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My husband has a new job in central Manhattan and we are looking to move over as a family (two daughters aged 5 and 7) in the next 3 months.
I've done a fair bit of research online and Westchester county looks like the most suitable area to get a decent sized home and yet still be within a reasonable (around 30 mins by train, no more than 1 hour door-to-door) commute of the office.
What towns and villages are sympathetic to those of us who like making full use of our legs as far as train stations and shopping centres being walkable, and nice parks and civic amenities?
Within those (hopefully not too unreasonable) preferences, we'd like to rent a 4-5 bedroom house for up to $4k a month.
Any ideas from the wonderfully knowledgeable forum members?
There are lots of places - I'll let you know of one and everyone else can tell you about the rest. Mamaroneck is on the long island sound, the train is a one seat ride, about 38-40 mins, to Grand Central Station in midtown Manhattan. There is a main street ( a "high street") with many restaurants, mom and pop stores and a great new library. The village park at the bottom of the main street is on the yachting marina and harbor, there is a small coarse-grained sand beach. There is a cinema on the main street too. The housing stock has character, plenty of older places so it has an established feel and there are big mature trees all over. A river winds through the town down to the shore. Its walkable in many ways, I walk to the train station and to main street. TMamaroneck's two public schools districts are good if that is a concern, the Rye Neck district generally being deemed as very good. There is an indoor swimming pool and ice skating rink and tennis courts. There are no fish and chip shops.
No, the teabags here (Lipton) are made from sawdust and lint. You'll have to track down "PG Tips" in the ethnic food section at the grocers.
If he's working near the main NY Public Library on 42nd and Fifth then commuting should be very straightforward - Grand Central Station (the Metro North hub) is just along 42nd street.
Ugh, I can't bear to stoop to PG Tips. I think we'd better cancel this emigration nonsense.
We're coming over sometime over the Summer holidays and my plan is to jump on the North line from GCS, hop off at all the stops from about 20-30 mins into the journey and see what the town looks like.
What are the school years like? I was told that in NYC the school year starts in January, is that the case and is it also true for Westchester?
you need to look at the MTA's "\metro north rail maps - look at the new haven, harlem and hudson lines. The School year starts in September in NYC and in Westchester - I don't know where the idea is starts in january came from. 20 mins is a short journey - looking at pelham, bronxville etc. Good schools but pricey. I have no idea how far 4K will go. Look up houses for rent on craigslist.com for NY
The school year runs from September to June in NYC and Westchester. Your plan of hoping off the train at stops 20-30 minutes north of GCT may not work well, becasue there are 3 differnet lines that run North and no easy way to get from one line to the other without going back down to NYC.
Here's the approach I would take:
Use advice from this board to pinpoint the towns that have nice centers. Believe it or not, there aren't that many of them. In my opinion the best downtown areas can be found in Bronxville, Pleasantville, Mamaroneck, DobbsFerry, Scarsdale, Mt. Kisco, White Plains, Katonah, and Rye.
Use a combination of this map MNR Connecting Service and these timetables MNR Schedules to how long the commute from each of these towns would be.
During the summer holiday, take a train from GCT to North White Plains, rent a car from the Hertz directly across from the station and drive to the towns your interested in. In virtually all cases, the train stations will be in the downtown areas, so figuring out directions to each train station should do the trick.
Once you know the towns you're interested in, come back to the board with specific questions.
[quote=MummyRice;19997853]Ugh, I can't bear to stoop to PG Tips. I think we'd better cancel this emigration nonsense.
Don't panic! You can order Yorkshire Gold Tea (and HP sauce/Ribena) from Amazon. Plus, there are enough of you lot running 'round; I am sure there are some proper Brit shops about!
I have only been here a week, or else I would point you towards them....
Don't despair, you can find Red Rose and Tetley at most grocery stores (although the Red Rose comes with the little string thing, I don't think Americans know what to do with a tea bag without string). Just don't expect anything remotely resembling proper tea at a restaurant... My Stop and Shop also has a little section of British goods if you have a craving for Hobnobs, HP Sauce, Cadbury's...
As for towns to look in, tommya has given a good list of ones with nice walkable centers, but 30 minutes on the train isn't going to get you all that far. Since your husband is going to be working right near Grand Central you might want to consider a slightly longer train commute since you won't need to do a subway ride on the other end. For example, Pleasantville would be a good option for you, but the train ride is more than 30 minutes. Bronxville would meet your criteria and is very close to the city. I would also add Pelham for a short commute.
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