Upstate New York? (Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse: low crime, house, find a job)

[aplacetocallhome]

HEY I NEED HELP!!!
Where is the best place to go and still be 45min 1hr from the city, with good schools, good property tax, good transportation and a decent home in the range of $250 to $375. I need a good neighborhood, low crime rate to raise my 3 little girls and be able to easily find a job.

thanks,
LF

[jdhall1]

That is going to be hard to find in Westchester. I would recommed Carmel in Putnam county. I saw that you can get a 3 bed, 2 bath in town for about $299,000. It is on the long side of an hour to the city. However, you can get look for work in White Plains, Newburgh or Danbury,ct. Taxes would be a little high about $6000. If the hgih taxes bothers you, you should check out Danbury,CT which is about 15 minutes east of Camrel via I-84 where the tax amount would be about half of that amount and there are more things to do than Carmel but it is a little bit futher from the city. The schools in Danbury offer a lot more than Carmel but danbury is a large city of 75,000.

[heathersmom]

Upstate would be near Rochester or Buffalo. 1 hour from either of them puts you where I am and a 250 tousand dollar house would be the best of the best...our 6 bedroom home was less than $40,000-needed work and what not but...$99,000 would get you top of the line and close enough to Roch./Buff.(Hope you like snow)

[Wisteria]

Hi, I know it seems like semantics, however, when talking location in New York State, "Upstate" technically refers to the area of the state "up from" or north of New York City -- thus, being close to "the city." I am from Buffalo, originally, and that part of the state is technically referred to as "Western New York."

Buffalo is NOT within commuting distance of New York City -- it is about 450 miles from NYC. jdhall1 had the best answers -- I'd go with that. And even if you did go to Buffalo or Rochester, their economies are really horrible right now (which is why I'm on the westcoast). And Western New York also pays much less. Yes, you can get a beautiful home in Western New York, much more than most places in the country, however, the property taxes are extremely high.

Hope this clarifies things -- I assume by being near the "city," that you did mean New York City? If so, have you considered New Jersey??

[cuse]

You are right , We live in Central New York! But, the Upstate mentality word is like stating, I park in my "Driveway", however I drive my car on the "Parkway". How absurd is that?

[winnie]

Originally Posted by aplacetocallhome

HEY I NEED HELP!!!
Where is the best place to go and still be 45min 1hr from the city, with good schools, good property tax, good transportation and a decent home in the range of $250 to $375. I need a good neighborhood, low crime rate to raise my 3 little girls and be able to easily find a job.

thanks,
LF

Warwick, Monroe in Southern Orange. If you don't require a mansion you can get a house there for your range. With excellent schools. But you can expect to pay 6-9K in taxes. Both have low crime and are relatively attractive areas.

If you can extend the commute a bit you can get up to northern Orange and get a better deal on a house, but still eat some pretty hefty taxes.

Look for work in Middletown or Newburgh, maybe Kingston or Wappingers/Poughkeepsee area. The pay you will get there is a lot of times comparable to NYC when you account for commuting costs and extra taxes on your salary. A few years ago the Times Herald Record had a good study on that issue.

[just_sayin']

Originally Posted by Wisteria

Hi, I know it seems like semantics, however, when talking location in New York State, "Upstate" technically refers to the area of the state "up from" or north of New York City -- thus, being close to "the city." I am from Buffalo, originally, and that part of the state is technically referred to as "Western New York."

Buffalo is NOT within commuting distance of New York City -- it is about 450 miles from NYC. jdhall1 had the best answers -- I'd go with that. And even if you did go to Buffalo or Rochester, their economies are really horrible right now (which is why I'm on the westcoast). And Western New York also pays much less. Yes, you can get a beautiful home in Western New York, much more than most places in the country, however, the property taxes are extremely high.

Hope this clarifies things -- I assume by being near the "city," that you did mean New York City? If so, have you considered New Jersey??

You've got it backwards. Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, and Albany are the real upstate ny. Westchester, Rockland, Putnam, and Orange Counties are all part of the NYC metro and are therefor, for all intensive purposes, part of "Downstate NY". Yes, Buffalo and Rochester are often called "Western NY", but that is really more of a sub-region of "upstate". There is no real part of upstate ny that would be considered part of the NYC metro.

[winnie]

That is true. Ulster, Orange, Putnam, Rockland and Westchester are "downstate" as a matter of fact one of the prisions here in Dutchess is called "downstate correctional facility"..upstate starts at Northern Ulster, Western Sullivan and North Dutchess counties.

Tho when talking to someone from NYC, usually they refer to everything north of the Tappan Zee as "upstate" it is just local lingo.

BTW - to the OP you don't have a prayer of finding any better situation in NJ. Just FYI.

[aplacetocallhome]

Originally Posted by winnie

That is true. Ulster, Orange, Putnam, Rockland and Westchester are "downstate" as a matter of fact one of the prisions here in Dutchess is called "downstate correctional facility"..upstate starts at Northern Ulster, Western Sullivan and North Dutchess counties.

Tho when talking to someone from NYC, usually they refer to everything north of the Tappan Zee as "upstate" it is just local lingo.

BTW - to the OP you don't have a prayer of finding any better situation in NJ. Just FYI.

SORRY! MY MISTAKE, I'M FROM "STRONG ISLAND"

[winnie]

LOL! I am guilty of it too sometimes. Only when I am talkin to someone from NYC or "strong island" I call it (Orange area) upstate and when I am talkin to someone from upstate I call it downstate...

Any thoughts about where you are going to look???