Yorktown Heights, NY (Yonkers, Peekskill, Bedford: real estate, house, neighborhoods)

[eileen824]

WOW! HOME$$$RIPOFF - Where the heck do you live? I have lived all over Westchester and Manhattan and Stamford, and let me tell you it is REALLY hard to escape high taxes in Westchester County!!!! I currently live in Yorktown Heights and yes, taxes are high here. But I sold my home in Rye to move here and I could not be happier. Our taxes were equally as high in Rye, but we get a lot more green space (and house) here for our money. All our kids schools are nearby, and we are very happy with them so far. This is what we found in Yorktown, that we had a harder time with in Rye: working people / family oriented, nice environment,(not cheesy or dumpy) but not too "upper crusty". (yes, we have shopped in Kmart!) - Not very many nannys, mostly parents involved with kids activities. Two town pools(both new) for $260 yr fee (fee in Rye for 1 pool is like $1000!) Plenty of affordable shopping and grocery shopping and reasonable restaurants. Oh and did I mention SPACE?
I am a college educated middle class mommy and my husband is a police officer. There are all kinds here and class levels here, but it is not so strongly skewed to the rich like Rye, Scarsdale, Larchmont, etc. My neighbors are mostly from the Bronx or Yonkers, they are an accountant, Insurance, electrician, teacher. They still accept me even though I am from Rye LOL! I don't see many Manhattanites, because the commute to a train station can be a pain - and what train station you go VERY HIGHLY depends on what part of Yorktown you live in . I live in the northern part - it takes me about 20 minutes to get to a valid train station. (I don't count Peekskill) . If you live a little more south of where I do, you can go over to Croton which is a fast and GREAT commuting train station. Further south, you can go to Mount Kisco. western parts of town can go to Golden's Bridge. If you want a clean semi - country (the town really protects open space - which is refreshing to me after living in Harrison and Rye) FAMILY Oriented area, choose this town, I can advise you on house locations, preschools, pros and cons, etc. If you want country clubs, chic restaruants, expensive stores, and Harvard bound preschool programs - do NOT pick here as you will not be happy! To each his / her own! Good Luck!

[Natalpaz]

JT629, ELO455 and cyan29 - Yorktown is very family friendly, it is a great town with lots of conveniences (SHOPPING), restaurants and entertainment options. There is Community Center & Cultural Center that houses Yorktown Theater company (they put together musicals and plays during the year, and run a summer camp for kids), in addition to the museum, ballet school etc.
Commute to the city is reasonable, if you work near Grand Central - you will be taking Metro North from the closest train station to your house.

Good luck to you all!
Natasha

[J&Em]

Hmmm I am not sure where that came from either!

Simple test of his/her theory is to go to Realtor.com and look up houses in Yorktown (or any nearby town) with a price of $350,000 to $450,000. It comes up with close to 40. Extend it up to $550,000 and there are over 90 house for sale. A realistic cost for a reasonable and modest home would be somewhere in the $450,000 and up.

Yorktown and some of its neighboring communities are nice middle class towns. Each has small plusses and minuses but overall they are is good to bring up kids and are generally family oriented. Eileen you really covered a lot of what makes Yorktown a good community over all. Depending on what part of town you will find some differences in yuppieness, with the southern end being a bit more and the northern a little less. Most Yorktowners I have worked with and met are really nice down to earth people.

[Aeternitas]

I am also looking to move to Yorktown Heights. Actually i was looking at a couple of towns in Westchester and no matter what i do i still end up looking at properties for Yorktown Heights. I guess it is meant to be. I am probably going to be there sometime next year, spring, since i first have to sell my house in Queens. I did take in consideration the the amount of time it will take me to get to work. It takes me 1 hour and 30 minutes to get to work with public transportation. How bad can it be with Metro north.
After driving around Yorktown Heights for a couple of hours and seeing the how much different its there, my wife and I fell in love with it.

Can anyone tell me about the schools there. I mean any links to read up on it myself? It will greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[MikeNY]

Yorktown schools are top notch but it all comes down to your price range and what you are looking for to see if Yorktown is good for you. House prices can vary in Yorktown by a wide range. I took some clients out this weekend and in the $450,000-$500,000 range the homes need a lot of updating/work, closer to $600,000 you get a much nicer home, $600 and up even better, taxes may be an issue though. You can email me if you need any further assistance. Mike@MikeTrinch.com

[dma1250]

I live in Yorktown Heights. It is quite large and has many different areas, but all offer a tremendous amount for the price. The schools are fabulous, the shopping is excellent, there are tremendous parks and nature preserves, and you are less than 10 minutes from a huge variety of towns, restaurants, galleries, museums, etc.

My commute to Grand Central on Metro North is an hour and 5 minutes. The trip (from Croton) is lovely and the trains are very reliable.

As for schools, my experience so far has been great. Our son goes to French Hill, which we love. Yorktown has K-2 schools and 3-5 schools, so they are small and really focussed on the specific ages. The teachers have been excellent and the curriculum is good. Our son's teachers have been quick to understand him and how he learns best, and they have gone the extra mile to make things interesting and appealing for him. I've been really pleasantly surpirsed by how excellent the schools are.

Looking at the earlier posts, I feel the need to point out that YH has many different areas with very different price ranges. While some parts are on the suburban side and homes sell in the 500-600K range, other areas are quite different. My area is very "rural," quiet, and full of great old houses with land. The cheapest house for sale in the last few years was 900K. Most sell for over 1M. That kind of socio-economic diverstity is one of the things that I love about the area--and I think it makes the schools better, too.

[dma1250]

PS. there's a good blog that has lots of information on the general area. I got in trouble for posting the link, but it is not affiliated with any realtor and has no advertising. It is Northern Westchester Home on blogspot.com.

[baby1nov]

I just wanted to add my 2 cents. I have lived in Yorktown all my life. I grew up in Shrub Oak, which is an adorable area in Northern Yorktown. When I got married I bought a house in a more southern part of the town, near Sparkle Lake. I currently sold my home and am looking to stay in Yorktown but needed something different from the home I had. I have looked around in other areas deciding to keep all options open but keep coming back to Yorktown. Not only because it has been my home for so long, but because it offers so much. It is never a far drive to get to any type of shopping you need. Yorktown School disctrict is very higly rated and if you are commuting in almost any area of Yorktown you are never far from a major roadway. Its a great place to raise kids, even nowadays if there were times I realized I forgot to lock the front door I didn't worry about it. The public pools have been recently renovated and are truly beautiful. And I think its one of the last great towns to live in Westchester that is affordable when you compare it to similiar towns in lower Westchester.

[chantaljones]

i was born and raised in yorktown. i am 33 years old and spent 31 of those in y-town (except for college.)

i loved life in yorktown. i lived off rt 118 and had choice of mt. kisco or croton station for my commute into manhattan.

two years ago i moved to atlanta and it has turned out to be the stupidest thing i've ever done. i long for my blissful days in yorktown where crime and safety never entered my mind. i am planning to return to the area of northern westchester as soon as i locate a decent priced apt. to rent. this may take a while!!

it was a great place to be raised. the schools are great. i don't ever want to raise a family if it's not in a place like yorktown.

[LauraP]

Hi, don't feel negatively about Y'town Hts. It's a GREAT town, with wonderful young families who care about their children and properties (not their jewelry or designer handbags). Property sizes are bigger than a postage stamp, shopping is decent, schools are EXCELLENT, lots of sports and activities for the kids, etc, etc. We do not have our own train station here in town, however we are within 5-10 minutes from 4 different stations. It's DEFINITELY worth looking into.