Places in Westchester with the lowest taxes? (White Plains, Ossining: apartment, houses)

[Novelectro]

Hello all.

My fiance have just begun the discovery phase of the home buying process but it proving to be quite difficult as our wants often don't pan out with what is obtainable (and the housing market being extremely high doesn't help much either).

Currently, we're living in a nice apartment in White Plains. I work in Katonah and she is a licensed therapist in the Norwalk. We'd like for neither one of us to have too difficult a commute (would like to be inside of 45 minutes) while simultaneously not being too far from the city. I don't know what the future will hold job-wise and so it seems to me that I am going to have to be a reasonable distance from the city in case I need to find employment at any point down the road.

As far as the home itself goes - our ideal scenario would be a place with a yard (say .25 acres or larger). We don't mind if it needs a little bit of work but aren't interested in tons of construction either. Our budget probably tops out at around $500k or so. I have actually been avoiding looking in NY and my search has primarily been in CT due to the lower taxes - but I'm wondering if maybe I'm overlooking some options in NY.

[Novelectro]

I should also add that we do like some culture in where we live. It would be nice to have places to sit and eat outside, things to do, etc.

[hominamad]

Why don't you look in White Plains? Although 500k may be on the lower end for a single family house in WP. Its central to both your jobs, and a good commute to the city if you need that in the future. Plus it has some of the lowest taxes in Westchester.

[Novelectro]

Originally Posted by hominamad

Why don't you look in White Plains? Although 500k may be on the lower end for a single family house in WP. Its central to both your jobs, and a good commute to the city if you need that in the future. Plus it has some of the lowest taxes in Westchester.

It's not a bad idea - any clue how comparable the taxes are to say, Stamford (which I'd consider to be kind of another White Plains).

[Anonymous Millennial]

I have the same issue, Im looking in Westchester for any area to buy a home with the least amount of taxes. My budget is about 100K lower then the poster. Please help! I've been trying so hard to find a list with highest to lowest taxes in Westchester. The county website for Westchester is confusing and not easily understandable. Does anyone have the top 5 area's with the cheapest taxes?

[dr.strangelove]

Originally Posted by Anonymous Millennial

I have the same issue, Im looking in Westchester for any area to buy a home with the least amount of taxes. My budget is about 100K lower then the poster. Please help! I've been trying so hard to find a list with highest to lowest taxes in Westchester. The county website for Westchester is confusing and not easily understandable. Does anyone have the top 5 area's with the cheapest taxes?

Its always hard to answer questions like this. there is not one taxing body like in the city. All area have three case taxes, 1) the local town or city tax, 2) the local school tax and 3) the county assessment. the local towns collect all three, but each are set independently and can vary a great deal. In addition to these, there are special tax districts all over the county, such as fire districts, sewer and water districts, special service districts and there are also sub-municipalities like villages. For example, if you live in Croton, you may pay Croton village tax, town of cortlandt tax, croton school tax, county tax, fire district tax, sewer and water district tax. Because these can vary from houses that sit on opposite sides of the street, its next to impossible to creat a list.

Also, tax rates can vary a great deal. For example, the tax rate in a town with very high property values can be low because the schools and town make a tremendous amount on each property. Towns with lower values must have higher rates because the towns need to make up for less from each property. You need to set a budget for your taxes and try to find a home that meets it. Best of luck to you.

[seeker283]

I hear that the lowest taxes are in white Plains, makes sense because they have the largest corporate base to help offset tax increases. There are neighborhoods behind bloomingdales rd I hear, get your self a local realtor.

[neil1973]

Somers has relatively low taxes due to IBM.
Ossining because of the prison I believe.

[vladlensky]

I'd check out Ossining or the Port Chester area as there seem to be more available options in the 400k-500k range with somewhat lower (but not really) taxes.

That said, I'd advise being really conservative about shopping in a specific town just to get a lower tax rate. Better to take a slightly pessimistic approach and budget in the assumption your taxes in, say, Ossining will have the potential to rise over the next few years. From what we've seen the tax rates in Westchester are anything but static and it's better to be prepared. When we were looking at homes, all the realtors tried to sell us on the STAR exemption, but we still budgeted assuming that STAR may eventually go away and the taxes may jump another 20%. Better safe than sorry, I guess.

If you're more comfortable paying an extra 100k up front for the home with the advantage of significantly lower taxes going forward (and plan to offset that initial investment by staying in the home for a long time), CT may make more sense. There seem to be a number of homes in the $500-600k range in the lower-Greenwich/Cos Cob/Stamford area where you are still close enough to NYC and Westchester but without the tax burden.