rsuzie

Hi, this is first time I have used this site and the advice so far has been really helpful so thank you.
We are hoping to move to the USA this year and are looking at Westchester and Connecticut, we are particularly interested in Westport, larchmont, and Greenwich and I would love any advice on these areas as I am feeling totally daunted by all there is to think about. I feel particularly overwhelmed regarding schools (I think we are going down the public school route? Do people recommend this rather than private, it seems quite different from the uk) and can anyone recommend if the places we mention are good places to live for expats? We have two boys (who will be 5 and 7 by the time we move) and my biggest concern if for them and how they will integrate. Basically would just love some advice from anyone who's been through it.

Thanks so much.

civilservant

First question - what are the circumstances of the move? What visas will you be emmigrating on? This sometimes efects the answers we give, so always good to ask.

Welcome to BE

Jerseygirl

Welcome to BE.

Private schools are very expensive here...you're probably looking at around $20/25K per year for each child. Expect lots of additional costs too.

rsuzie

Thanks, we are moving out with my husbands company on a local contract, It is a modestly supportive package but I understand the costs of living are much greater than the UK, especially in terms of rent. We are still slightly in the negotiation stages, hence my question re public vs private education and if we could provide a good argument for private it's possible the company would support us. However, we don't want to negotiate heavily on this if it's an unnecessary expense and not a recommended route. My visa will be a 'trailing spouse' (love that name!) Not sure of the exact name of my husbands visa but will post it as soon as I have it, in the mean time hope this helps.

Jerseygirl

You will find the cost of living is no cheaper in the NY Met Area...NJ/NY/Conn. Some things are cheaper but some are more expensive and there are a lot of hidden costs.

I suggest you take a look in the BE Wiki...great info in there re relo packages and well as other useful info.

Bob

Same goes for state schools with hidden additional costs too.

Anyway, posted some links on the welcome thread regarding schools and city-data.

The wiki here does have a good thing on relocation packages and there have been plenty of threads to search out to get ideas of things people have asked for, things people have gotten and things people have regretted not getting or asking for.

rpjs

I live in Tarrytown in Westchester and we're currently buying a house in Sleepy Hollow, the next village over. The cost of living is very, very high here. Our rent for a 2/3 bed unfurnished apartment is $2150 a month. The house we're buying will be a fixer-upper so we're getting it at a discount, but with property tax currently at $17,500pa (which we should be able to get reduced), that alone will be close to what we currently pay in rent.

OTOH the Metro-North train fares are dirt cheap compared to the equivalent in the London commuter belt.

We do like Westchester a lot, but you need to be on good money to be able to afford to live there!

mum 2 3

Hi
My way of finding an area to live was based on the local schools. I used greatschools.org to find schools in the commute I (my OH really) would be happy with. Then I looked on neighborhoodscout.com to see what the areas were like. Then I looked at rentals in those areas and came on 2 trips, an area tour and a house hunting trip to nail down the rental. There are areas (I chose to live in one) where the public schools are rated as highly as the private schools. Even though your property taxes are really high (or rent as it covers it) it still works out cheaper than sending your kids to private school.

I also wanted to make sure we would be able to afford to buy in the catchment area of the school if we decided to stay as elementary schools are on catchment.

We moved 6 months ago with 3 boys (twins 5 at time and big brother was 7) and they love it here. I can't say I would have done anything differently.

One thing to note is once you know which school district your kids will be going to, check the required immunisations and make sure you start getting them up to date before you move. Mine had everything required in the UK, but needed 4 instead of 3 for most things and 3 doses of Hep B (got 2 done in UK then you wait 6 months and get the 3rd so had that done here) Luckily I had read that on here and got it started or they wouldn't have been allowed to start school.
Good luck with the move.

AmerLisa

Public schools should never be compared to private schools on the basis of costs. Just so there's no misconception, there is no tuition at a public school. However, a lot of school districts ask parents to bring in school supplies for their kids, paper, pencils, crayons, etc....

When you figure out which area you'll be in, you'll be able to look at the school district to see how it's rated, etc. I always recommend that people shop for good school districts, when looking for a place to live, if at all possible.

www.greatschools.org

Bob

Clearly, it wouldn't be a state public school if it had tuition fees.

I just pointed out that they also have a hidden cost involved, more than just the "trivial" supplies, but the additional costs for sporting events etc.

AmerLisa

But it sounded as if you were comparing the costs at private vs. public. While there can be costs, such as you mentioned, the two are not even in the same field.

Bob

Aye, maybe not in the order of ten out, but having a couple of kids doing sports, music or other pre/after school programs can easily cost a few grand of other wise unexpected money, on top of providing all the trivial bits and pieces.

AmerLisa

Costs and programs can and will vary per district, etc....but a few grand? Do you mean over their whole school years?

We're in our last year of elementary here and I've not found it ridiculously expensive, of course junior high is looming. The biggest annoyance is contributing to school supplies, something I was not used to doing previously with my older children, but times change, I guess.

The biggest annoyance I've found and don't contribute to is fundraising! They sell it to the kids like commercials. If anything should be outlawed it should be that! We have no family anywhere locally and our friend's kids are all hawking the same crap as well, so every year I have had to tell my daughter that no I'm not buying a $150 worth of fundraising so you can get some plastic <insert whatever cheap toy you can think of> This year they went for the big guns and offered the kids a free limo ride if they sold a number of items....

kodokan

My daughter's elementary this year tried a new tack: 'we need to raise about $10k for new computers and the like, so if each family gives us $50 we won't need to bother you with fundraising schemes for the whole year'. I gave them $100, just to be sure I wouldn't have to buy vast quantities of $30 candles and $12 frozen pastries.

Sadly, it turned out most people either liked the fundraising or weren't able to do maths and honestly believe a candle is worth $30; they only raised $3k, so are still doing schemes. My daughter's very reasonable, though, and completely accepts it when I explain 'that's just for the people who didn't pay their contribution cheque up front like we did'.

But I haven't found it too expensive otherwise. I spend maybe $40 per child kitting them out for school each year, including a pencil case, rucksack, stationery, etc, then send in a large box of Goldfish or some such a couple of times a term for her communal class snack time, maybe the odd ream of paper if they ask, that sort of thing.

My son had a 3-day residential trip to San Diego last year which cost $350, but they have a tax rebate thing in AZ where if I give the school anything up to $400, I get that $400 taken straight off my state taxes. So his trip was essentially 'free'.

Edit: forgot to say, my way of moving was essentially the same as Mum 2 3: we worked out possible commutes for hubby, had a look-see trip in which we drove around various areas and narrowed it down to two sub-towns we liked, then I used Great Schools and Schooldigger to find the best high school, then junior high, then elementary in those school districts, and told our relo agent to find us a house in either this area or this area, depending on where a good rental comes up first *handed him maps with boxes drawn around the catchment areas of the great elementaries*. I don't know if it varies, but here if you move into a house in an elementary school's boundary, then you automatically get a place at that school, even if it's full and has a waiting list for out-of-boundary kids. Much easier therefore than the UK, where you'd never get into a popular excelling school if you arrived mid-cycle.

Nutmegger

You don't indicate if there is a specific place that you or your OH will have to commute to every day. If it is somewhere like Greenwich or Stamford or White Plains, I would also suggest looking at Redding, Wilton, and Ridgefield in CT. Very nice towns with excellent public schools, so you can look for houses in any area of town without worrying about ending up at the wrong school. If there is an NYC commute involved, they are probably a bit far out to my mind -- but many people do commute from these towns.