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My husband and I are from Rockland County. We are used to small towns and driving to nearby towns that are all within 15 minutes to go out to eat, less than five minutes from supermarket, and having four malls within 15-20 minute drive. Would love to move back there, but both of our jobs are in Upper Westchester.
Right now, we live in Mt Kisco (past few years), and are enjoying it but are looking to buy a home. Our price range is in the 300's and looking for a 3 bedroom, 2 bath with at least a quarter acre. Obviously this doesn't exist in Kisco.
I have heard mixed feelings about Yorktown, Mahopac, and Carmel. Can you please tell me what sections to stay away from? What would you categorize the residents as? Snobby, country, down to earth, hippies? Upper, middle, lower classes? Certain nationalities? etc. I want details!
Which has great restaurants? Better schools? I work in Chappaqua Schools, so I know a thing or two about SAT scores but I want to know which of these towns has things to do, that don't involve partying in the woods or stuck inside on a rainy day. Are there movie theatres and kid friendly activities?
What about convenience. When you drive to the supermarket, how far away is it?
How about taxes? Do you think we'd be better up North more for cheaper taxes and more land? Or would we be bored to tears b/c there is nothing to do?
Again, any feedback would be so appreciated! We are so used to living in the cute and busy town of Mt Kisco and wonderful Rockland County. We really could use insider information about these towns : )
I regretfully don't have any info on these towns. But your post sparked my interest because my husband and I are in a similar situation except kinda reversed. We live in Dutchess county, but our jobs moved to northern & mid westchester county and we are looking into the possibility of moving to Mt Kisco. Can you tell me how you like Mt Kisco?? Our budget is the same as yours, and we too would like a 3BR home, but if we go for Mt Kisco we'll probably have to settle for a 2BR townhouse style condo if we are lucky.
One of my main concerns is the people. I grew up in Nassau County, and while I enjoyed also having 4 malls 15 minutes away in any direction, I always found, in general, people to be on the arrogant & materialistic side. (sorry! I know everyone's not like that, but that is the general feel there). When I first moved to dutchess county, I judged people as "hicks" and "townies" but now that I am living here, I will take the average dutchess county person over the average nassau county attitude any day of the week and twice on sunday. People are much more friendly here and much more down to earth and no they are not all "hicks" and "townies" lol. So, I am kinda curious about your perception of the crowd in Mt Kisco. Again, people are all individuals and I don't want to "judge"... but some areas definitely have a different air about them than others.
Keliz,
Mt kisco is awesome. It has everything (besides a mall) but the JV in Yorktown is only 25 mins away and there's Kohls, Target, Gap in town. My favorite thing to do is walk into town on the weekend or see a free movie on Tuesdays with my Optimim card. There's plenty of restaurants and cute pubs to hang out at as well as kid friendly places. Although, I am sad that the borders has closed, not sure whats going in there. Has anyone heard?
As far as pricing goes, you can get a two or three bedroom condo on barker for around 200-250. Townhouse prices are rediculous here, starting at high 3's to over 500. And homes (serious fixer uppers with no land) in the 4's going up from there. Hence the reason why we can't stay. We want land and a decent house.
The people are nice here. Now, I must say, in the two years I have been here and three years my husband has lived here, we haven't met any friends. Of course there are the same gym patrons I will run into and people in our apt complex are very sweet. I cannot speak for everyone. The makeup of the town is diverse, and there are certain streets that some areas tend to be more crowded. (illegal living situations) I do think it is a great place to raise kids and it has charm. You will meet the occasional snob, but I tend to laugh at people who take things too seriously and think they are superior to others. They tend to wear rediculous outfits and usually dine at Cafe of Love. Shout out to Passage of India, Thai Angels, and Lefteris- our fave restaurants.
Any other questions?
Should have left,
I am not looking for a certain makeup of people. I want a smorgasbord? Spelling?
I don't want to deal with too much materialism but want to live amongst college educated people or hard working folks. Also preferably young people, married folks... Just starting out. So no retirement age areas. Do you have suggestions?
I think you're making a mistake looking for land. You will make some large trade-offs for that precious land.
Do you know people who live in Yorktown, Mahopac, Carmel?
The latter 2 are nothing like Rockland or Kisco, and will have a higher percentage of uneducated whites.
What exactly have you heard people say? PM me if it's not "PC".
You should stick with a condo, but it will be hard to reverse the "everyone needs to live in a house" brainwashing.
A few more questions that are very relevant:
Approximately how old are you?
Is your salaries topped out yet?
Where your husband also a teacher?
My husband works in the private sector, not a teacher. We are not topped out yet. We are almost 30. We are looking to start a family in a year or so, which is why we are searching. We really have had enough of condo living, want our own space and want to make an investment in a house while interest rates are low. Condos don't have good returns when it comes time to sell. We know bc we are subletting in a complex and there are over 15 units for sale here. No one is buying them.
I haven't heard anything necessarily horrible about mahopac or Carmel but... Can you provide insight as to whether you think they will become more populated and more suburban like Yorktown or will they stay rural? Why should we avoid one or the other?
Is Yorktown our best bet?
I think you should save your money and wait a few more years.
Will your husband's salary increase much over the next 3 years?
You might be making another $15k higher than you do now.
You will have much better choices in 3 years.
MORE savings, MORE income. This way you don't need to settle for living up north.
Bottom line, live as far south as you can.
It gets less trashy, rural, townie, uneducated as you travel south (and near train lines)
Yea, our families and friends are based in Rockland, it's just that our jobs are based here which makes it so hard to decide. Maybe we will wait it out a bit. It's not easy making all these decisions...
I appreciate your input.
Teach, Thank you for the info! Yeah, we are in a similar predicament - With a budget in the 300's , we could get a great house up here (dutchess county) right now. Or, we can wait it out and rent for a year or two to save up a bigger down payment so that we can eventually get something closer to work in Mt Kisco. But - then I worry that waiting means we'll miss out on the great interest rates! (or even housing prices may rise) Decisions, decisions! Good luck to you guys. P.S. my co-worker lives in Carmel... He's always saying he ends up spending all of his time in Danbury since he says there is not much going on in Putnam county.
Teach277,
Yes, just wait. You're fine in Mt Kisco. You're just making your life complicated because you're bored. People constantly do this. Just stockpile the money and revisit this in a few years when you have more income and more downpayment.
What grade do you teach?
What year and step are you?
How much money do you have saved for a downpayment so far?
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Our budget is the same as yours, and we too would like a 3BR home, but if we go for Mt Kisco we'll probably have to settle for a 2BR townhouse style condo if we are lucky.
