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This is interesting from the Visit Ithaca site: “We crunched the numbers, and it's true: Ithaca, NY has more restaurants per capita than New York City! It's a delicious statistic that hints at the variety of local restaurants and tells us something fundamental in the Ithaca psyche – Ithacans are passionate about food. Whether you are searching for classic American bar & grill-style food or fine dining and Italian, there's a restaurant to enjoy.”
This makes Ithaca really tempting. Buffalo and Rochester would be the best locations for my office travels, and so if we find a neighborhood we like in one of them and it has convenient access to the things on our wishlist, I feel like we should go for that. But then there's Ithaca way over there looking kind of interesting...
We are going to rent and spend some time exploring NY. My preference is to find a furnished ~6 month rental in Rochester and use that as our home base. If that doesn't work out, we may need to go the extended-stay hotel route. We could spend a month in each area to really get a good idea of what it's like.
This makes Ithaca really tempting. Buffalo and Rochester would be the best locations for my office travels, and so if we find a neighborhood we like in one of them and it has convenient access to the things on our wishlist, I feel like we should go for that. But then there's Ithaca way over there looking kind of interesting...
We are going to rent and spend some time exploring NY. My preference is to find a furnished ~6 month rental in Rochester and use that as our home base. If that doesn't work out, we may need to go the extended-stay hotel route. We could spend a month in each area to really get a good idea of what it's like.
To be honest, Buffalo is probably the most convenient from an office standpoint due to one of the offices being there and Albany being 4 hours away and Pittsburgh being 3 and a half hours away, that would mean less total travel and a bigger metro close to an even bigger area on the Canadian side. This isn’t to say none of the other places wouldn’t work, but it just offers a lot of what you looking for, while not having to drive to all 3 of the locations.
Ithaca is one of those places that offers more than its size due to having a big college presence. It is also in the Finger Lakes, which puts it in very close proximity to wineries. It is also one of the most “educated” metro areas in the country in terms of those 25 and older with at least a Bachelors degree or higher.
Also, are all 3 of the offices in the actual cities or are they within each of those areas?
This makes Ithaca really tempting. Buffalo and Rochester would be the best locations for my office travels, and so if we find a neighborhood we like in one of them and it has convenient access to the things on our wishlist, I feel like we should go for that. But then there's Ithaca way over there looking kind of interesting...
We are going to rent and spend some time exploring NY. My preference is to find a furnished ~6 month rental in Rochester and use that as our home base. If that doesn't work out, we may need to go the extended-stay hotel route. We could spend a month in each area to really get a good idea of what it's like.
I'm wondering if you might outgrow Ithaca in short time. They may have more restaurants per capita, but the other cities mentioned have many more total restaurants.
Otherwise, your idea of a 6 month rental sounds solid. Gives you a good base to explore places and experience them firsthand.
I'm wondering if you might outgrow Ithaca in short time. They may have more restaurants per capita, but the other cities mentioned have many more total restaurants.
Otherwise, your idea of a 6 month rental sounds solid. Gives you a good base to explore places and experience them firsthand.
Good point about Ithaca. Maybe it will end up being a place we enjoy visiting but not the best pick for where to live. I really anticipate Buffalo or Rochester will be where we land.
Good point about Ithaca. Maybe it will end up being a place we enjoy visiting but not the best pick for where to live. I really anticipate Buffalo or Rochester will be where we land.
The thing with Ithaca, that it is close to other areas like Binghamton, Elmira/Corning and Syracuse within an hour.
A con of the area is that there isn’t an interstate in the area. The trip to Syracuse includes catching I-81 in Cortland.
In terms of metros with at least 1 million people in terms of restaurants per capita, it looks like Buffalo and on some Rochester shows up high on some lists: https://cityobservatory.org/local_flavor/
Hoping to keep the longest drive under 5hrs 30mins. I'd also give Amtrak a try if we pick one of the cities with a train station. Probably wouldn't take the train every time but it's an interesting option to have.
Location relative to the offices is obviously important, but I need to balance that with picking a place where my wife and I will be happy. We made a short wishlist, and I'm guessing Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse will have these things but probably some smaller cities and large suburbs do too, let me know.
Our wishlist is:
Lots of good restaurants including sushi/Japanese, Indian, Mexican, Greek/Mediterranean, vegan/vegetarian, organic/healthy.
Unique community events like WaterFire in Providence https://waterfire.org/ Large gym like YMCA or JCC with classes, lap pool, hot tub, and steam room.
Big beautiful library.
All of the above we'd want very close to home, and then another thing we like to do is rent a boat or jet ski for a day, so if we could do that within 45mins-1hr of home that would be nice.
The bolded in terms of drive time does keep Syracuse in the running, as you can get to Pittsburgh within that time. It also means a shorter drive to Albany and Buffalo is about the same as Albany.
I wonder if the OP made a decision given that he was on here as recent as a few months ago and this thread still gets views.
Hi ckh! We've been back and forth between Rochester and Buffalo living in short term rentals for the past year. It has been a great way to hone in on specific neighborhoods and communities we'd want to live in. Ready to buy now and there are neighborhoods in both the Buffalo area and Rochester area in the running. Let's hope we can actually make it happen! It's not easy out there.
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