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Old 11-21-2012, 08:16 PM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CaliInChappaqua View Post

Pleasantville only gives parking permits to people who live in the village proper, and most of those houses you could probably walk to the train station from.
Houses outside the village but in the Town of Mt. Pleasant get parking at Hawthorne or Valhalla.
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Old 11-22-2012, 05:12 AM
 
Location: Bellevue, WA
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True, but you'll need to check the schedules for both of these places. As I recall when we looked up there, sometimes places further north would give you a shorter commute as they had more express options.
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Old 11-23-2012, 10:20 AM
 
Location: Yorktown Heights NY
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Distance is definitely not the same thing as train trip length. This graphic is great for a comparison of trip lengths:

The New York Times > New York Region > Image > Travel Times on Commuter Rail

You also need to check for how often trains come and how many express trains there are. (I've been commuting via Croton-Harmon for 11 years now and have never had to take anything slower than the semi-express, which takes 10 minutes longer than an express). Options are key when it comes to commuting!
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Old 11-26-2012, 10:38 AM
 
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Chappaqua is a hub and has express trains directly to/from the city that make it a quicker trip than P-ville, Hawthorne or other stops above White Plains. I can get door to door (my office is in midtown) in a little over an hour.
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Old 12-02-2012, 12:59 PM
 
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These are all very wonderful recommendations. Thank you.

We actually found a home in Chappaqua yesterday that we are about to make an offer on. However it has well water. What does this mean? Is this a negative?

In response to all the previous questions (sorry I've been swamped at work haven't had a chance to check this string): We live in Great Neck and were affected by the storm but all is back to normal now; I work normal lawyers hours (maybe more) because I am a Partner at my law firm; the extra 10 minute commute won't kill me (after dealing with the LIRR and Penn station and the cross town commute for years even an hour door to door would be cutting my time); and we do want tons of land and open spaces (currently we have no land and lots of beautiful parks and hiking trails and waterfront parks-we now want both a large lot and the same beautiful outdoor spaces which I know Northern Westchester has).
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Old 12-02-2012, 03:34 PM
 
Location: Connectucut shore but on a hill
2,617 posts, read 7,007,035 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by NYCLawyerMama View Post
These are all very wonderful recommendations. Thank you.

We actually found a home in Chappaqua yesterday that we are about to make an offer on. However it has well water. What does this mean? Is this a negative?
It means nothing. The vast majority of houses up here have well water so it would be a negative for practically everywhere in NE Westchester above I-684. Yet people manage, including the mega-estates in Bedford. Get used to relatively hard water.

Keep in mind that when the power goes out so does your well pump. If you have a decent generator setup this isn't a problem. It doesn't take much, a 6000 watt portable generator is cheap. If you hook it up for 240v directly to your house it will run your well pump, fridge, an oil furnace and most of your lights. You'll need an electrician to do this. But if you have an electric stove &/or insist on running your dryer during an outage it's probably not enough.
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Old 12-02-2012, 04:00 PM
 
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Hmmm. Something to think about. There was another house that we really liked that has municipal water. I just don't know if I want to deal with the hassle once the power goes out-which it always does (at least here in LI) after every little storm in NY (not talking about Sandy).

We have a generator but I don't want to have to use it to get running water if I can avoid it.
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Old 12-02-2012, 06:21 PM
 
Location: Bellevue, WA
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I think well water can be an issue with flouride or lack therof and getting dishes totally clean, and of course you'll want to have it inspected.

If it also has septic, I do recall that you may be limited on increasing bedrooms if you are ever inclined to do so.
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Old 12-02-2012, 07:06 PM
 
Location: Yorktown Heights NY
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Many towns in westchester don't add fluoride to the water--that's predominantly a city thing. With young kids you'll want to give them additional fluoride if you have well water or if your town doesn't flouridate the water. If you purchase a house with a well the water will be tested as part of the home inspection. While some object to water softeners for environmental reasons, we have one and love the taste and feel of our water--and our dishes are very clean.
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Old 12-02-2012, 08:47 PM
 
113 posts, read 244,159 times
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Thanks to all for this input. Based on what I have learned here and on my own research, I have decided that well water is not for me. We drink Poland spring anyway (and my kids take fluoride chews) so it's not the drinking water. It's the potential hassle of the well pump that has made us decide that we will most likely out an offer in on a different house in Chappaqua, which has muni water. With all of the other headaches that come with home ownership, I want to avoid any extras if possible.

As for septic, I noticed that virtually all of the towns in Northern Westchester seem to be primarily septic towns. The few exceptions I found were homes that were closer to the town and were on town water and sewer. We have a lot of septic in LI as well-it's a pain but liveable if maintained properly.

Of course we would have an engineer inspect the home, as well as the septic tank. I happen to be a real estate lawyer so I actually know what to look for. Thankfully the house that we will now bid on has an above ground oil tank. As did this well water house.

I looked at a few listings in Katonah as well-and even though those were newer construction they also had well water. What is it in that area? They can't run municipal water sewer lines anywhere?
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