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Old 12-09-2008, 02:22 PM
 
125 posts, read 461,240 times
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Hello everyone and thank you for your advice in advance. I just got married with my wife in Oct and we are planning on buying a house after July. I like White Plains, she likes Long Island(Ewww, dont tell her I said that). With that said I want to take her out to White Plains and get her to fall in love with the area. I work in NYC and therefore would like to know what would be the best town in White Plains with a good school district, good neighborhood, not to far from metro north (nothing more than 45 min commute to the city). We are looking to spend a max of 500,000. We are just 32 and 30 respectively and don't have children but that is to come soon I'm sure. Any advice or suggestion is appreciated.
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Old 12-09-2008, 08:58 PM
 
Location: Washington, DC & New York
10,915 posts, read 31,307,647 times
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In the White Plains vicinity, I would suggest looking in North White Plains, but only in the Valhalla district, Valhalla itself, and some parts of the river towns. The low end of Hastings for an older, smaller (by Hastings standard) house, is going to be right around $500k, same with areas of Dobbs Ferry. Ardsley has great schools, but higher taxes, and $500k will not net too many choices, but you might find a smaller cottage for around that price point.

Similarly, you can sometimes find a smaller house in Pelham around that price, and similarly a smaller house in Larchmont might just fit that range, but these will likely be similarly sized to an apartment. Eastchester and Tuckahoe might be a consideration with solid school districts, and houses that are near your price point.

There will not be too much selection for around $500k in a good district in Lower Westchester, hence the recommendations of other towns a little further from White Plains. White Plains, itself, parts of Yonkers, and Hartsdale have some very nice houses, but the problem is the school districts that do not perform as well as neighboring districts. New Rochelle's schools perform better than White Plains, but the taxes will be much higher, and you want to stay in a good part of the city, which can be limiting for $500k or so.

Croton-Harmon station is 45 minutes on an express from Grand Central, so Croton-on-Hudson might also be a consideration. You can get a larger house in that price range, and likely in better condition, in Croton, but you are further from the city and 25 minutes from White Plains by car.

The best advice is to search by school district and be flexible, since the house can be small and might need repair if it's close to the city and has good schools. Plus, the taxes do tend to be higher in better school districts since they are on the village or town level, many of which do not have large commercial bases or income taxes to supplement the municipal budgets.
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Old 12-10-2008, 10:39 AM
 
125 posts, read 461,240 times
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Thank you for the reply. It's been very helpful. What is the median price on a house in White Plains? I would like to move to White Plains, but only if the house has 3 rooms or more and from what you stated your saying I should expect to receive less than that for 500,000. The other area's we were considering were Nanuet or Nyack, but the thought of commuting thru the Tappan Zee Bridge is frightening. Would you recommend New ROchelle as a nice area to live? Is New Rochelle near White Plains? Sorry for all the questions.
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Old 12-10-2008, 03:02 PM
 
Location: Washington, DC & New York
10,915 posts, read 31,307,647 times
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There are some very nice houses in White Plains, 3BRs for under $500k in decent areas, some of which are very quaint. The problem is the school district that does not perform as well as other suburban areas, although the taxes are also less expensive. You should consider White Plains, and if you could get into North White Plains with the Valhalla schools, that would be the ideal for a good performing district. That said, the schools are very diverse in White Plains, and if there is significant parental involvement and enrichment/outside learning programs, that can easily bridge the gap between an average and top district. The resources available, however, might not be on par with surrounding school districts that are known to be solid performers. You have a few years before you would need schools, however, after you have children, so it might be worth a look, especially if you plan to use private schools or enrichment programs to supplement the education, since you will save on the tax bill as compared to another district.

New Rochelle is on Long Island Sound, not too far from White Plains, about 15 minutes or so. It's on the New Haven Line train, as opposed to the Harlem Line that serves White Plains. Parts of New Rochelle are very nice, and the schools perform well for a city in Westchester, ahead of White Plains. Taxes are higher than White Plains, however, and the downtown areas of New Rochelle still have a way to go in terms of rebounding. Parts of the city are very close to Scarsdale and Hartsdale, so those would be closest to White Plains.
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Old 12-11-2008, 11:01 AM
 
125 posts, read 461,240 times
Reputation: 81
You've been very helpful and I appreciate it very much. I noticed on a different post you linked this site to search for homes Westchester-Putnam Multiple Listing Service, Inc.. I tried it but I could not do searches by Valhalla school district. Is there another form or method that I can use?
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Old 12-11-2008, 11:31 AM
 
Location: Washington, DC & New York
10,915 posts, read 31,307,647 times
Reputation: 7137
Quote:
Originally Posted by bmartinez76 View Post
You've been very helpful and I appreciate it very much. I noticed on a different post you linked this site to search for homes Westchester-Putnam Multiple Listing Service, Inc.. I tried it but I could not do searches by Valhalla school district. Is there another form or method that I can use?
You're welcome. It's always exciting to find a house and settle in with a family, and doing research now is the best possible way to accomplish your goals.

Try this link: WCBR And, then click on "Find a Property." The schools are listed by town/city, which can be confusing for some schools that have different names. Valhalla will be under Greenburgh, I believe Area 4. It is similar to Bronxville being listed under the Town of Eastchester or Irvington under the Town of Greenburgh. Interestingly, I note that the site tends to work better with Internet Explorer as I have had difficulties with it when using Firefox and Opera. Safari also works pretty well, but IE is consistently trouble free.

The search for schools opens in a new window, scroll down to Greenburgh, select Valhalla as the subtype, click OK on that page and leave it open. Return to your initial WCBR search page and perform the search, being sure to select a property type and/or a price range. That will pull the property types selected in that school district. If you're looking at $500k or less for a target price, right now I'd say to enter a little over $500k since many are negotiable within reason in this market.

I just ran a search on it, myself, to verify that it's working as I remember, since I didn't want to leave out a step. There are are some nice looking houses for sale in the Valhalla district with White Plains and Valhalla addresses, some of which are in the $400s that look decent in the area around North White Plains station. You're only about 5-7 minutes from downtown White Plains in this area, and get the benefit of Valhalla schools, so it can be very convenient to commute to the city.

Hope that helps. Good luck in the search, and do post again if you have any questions or are considering other areas, since there are many on this board who share their knowledge so that one can get a good perspective on an area.
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Old 12-11-2008, 01:00 PM
 
125 posts, read 461,240 times
Reputation: 81
Thank you very much, I wouldn't have found this on my own. We are property virgins lol. I'm busy now using this search site and finding some nice homes. Maybe by the time we start really looking to buy (Julyish) the prices on these 600k homes will go down and net us a nicer house. Again thank you for your well documented responses, they have helped a ton.
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Old 12-11-2008, 02:30 PM
 
30 posts, read 163,652 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bmartinez76 View Post
Thank you for the reply. It's been very helpful. What is the median price on a house in White Plains? I would like to move to White Plains, but only if the house has 3 rooms or more and from what you stated your saying I should expect to receive less than that for 500,000. The other area's we were considering were Nanuet or Nyack, but the thought of commuting thru the Tappan Zee Bridge is frightening. Would you recommend New ROchelle as a nice area to live? Is New Rochelle near White Plains? Sorry for all the questions.
I assume you plan on being in walking distance to the train station. Some areas in White Plains are not safe, but most are good.

It's important that you can walk to the train station because the less reliant you are on the car, the better and less headache you will have.
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Old 12-11-2008, 02:41 PM
 
125 posts, read 461,240 times
Reputation: 81
Thank you for your input, Justinian. We are going to stick to a good school district area assuming that the neighborhood will be safe to live in. So far Valhalla seems like a good suggestion from bmwguydc as I have found some nice houses that look to be in a nice area. My wife would probably get a new job in the area since she is an occupational therapist and can find work pretty much anywhere. I'm stuck staying in NYC unless I find something local, but it will be harder for me since I work in IT and the job market for me is tough. With the economy nowadays I will just stay at my current job and deal with the commute on the train.
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Old 12-11-2008, 02:57 PM
 
Location: Washington, DC & New York
10,915 posts, read 31,307,647 times
Reputation: 7137
Quote:
Originally Posted by bmartinez76 View Post
My wife would probably get a new job in the area since she is an occupational therapist and can find work pretty much anywhere.
Your wife should check into Burke Rehabilitation Hospital in White Plains if she is used to working in either clinical or outpatient settings, since they have a large practice in the greater White Plains area. And, they're on Mamaroneck Avenue, so it's pretty convenient.
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