Is westchester for us? (White Plains, Rye: short sales, apartment, foreclosure)

[tango14]

We moved from out from out of state to ny and are currently renting in westchester. Husband commutes to purchase and we have two elementary school kids. We are looking to buy a home with a comfortable commute for husband and a good (great or as good as it can get) school district and a reasonably diverse community. We are open to single family, condo or town homes. The problem is that our budget is 400,000$. Since we have high taxes here and a hoa ( for a condo or townhome), even that price is a bit of a stretch. Ideally, 350,000 to 375000. We tried pleasant ville, chappaqua, briarcliff etc but of course, we have realized they are not meant for us unless we are willing to work with short sales and houses with tons of problems from flooding to mold to septic leaks. We are starting to look at a few other places like dobbs ferry etc.
Are there other areas that anyone can think of that might fit us? I understand we are looking at a very affluent part of the country but wanted to make sure that we have tried everything before we quit westchester and maybe look at Connecticut . Any ideas about dobbs ferry, Ardsley, eastchester, pocantico hills or anything else anybody can think of with good schools and a good commute. Thank you.

[hussar1683]

300-400,000 for a house in the Chappaqua area isn't probably a good idea. Unless you can find a decent house at auction / foreclosure that is well below the average house value.
Mount Kisco in this area has more 300,000-400,000 dollar houses but Mount Kisco is no Chappaqua

Yeah try CT. CT has cheaper taxes.

For 300-400,000 you would probably try North of Danbury. (Danbury is probably not so good for kids) They have some thug issues.
There are many decent houses about 300-400,000 on the New Fairfield CT & Patterson NY border area. (Maybe this is too North for you)

You could try Ridgefield for 300-400,000 maybe you could find a Condo. Ridgefield is expensive.

Anything South of Ridgefield would probably be ridiculously expensive. Probably worse than Chappaqua.

You can try Putnam county. Mahopac has many good houses for 300-400,000. Mahopac is fairly decent & middle class.

You could also try Yorktown & Cortlandt area more houses for 300-400,000 in that area than Chappaqua
(Stay away from Peekskill if you have kids)

If you want to get a bigger house & aren't afraid of more Northern commute you can try Dutchess county. You can probably get a much bigger house in say Pawling or Beekman area than in Chappaqua for the same price that is for sure.

Pawling is pretty charming & nice & but isn't ridiculously expensive as a place like Chappaqua.

[streetsmart]

I think your best bet would be to look at communities up north along the 684. That would give your husband a straight shot down to work. Somewhere like Somers or even Brewster (I don't actually know if that is in Westchester or not...) would give you a house in your budget. Not totally sure about the schools, other than I haven't hear bad things about them, and I can't say much about diversity other than my hunch is that it's probably lacking the further north you go. However, if you want a nice house and good schools for your kids and an easy commute for your husband, north is the way to go. Looking in places like Ardsley or Dobbs Ferry will just frustrate you with your budget and your husband's commute will involve lots of traffic. Croton, Cortland Manor, and Yorktown could possibly work for you too, but the commute wouldn't be as easy.

Then again, if you are open to a condo, why not look for one in Larchmont/Mamaroneck/Rye? You seem drawn to southern Westchester, the schools are fab and the commute would be easy peasy. I guess it depends what you want in a community, and if you like rural or more suburban.

[tango14]

Thanks, Yorktown heights and north of it all add to the commute. Closer to city (down south) is desirable but of course, the prices go up. I dont know if any of the southern areas in westchester will fit our bill. Ct is better in terms of taxes but they all are not easy commute except Stamford where schools are not good.

[streetsmart]

Originally Posted by tango14

Thanks, Yorktown heights and north of it all add to the commute. Closer to city (down south) is desirable but of course, the prices go up. I dont know if any of the southern areas in westchester will fit our bill. Ct is better in terms of taxes but they all are not easy commute except Stamford where schools are not good.

I don't understand, if your husband is commuting to Purchase and your budget is small, why on earth would you beat your head on a wall and try to get into southern Westchester? How close does he want his commute to be? 15 minutes? 30 minutes? 45 minutes? I still think you should go north on 684 - you'll get the most bang for your buck and a decent commute.

[tango14]

Originally Posted by streetsmart

I don't understand, if your husband is commuting to Purchase and your budget is small, why on earth would you beat your head on a wall and try to get into southern Westchester? How close does he want his commute to be? 15 minutes? 30 minutes? 45 minutes? I still think you should go north on 684 - you'll get the most bang for your buck and a decent commute.

We thought southern parts are a good fit (not withstanding the money aspect) because of excellent schools and a good commute (20-25 minutes) . In our price range, that,s why looking for condos (if that)is more realistic. Are we mistaken ? Are there Good affordable condos in mamoraneck/rye area? Thanks

[Justabitoff]

You get more for your money the farther up you go. If you're OK living in a 2 bedroom condo with 2 kids because of the schools, then southern Westchester is good. But if you want more space, then you'll need to go up farther or to CT. $400K won't get you a whole lot in this part of the county. All the schools in Westchester are good, and you don't want to be miserable living in a tiny apartment just for the schools. Personally I don't think it's worth it because the schools won't be that much better to offset the tight squeeze.

[cali_to_nj]

Originally Posted by tango14

We thought southern parts are a good fit (not withstanding the money aspect) because of excellent schools and a good commute (20-25 minutes) . In our price range, that,s why looking for condos (if that)is more realistic. Are we mistaken ? Are there Good affordable condos in mamoraneck/rye area? Thanks

You should also consider the social implications of putting your kids in an elite school district (Rye, Larchmont) where you can only afford a condo. The overall lifestyle expense of living in these areas goes far beyond your home costs as your kids will make friends with kids who are participating in expensive camps, vacations, activities, etc. and there may be a pressure to keep up, reciprocate playdates and parties, etc. You might be better off finding a nice smaller home with a yard in your budget in areas like Hawthorne, Thornwood, Valhalla, North White Plains. The Mt Pleasant and Valhalla school districts are perfectly good and Mt Pleasant has great town amenities as well.

[hominamad]

Why don't you just go to Trulia, put in some search parameters and see what comes up? I suspect if you're not going to find much. Even a 2BR condo in a decent area of White Plains is going to be around $400k + taxes. And that's probably going to be around 1000sq ft which is tiny for a family of 4. I agree with the other posters to go much further North.

[tango14]

We,ll check out some of the areas in the north although we,ll keep an eye on larchmont, rye, mamoraneck etc. thanks for everybody,s input.