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Old 12-25-2013, 08:43 PM
 
25 posts, read 67,027 times
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Hi all,

Just starting our research into towns in Westchester and I was wondering if someone could give me some insight into Port Chester, compared to New Rochelle, or White Plains. First, a little about our situation. My fiancé and I are both young professionals, we both grew up in the suburbs, and are missing that suburban lifestyle living in the city. We are researching towns in westchester, and hoping to make the move in about 8-12 months. We have a few main concerns:

1) Budget - we understand that our budget is low for a single family in westchester, but from what I've seen, it is not completely out of the question - budget is $400-450k - I'm fairly handy and a diyer. So I'm willing to renovate something.

2) proximity to GCT via metro north and driving distance to Queens. We'd like to stay on the more south eastern side of westchester due to our individual commutes

3) resale value - this is the factor where the school district comes in for us...we are not planning on children for at least another 3-5 years, so it would be 8-10 years before children are school age and by that time our incomes as well as our family will likely outgrow our "starter" house. I know the school district will effect resale value - but how much will it really effect it if we stay there for a longer period of time like say 10 years?

I'd love to hear thoughts on our best bet, we are really looking into Port Chester right now because it seems to be the best bang for our buck and it also seems to be somewhat up and coming. But resale potential is slightly concerning to me.
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Old 12-26-2013, 05:03 AM
 
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Suggest you rent first. You don't know what your circumstances will be 8 years from now and future resale values are hard to estimate. Renting also gives you time to figure out what you really want in a house without the burden of owning and maintaining one.
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Old 12-26-2013, 09:47 AM
 
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The renting suggestions is a good one. I'll add..

1. In that budget there will be a lot of renovation in your future. You will be dedicating a lot of time to renovating and your life will be pretty boring and stressful for a few years. I speak from experience.
2. Drive to queens and commute to GCT are all good from those locations. It would just depend on how close the house is to the train station and the hutchinson.
3. Your resale value will be something like what you paid + 50%to 100% of what it cost you to renovate. To expect anything more would be foolish in my opinion. In other words buying a house is not a guaranteed money investment. Its an investment in family.

In conclusion, the best reason to move to a house when you don't have kids is to force yourself to save money for a house for when you have kids. For example, if you move into a house worth $450k and do $150k worth of renovations by the time you have kids you can move into a house worth $550k. Had you not done this, you would of spent $150k on nice vacations and nice cars and then kids would come and you could only afford a $450k house.


PS
I would pick WP if I had family/friends to the west. PC if I had family/friends in CT, and NR if I had friend/family in manhattan/queens.
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Old 12-26-2013, 08:18 PM
 
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I'm not expecting to have any significant capital gains on the house, I just don't want to lose a lot of money. Renting is not an option, we are ready to settle down and we do not want to move around, nor do we want to pay the mortgage, taxes, and insurance for someone else when we could be paying that for ourselves. Although our price point is lower than the median for house prices, we are not afraid to do renovations to get what we want. We realize this is our starter house, and we want to make the investment now instead of just blowing money on vacations and cars which don't really give you any kind of return.

We are just trying to get an idea of what the towns are like from the perspective of other Westchester County residents. But, thanks for the advice...I would love more insight on restaurants, bars, or shopping in White Plains, New Rochelle, and Port Chester. As well as insight about parking at the train stations, waiting lists, and the good neighborhoods, or the ones we should definitely avoid.

Thanks!
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Old 12-27-2013, 05:14 AM
 
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I don't hear a lot about PC or the neighborhoods you mentioned being up and coming. There are a couple of things about Brooklyn that you can't find in PC - proximity to Manhattan and lower RE taxes. Without these, I don't see how PC can attract a large enough crowd of young artistic (and often childless/unmarried) people. Without demand from the hipsters/yupsters as well as from families with kids looking for the better school districts, what are the chances that you will be able to sell that house at a reasonable price when the time comes?

Another consideration is that you don't need to live in those areas to enjoy their restaurants, bars, etc. They are easily accessible from the other neighborhoods within a few minutes drive. And when the kids arrive, they will inevitably move down the priority ladder and you will start thinking about schools, density, neighbors and services (libraries, garbage pickup, police).
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Old 12-27-2013, 09:31 AM
 
Location: Westchester County, NY
293 posts, read 882,152 times
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Why not buy an apartment instead? You can get a three bedroom, 2 bath apartment for easily under 450K in the neighborhoods you're talking about, and in some nicer areas as well - for example, there's a listing in Mamaroneck for 425k, Rye Neck Schools. While you're giving up your own back yard for now, most towns have great parks and playgrounds nearby, so there are a lot of outdoor options. And you can save your money for a larger down payment in the future - instead of paying for major renovations, minor repairs, the 2k to remove trees before (or after) the inevitable freaky storm, etc, etc.

I also personally think it is a bad decision to buy in a school district you aren't willing to send your kids to. Even if its 10 years out, you never know what the market will be like when you really need to sell. Too many friends of mine are stuck in places now that they can't get out of. That's bad enough, but add the stress of school on top of it, ugh.
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Old 12-27-2013, 10:05 AM
 
374 posts, read 1,054,168 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dblack87 View Post
I'm not expecting to have any significant capital gains on the house, I just don't want to lose a lot of money. Renting is not an option, we are ready to settle down and we do not want to move around, nor do we want to pay the mortgage, taxes, and insurance for someone else when we could be paying that for ourselves. Although our price point is lower than the median for house prices, we are not afraid to do renovations to get what we want. We realize this is our starter house, and we want to make the investment now instead of just blowing money on vacations and cars which don't really give you any kind of return.

We are just trying to get an idea of what the towns are like from the perspective of other Westchester County residents. But, thanks for the advice...I would love more insight on restaurants, bars, or shopping in White Plains, New Rochelle, and Port Chester. As well as insight about parking at the train stations, waiting lists, and the good neighborhoods, or the ones we should definitely avoid.

Thanks!
My limited perspective:
New rochelle: crowded with good restaurants
PC: crowded with lots of hills -- basements flood
White Plains: lots of bars and restaurants

I wouldn't discount any with your budget. They should all fit the budget and have comparable schools in my opinion. will be hard to find the perfect house in any of these towns, so you should keep your options open.

Do you have two perfect houses in two of these towns? You make it sound like you are going to pick the town and then the house will be easier to pick. I think its the opposite, you pick the house and the town comes along for the ride.
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Old 12-28-2013, 06:42 AM
 
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In your price range, you will probably be limited to southern NR. Pros would be convenience to downtown NR, which has a few restaurants. You would be zoned for either Trinity or Jefferson Elementary, which are considered the weaker NR elem schools. You may get lucky and find a fixer upper in the north end in your range in places like Wilmot Woods. The home would be small, probably no more than 2000 sq feet, and would need lots of work. The benefit would be you would be zoned for better public schools. The commute to Queens from either northern or southern NR is reasonable as long as you are near the Hutch.

If you are open to it, consider the co-ops on Garth road in Eastchester. The co-ops would hit your price range and are right by the Bronx River, so the commute to Queens won't be bad. Garth road co-ops also have the benefit of walkability. You can run most of your daily errands without jumping in a car. You would benefit being zoned for Eastchester schools, which are good. Finally, Garth road is right near the Scarsdale MNR station, where there is ample non-resident parking. Express train to GCT is about 30/35 minutes. Residents on Garth Road are pretty down-to-earth too.
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Old 12-29-2013, 10:26 AM
 
Location: Armonk NY
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PC has some nice neighborhoods. You get a discount for living in Portchester vs. Rye or Ryebrook. Some great new resturants and the Capital Theatre. It also have the big box stores (Applebys/Buffalo Wild Wings/ etc..)and the large/new movie theatre complex that we prefer over the City Center in WP. You are also very close to Greenwich & Rye and not far from WP. Smaller and less busy than NR or WP. You can also jump on 95 and get to Queens pretty.
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Old 12-29-2013, 10:27 AM
 
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Though the key takeaway is that you can own a house in Armonk and still enjoy the amenities in PC.
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