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My husband and I are in our mid-30s, and we're considering relocating our family from Southern California to NYC. In particular, we're interested in low-crime areas within a 60-minute-or-less commute (by public transportation, if possible) of the Morris Park section of the Bronx.
We have three children, all younger than five, so we're hoping to find an apartment with two or more bedrooms in a family-friendly complex. Our target rent is $1200 to $1600. Ideally, the apartment complex would be in a good school district (public, public/charter, or Catholic), would have on-site laundry facilities, free or reasonably priced off-street parking, and would be "toddler tolerant" (imagine the pitter-patter of SIX little feet).
Our list of main priorities, in order:
1. A safe neighborhood (any recommendations?)
2. A good elementary school/school district (any
recommendations?)
3. Affordable housing ($1600 or less) (any recommended
complexes?)
4. A manageable commute (via train or bus) to the Morris Park area
DO WE HAVE ANY REALISTIC CHANCE OF FINDING SUCH A PLACE? Are we being naive or overly optimistic? We've heard that the NYC rental market is exceptionally tight, so we'd be incredibly grateful for NYC locals' (and recent transplants') honest advice and recommendations.
Thank you so much for your help!
Last edited by MountainMama2; 10-30-2007 at 04:36 PM..
Reason: To clarify
were u thinking of co-op city? if so the commute is long to manhattan (at least over an hour) and the complex is average. its not bad but its not good either. but overall i would say its a good place to start out nyc in if northeast bronx is really where you want to be.
Do you plan on living in the Bronx or just working there? Morris Park is an ok neighborhood, but I dont' know if its the best fit for someone coming from Southern California. Please clarify your plans a little bit.
Somewhere in Westchester county would be my first reccomendation, but most of Westchester is very expensive, and the cheaper parts that are within your budget(Yonkers) are really hardcore old school east coast (I dont' know how to describe this any better). There are also some nice places in the Eastern Bronx that are very cheap, have good Catholic schools, and low crime, but again I don't know if you'd feel comfortable there because of the cultural differences.
So yes you can definitely find a 2 or 3 bedroom place for $1,600 in this area, but I don't know if you'd feel comfortable (culturally speaking) in any of these areas. In my opinion throwing yourself into the middle of the Bronx might not be the best idea.
Do you plan on living in the Bronx or just working there? Morris Park is an ok neighborhood, but I dont' know if its the best fit for someone coming from Southern California. Please clarify your plans a little bit.
Thanks for your response, Mead.
My husband might take a position in the Morris Park area of the Bronx. If he does, he'd hope to have a safe and relatively short (less than an hour, preferably even shorter) commute by public transportation.
As far as where in the greater Bronx/NYC area we'd live, we're fairly flexible as long as it's family friendly. I probably should have mentioned that we're actually transplanted Bostonians (the Fens, West Roxbury, and Allston/Brighton), so the cultural differences might not be quite as stark for us former East Coasters as they would be for true Southern Californians. (You are absolutely right to say that the Bronx might not be the best fit for them.)
Alright then. For a Bostonian it won't be such a stark difference. Just don't go wearing any Bo Sox hats around here and you should be fine.
Morris Park is fairly accessible to most highways in the area as it is right off of Pelham Parkway. It also has decent public transportation options, but it really depends on where you are going in Morris Park.
For nice neighborhoods right next to Morris Park you could look into Country Club, City Island, or Throggs Neck. These areas are all nice and have good Catholic K-8 schools, however high school becomes somewhat of a problem for boys I believe (there is a good Catholic girls High School in Throggs Neck), unless your kid can get into Fordham Prep, which is somewhat competitive. All of these areas are heavily Italian. Are you Italian? Because if not you'll probably be the token ____ (fill in the blank) in those neighborhoods.
Are you Irish by any chance? If so look into Woodlawn, its like the Bronx's version of Southie. We also have one of the few decent public school's in the Bronx (I think City Island has a good public elementary school, Country club might have one as well).
Otherwise look into Eastern Yonkers. Its a pretty decent suburban area and has good access to Morris Park via the Sprain Brook Parkway and then the Pelham Parkway. The public schools up until High school in Eastern Yonkers are decent.
If you can afford a little bit more money I'd say look into a town like Pelham or Eastchester. These are probably the most reasonably priced towns in lower Westchester that have really solid public schools.
You can also live in Westchester. There are better schools there - public schools are good -, you can still take public transportation to the Bronx and you'll have a lot of property from which to choose. Albeit not the cheapest around.
The problem with Westchester is that in most of the towns the rentals are quite expensive. In even in towns like White Plains that have a lot of apartment buildings 1 brs are going for around $1,400-$1,500 and 2 brs are closer to $2,000. So that puts them out of the price range of $1,200-$1,600 for a 2-3 bedroom that the OP stated..
Your best bet if you live in the bronx is to send your kids to catholic school after elementary school. Otherwise Lehman High is the best of the lot for highschools (which isn't saying much).
I guess he got a job at one of the hospitals in the area? Best areas of morris park are indian village and pelham gardens (not really morris park). Other nice neighborhoods close by are country club, throgs neck (the opposite side of tremont ave. from the PJ) and city island (which has hellish traffic on and off all summer). Area is primarily Italian and Hispanic, if that matters.
You should have no problem finding an apartment in that price range.
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