I'm Dreaming of a White...Picket Fence

When I think back to growing up in the suburbs, one of my favorite things was running around in my backyard with my dog and playing on my swing set. Now that I've been living in the city for so long, I've begun to forget what having grass right outside your backdoor is like (or what a backdoor is for that matter). As a New Yorker, I've become accustomed to using the term "outdoor space". In NYC real estate outdoor space is usually some small balcony that is all concrete and there is barely enough space for a chair and a plant. But I've discovered this whole new world of backyards with fences right here in New York and as you may know, I'm obsessed. 

Photo Courtesy of rkramer62.

As of late we have been doing a lot of research into towns. We have been considering many factors in our town search. First, we know that we want to be in Westchester, within a 30-40 minute train commute to Grand Central Terminal and a 30 minute commute to Queens by car. This basically limits us to southeastern Westchester. The next important factor for us is affordability. We have a pretty tight budget for Westchester, so we need to focus our search in towns with a more affordable median home price. Areas we are currently considering include New Rochelle, White Plains, and Port Chester. 

Most people in the market for a house in Westchester place a lot of emphasis on school districts. As I would say is probably an important consideration in most of the country. But being a few years away from children, we aren't that concerned with school ratings right now. But we are concerned with the resale value of our house when it comes time to sell. The current thing we are debating include whether we should place a lot of emphasis on the schools in light of the fact that it will be 8-10 years before we have school age children. We are somewhat realistic about home ownership and the volatile "investment" that is real estate, we are not expecting to make a killing from the appreciation, but a modest rise in value would be fantastic. I think in reality, we will be thrilled if we could sell for at least what we paid. 

I know I am way early in trying to do town/neighborhood research since we will probably be saving up money for over a year, but I figured it won't hurt to do a little research now. Who knows, we might move out to one of the towns when our current lease is up and rent something just to get a feel for things. Anyone out there have any suggestions or input? What factors did you consider in your search for the perfect neighborhood?