londonautumn

Hi there!

We have just been told that my husband needs to move for work to NY and that it is a permanent move. Start date is early Feb 2014 and the offices are in Lower Manhattan.
We have 2 kids, 4 and 1 and we were hoping that you could share your thoughts and opinions on potential areas to live in the state as we feel very overwhelmed by it all.
We currently live in Chelsea here in London, and although we have been in the area for many years and love it, we feel it may not be the best place to raise kids especially since we want to go down the state school route. SO bearing that in mind would you still recommend living in Manhattan or should we just move straight to the suburbs, and if so which ones?
My main concern is that we have always lived in the city and that we may feel isolated and bored if we were to live in the suburbs, but perhaps its just the anxiety and fear of the unknown??
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!!
Many thanks.

civilservant

First concern is visas, everything is secondary to that - further, in the first instance it is very unlikely it will be permenant in order to meet that timescales.

So, which visa is the company petitioning him for? L1?

londonautumn

The L1

Jerseygirl

Welcome to BE.

Take a look through Englishmum's posts....she's posted great information about areas to live...schools etc for people who work in NYC but don't wish to live there.

http://britishexpats.com/forum/member.php?u=1486

Chrisdc

Take a look at Battery Park City. I lived there for four years and loved it. In recent times it has become a very family-friendly area. It's one of the few parts of of the city where you see kids in the streets, sort of a softer version of Manhattan. There are small parks, riverfront walks and some decent restaurants. There is also a great public school, though you have to be in the right catchment area. For access to the rest of New York - walk for about 15 minutes and you can get to all the main subway lines. It's in Lower Manhattan, so also (potentially) walking distance to work for your husband.

Housing stock is mostly apartment buildings - a mix of condo (owner-occupied) and rental. The rental costs are fairly high and it's not a great place to buy because the property taxes are disproportionately high. Take a walk around on Google Street View and you will get the feel of it.

There are also a lot of people moving to the financial district - lots of new apartment building conversions. However it is still a bit quiet once all the office workers go home (like the City of London.)

HTH

Lbjen

Budget might be what makes that decision for you. Have you looked at what you might get for your money in the areas you're considering?

JAJ

The L1 is a nonimmigrant visa and you can't make a "permanent move" that way. Is there a plan to adjust to green card, and if so, how/when? The reason to ask is that it's often not as easy or quick as people expect.

notonuksoil

When we originally came to NY in 2003 our kids were 5 and 18 mths, we wanted a good neighbourhood/community with good public (state) schools and an easy commute into NYC

After a great deal of online research and two recce trips to check out areas we settled on lower Westchester. We are still here!

I'd suggest looking at Bronxville and Scarsdale in Lower Westchester and Greenwich in CT I'd say they offer a similar demographic to Chelsea and also have excellent schools.

If you are looking for city life in Manhattan use this site to check out schools http://insideschools.org/ PS234 is an excellent school in Tribeca but as with all the best public schools in the city it gets over subscribed and sometimes it comes down to a lottery for places even if you live in the catchment area. This isn't the case in the burbs every child living in the school district gets a place in the local school.

We don't get bored in the burbs, only 30 minutes from NYC plus there is so much going on for the kids to do locally. I'd suggest a trip over to have a look around and find areas that fit your requirements.

Bob

Welcome to BE and good luck with the move!

Might want to browse the wiki, up top. There's a lot of decent info about the visa as well as relocation info, credit history, medical insurance etc.

londonautumn

Chrisdc,
Thank you so much for that info. It sounds like Battery Park City may be a strong contender for us.

londonautumn

Thank you! Its good to know that you were in a similar boat to us when you moved over and that it all worked out. I have heard about Lower Westchester in the past so we'll be sure to check it out when we arrive.I understand that there are good trains into the city but is it also possible/ convenient to drive in too?

penguinbar

You should check out the Upper East Side as well. Lot's of families and some great public as well as private schools. Battery Park would be a good option . The Financial district is not an area that I would move to if I had kids. There's not many conveniences compared to other areas . You could also look into Brooklyn Heights and Carroll Gardens.

Ruth16

Depends on how you are for finances, work in The big Apple ,live in Greenwich Ct , public schools there are like private schools elsewhere , too expensive , live in Stamford Ct .

Nutmegger

For work every day? You wouldn't want to. With the family for a leisurely outing on the weekend, definitely.

notonuksoil

Would not even think about commuting into NYC daily from lower Westchester by any means other than Metro North. (OK unless you have access to a helicopter! ) As Nutmegger says, as a leisurely trip with family absolutely but go early as parking is a bitch.