Tell me about living in the NYC burbs? NJ or Westchester?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn't exactly call Pleasantville--or any northern Westchester town--down to earth, as a PP did. These are all affluent areas that come with the requisite arrogance and screwed up priorities among many residents.

-- PP who grew up in Chappaqua

If the family has an HHI approaching $1m, it’s a safe bet they’ll be in an affluent area no matter what.

Well sure -- and none of those areas are down to earth.

[Anonymous]

Commutes in NYC are awful. Even getting across town from one train station to another can take 45 minutes and by the time you're done you've been jostled by a thousand other bodies. Also, people in NYC work much longer hours than they do in DC. If you want a house and a lawn, your husband is going to give up a lot of family time, unless he's willing to leave the house before dawn. We lived in Manhattan for 10 years and in Brooklyn for 7 years, and even then our commutes were very time consuming, compared to here. You should really think about that aspect.

[Anonymous]

Look at Purchase near the White Plains metro station. You can take the express train directly into Grand Central Station in about 38 minutes. Nice houses are $1.5m, much less than Bronxville, Scarsdale, or Rye (doubly so because you pay less property taxes too).

[Anonymous]

I second looking in Brooklyn! I love it there.

[Anonymous]

Grew up in Chatham and my dad still commutes to the city daily. Great town, safe, excellent schools, and close to everything. If you live in the Boro, you can walk to the train station. Recommend using Nancy Cook as your realtor for Chatham and Summit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Definitely visit the NJ suburbs. There are quick train commuter lines from Short Hills and all the towns listed above. Public schools are very rigorous, no need to look at private. Property taxes are no joke.

+1. Look along the NJ transit green lines. Millburn, Short Hills, Summit, Chatham, Madison, etc. Nice places to live.

[Anonymous]

Agree with poster above, I grew up in maplewood and loved it as well. Chatham, westfield, summit, madison, bernards twp, are all lovely.

[Anonymous]

If he is working in midtown you definitely want Westchester or CT. Bronxville is lovely but I don’t your budget will get you much in the school district. It’s also a really small town and from what I have heard from several friends who live there, it can be tough if you have kids who are in anyway out of the ordinary.
I really like Pelham and Larchmont which both have great schools, are on the water and are easy commutes to GC.

[Anonymous]

You'll die from taxes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In NJ:
Chatham
Summit
Ho-Ho-Kus
Glen Rock
Ridgewood


In Westchester:
Bronxville
Rye
Pelham
Scarsdale

Westchester will be above your budget for the most part though.

I would add to your NJ list millburn/short hills. It has a very nice downtown, a very highly rated school and the property taxes are lower because the short hills mall keeps the taxes lower. In Westchester, look at Edgemont which is part of Scarsdale but has their own high school.

There are lots of houses for sale right now because as others have written the property taxes are much higher than here. The new tax law that limits the deductibility of property taxes to $10,000 has made the higher priced houses much less desirable. Income taxes and insurance are also much higher. I am originally from Westchester and I love Westchester but I would not move back due to the financial issues with the taxes.

[Anonymous]

If your husband wants to see his family he needs to live in the city. End of story.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If your husband wants to see his family he needs to live in the city. End of story.

That's the dumbest thing I've heard this year and it's December 19th.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You'll die from taxes.

This is true in basically all of NY State but when it's what you are used to, you don't realize how bad it is. I think it's hilarious when people in my neighborhood complain of our high property taxes in Fairfax. I have the same tax bill on a 600k house that my parents have on a 110k little house in a shitty, depressed part of NY with bad services and shit schools!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If your husband wants to see his family he needs to live in the city. End of story.

Or he has to wake up with a crack of dawn and hope to leave work by 4pm or work from home some days a week. I have friends and colleagues with long commutes and they are not in the office very single day, they have flexibility. I am not sure if that would be possible in your husbands's job especially right in the beginning before he establishes himself. If you SAH you will be able to manage family life, but you won't see your husband a lot, at least not until he figures out if he can swing early morning hours and leave earlier or get some WAH arrangement. It's just a matter of getting used to different family dynamics when your commute door to door will be at least 1 hour each way and easily can be 1.5 hours if you are not next to a train station and have to switch to subway from commuter train.

If you want super short and more comfortable commute from the burbs you can look into Bronxville/Scarsdale/Larchmont - the closer train stations with train ride no more than 35 min and look for homes walkable to the train or scooter ride away. It might be a townhome or a tiny fixer upper in your price range. The decision between the city and the burbs is not an easy one for NYers working in Manhattan, lots of families ditch the idea of the burbs due to long commutes, chaos of transit stations, expensive RE taxes and transit costs, car expenses you didn't have in the city. Outer boroughs provide more residential options, but school situation isn't easy, you have to know how to navigate it or pay for private, plus subway commute, although convenient/cheap/frequent can be painful when trains are crowded, so many resort to train commutes instead or buses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If your husband wants to see his family he needs to live in the city. End of story.

That's the dumbest thing I've heard this year and it's December 19th.

It's not that dumb if you consider that he won't really be home for dinner unless he leaves with a crack of dawn and his company is ok with him leaving work before 5pm. Door to door commutes from closest burbs in NYC are about 1 hour each way and often more. Commutes within Manhattan when you live and work there average 30-45 min, at least this is what it was for me. Of course you could also live within walking distance to your office, but then you'd have to be happy with apartment living.