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I'm 30 and I'm a surgeon who will be finishing my fellowship in June and will be starting with a surgery practice in Syracuse next summer. I am looking at the suburbs for a house that is not too far of a drive (ideally not more than 25 minutes) to the hospitals complex near downtown. I would really prefer a very safe neigborhood, which means one in which I feel safe jogging after work, and one in which I don't have to worry about the safety of my wife (a pharmacist who will also be working in the area) and one-year old daughter. We are planning on having another child in the next year or two.
The maximum that I would ever consider spending on the house is probably $3500 per month on a 30yr with 20% down, so up to $950k. Ideally, the house would have at least 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms, and with a pool or space to install one. I would prefer to spend as little as possible to still get into a good district, however, because I am very cheap and prefer to safe and invest my money instead of putting it into things like houses and cars. To give an example, I drive a 2005 Honda Accord, and I intend to keep driving it until it dies. If a good house in a good school district could be purchased for less than $250k and I could be spending $1k or less on the mortgage, that would be even better, but if getting into a good district will require more money, I am willing to spend it. Ideally, the neighborhood would be one in which the neighbors are middle to upper-middle class. I do not want to feel compelled to keep up with the Joneses, and I feel that if I'm living in an area where the households spend almost all of their disposable incomes on cars and expensive clothing, that my children will grow up to be very materialistic and demand that I buy them these things as well because "all their friends have them". My #1 priority is saving a lot of money for my children's college and graduate education. I've heard mixed things about pretty much every suburb around the city of Syracuse, so I'm open to any suggestions.
The two main priorities are that the neighborhood would have very little crime and that the school district consistently performs well. Thanks for any help you can give me.
I'll start off by saying that you can literally live wherever you want to in the area. As for school districts, look into Fayetteville-Manlius, Westhill, Jamesville-DeWitt and even districts like Marcellus, Skaneateles and Cazenovia. You even do something like the Scottholm neighborhood on the East Side of Syracuse(think old money) and go private. Strathmore and Sedgwick are similar in this regard as well. I'll add more later.
Ckh, thanks so much for your responses. I really appreciate it. I've linked to a couple of houses that would seem to be what I am looking for ideally. They will both probably be sold before I am actually in the market for them, but I'm sure that similar ones will be on the market at that time.
The owner is asking $190k and it's 5bd/4ba with just under 3000 sq ft on a 1 acre plot. Property taxes are approx $6700 on it according to realtor.com. It is zoned to Enders Road Elementary, Eagle Hill Middle School, and Fayetteville-Manlius high school. Can you tell me by any chance if these are good elementary, middle and high schools? I see according to your link that Fayetteville-Manlius is a good school district.
The owner is asking $230k and it's 4bd/3ba, with just under 2700 sq ft on a little over half an acre. Property taxes are approx $9000 on it according to realtor.com. It is also in the Fayetteville-Manlius district, but it is zoned to Fayetteville Elementary and Wellwood Middle School instead of the elementary and middle school above. It is zoned to Fayetteville-Manlius High School like the above house.
I know that these two probably won't be around next April or May. I do prefer the larger size and smaller price of the house at the first link (the one on Macclenthen Road), and with the available acreage, I could easily have the above-ground pool structure removed and have an in-ground pool installed. Are both of these houses in good, safe neighborhoods with good schools? Is one elementary school (Fayetteville or Enders Road) better than the other? Is Wellwood Middle better than Eagle Hill Middle?
As I mentioned, living in a low-crime area with good schools are the two most important things to me. Thanks for asking about what else I'm looking for. It would be nice if the house were only a short drive from a supermarket and a fitness center. Safe parks nearby to take the family on a weekend for a picnic would be a plus, and the house being in a neighborhood that we could walk at night without fear of harm. I am finishing up the fellowship in Philadelphia and I don't feel safe walking around much of the current neighborhood at night. And as I mentioned above, I would prefer not to live in a neighborhood where I feel pressured to spend a large percentage of my income on expensive cars, clothes, foreign vacations, etc. Are these houses (especially the first) in middle to upper-middle class neighborhoods?
Edit: I would prefer not to live in the city proper because I would prefer to send my kids to public rather than private schools, and I have not heard very good things about the Syracuse city schools (no offense intended).
Just to add, something like the house above seems very desirable. I Google mapped it, and assuming Enders Road and Eagle Hill are good schools, the first house is only a 4 minute drive from the elementary and middle schools (they appear to be next to each other), and it's only a 3 minute drive from the high school. The area around it looks to have some parks nearby which is a good sign. From my searching, there is a Tops Friendly Markets on West Seneca Street, Manlius which is about a 6 minute drive. Is this a good grocery store?
Both of those homes would be fine, as F-M Schools probably the best in the area and are rated as such. The general area is largely safe too.
Tops is a pretty good grocery store and each of them have their sales and specialties. Here are some of the area grocery stores: [url=http://www.topsmarkets.com/]Tops Friendly Markets - Your Neighborhood Store With More[/url]
[url=http://www.forlocations.com/aldi-Syracuse-locations-hours/NY]Aldi Syracuse NY, Hours & Locations[/url]
[url=http://aldi.us/index_ENU_HTML.htm]ALDI - Home Page[/url]
Here are some Parks too: [url=http://onondagacountyparks.com/]Home » Onondaga County Parks[/url]
Thanks so much for the information!
Quote:
Originally Posted by proulxfamily
An absolute beauty... and already has a doctor's office attached, as the seller's business. [url=http://www.trulia.com/property/3089294209-116-122-Walnut-St-Fayetteville-NY-13066]116-122 Walnut Street, Fayetteville NY - Trulia[/url]
We would definitely consider something similar to that house (or maybe even that one specifically, if it's still on the market next year). I see that house is zoned to Fayetteville elementary and Wellwood middle school.
Could either of you tell me a bit more about what most people are like in Fayetteville-Manlius? I've done a bit of browsing on city-data in the past half an hour and it seems as if some posters believe that residents like to show off how much money they make with flashy car and clothing purchases, which is definitely something that I'd like to avoid. As I mentioned, no offense to those that would rather spend, but I've always been the type of person that would prefer to create lasting wealth rather than spend it on items with fleeting value. My wife and I prefer eating at restaurants like Denny's and Friendly's to eating at fancier places, and we do a lot of our shopping at Target. Do residents' spending habits vary from neighborhood to neighborhood in Fayetteville-Manlius?
We would definitely consider something similar to that house (or maybe even that one specifically, if it's still on the market next year). I see that house is zoned to Fayetteville elementary and Wellwood middle school.
Could either of you tell me a bit more about what most people are like in Fayetteville-Manlius? I've done a bit of browsing on city-data in the past half an hour and it seems as if some posters believe that residents like to show off how much money they make with flashy car and clothing purchases, which is definitely something that I'd like to avoid. As I mentioned, no offense to those that would rather spend, but I've always been the type of person that would prefer to create lasting wealth rather than spend it on items with fleeting value. My wife and I prefer eating at restaurants like Denny's and Friendly's to eating at fancier places, and we do a lot of our shopping at Target. Do residents' spending habits vary from neighborhood to neighborhood in Fayetteville-Manlius?
Thanks so much to both of you for your advice.
I'm going to speak on that neighborhood, specifically. They're - as a stereotype - what you think of when imagining a friendly, nicely-kept, family neighborhood. Most have raised or are raising their children there and most of the kids walk to school, complete with crossing guards. Professionals with a laid-back streak. Very similar to how you described yourself.
And Friendly's is up the hill. Target is perhaps a minute and a half away.
http://www.fayettevilleny.gov/ That would be your village... very active, if you're looking for something to do. A free county library is right in your neighborhood, the kids could walk to school and Beard Park is gorgeous. Check out the Syracuse Symphony's event there, every summer, in the photo gallery. http://www.fayettevilleny.gov/PhotoGalleries.aspx
Last edited by proulxfamily; 12-18-2012 at 07:05 AM..
As an aside for Magician's Eye, I think you need to show the Village of Fayetteville what good pictures look like. They're awful. Not a single shot of Beard Park that includes the island... I mean, where you can see that it actually IS. lol
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Target is perhaps a minute and a half away.
