Road trip to the Hudson Valley in search for a place to call home (Monroe: apartment complex, rental)

[primumver]

My family of 3 (hubs & me and our 2 yr old) have been planning our move to the Hudson Valley for a while. We moved from NC to NJ because we werent able to rent a place in the time we needed to move, so decided on NJ to be closer to have time to make trips to the HV to hopefully make "THE" final move. We mapped out the places we want to see. Was hoping to get opinions on names of local apartment complex, P.O.I. to look at in these towns, Hospitals, senior living (planning on moving mom eventually) etc., Our ideal town would be one that is quiet and with lots of green yet close to good restaurants, art and toddler friendly things to do with the family. Cultural diversity a plus. An easy commute to NYC is a must. School is not that important because we plan to homeschool after 1st or 2nd grade. We want to rent for a while before we buy anything Our plan is to take a long weekend and drive up and stop at these towns for about 1 hour each to see how we can narrow it down to a few places and then spend more time to research those that we liked the most. oh...rent budget as of right now is a max of $2,000 for a 2bed 2 bath apartment or home. Our lease is up in November and we dont want to be in NJ another year! YUCK.

This is the planned trip in order of towns we will be visiting (going North from NJ then coming back on the other side - South)

Right side of HV
croton-on-hudson
Peekskills
Cold Spring
Beacon
Fishkill
Wrappingers Falls
Rhinebeck
(poets walk)
Red Hook
Hudson

Left Side of HV
Catskill
Saugerties
Hurley
New Paltz
Storm King
and possibly Tuxedo Parks

Any 'insider' information of any of these towns would help! Thanks Ya'll!!

[Dreamshot]

Hello there,

Been living in the HV for 21 years, so I can answer just about any question you may have...

Will your husband be commuting to NYC on a daily basis? If so, I can eliminate several locations off your list since the commute will be extremely long.

To the west-of-Hudson "left" side, you may add: Suffern, Stony Point, Chester, Goshen, Montgomery

To the east-of-Hudson "right" side, you may add: Cold Spring and Brewster

[primumver]

He might commute maybe 3-4 times a month. As of right now we both work from home but he is looking for jobs up that way with Cisco and other companies up there. ..I have Cold Spring on the list . I think we had Stoney point but changed our mind because it was close to a nuclear plant? I think min miles we want to be near one is like 30 miles. Perfect you live there so I will def update this thread after we make the trip end of month and will add those you sent me so any pointers for us to guide us will be much appreciated!! Like do you know how I can find apartment complexes in the area. Only place that has given me google results is Wrapping Falls fall.maybe I am searching incorrectly...or is it more common to rent a home vs apts?

[Dreamshot]

You can try: Craigslist Hudson Valley

or Trulia for any location of interest

The nuclear plant you are referring to is Indian Point. FYI, Many of your east-of-Hudson locations of interest are within 30 miles of the plant.

Of course, let me know if you need any help or guidance!

[slope95]

i'd look at warwick, it's a very nice town.

[primumver]

THanks slope95..will add that to the list..we might make a day trip this saturday to the West side of the HV so excited!

[ss20ts]

When checking places out, you'll really need more than an hour to really see a place. An hour won't give you a feel for a town at all. I relocated to SC from NY and spent weeks visiting the town I moved to. And I still hated it! Was totally different living there than visiting. You're already in Jersey so you know how different the culture is. That was something that was an issue for us.

[primumver]

SS20ts..I HATE IT HERE!!! lol you totally understand us then..and we are originally from NYC but lived in NC for almost 12 yrs and I miss the southern hospitality and the green I know 1 hr is not enough but we have sooooo many little towns on the list, we want to scope out the areas so that when we see a town we like we can spend more time there. Plus we have been researching the towns local websites and you kinda get a feeling of the vibe of the town. We need to decide by November because our lease is up then and I really dont want to spend another year here..I will die! We are looking for an "Asheville-ish" town but close to NYC so that the DH can commute and we can hang out on the weekends also...so any suggestions you have seen would be appreciated

[ss20ts]

Asheville-ish...hmmmmm New Paltz.....Saugerties....Woodstock. Not sure what the commute would be like though. I do love Asheville. Wish I could clone parts of it! Other parts not so much.....LOL

[primumver]

Reporting on first impression of our first road trip

Suffern- first impression of downtown was..this is it!!?? but as our trip went on, this seems like our #1 option of what we are looking for ( at least on this first trip) EVERYONE we drove by and walked by said hi to us Love that! the downtown does looks sad and old. The neighborhoods we drove by was mostly jewish and saw a few really charming houses. We drove by the Spring Valley area, very nice area. Seems quiet but it was 8am ....lots of wooded streets, very clean and again everyone we drove by waved at us. Didnt find see an apt complex so we will definetly need to talk to a realtor next time we visit to see rental options.

Tuxedo & Tuxedo Park...what a beautiful TINY town!!! surrounded by mountains. The main street and train station sooo adorable..everyone seems to know each other....couldnt see Tuxedo Park because its all gated!!!! geesss, but did see the surouding areas...one apt complex for the not so priviledge and talked to some locals. The schools seem to be great a local told me some classrooms have 4-6 students wow! It seems like an older community although you are near 7 lakes drive and Bear mountain which makes it a hot spot for hikers and bikers visiting from all over...gas $3.99!!!! yikes!! - crossed this town off although this will defenatly be a vacation spot for us! It just seems that you have to be in the 1% to live in a decent area (the ones that's gated) or live in that one apartment complex on the main street. The town seems to be safe and quiet.

Warwick lovely!!! lively downtown town. Tried a cupcake in a cute little bakery that was horrible!!! LOL Visited a few farms and a cute winery spot away from the main street and views are spectacular. The commute to NYC seems to be a bit difficult because of the winding roads, especially in the winter locals told us. It seems its better to drive than take public transportation and the roads and traffic can get really bad. Mixed feelings about it but will look into it more.

Monroe : a local in Tuxedo suggested we check out Monroe..I guess because we told him we were spanish....to be fair we only saw the downtown and it was pretty ugly..looks run down. NO! ugly town. Period.

New Paltz & Mohok & Hyde Park- was not on out itinerary but decided last minute to check it out
new Paltz, Ashville NC cloned! very young and lively. Locals say that it does get pretty loud at night on weekends. Food was not good..at least the restaurants we tried on the main street (mentions of foods is because we r foodies) Very much like Ashville NC in terms that its surrounded by mountains and green which we love.

Mohok Reserve...what a dream!!! the roads to get there reminded me of the Highlands and Cashier NC. But the commute to NYC also seems to be dificult specially during winter weather for both. Lots of outdoor things to do..lots! definetly want to live very near these 2 towns but on first impressions dont think we want to live in the town or downtown areas...so more research is necesary.

Hyde Park - I dont know what the big deal of this place is besides the historic FDR home, library etc., I would just visit here......saw a drive in movie..cute! then a trailer park neighborhood...not too cute. Besides the homes by the Hudson, I wasnt impress. It looks like a touristy commercialize town.

Everyone we met was very very friendly and helpful (except for a farmers market lady that was a bit snobish when I asked her if she knew if the train in Tuxedo ran on the weekends - her response was sacasticaly- "I am not a train kinda a girl" as if riding the train gave you the koodies) And that's it for now...so for this trip the town that stands out is Suffern/Spring valley area. I cant wait to visit the East side of the HV and more North!!! I have a good feeling we will find most of the things we are looking.

Thank you all for reading this post and would love to read your feedback. Have a great monday!