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Hi everyone! I am new to city-data.com, and this is my first post. We are planning a move to Rochester next summer, and I have some questions I hope you can help answer.
My husband will be working at Strong Memorial Hospital, and I'm a stay at home mom. We have two kids. One will be 3, and the other will be turning 1 year old when we move. We have been advised to focus on Brighton and Pittsford because of the superior public school districts in those communities.
Here are my questions:
1. Is there a city / local income tax in Brighton or Pittsford (in addition to the standard federal and NY state income tax)? If so, what are the local income taxes?
2. Can someone please explain how the property taxes are calculated in Brighton and Pittsford?
I've seen a statistic that they are about 3% on average, but looking online at real estate listings, there seems to be a wide range, with some taxes even more horrific than others, and I can't decipher any rhyme or reason to the variance. Do you know what the taxes are based on, and how often they are adjusted?
I don't want to buy a home and then find out the property taxes are significantly increasing and therefore making the home unaffordable. Is it even possible to anticipate and avoid this scenario?
3. What are the zoning laws like in Brighton and Pittsford? I am wondering how hard / easy it is to get a permit to modify your home (such as an addition / remodeling or other renovation)... or yard (such as putting in a fence, swimming pool, small pond or other water feature, outbuilding such as a garden shed, or even a kids' play structure).
4. Can you recommend good preschools in Brighton and Pittsford? Which ones are better and why? Also, are there any tricks to getting a spot?
5. We belong to a neighborhood pool in our current community, but we had to get on a waitlist months in advance, and then paid $525 for a family membership. The pool was open from Memorial Day to Labor Day. Are there pools like this in Brighton and Pittsford?
6. Finally, does anyone think we are wrong to focus only on Brighton and Pittsford? Should we be considering other places to live? If so, what other suburbs would you recommend, and why?
A couple of questions for you... your price range... do you want a religious preschool? Catholic/Jewish? Nondenominational? Do you want more of a newer home or an older city-like home? WHY are you only focusing your attention to Pittsford and Brighton?
I would also suggest Fairport Schools (Fairport/Perinton) for sure and perhaps Penfield Schools depending on what you are looking for.... I used to live in Brighton, moved out when I got pregnant with my first child. I wanted to move to more of a Suburban type of community. Brighton has more of a City Edge to it- you live on smaller lots and there is more traffic- but you get nicer homes and schools than the city with the perk of being close to things. It does have higher taxes, another reason we left our 1350 sqft home for a 2000+ home on almost .5 an acre for less taxes... I like Pittsford SO much better than Brighton and if I had to pick I would choose Pittsford after having lived in Brighton. I grew up in Fairport (Perinton) and think Fairport and Pittsford are very similar. Pittsford has a slightly cuter village where as Fairport has a much nicer Rec Center and Parks/Rec Program... Fairport has some of the lowest taxes in Monroe County and Fairport Electric. Schools are on par to Brighton and Pittsford.... Penfield is another area you might want to consider... People often will tell you to look at the THREE P's... PENFIELD< PERINTON< PITTSFORD... that is also my suggestion... feel free to DM me....I have two very small kids and have been through the preK search if you need some help...
Brighton and Pittsford are two of the more affluent suburbs of Rochester...with Brighton being more "old money" and Pittsford more "new money". Pittsford has much more new housing (with the exception of the village, which is very charming with mostly mid-late 19th century homes) and feels more like the typical image of suburbia. Brighton is much more connected ot the city, and in some areas feels more like an extention of the city (albeit an extention of a very nice area of the city) than an actual suburb. Eventhough they both have OUTSTANDING schools, Pittsford has always seemed more "family friendly" to me than Brighton. I would also suggest looking into Fairport/Perinton because it is very similar to Pittsford, but less affluent and therefore more affordable. Fairport electric also saves you quite a bit on your utilities every year when compaired to RGE (Rochester Gas and Electric). Pittsford and Fairport are also both on the erie canal which is a very beautiful place for recreation; especially around this time of the year as the leaves are changing.
Thank you to both of you (skbs and I'minformed2) for your responses and the information! It sounds like I definitely need to look into Fairport/Perinton, in addition to Brighton and Pittsford.
To answer your questions (skbs):
Why Brighton and Pittsford: I looked online at school ratings and saw that Brighton and Pittsford have the "best" schools. I told our realtor this, and she confirmed they are the "best" places to live. Someone else we know who recently moved there went through the same process and had determined the same about the schools.
and Brighton?
I think I'm going to have to check out Fairport though. I wonder if there are areas in the village that are affordable.
Price Range: It's hard to say because of the property tax factor. I've done some comparisons and it's amazing how much the asking price can vary within the range of our affordability once you add in the widely varying monthly property tax responsibility. That being said, I think that maybe a home that's in the $400 - 475k range would be reasonable for us, based on what I've seen so far, and possibly pushing it to $500k at the upper end, although we don't want to stretch too far. The taxes in Rochester make me want to faint, as we could afford so much more in other places.
What we're looking for in a house: We're in the market for a minimum 3 BR house (preferably 4 or more) and would also like space for a study/library and possibly a second home office. I also want to have a large playroom for the kids, probably in the basement. I assume you have basements in Rochester; is that right?
As for style of house, this is one place where my husband and I differ. He has a strong preference for older homes (1920s - 1940s) or even older, whereas I appreciate the style but don't have anything against newer homes built in the 70s, 80s, 90s, and now. I have a feeling he would be most pleased with a home in Brighton since it's older and has sidewalks, whereas maybe in newer areas they do not (?).
My husband doesn't like the "starter mansion" style of house, and neither do I. However, I find it odd that he has no problem with "city" homes that are close together on narrow lots but truly scorns the "McMansions" you see all the time that are huddled together on lots that seem too small for the house. I guess there's a difference, but it boils down to the same thing: You are pretty close to your neighbors! I would prefer a place with a decent yard (at least 0.25 acre, but would be great if it's more in the 0.5 acre range).
Important consideration in the house we get: In addition to the above, the kind of house we want is one that doesn't require a ton of work to bring it up to date or make it liveable. I spend my time occupied with two kids, which doesn't lend very well to participating in major home improvement projects, and my husband won't have the time to devote to it, and I don't think we're going to want to spend a lot of money on having contractors come in and do the work for us. Therefore, I wonder if we'd do better with our money in a slightly less affluent suburb -- but I don't want to sacrifice quality of education for my kids.
Preschool: The preschool doesn't need to be religious, but if it is, that's okay too. We are Christian (Lutherans), but denomination in this matter of preschools is not a major consideration for me.
Thanks again for all your help. It's very difficult figuring this out from afar!
If you have $400k to spend on a house, you are not going to have any problems finding one. Make sure you fully understand the implications of taxes though, because it will be somewhere near $15k per year on a house of that size I believe. However, if you do not like McMansions, you might not like a lot of Brighton.
If you have $400k to spend on a house, you are not going to have any problems finding one. Make sure you fully understand the implications of taxes though, because it will be somewhere near $15k per year on a house of that size I believe. However, if you do not like McMansions, you might not like a lot of Brighton.
that Pittsford would be more of a McMansion town versus Brighton, which I thought would have more old rich looking houses, if that makes sense.
If you have $400k to spend on a house, you are not going to have any problems finding one. Make sure you fully understand the implications of taxes though, because it will be somewhere near $15k per year on a house of that size I believe. However, if you do not like McMansions, you might not like a lot of Brighton.
Thanks for the note. I thought Brighton was the older one of the communities with (perhaps) more "true" mansions and fewer new developments of "starter" mansions (like those things you see that couldn't seem to land on a cohesive architectural style and come out looking like several row houses tacked together, or those things with fake brick in the front and siding on the sides and back). One thing we both really like is a more established neighborhood with mature trees -- can you find that everywhere you look out there?
Brighton would have the older more established larger homes you are looking for... but I don't know if you would find the amount of land you are looking for. Again, Taxes will be higher there. Half an acre might be tough to find as well in Brighton. Pittsford Village/Fairport Village will have the older homes as well... but not as many and you won't find half an acre in a village home. You might want to try looking at places in Pittsford around Powder Mill Park actually.... Mendon area (just an idea)
If you are looking in the $400k range you can have whatever you want in Rochester. I don't know where you are coming from; but chances are $400k won't buy you the same house there that it does here. If you take that into consideration; you might want to think about lowering your pricerange a little, maybe to the high 200's or low 300's....so you can still get a great house, but with lower taxes. Now that we know your pricerange and preferences in a house...i'd suggest Pittsford town. After looking on Nothnagle.com for your search preferences (nothnagle is by far the biggest real estate company here, and has a great website that lets you get very specific) I found a house that sounds like it's exactly what you are looking for just as an example (I know you siad you aren't moving until next summmer)
It's in Pittsford, on over half an acre, build in 1929, 2500 sq ft $325k. Taxes are $10,980 which hurts; but is better than the tax bill in the mid teens you could get for a house in the range you were originally looking at. Here's a link to the listing just to show you your options. There are 15 properties that showed up in the $277k-325k that fit the specifications you said you were looking for.
Again, I'd definitly suggest using the property search fature on nothnagle.com to find a house that has everything you want. It's what we used when we moved back up here from NC and thought it was great.
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I would have thought
