Moving to West NY - Looking for advice

[notinpa]

Originally Posted by genoobie

North Collins' schools are meh though.
If "good schools" are a consideration, buy the most expensive house you can afford with the highest taxes. This essentially works to keep out poorer people who typically don't score well on standardized tests (that's how "good schools" are typically measured). On the other hand you could buy a reasonable house with lower taxes save a ton of money and teach your kids to be open minded and independent about learning as learning can take place anywhere & everywhere (not necessarily only in school).

Mmmmmmk?
Thats a pretty bad idea .

And btw , in all these areas you can find houses from 60k to 500k.even some in the millions .

[Renee814]

Our visit went well. Got a lot better perspective of the area. Wish we had longer to look around, but we plan to come again over our Spring Break. We tried to cover as much territory as we could in our limited time and think we did a pretty good job of that. We saw Dunkirk, Fredonia, Silver Creek, Brocton, Portland, Ripley and maybe some more. We liked a little of each for different reasons. Saw a few houses we had seen on Zillow and Realtor.com.
I'd like to thank everyone for their information/advice. We are taking it all into consideration. I will keep you posted on our adventure.
Genoobie, I'm not quiet sure what you were trying to convey. We of course want a nice place to live and go to school for our Sons. I don't know if your advice is meant to be helpful or sarcastic. Either way, like I said in my original post, I'm looking for the best interest of our kids. Not expecting perfect, just perfect for us.
DrinktheKoolaid, I actually saw the house you referred. I had seen it online prior to you sending it, lol. We even drove by it and it is pending sale. Thanks anyway, I do appreciate it. It looks like the area is pretty wide open as far as available houses. So the hunt is def on! :-)

[drinkthekoolaid]

Glad to hear you had a good visit. After seeing some of the area do you have any other questions or things you are wondering about now? I know some times after going to a new place and seeing things first hand it gives you more questions that you hadn't yet considered or thought of.


What were you general impressions?

[Renee814]

Best beaches for kids? Any other recreational/entertainment places for them?
Still looking at houses online...still overwhelming.
I'll just hold any other questions til after our next trip. However, if there's tips of things to check out while we are there, I am listening
My Husband will be looking for a short term rental close to Dunkirk. Any tips there is welcome too.

Thanks!!

[drinkthekoolaid]

Originally Posted by Renee814

Best beaches for kids? Any other recreational/entertainment places for them?
Still looking at houses online...still overwhelming.
I'll just hold any other questions til after our next trip. However, if there's tips of things to check out while we are there, I am listening
My Husband will be looking for a short term rental close to Dunkirk. Any tips there is welcome too.

Thanks!!

Depending on where you end up moving I would check out the filling beaches.

Lake Erie state park
Sunset bay beach
Evangola state park
Evans town beach
Wendt beach
Hamburg town beach
The Woodlawn beach is great...just not always for swimming. There is actually a giant inflatable course set up on the beach in the summer for like 5$ all day usage. But the water gets closed frequently when there is rainfall runoff.

Not necessarily a beach but 18mile creek in the Hamburg/Lakeview area is pretty cool. There are a few public access sites and you can get right to lake shore of you want. There are a few cool hiking areas, a hidden waterfall and they are locally famous with fishermen for their steelhead run in adition to smallmouth bass.

The Dunkirk city pier on a nice summer night is great. You can fish right there. There is a bar or 2, maybe a restaurant, ice cream parlor, band etc... Great for a family too.

The sturgeon point area is decent for just hanging out and shore fishing

Chestnut ridge park in orchard park is a great county park for hiking or a picnic or for winter sledding.

The erie,pa zoo offers free admission on some Sunday evenings and that isn't too far from where your looking.

Presque isle state park in erie pa is also super nice

Splash lagoon is an indoor water park in erie, pa

Darien lake is an amusement park East of buffalo

In downtown buffalo the canalside area has tons to do. Check out the naval military museum or various kids activities. Go out on the catamaran cruise or the schooner cruise. They do sunset cruises, pirate cruises etc...

The strong museum of play in Rochester is great for kids



There are playgrounds all over



All the town's you are looking at have summer festivals and carnivals, there is a Chautaqua county fair, an Erie county fair


Those are just a few things off too of my head

[drinkthekoolaid]

here are a few links to my favorite local state parks some of which I mentioned earlier that you might be interested to check out


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letchworth_State_Park (probably a good 1.5-2 hours from you but worth it)


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegany_State_Park (maybe a little more than an hour away from where you are moving) my favorite NY state park


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presque_Isle_State_Park (maybe 45 mins away from where you are moving)


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Erie_State_Park (very close to where you are moving)


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evangola_State_Park (very close to where you are moving)


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chestnut_Ridge_Park (maybe 30-45 mins from where you are looking)


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watkins_Glen_State_Park (probably a solid 2.5-3 hours form you)


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finger_Lakes (my wife and I love this area) probably 2.5-3 hrs from you


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chautauqua_Lake (very close to you)


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canals...trict,_Buffalo
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffal..._Military_Park




there are way better places for information but I cheated and just went to wikipedia

[Renee814]

Thank you so much!!! I saw a lot of this online, but getting a personal opinion is much better than just reading! Sounds like we won't have much of a problem staying busy!

[notinpa]

Sunset bay is probably the best "groomed " beach I've been to. All sand no rocks .