Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > New York > Westchester County
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Closed Thread Start New Thread
 
Old 02-03-2014, 01:34 PM
 
116 posts, read 372,609 times
Reputation: 68

Advertisements

Just curious how many of you ended up in your first choice town. We're going into our 2nd year of house hunting, and one of the many things I've learned is that looking in Westchester is not like an episode of House Hunters - there's no way you're going to see 3 good houses in one day! Instead, a house comes up.....then 3 weeks later another house comes up..... leaving you at risk of buying something and then being disappointed when something better appears later, or of waiting too long and ending up empty handed. We've opened up our search to 4 villages and in nearly 2 years we've seen only 2 homes we were enthusiastic about. Did any of you have to compromise on your "top town"? Is this how people end up in NJ?

 
Old 02-03-2014, 01:47 PM
 
7,296 posts, read 11,833,709 times
Reputation: 3266
Really hard to find the right house since you get a lot of older inventory in Westchester (and not a few with CO issues).

Why not instead focus on first, the town/village, then the location w/in the town and finally do (*major*) remodeling to make the house come out the way you want?

You seem to prefer real walkability and there is a limited number of locations in the NY metro that are truly walkable. So if you find one that's in your desired location then buy it and after, remodel it.
 
Old 02-03-2014, 06:32 PM
 
Location: Harrison
866 posts, read 2,476,572 times
Reputation: 513
We first ended up in the right house, wrong town. That part only became obvious after living there for a while. Then we did what Forest_Hills_Daddy suggests - we zeroed in on a neighborhood and when something suitable with potential came up we went for it. Did a total gut reno and a large addition, but now the house is OURS in a great neighborhood with almost an acre. If we had been waiting for a perfect house in this neighborhood we'd still be waiting.

My thoughts are that if you really like a specific village/town and that's where you want to be, look "outside the box" and be willing to do some renovations on a house that has the location location location you desire.
 
Old 02-04-2014, 07:47 AM
 
223 posts, read 826,460 times
Reputation: 62
Totally agree with the above-pick a town and location, you can always change the house to your liking if the bones are good. No house is going to be perfectly to your liking. We have done major renovations to both our homes but we picked for location.
 
Old 02-04-2014, 08:00 AM
 
Location: Katonah
83 posts, read 167,630 times
Reputation: 49
I agree. Find the town and either wait for the right house or make it the right house. We found our perfect town (within the Katonah Village) and then had to wait a year for the right house to come on the market. We definitely got lucky but also know that some of our new friends knew it was the right town as well but couldn't find the right house but made the purchase anyway.

What's that line? "You can always change the house, but you can't change the location?"
One couple is almost doing a complete tear down because there is nothing worth saving. But it is a great street and right in town. And when they are done they will have the right house and the right location.

In my mind, even if it takes you 5 years to make the house what you want, you will probably still end up ahead. Use streetsmart as an example, you may think you can make the neighborhood work but then after a while you realize, wow we need to get out of here. Then you are starting over again.
 
Old 02-04-2014, 11:19 AM
 
Location: Yorktown Heights NY
1,316 posts, read 5,182,050 times
Reputation: 444
We picked the area, the 3 school districts we liked, and set a commute limit. The area encompassed a few towns. We are city people who were leaving Park Slope, so we wanted to get a rural feel that the city can't provide and weren't interested in anything right in a town. We didn't care about the town's main street since we'd be driving to a number of towns, so what mattered was the specific community, schools, proximity to towns we liked, and the drive to the train. We looked at well over 100 houses and ended up buying something with "potential" for the bones, the property, and the location/community. In terms of house specifics, we had a few deal-breakers in terms of size but were open to anything pre-1975. In the 12 plus years we've lived here, we've done a few big renovations and gotten the place to near-perfection (for a 275 year old house, that is).
 
Old 02-04-2014, 01:23 PM
 
Location: Katonah
83 posts, read 167,630 times
Reputation: 49
Quote:
Originally Posted by dma1250 View Post
We picked the area, the 3 school districts we liked, and set a commute limit. The area encompassed a few towns. We are city people who were leaving Park Slope, so we wanted to get a rural feel that the city can't provide and weren't interested in anything right in a town. We didn't care about the town's main street since we'd be driving to a number of towns, so what mattered was the specific community, schools, proximity to towns we liked, and the drive to the train. We looked at well over 100 houses and ended up buying something with "potential" for the bones, the property, and the location/community. In terms of house specifics, we had a few deal-breakers in terms of size but were open to anything pre-1975. In the 12 plus years we've lived here, we've done a few big renovations and gotten the place to near-perfection (for a 275 year old house, that is).
That's great that you found what you wanted. We did the same thing by looking at school districts, the specific community, and the proximity to the train/town. That's how we landed on the village of Katonah. When we left the upper west side, we didn't want the rural feel. We weren't ready for that. And we didn't want to have to spend our day driving around to different towns to get things done, we wanted everything right around the corner. There are times when we go two weeks without getting in a car.

But again, it's what is important to you and your family. there are always compromises, but ideally you make the compromises on the house, not the location. You can't pick up and move your house. Well, if you house is able to move, that might have been too big of a compromise!
 
Old 02-04-2014, 06:13 PM
 
Location: Yorktown Heights NY
1,316 posts, read 5,182,050 times
Reputation: 444
^^ Agreed--its all about personal preferences: you identify your must haves and then look for houses that fit.

I certainly wouldn't want to have to drive from town to then to get things done either. We get everything we need within 5 minutes. But we drive another 10 minutes when we want to enjoy the galleries and brewpubs in Peekskill or the restaurants in Mt Kisco or the chi-chi shops in Katonah. That isn't that often. I've never understood why anyone would leave NYC if what they wanted was walkability: we left to get what the city can't offer, not to get a boring mild version of what it has. But as you say, it's all about personal preferences.
 
Old 02-04-2014, 06:51 PM
 
Location: Katonah
83 posts, read 167,630 times
Reputation: 49
Quote:
Originally Posted by dma1250 View Post
^^ Agreed--its all about personal preferences: you identify your must haves and then look for houses that fit.

I certainly wouldn't want to have to drive from town to then to get things done either. We get everything we need within 5 minutes. But we drive another 10 minutes when we want to enjoy the galleries and brewpubs in Peekskill or the restaurants in Mt Kisco or the chi-chi shops in Katonah. That isn't that often. I've never understood why anyone would leave NYC if what they wanted was walkability: we left to get what the city can't offer, not to get a boring mild version of what it has. But as you say, it's all about personal preferences.

You are funny dma.
Enjoy the woods in Yorktown and getting your one stop shopping done at BJ's. Glad you are happy.

Good luck on your search Alicia.
 
Old 02-04-2014, 06:59 PM
 
Location: Yorktown Heights NY
1,316 posts, read 5,182,050 times
Reputation: 444
I've never been to BJ's. But I do love my woods.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Closed Thread



Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > New York > Westchester County
Similar Threads

All times are GMT -6. The time now is 05:08 PM.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top