Thoughts on Suburbs?
This may be the most unlikely question to be posted here, but we are really looking for some opinions. We have been in BedStuy for the past 6 years, great house, nice neighbors. Growing family and less disp inc we are reluctantly considering relocating out of the city. Know nothing about NY suburbs. Not a…
This may be the most unlikely question to be posted here, but we are really looking for some opinions. We have been in BedStuy for the past 6 years, great house, nice neighbors. Growing family and less disp inc we are reluctantly considering relocating out of the city. Know nothing about NY suburbs. Not a huge suburb/country person so looking for a place that is diverse, has a nice walking village area, not a 3 hr 1-way commute to the city, “hip”-ish like BK 🙂 and a reputation of happy residents. I know it’s asking for a lot. Some folks have mentioned Riverdale, Garden City, Westport, Hoboken. Just wanted to see what others thought. Thanks sooo much!
I’m with Ringo, the Hudson river towns are more interesting to us if we ever left. NJ taxes are too high; I’d be frustrated paying all that money towards something that doesn’t add equity. If you have 5 kids it’s cheaper than paying for private school here sure, but there are better schools in Westchester and CT so I don’t get it personally. Because I’ve heard K-5 is good in Maplewood and Montclair but reviews are mixed for middle to high school.
There’s actually a yahoo group for people in Brooklyn to discuss options in the suburbs. It’s called Brooklyn vs suburbs or something but I can’t remember exactly what. It’s not very active and honestly most of the emails there are people frustrated at having not yet found the perfect alternative to Brooklyn.
Westchester is great but it’s not going to be cheaper than Brooklyn. Hoboken is really nice but it’s almost exactly like Brooklyn except their are more white people. I live in Downtown Jersey City which is cheap but definitely not the suburbs. Montclair is really nice but not sure if it’s that cheap. Teaneck is nice and not super expensive except for the taxes. It’s tough to say as you want something cheaper than Bed Stuy in the suburbs that has good schools.
as someone said Hoboken is not a suburb and also is a (quite nice)neighborhood in the Bronx.
You really give no clue as to what price house, size, where you work (to measure commute) – and whether school district is the real issue and looking for ‘good’ one.
One thing you should also consider is transportation costs. I don’t know if you have one now but you’ll need a car which can be pretty expensive when you add up gas costs, insurance, maintenance, financing ect.
Seems like everyone I know moves to the river towns (Hastings on Hudson, Dobbs Ferry, etc). That area must be full of ex-Brooklynites by now. Also, pretty and housing stock is nice and schools are good. Taxes are high.
I have a plumbing and heating shop in Orange, NJ that was previously based in Maplewood for several years. Maplewood is a great little community mixed of natives and NY transplants, and while it is largely a working-class community, it is certainly not a cheap place to live. I’m told taxes are high on even on modest homes. Where I am in Orange is more of a depressed community, but recent changes and a growing arts community are showing a strong move toward gentrification.
My wife and I often say that if we were to move out of the city, we would head toward Nyack. The biggest problem with that is watching the traffic reports every morning about the George Washington Bridge. Never good.
Also, I spent my first 32 years on Staten Island. Take that off the table.
Ridgewood, NJ. Lots of young families moving there from the city.
The Oranges and Montclair are terrific places. Just remember while you will save on school fees, property taxes are outrageous in the suburbs.
I grew up out there (LI) and don’t miss it too much now; the politics tend to be very one-sided (I was at a St. Pat’s day parade in the town I grew up in a few years back and people booed and jeered as Chuck Schumer marched by), you will not find as much diversity (in thought), and if you are into the arts and music, there are definately places to go, just fewer and farther between.
As for towns, if I had to go back out to LI and did not want to go all the way to the east end, I would consider places on the north shore by the water. Huntington might be one of those places – a vibrant shopping district with a very, very good independent bookstore (the Book Revue), good restaurants, a few pubs, some museums, a big park – all right there in one tight knit area (I imagine Huntington as having once been a big county town when there was nothing but farms in the area).
Another good thing about a town like Huntington, it is the last stop on the electrified line for that branch of the LIRR- so there are frequent express trains from NY Penn/Jamaica to there; a one hour commute.
Other places to consider, Oyster Bay Village, Locust Valley, Port Washington; all of these places have villages which have restaurants and places to walk to – and reasonable housing mixed with higher end stock.
My wife and I had considered towns in Nassau, Western Suffolk, and Westchester when we were looking a few years back and we frequently took Sunday train trips to these places to learn about the commute and look at real estate and the villages, which reminds me, one of the places we went to a few times was Bronxville (Westchester), worth checking out –
good luck
Steve