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Hello,
We are a Brazilian family moving to NY at he end of the year. My husband and I will be working near Grand Central Station. The girls are going to be 15, 14 and 4. My younger daughter has Down syndrome. The older ones are into music. The younger one would require a nice inclusive kindergarten.
We have always wanted to live in NYC and go to concerts, shows and theatre. But I have been told quality of life is much better in the suburbs. We will certainly be getting a lot of visitors from home and would have to have extra room for a live in nanny as well. I know it is very expensive to have 4 bedrooms or more in the city center, but as our company will help with the expenses, we would be prepared to pay around 6,000 to 7,000 per month.
I have looked at NYT Real estate section and for that price we could rent a lovely house outside. Not so much offered in terms of apartments.
It depends on what you are looking for. I am from Northern Westchester, and love it. I could personally never live in NYC, but do enjoy it when I visit. For your price range, you can rent a very nice home in Westchester. Good luck!
I would go for Manhattan so long as you can afford to pay for private school for your children on top of the rent. You can't rely upon public high schools, unless you can manage to get your children into a specialized school.
WAO, that's a big chunk of money. As stated above, you could find a very, very good house in Westchester with that kind of cash.
Now, Manhattan is quite a different animal. Not sure about what you can afford to fit a family like yours, but just to give you an idea, you could easily pay $2,000+ for a decent studio around Grand Central. For a family of five, that would be quite a stretch.
Manhattan is great. If I could afford it, I would live there no doubt about it.
What area has a better "quality of life" totally depends on your personal preferences. As someone who left the city for northern Westchester and has never regretted it, I'd say the quality of life here is far superior to what the city offers. But plenty of people would disagree.
If you're interested in city living, I would suggest looking in Brooklyn Heights or Park Slope, two very apealing, comsmopolitan areas that offer a lot (and where 8K a month should get you a nice apartment with 3 or even 4 bedrooms). If you're more interested in Westchester, what area is best for you depends on what you want. Pesonally, I've never understood why anyone would want to live in southern Westchester, but people do. It really all depends on what kind of lifestyle you want.
Regarding your youngest child, many Westchester public schools have exellent "colalborative classrooms" with special ed and regular ed kids and teachers working together. These classrooms have a much higher teacher-student ratio than most and work well for most kids with special needs. The school will also provide an aide for any child who needs it. If you pick the city, I would splurge on private school for a child with Downes Syndrome.
Hi, for your range, you can definately rent a very nice home in Westchester, as stated prior, there are some great public schools which can accomodate. Try searching for public schools in Westchester which offer the best assistance to your child with special needs. (also, check your pM). Best wishes to you and your family. Westchester is a great place to live, many towns have a great sense of community that you can not find in the city.
As DMA1250 said, Brooklyn Heights or Park Slope would both be fantastic options for you! You would have plenty of space, unbeatable access to midtown, and access to Prospect Park, one of the nicest urban parks in the US. Plus you wouldn't need a car as you would in Westchester county.
Have you searched craigslist.com or postlets.com or realtor.com these site will offer help in terms of looking at the inventory of houses out there for both rentals and home buying. Also, you will have links to schools in the respective areas.
6 to 7K won't get you a decent 4 BR in Manhattan.... we're in a similar situation and now looking into westchester as well as brooklyn. Rentals not so easy there either. The houses we like in lower Westchester (Irvington, Scarsdale, Bronxville) are ~8-10K, similar to rent a full townhouse in Brooklyn. Especially B'lyn Heights is off the charts. It really depends on how much space you need. Could you do with a 3BR duplex in brooklyn, maybe try Fort Greene or Boerum Hill neighborhoods which is close to Brooklyn Acadamey of Music. Good luck!
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