Relocating from Pittsburgh to Rochester - Please Help! (New York, Syracuse: real estate, house)
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Hi there,
We are considering a possible relocation from Pittsburgh to Rochester; my husband would be working in the city, and we have four young children, the oldest being in second grade. Our housing budget is between $350K-$450K, and schools are not a concern because we home educate our children and will continue to do so. We want to make sure we would be able to sell our house easily, though, so buying in a bad school district (if there even is one in Rochester - doesn't seem like it!) is not an option. We are coming to visit this Sunday, so we need advice on a real estate agent, as well as suburbs. It seems as though Pittsfield and Perinton most closely match the town we live in here in PA... any advice on one vs. the other, since schools are not a concern? Do both of them have reasonably active communities? The biggest thing I can't get over is property taxes - they are outrageous! Most of the homes we have looked at online in Pittsfield and Perinton (avg. $400K) are saying that annual property taxes are $12-$14K/year. Is this accurate???? That is CRAZY! Our taxes in Allegheny County are high, and we pay $8K/year right now. Please tell me that they are not this high!!! If they are, we may seriously consider not accepting this offer my husband has. Finally, some of the places we have looked at have "STAR" numbers listed - which I'm guessing is some kind of discount on property tax? Do all Pittsfield and Perinton homes have some form of this?
Thank you all so much for any help you can offer. Rochester looks like a lovely place to live and raise a family!
Wow... Since schools are not a concern, you should consider the City... East Ave / Park Ave will have many attractive options for you in that price range.
We live in the city with two small kids... Absolutely love the walkable lifestyle and active community. Museums, arts, and music is all around.
Wow... Since schools are not a concern, you should consider the City... East Ave / Park Ave will have many attractive options for you in that price range.
We live in the city with two small kids... Absolutely love the walkable lifestyle and active community. Museums, arts, and music is all around.
I was going to say the same thing. Along with purdue's suggestion, neighborhoods like Browncroft, Highland Park(aka Ellwanger-Barry), Upper Monroe/Cobb's Hill, Upper MT. Hope, Swillburg, North Winton Village/Culver-Winton-Main and Charlotte, among maybe a few others. Here is a good Rochester city neighborhood guide: Rochester Neighborhoods - Rochester Wiki You will notice that the Southeastern Quarter of the city is viewed as the nicest part of town and this may allow you to save in terms of housing costs too.
If you really want the suburbs, look into Brighton or even western Irondequoit, along with the Western suburbs along the Erie Canal like Spencerport and Brockport. All have a good degree of walkability.
STAR is available to NY homeowners(Basic STAR). There are other tax exemptions that you may want to look into as well as challenge your assessment. Here are some guides: Taxes by State: New York to Wyoming
Park Avenue is a nice area but is geared toward young adults. There are very few families with children there. East Avenue is also very nice but I would avoid the East End portion downtown - that's Rochester's nightlife district. Ditto for the Monroe Village portion of Monroe Avenue (the part between I-490 and downtown). Lots of bars and head shops.
Beyond that, you really can't go wrong anywhere in the Southeast Quadrant. Given your budget, I'm assuming you're looking for an affluent neighborhood. I would recommend Upper Monroe, Upper Mt. Hope, Cobb's Hill, East Avenue, Browncroft, and parts of the South Wedge and Highland Park. The RocWiki has a great city neighborhood guide, as pointed out above.
I should warn you that the suburbs surrounding Rochester have a vocal pearl-clutcher faction that thinks the entire city is a wretched hive of scum and villainy. Don't listen to them.
Because of your concerns of resale value I would think twice about living in the city,the city schools are worse than almost every suburb in Monroe County. As far as suburbs go I would definitely look into Brighton. Its close to downtown,Park Ave,Monroe Ave, and the South-wedge neighborhoods.Its a also very close to Highland park, Genesee Park and the Pittsford plaza shopping area.
However If you do choose the city the neighborhoods that CK and Ilmara mentioned are all (except maybe Charlotte IMHO) highly desirable and nice ares to live and should at least maintain their housing values.
Ilmara's post is spot on. If you want to live in the city the Southeast Quadrant is a great area to live. I would check out those areas and the Park Ave/East Ave areas. Another really nice area is the Corn Hill neighborhood.
Re: resale value - the Upper Mount Hope Neighborhood has some of the highest appreciating real estate in the country. I don't think the article is available anymore on the Democrat & Chronicle website, but the RocWiki neighborhood page quotes it.
There's extensive construction going on right now because of the University of Rochester's Collegetown project. It's going to be great for the neighborhood but won't be finished for a few years.
Re: resale value - the Upper Mount Hope Neighborhood has some of the highest appreciating real estate in the country. I don't think the article is available anymore on the Democrat & Chronicle website, but the RocWiki neighborhood page quotes it.
There's extensive construction going on right now because of the University of Rochester's Collegetown project. It's going to be great for the neighborhood but won't be finished for a few years.
I wonder if it is due to the proximity to U of R, as perhaps many faculty members and staff live in that neighborhood. Here in Syracuse, many faculty and staff members live in neighborhoods not too far from campus within city limits. So, maybe it is an urban neighborhood in demand by U of R employees. Same for Strong Memorial employees as well.
Property taxes are that high if you are spending $400k. However, you can get a very nice house in the SE part of the City, Brighton, or even Pittsford for much less than that. $400k gets you a mansion in the Rochester area.
Both areas of Pittsford ( I think this is what you meant) and Perinton ( including Fairport) are great areas. I have a lot of personal experience with both areas. They both have great schools. Pittsford as a whole has slightly better schools, and slightly higher housing cost. The village of Pittsford gets more walking traffic than Fairport does. Both of these towns are located within 5 minutes of each other. The homeschool groups in both of these communities are small but do exist! The city has a much larger homeschool community but it will only take you 15-20 minutes to get to anywhere in the city from Pittsford or Perinton. Perinton has a great community center that is very active. You can check out their brochure online. Pittsford has a community center but much smaller than Perinton and therefore not as active. Perinton built a new community center maybe 15 years ago. When I write that it is 15 years old it doesn't sound as impressive as it is. However, it is a great asset to the Perinton area. Perinton also has the advantage of low Fairport electric ( be sure your house is on Fairport electric if you buy in Fairport/ Perinton). Fairport electric will save you quite a bit on your electric and is sought after by home buyers (god for the resale you mentioned). Feel free to PM me with any questions bout these two areas.
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