Chappaqua, Briarcliff, Armonk and ???? (White Plains, Rye: for sale, real estate, broker)

[jmp1414]

My family (1 preschooler and newborn) currently live in Rye. My husband and I both work in White Plains. I have a 4/5ths flex schedule and can work from home. Although we enjoy Rye, we "think" we want to move in light of the no school busing and the extremely high cost of real estate. With the exception of one year, our children (4 grades apart) will be at separate schools. I observe parents in Rye racing from preschool drop-off/pick-up to elemantary schools only to wait in lines. We are looking to buy a house in the 800-950K range. We realize taxes could hit 25K.

Criteria -(in order of preference)
1. We want excellant schools.
2. My husband also commutes into NYC for client dinners approx two times a week - train is not a priority. We would like to keep his drive time into NYC in off-peak hours to 45 minutes.
3. My husband is jewish and I'm catholic. We are exposing our children to both faiths. We really like the make-up of Rye. Our daughter has been exposed to many kids of both faiths. In addition, there are a bunch of families like us with mixed faith marriages.
4. My preference is for house to be in a neighborhood, I realize that this may not be realistic.

We were very much considering Pleasantville, but the no bus factor is a very big drawback. There are a lot of negative posts on Armonk which on paper is on our top list. I

n sum, we like Rye, we hate the price tag and no busing. I wish there were my families with working moms (perhaps that changes as the kids get older - I've only be exposed to preschool moms). We feel that for our price range and our commuting needs plus what we could get elsewhere, we are fools for staying. I welcome your thoughts.

[TAK8]

Having moved last year to Chappaqua, I would say it would be a good fit. There are good houses available in your price and tax range, and both faiths you mentioned are well represented (among others, of course.)

Ditto Pleasantville, though if the absence of busing is the reason for your move, that's a major strike against P'ville.

FYI our block (Mill River Road), on the south side of Chappaqua, extends into the Pleasantville school district and the P'Ville folks on our block are, I understand, among the few in P'Ville who are eligible for busing. (In fact, the bus comes down the block to get them, unlike the Chapp bus which our kids have to walk out to.)

The block is walkable to town and might better meet your desire for a neighborhood feel than the more remote Chappaqua homes. I don't know if anything's up for sale now or at what price, but the block generally includes homes within your range. Also, the situation I've described suggests that you may want to ask a local broker if there are other houses in the P'Ville school district that are exceptions to the "no busing" rule.

Good luck!

[mfenimore]

I think any of these towns would work for you in terms of school/price range. I don't think in any of them working moms are the norm, but there are working moms and you can find some. I am one in Briarcliff. I think all have some religious diversity, although Armonk may be more Jewish than the others. As for neighborhood feel-Pleasantville probably has much more of a neighborhood feel. I know in Briarcliff there are not a whole lot of streets so a lot of houses are on main roads but you can find such streets if you look long and hard enough but all these towns have a nice downtown. Chappaqua is the largest in terms of downtown and school size.

[bardo770]

chappaqua is 70% jewish, according to a friend who just finished high school (Horace Greely)...

He said kids there were basically divided into the asian crowd, i.e. chinese hang out with chinese, indians with indians, etc. and the white people were divided into the jocks/athletes/popular kids, the normal kids, and the weird kids. When I asked him how many were jewish, he said almost all white kids were jewish. So your child will get along fine with all the white kids.