knowledge is Zillow for real estates.
I am stressing on good schools till High school as I know WE WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO AFFORD A 40-50K PRIVATE SCHOOL. And I dont wanna move out later for the heck of schools.
Any other neighbourhoods that I need to look in?
Also one question - We are not catholics. So how good or bad is it to put our child in a catholic school? My daughter currently goes to a catholic school in India and the population there is very diverse and the administration is very tolerant also. We love it here. How is it in NYC?
Honestly I would prefer to live in a more diverse neighbourhood. We want to bring up our child in a diverse environment where she knows and appreciates all races/religions/communities as she grows up. And there is no city more diverse than NYC.
Unfortunately I am not a New Jersey expert so I can't specify neighborhoods that fit your budget. I do know that new jersey can be very diverse, in some cases moreso than nyc because people of different races actually live together and interact more. Also public schools on the whole are better in new jersey especially up to high school. You seem to be locked into nyc but something to think about.
I checked out a condo in Riverdale, around 550K, and it was a nice apartment, spacious etc. It stayed on the market for ever, maybe it still is. It makes sense when a coop in Riverdale would cost 200K less.
When you visit in person you may find out things that there are other things influencing your decision that are not obvious online. For example, I eventually rejected Riverdale because it's not walkable. You have to take the bus or drive to the subway and this is a compromise I absolutely didn't want to make.
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