Top 5 places to live in Westchester (White Plains: real estate, low crime, house)

[inoman]

In your opinion and factoring in the following:

Easy access to trains (commute to Manhattan), malls and restaurants. (or a village feel)
Good school district
Reasonable real estate taxes
Peace and order (low crime)

I know the above would be a perfect scenario but if you would to rank 5 places, what would your list look like?

Thanks!...

[znycgirl]

It is hard to rank 5 places. Personally, we chose to live somewhere where the commute to work was reasonable, had a good school district & had the type of house we wanted to move into. The amount of urban vs suburban plays a role too.

Since we have cars...more places open up that would be difficult to access by bus/train/foot.

So: taking your points one-by-one:

1. Trains, malls and restaurants:
Trains: MTA/Metro North has a good map.
Malls: Two shopping malls are walking distance from each other in White Plains. Each caters to different needs. Along route 100...there are many outdoor "malls"...or shopping plazas with Michaels, Best Buy, ect.
For food shopping, there are a surplus of stores by White Plains (which is a 15 minute drive from most points in So. Westchester). Just to name a few...Stop & Shop, Whole foods, A&P, Morton Williams, Pathmark, Apple Farms. All within a 5 minute drive in White plains.
For restaurants, get a Zagats. There are some great places in Westchester. If in need of more, Manhattan is only minutes away.

2. School districts: The specifics can be obtained on-line. Compared to my school districts growing up, many of the good ones in Westchester are like attending a private school....in what they offer, average test scores (which don't mean everything), ect.

3. Reasonable taxes: It depends on what you define as reasonable. Taxes are high...but, in my opinion, not all that much higher than equivalent neighborhoods in other suburbs (LI, NJ). Taxes seem to follow schools...but not in every case.

4. Safety: This can vary by neigbhorhood & can vary street to street.

[LisaZ]

To be totally honest, some of the best school districts and towns with low crime demand high taxes. It is hard to not have one without the other.

[bkhakis]

I don't know whether to laugh or cry at that comment.