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Hello all. I have been searching these forums all weekend and figured it would be easier to just post myself. I received admission to NYU for this September-last spot on a wait list so I JUST found out like 2 weeks ago. Moving from Austin TX (thank god I am getting out of here) to the area ASAP.
I have like 1.5 months to sell my house here and find a house somewhere out there. There are so many choices! Here are my specs and any suggestions would be very helpful!
-moving myself, my wife and our 7 pets. (yes, 7. all rescues from the street and I am not moving without them so renting is out of the question.)
-I will be on a fellowship so our combined income will allow about a 300K house at most.
-we want to walk the dogs at night and not worry about it so much.
-no more than an hour commute. I will only be on campus like 2-3 days a week so commuting no biggie
I think thats it. I have looked everywhere (LI, Westchester, Jersey) and it seems like everything has mixed reviews. oy.
Wow...$300k can be tough in the NYC environs, especially an hour or so out of the city., but not completely impossible. My best recommendations would be to stay in Rockland County, especially around Nyack. There may not be many homes in the price range, but you can find some village homes that come right around the $300k mark. I would also check towns on the way out to Suffern, such as Nanuet, Pearl River, and the like, but Nyack might have the most housing stock at that price for a smaller home. Further to the north, you can find something in Chester or Monroe, easily, but the commute is a long one, and you would have to take the bus into the city. Monroe has a lot of second homes, so the lower priced houses there will be cottages that are seasonal use. Chester and Monroe are a bit futher out, but are closer to country lifestyle than Rockland County areas.
Closer to the city, you can look in Yonkers or Peekskill in Westchester, though they can have some areas that are not especially nice, and are rough in parts of Yonkers. The taxes in Westchester also tend to be higher than Rockland, but that depends largely upon the town. Also, check into Ossining, as there might be something around that price point for a single family home, but this is also a river town that has its share of issues and parts are more up and coming than others.
Parts of New Jersey are also nice, as are parts of Long Island, but you would likely be looking in a first suburb in both locations, something along the lines of Levittown on Long Island. These areas are more congested than a Nyack or Westchester river town, and have their own share of issues.
I am basing these recommendations on a single family home purchase, since condominums would be a problem with the pets sometimes. You can also check for some non-condo ownership townhouses in these areas, and even some closer in, to see if there's anything that would be a good mix.
Definitely check out Peekskill. The commute by train is under an hour to NYC, there are lots of restaurants, galleries, coffee houses, a performing art center/film center, a museum, etc. There is a large population of artists and many young professionals and families moving up from the city. 300K is tough, but you can still get a small but nice old house in a good area for that. Look in the Fort Hill Historic District and the Mortgage Hill area. Peekskill has a stunning riverfront park and is next to 1,500 acre blue mountain reservation--so you can live in a lovely, walkable town and also stroll into the woods. Also you'll be close to many other towns, close to the city, and close to tremendous natural beauty and nature preserves.
You're not going to find a regular house in a nice area that isn't totally way out in the middle of nowhere for $300k. So I think you should just get that thought out of your head now.
Perhaps you should look into a co-op, condo or a townhouse. Or short of that you might just consider renting.
Even in my area of the Bronx, while nice, is probably about as cheap as you can go without the neighborhood being dangerous, and 3br houses run for $400k+. And we're talking about older houses from the 1920s that might be in need of repairs.
I worked in NYC years ago. Lived in a 10 by 10 room, Harlem, shared bathroom.
I was a temp, after 5 months requested transfer to Florida, with the same company. Fully employed people in that NYC office, one block from Central Park, had 1 hour + commutes. Several all the way from deep Jersey. The closest one I think lived in Brooklyn.
Trains work very well, subway mostly too, so I guess that's the way things become affordable.
In all honesty, unless you're willing to commute longer than 1 hr or are OK with a townhome/condo (some may have HOA restrictions on # of pets) it may be difficult to find something nice. Not impossible, just difficult.
I second the recommendations for Rockland County or Northern Westchester. If you can go even further North and live outside of Westchester in Dutchess etc. your property taxes will be lower, albeit with a longer commute. I have friends who bought a really nice home in Brewster on a decent piece of land for around 300k, but you're looking at a 2hr commute into NYC at that point.
Hello all. I have been searching these forums all weekend and figured it would be easier to just post myself. I received admission to NYU for this September-last spot on a wait list so I JUST found out like 2 weeks ago. Moving from Austin TX (thank god I am getting out of here) to the area ASAP.
I have like 1.5 months to sell my house here and find a house somewhere out there. There are so many choices! Here are my specs and any suggestions would be very helpful!
-moving myself, my wife and our 7 pets. (yes, 7. all rescues from the street and I am not moving without them so renting is out of the question.)
-I will be on a fellowship so our combined income will allow about a 300K house at most.
-we want to walk the dogs at night and not worry about it so much.
-no more than an hour commute. I will only be on campus like 2-3 days a week so commuting no biggie
I think thats it. I have looked everywhere (LI, Westchester, Jersey) and it seems like everything has mixed reviews. oy.
help!
First, I loved living in Austin, TX. NYC and Austin are liberal places with bad traffic. Except for the month of August, the weather is better in Austin. NYC may not be the dream location you think it is.
Second, Do not buy a house. There are rentals that take pets. Especially, now in NYC where people are moving out. If you are going to move from Austin, at least experience NYC for a year or two before going plain vanilla suburban. As much as I love Yorktown and northern Westchester, life here revolves around children. Without a kid in school, it will be harder for you to make friends and ties to your community.
If you can only afford a 300K house, you probably aren't prepared for $15,000 in property taxes. Add in $500 a month in commuting and another $500 a month to heat your house in winter. Take into account, the dramatic increase in car insurance. After living in Austin before returning to NYC the cost of living is incredible different - especially in utilities, food and restaurants.
Live here for a year before deciding on what you can afford.
I actually looked for houses and condo's in Peekskill. The condo's do not take more than two pets (at the time I had two dogs and a cat - not an option for me). Houses in Peekskill, while pretty old stock, many need repairs. Peekskill neighborhoods can be iffy. There is a huge immigrant population - some legal and illegal. They are hardworking people, but I've seen drugs sold on the street and some large houses have been broken up into boarding houses. This house is in an okay area.
Cortlandt Manor is your best commute location. It's an hour from NYC and then another 30 minutes to your office from Grand Central. The taxes on this house are only 11,589. https://www.realtor.com/realestatean...7_M35981-57085
There is also Newburgh which can be very iffy in some areas. During the 1970/80, the downtown was reduce to rubble.
The biggest hurdle is finding a mortgage. Fellowship aren't usually long term jobs and mortgage companies/banks know this. (EDIT) Before planning a move and putting your Texas home on the market, I would start calling some NY banks and asking what they need to write a mortgage and what their parameters are.
A fellowship in medicine or finance is hugely different than a fellowship in liberal arts. Unfortunately, there are so many people in the NY metro center with master degrees and Phd in liberal arts that professorship are hard to come by and adjunct professors make close to minimum wage.
Another note, NYC collects income tax on earning. You will be paying federal, state and city income taxes. It's a change from a state with no income tax like Texas.
Good luck! I hope you find it.
Last edited by YorktownGal; 10-30-2020 at 07:59 AM..
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