Affordable Westchester Towns: An Impossible Feat?

We currently live in Astoria and are looking to move out of NYC proper to a suburb. We are looking for a single-family home with 3 bedrooms for under $450k and the kicker is, we want to have a 45 minute or so commute to Grand Central Terminal via public transportation.

 For those of you that know anything about the housing market near NYC, you might think this sounds impossible. Don't get me wrong, I know this is going to be a major challenge, but I've done some research and I think it might be feasible, as long as we are realistic on what we are going to get for our money. As I said in another post, we are most likely going to be doing some renovations, but this just means we get to customize our home.

If you are just starting your research into areas around NYC, here is a list of places we have looked into so far and some general thoughts. Disclaimer: All of these places are in Westchester County, and they are also cities, not towns, but I still consider these places a suburb of NYC, because compared to the very urban neighborhoods found in NYC, lets face it, any city in Westchester is going to feel more like a suburb. We are also not considering school districts as a super high priority in our search because we are at least 8-10 years away from having school age children and by then we will likely have outgrown our "starter" house.  

First on the list: New Rochelle, NY. This city is going to be a bit of a stretch for our budget. There are some options in our budget of under $450k. New Rochelle seems to have a great vibe. It is near the water, has quick train service into Grand Central (about 30 minutes), and the newly built New Roc City, with a great movie theater and some solid chain restaurants. The parks in New Rochelle seem nice, many of them by the water. There is also good access to roads which is also important to us because I work in Queens. But, in order to make New Rochelle work, we are going to have to find a home that has property taxes on the lower end.

Next up: White Plains, NY. This is one of the more urban areas we are considering. But the appeal of White Plains comes in the form of convenience. It is a developed and thriving city with some semblance of night life and restaurants within a very quick commute to Grand Central due to the
express trains that run frequently. But it would be a further drive for me to Queens, and the traffic can be horrendous. The housing stock in White Plains does offer us some affordable options. White Plains also offers a good real estate tax advantage over many areas in Westchester. 

A little further down the list: Yonkers, NY. Our biggest reservation about Yonkers is the additional city income tax that residents pay. One of the reasons we are moving out of NYC is to avoid the additional city income tax which is astronomical. Granted the Yonkers tax is far less than NYC,

however it is still an additional expense. Yonkers does have some things we really like. For one, it is a very quick commute to Grand Central via the Metro North and in off peak traffic I can get to Queens in about 15-20 minutes. Yonkers is also home to three of our favorite stores, REI, Stew Leonards, and Costco. We'd probably be making trips to Yonkers shopping areas no matter where we live. Our other consideration is that even though Yonkers has an income tax, property taxes are much lower than other parts of Westchester. I should note that Southeast Yonkers and parts of Southwest Yonkers that border the Bronx are generally considered to be a bit sketchy. Our home search would likely be focused in Northwest Yonkers in the areas bordering Bronxville, and Tuckahoe.

For the right house: Port Chester, NY. This village seems to present housing prices right in our budget, and a cool, younger vibe. Not to mention, it seems as if we would get a little more house for the money. Port Chester has a little bit longer commute to Grand Central than the other areas, but because it is still in Southeast Westchester and a reasonable commute to Queens by car, we are keeping it on our list. Despite the "iffy" reputation, Port Chester has gotten a bit of a face lift in recent years. It has attracted several big box stores like Costco and Whole Foods, and the food scene is great with ethnic and upscale options like Tarry Market, owned by Mario Batali and Joe Basianich, a staple of Main Street. Not to mention the owner of the Brooklyn Bowl just restored and reopened the Capitol Theater, a great and historic music venue that has seen the likes of Janis Joplin and the Grateful Dead. Our biggest concern is potential resale value, but if things continue in Port Chester how they have in the last couple years, it might be a better investment than any of the other areas we are considering.

We are definitely keeping our options open to the other areas as well, but these are the towns that we are primarily searching for listings on the internet. Anyone have any advice or more insight into these towns or how you are searching for the right place to buy a house for your family? Please share in the comments!

Mid-Century Furniture Finds in Home Listing Photos

I have a very eclectic style when it comes to room design. But lately I have been really drawn to mid-century modern pieces. We recently moved into a new apartment and we had to come up with some creative storage and furniture solutions. I had been itching to try out some DIY pinterest projects, so I set to work. I built my own coffee table using a pre-cut piece of wood from Home Depot that I stained and some hairpin legs I bought on Etsy. I also did a couple more Ikea hack projects with that mid-century modern flare. Now I feel like my eye is constantly drawn towards authentic mid-century pieces that I see in pictures.

While browsing listings on Zillow and Trulia, I have seen some truly interesting (read: outdated) furniture. But every once in a while I'll spot a great mid-century piece in the background that I would love to revamp. I'm tempted to contact the homeowners to see if they'd be willing to sell me the piece.

The green vintage recliner is an awesome piece, it would need to be reupholstered obviously.

Love the hutch in the background.

An entire bedroom set, I would love to get my hands on this and make it magnificent.

I think I saw something on pinterest a while back about re-purposing an old tv cabinet. 

I think the call would go something like this: "Hello, I was looking at pictures of your house online, and I'm not interested in your house because it is honestly overpriced and badly staged, but I did notice a specific piece of furniture I would like to buy." Homeowner: "Is this a joke?"...Click.

Would any of you consider calling the homeowner to score that perfect piece of furniture?

Renovation is our option...

Every time I watch a house hunting show on HGTV, the buyers always say that they want something turn key or with only a small amount of work. I think this is probably the case for most homebuyers. I mean who wouldn't want to just open the door, drop their stuff in the room and go on living their life. But if you've ever watched an HGTV show from start to finish, then you know how rare it is that the buyer is able to find exactly what they want down to every detail. I think it would be safe to say that even though most buyers want turn key, the reality is they want it customized to them more.

The good news for Nicki and I is we don't have to stress over the decision of turn key versus renovation. Our budget and locations of choice are making that decision for us. At our price point, anything we see is going to need some renovations. My goal in our hunt is to find a house that has updated systems. Meaning, I would prefer only cosmetic updates versus having to replace a roof, plumbing, a furnace, or god forbid the electric. But even this might be a stretch for us.

The mantra that I'm going into this house hunt with is a house can be changed, but the location can not. That's not to say that I'm going to buy the worst house in the best location, I'd just like it to strike a happy medium between good location and good bones. We are almost certainly going to be updating a kitchen, which in truth kind of excites me. I love the thought of being able to make the kitchen my own. Lay it out exactly as we'd like it for function and beauty.

I love looking in a house and seeing that it would be possible to take a wall down and open the kitchen up into a living room or dining room. I'm not the type to use a formal dining room, so that space is just going to be wasted for me unless I can turn it into an expanded kitchen or family room extension. I get a warm fuzzy feeling inside when I look at house floor plans that would allow for that option.

But there is one room in the house that I don't want to have to touch, the bathroom. The idea of redoing a bathroom or both bathrooms is not something I'm looking forward to. I don't really know why the bathroom scares me so much. Maybe it's because I know I'm going to have to do some of the demo work myself and the idea of having to remove the toilet grosses me out. Or maybe because realistically you can live without a fully functioning kitchen for a few weeks, but a bathroom is not something you can live without. So I'm making a promise to myself (one that let's be honest, I will probably have to break), I will find a house with 2 bathrooms and at least one of them will not have to be renovated. Fingers crossed!