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My family and I are looking to move to the fingerlakes area. My husband is a teacher. We are looking for a community where the people are down to earth (no affluenza), without too much development, where farmers are at home and the people are friendly, with good schools and affordable homes with a small amount of acreage. Would Waterloo or Skaneateles (or a neighboring school district) fit the bill better? Please help give us some guidance!
Hi dilemmagirl,
I live in Skaneateles, so I can only really speak of my town and the towns surrounding it. When we chose to live here (twice), we were looking for many of the same characteristics you describe. We were leaving very affluent areas (Fairfield County the first time and Central Florida the second time) and we wanted to raise our children in a more economically diverse community. The key word being community. We desperately missed the small town feeling that was being lost where we were living. So much of it is perspective--around here, Skaneateles has a reputation for being affluent, yet to all my friends around the country, we moved to a small, upstate town in the middle of nowhere. And yes, Skaneateles has money. But does it suffer from affluenza? I am sure there are those who live here that have that attitude. But for the most part, people are decidely not showy. Sure there are some larger homes tucked away on the lake, but lots of people go the route of rennovating and maintaining the beautiful older homes in the village. I would also say those families who are known for their wealth are known even more for their generosity--we have ice rinks and a new volunteer ambulance facility that bear their names. People don't throw lavish parties here or drive fancy cars. Mostly you'll see some version of an SUV or a van (4 wheel drive is a necessity). About new homes, two new developments come to mind, but they haven't really caught on yet and are on the outskirts of town. The great majority of homes in Skaneateles are older, village homes. And as far as price goes, what is considered expensive to locals, might not be to someone coming from a more expensive part of the country. Houses start generally in the $200's here and go on up to about $4 million. Most are in the 300-600 range. The average sale is in the $400's. The high end is generally the large lakefront estates (not too many) and the low end is generally about a 1500 sq ft farmhouse or victorian style homes. There are quite a few in the paper now in the low $300's. Most village homes don't have much acreage, but in the town, you will find homes with land. You mentioned farmers; I hate to say "I know farmers", because it sounds faintly prejudicial on my part, but since you mentioned it, yes, our town has a bunch of working farms. I find it ironic that one of them is across the street from the very high end development. The woman who runs our highly successful boys lacrosse program lives on that farm and is a friend of mine. I also just asked my kids how many kids they know who live on farms and they all said a few names. Not tons, but I think that is probably what is happening all over. Oh, and I am delighted that your husband is a teacher. We have a great school system (we just ranked 460th nationwide in the Newsweek article), but there is always room for another great teacher. What subject does he teach?
Where might you be relocating from? That might influence your opinion of the fingerlakes as a place to live. How did you happen to pick this area(just out of curiousity)?
Most of the area around the Finger Lakes could be considered to be rural. There are a few small cities generally at the northern (easy access to the thruway Rt 90) or southern ends of the lakes with Ithaca being the largest one, Skaneateles the most affluent. For the most part all are nice, Geneva and Auburn would be typical, quaint small cities.
Along the lengths of the lakes you're more likely to find very small, but cute villages, Aurora comes to mind. There are wineries along the lengths of the lakes with large older houses stretching the distance for a country feel and easy drives. The farms around Skaneateles tend to be dairy, and apple orchards a bit farther to the east of there.
Waterloo has a large discount mall outside of town which serves half the state. My preference is for the towns directly on the lakes, Waterloo and Seneca Falls while cute rural cities, aren't, then again I'm a water person. Highly unlikely that you'll find the type of person that you want to avoid.
Thanks to all of you for responding to me. Skaneatelesmom, my husband teaches social studies. I have a sister in law who lives in Auburn (Town of Owasco) and we have fallen in love with the Fingerlakes and Skaneateles over the many years of visiting them and traveling around. We live in Hudson Valley in a small village home and this area is growing at a phenomenal rate (22,000 new residents in the last 5 years). We have alwasy wanted a hobby farm in a rural area, and the fingerlakes is an area we love. It's beautiful and the people are nice and it's not too far from where we live now, where we will be leaving our friends and family. I am a bit alarmed though, that the fingerlakes may be the next up and coming area and the development might follow us up there! I guess that is sort of shutting the door behind us though. Strangely enough, we are moving upstate because it's gernally cheaper to buy real estate there, but in the case of Skaneateles, the prices are about the same. This is discouraging because we can't afford a home in the low 300s even though we are selling our home here for a good price. It's frustrating.
There is a home in Waterloo that we have fallen in love with, and it's very affordable for us. For reasons I can't disclose at this point, we may have to choose between living in Waterloo or living around Skaneateles, since we can't afford to live in the school district. Commuting between the two is not an option.
So, can anyone give me more information about what Waterloo is like aside from the outlet malls, which I consider a negative in the Waterloo column.
Can't help much with Waterloo, but have you considered Marcellus? It is a town right next door to Skaneateles and it has top schools, and is still reasonable. I know of a 4 bedroom home on two acres that is priced just about at $300k. It is a beautiful home. You should see the Marcellus schools, they share a campus and look like a small ivy league college. As far as amish go, there are a bunch of mennonite families in our town, but I am too ignorant to know much about the distinctions between the Amish and the Mennonites.
check out Hammondsport, nice town on Southern end of Keuka lake, Also Watkins Glen or Trumansburg. Also be aware of property Taxes they really vary. Keep in mind that most of the area (Except Skaneateles) has property prices much lower than the national average!
Take a peek at Tully, Fabius and Marcellus, absolutely look at Marcellus. Home prices from 100k to 500k. If you want open spaces, farms , land these are some pretty areas. These photos are from today in the town of Otisco, just outside of Otisco Lake. This is about 20 minutes from Skaneateles. Otisco is split between Tully and Marcellus schools. Also, I don't think there is an Amish population in Skaneateles. I know there is s community near Seneca and Cayuga Lakes. I believe they are actually Mennonites.
Somehow, I think one picture is all you have to see to want to move to the Finger Lakes! Those ones above prove that. Has anyone relocated to the Finger Lakes from the midwest? Jusr curious, because the Finger Lakes and parts of IA/ MN look much alike.
Summer Grace I am from the midwest...South Dakota and Nebraska. That's one of the reasons that I like th Fingerlakes so much and want to move there. Not only does the landscape resemble parts of the midwest (some of the areas at the top of teh lakes, and around Waterloo and Seneca Falls and Geneva are just as flat as parts of NE and SD) but the people are just as warm and friendly and down to earth as my family out west.
The pictures are beautiful! I found a listing in Tully but 40 minutes is too far to drive. There is another home in Fleming that I like but it is 30 minutes away. WE have just been so spoiled being in district and 10 minutes from the school here that we were hoping not to have to commute. Maybe that's country living though.
Anything abouve $250,000 is out of our range, so we will just have to search longer for something, although I have come across lots of reasonable properties 40 or more minutes away from Skaneateles. I can see why - it's a beautiful village.
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