Comparable NY Area to Our Current TX suburb. (New York, Buffalo: for sale, home builder)
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I'm a southern boy born & raised in the Galveston/Houston area of TX. My wife and I are getting very close to retiring (or semi-retiring if we find we have too much time on our hands). We currently have 1 daughter at RIT, and another 2 years behind (but undecided on which college yet). My wife LOVES NYC!! But, we are not NYC wealthy. We currently live in the Spring/The Woodlands area of TX which is frankly a yuppie-ish suburb of Houston. What we are looking for is an area that has similar dynamics to our current location with a plethora of great restaurants, shopping, home improvement stores, grocery stores, etc. We've looked online at many areas around the finger lakes, but honestly they have too much of a small town feel that we aren't used to (although much more picturesque than where we currently live). I have found at least 1 property in Seneca Falls that looks really nice on the website, but we've yet to visit it, and I fear it will feel too small town-ish for us. We did visit Sodus Bay in August. It had some nice houses for sale, but for my wife, it was a little too far out from the amenities we currently enjoy.
Another observation is the majority of housing for sale is much older than what we're looking for. So, getting down to brass tax, is there an area of NY that has housing/communities in the 10yr old or less range, homes on lots from 1/2-1acres, and proximal to larger grocery stores, Cinemas, Napa auto, hardware stores (can be big corporate stores like Home Depot, or smaller independents). I guess down here they're considered "master planned" communities often built around a golf course & club house centerpiece. Is there such an area in NY? We are open to housing costs. From as little as 300k to 1m.
I'm a southern boy born & raised in the Galveston/Houston area of TX. My wife and I are getting very close to retiring (or semi-retiring if we find we have too much time on our hands). We currently have 1 daughter at RIT, and another 2 years behind (but undecided on which college yet). My wife LOVES NYC!! But, we are not NYC wealthy. We currently live in the Spring/The Woodlands area of TX which is frankly a yuppie-ish suburb of Houston. What we are looking for is an area that has similar dynamics to our current location with a plethora of great restaurants, shopping, home improvement stores, grocery stores, etc. We've looked online at many areas around the finger lakes, but honestly they have too much of a small town feel that we aren't used to (although much more picturesque than where we currently live). I have found at least 1 property in Seneca Falls that looks really nice on the website, but we've yet to visit it, and I fear it will feel too small town-ish for us. We did visit Sodus Bay in August. It had some nice houses for sale, but for my wife, it was a little too far out from the amenities we currently enjoy.
Another observation is the majority of housing for sale is much older than what we're looking for. So, getting down to brass tax, is there an area of NY that has housing/communities in the 10yr old or less range, homes on lots from 1/2-1acres, and proximal to larger grocery stores, Cinemas, Napa auto, hardware stores (can be big corporate stores like Home Depot, or smaller independents). I guess down here they're considered "master planned" communities often built around a golf course & club house centerpiece. Is there such an area in NY? We are open to housing costs. From as little as 300k to 1m.
Thanks for any input!
While not 10 years old, planned communities such as Radisson in the Baldwinsville area off of Route 31, the Riverton development in Henrietta not too far from RIT and the Gananda development 20 miles east of Rochester in Wayne County are such communities. They were built initially in the 1970's, but have parts that are newer than others. You do have to consider the aspect of an HOA, along with the property taxes in NY though.
I will say that what could set Radisson apart from the others is that it has a nice walkable village in Baldwinsville, the school district it is in, right down the road: https://www.google.com/maps/@43.1567...7i13312!8i6656
While not 10 years old, planned communities such as Radisson in the Baldwinsville area off of Route 31, the Riverton development in Henrietta not too far from RIT and the Gananda development 20 miles east of Rochester in Wayne County are such communities. They were built initially in the 1970's, but have parts that are newer than others. You do have to consider the aspect of an HOA, along with the property taxes in NY though.
I will say that what could set Radisson apart from the others is that it has a nice walkable village in Baldwinsville, the school district it is in, right down the road: https://www.google.com/maps/@43.1567...7i13312!8i6656
What about new construction? I would highly recommend the Penfield area. It's just a 10 minute drive to downtown Rochester and also Fairport is a good size village just a few minutes away. And you have Wegmans right next to you along with Home Depot, Auto Zone, etc. I just built a home in Penfield and love it.
While not 10 years old, planned communities such as Radisson in the Baldwinsville area off of Route 31, the Riverton development in Henrietta not too far from RIT and the Gananda development 20 miles east of Rochester in Wayne County are such communities. They were built initially in the 1970's, but have parts that are newer than others. You do have to consider the aspect of an HOA, along with the property taxes in NY though.
I will say that what could set Radisson apart from the others is that it has a nice walkable village in Baldwinsville, the school district it is in, right down the road: https://www.google.com/maps/@43.1567...7i13312!8i6656
Since it sounds like the budget allows, someplace like City Square in Saratoga Springs would be an option if you are open to more dense housing (it's a high end townhome community that is very close to downtown restaurants/cultural things, yet just a couple of miles from a commercial area with big box stores and a mall)
Otherwise I agree with the suggestion of the Rochester burbs.... Penfield, along with maybe Victor or Farmington.
This has Rochester's Eastern suburbs written all over it. Housing $300,000-$1mil, check. new, or newer housing stock, check, lots of shopping, check, lots of restaurants, check. Yes, literally the whole east and southeast Rochester 2nd and 3rd ring suburbs. Webster, Penfield, Perinton, Pittsford, Victor, Rush-Henrietta
This has Rochester's Eastern suburbs written all over it. Housing $300,000-$1mil, check. new, or newer housing stock, check, lots of shopping, check, lots of restaurants, check. Yes, literally the whole east and southeast Rochester 2nd and 3rd ring suburbs. Webster, Penfield, Perinton, Pittsford, Victor, Rush-Henrietta
^I would recommend these due to proximity to RIT. If you are open to Syracuse or Buffalo, which are very similar to Rochester, Manlius/Fayetteville/Pompey might work outside Syracuse or Williamsville/East Amherst/Clarence outside Buffalo.
Upstate NY generally doesn't get "master planned" communities like the rest of the nation because it is hardly growing. However, places like Clarence have new communities such as Spaulding Green (I think around 500 homes when fully completed) with similar counterparts in Rochester as well.
Just to give you an idea, here are some of the towns in upstate with the most new builds between 2010 and 2017:
Lancaster(Buffalo area) 1,033
Clarence (Buffalo area) 880
Henrietta (Rochester area) 859
Hamburg (Buffalo area) 853
Penfield (Rochester area)818
Greece(Rochester area) 703
Clay (Syracuse area) 656
Amherst (Buffalo area) 646
Victor(Rochester area) 597
Here are zip codes with the highest home values in general:
14032-Clarence Center, Buffalo $307,000
13152-Skaneatltes, Syracuse $285,500
14051-East Amherst, Buffalo $266,600
14222-Elmwood Village, Buffalo $262,700
14534-Pittsford, Rochester $256,100
14564-Victor, Rochester $254,800
14506-Mendon, Rochester $250,100
All of these areas are suburban except for the Elmwood Village, which is in Buffalo proper.
Finally, here is the 2017 estimated median value of homes for each metro area, with Houston included as a comparison.
Houston $192,900
Buffalo $148,700
Rochester $144,500
Syracuse $139,400
Last edited by cjoseph; 12-08-2018 at 10:59 AM..
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