kwesimum

Hi

We are a family of 4 (2 children aged 2 and 6) and are planning to move to New York with my husbands company. As we have never been to New York, we are finding it difficult to decide upon an area within New York and its periphery. Can anyone reccommend any family friendly areas with good schools and no longer than an hours travel to Manhattan. We currently live in London (UK) and my son attends a good school with a good cultural mix which is what we want when we move to the states.

We also would like to know how easy it is to enrol our child into the US school system.

If anyone has any ideas that would be great.

cheers

Kwesimum

Englishmum

Any idea where your husband will most likely be working eg. Manhatten (mid-town, financial district, fashion district etc.)?

I'm just about to take my son to school and will write back with some ideas.

My husband works in Times Square but commutes in from the New Jersey suburbs, he takes the Midtown Direct trains on New Jersey transit and they're extremely reliable - and I hadn't been to New York either before we came to live out here.

Can you find out where your husband's work location is then?

Back soon!
EM

bridgecross

First, let me say 'Welcome to New York!!' You will either love it or hate it, but as a Londoner you will probably fit right in.
There are certainly neighborhoods within NY that are safe and have decent schools. It's difficult to give good advice without asking your $$$ situation (and I won't ask, please don't tell). If you can afford the upper west side (young & professional) upper east side (old money) greenwich village (alternative & artsy) you will be fine. Also decent is the area known as morningside heights in northwest manhattan (columbia university area). In the outer boroughs it gets sticky because it's such a patchwork of good/bad areas, I can't even keep track any more. I live in Queens, an area called Woodside, very nice. In Brooklyn; Bay Ridge is a good bet. If you go further afield; Staten Island is safe and you get to ride the famous ferry to work every day, but you don't have as much diversity and may not have as interesting a life. North of the city is Westchester County, which can be 30 min to over an hour by train, very good schools, very safe. New Jersey is a good bet; the North Bergen/Edgewater area is nice, but I don't know anything about the commute over the river.
Hopefully your husband's company can help out with info. Good luck!

Rete

I'm one of those that live on the border in Westchester and have to say that even here where you live depends solely on what you can afford. So again BC's comment about salary is very relevant. My commute is 25 minutes from my station to Grand Central and only a 5 minute walk from GC to the office. I would not recommend the schools in any of the lower Westchester cities, i.e. Yonkers, Mt. Vernon, White Plains, Greenburg, (last two are not a border towns) or New Rochelle. Lovely cities to live in are Sleepy Hollow, Bedford, Pleasantville, Chappaqua, Valhalla and those further north of the Manhattan. Schools there are better and one does not have to entertain the thought of sending them to private school unless you chose to. Rents in any of these towns would be for two bedroom a minimum of $1,500 for a small place and up to $5,000 for rent of a home.

I was out on Long Island this past weekend to visit a good friend in Farmingdale/Oyster Bay. Lovely home, nice area, claims to have good schools but commute is long.

Another option is like Englishmum - New Jersey. Some areas are quite nice with lots of open spaces. Engishmum's residence I believe is closer to Manhattan than my sister's place. My sister's house is in Freehold, NJ which is approximately 1-1/2 hours from Manhattan by bus. There an older (25 yo) house like hers with no basement but four bedrooms, three full baths, double garage, family room, large eat-in kitchen, formal dining room and upper and lower decks and an in-ground swimming pool on 1/2 acre of land is $350,000.

Probably you best bet is to have your husband ask people in the company who already live in New York what their thoughts are.

Englishmum

Ha ha, my husband asked a few of the expats who had moved to the New York office where they had moved to. One guy had moved to Fairfield County, Connecticut (his wife was heavily involved with riding horses) and he regretted it; his job involved travelling a lot (domestically and internationally) and it was a nightmare to get to JFK airport from there. Other colleagues were in places like Stamford, CT but have since all moved to New Jersey.

Newark Liberty International airport is so much more civilised than getting through customs and immigration at JFK - plus the terrible traffic to get to and from there as well. I live just 15-20 minutes from Newark airport and it's such an easy direct drive on the I-78. British Airways flies there 3 times a day, Virgin has two flights and of course there is Continental Airlines (with a Virgin codeshare) from Gatwick - I think that's twice a day.

I basically sat at the computer (we were living in the Far East at the time) and looked a map of NYC to see where my husband would be working. Obviously working in Times Square there was no way he would be driving to work, so I then looked at the train routes from Grand Central and Penn Station. My husband travels a lot so we needed easy access to an international airport - which is also handy when we get visitors from England....and top of the list was where there would be good public schools.

I spent hours poring at maps and train timetables, school information online and we couldn't have chosen a more convenient place to live for the criteria we have and the High school is No. 1 in NJ and one of the top schools in the United States. Unlike Rete's sister we have a small house about 18 miles west of Manhatten (it's very small by American standards) but for us it was location, location, location which mattered.

I'm not sure what you mean by 'diverse' but the town next to ours which is very pretty is called Maplewood and is known as being diverse. Lots of creative/media people, TV & film producers and directors, advertising, writers etc. live in Maplewood and there are lots of gay and lesbian couples with children, lots of families who have adopted (mainly girls) from China, mixed-race families, expat families, Jewish, Christian, Asian and black families...take your pick you will find all sorts of families in Maplewood. I would prefer to live there myself (many of my expat friends live there) but the school district is not quite as good as Millburn township's. My town is a bit more 'conservative' but there are lots of Asian families here yet very few black or Hispanic families.

http://www.maplewoodonline.com (messageboards are interesting - a very lively education forum!!!)

http://www.millburn.org (township schools for our school district - I live in Short Hills, NJ)

http://www.njtransit.com

http://www.panynj.com (website for New York area airports)

If you want more info I'll look up some sites for you and post them here.

strim

Having recently researched half the school districts in Westchester before deciding where to buy a house, I would concur with the above, but you can also add to the list Hastings on Hudson, Dobbs Ferry, Irvington and Ardsley to the list of places that have excellent schools.

These towns are along the Hudson river and closer into Manhattan than Sleepy Hollow et al (30 minute express to Grand Central). I probably wouldn't drive into town at rush hour, but at most other times it only takes 20 minutes to drive to the upper west side and 40 mins downtown -- we quite often drive in at weekends.

There are lots of families living in these towns, lots of parks, some outdoor pools etc.

The downside is, that property is hideosusly expensive. These days houses start at about $600,000.

Rete

Sleepy Hollow uses the Tarrytown Train Station into Grand Central. SH was, until a few years ago, known officially as North Tarrytown and had been fighting to change its name and finally did. It is only two towns up from Irvington and three from Dobbs Ferry and four from Hastings, i.e. Hastings, Dobbs Ferry, Irvington, Tarrytown, Sleepy Hollow.

Yes, real estate here is frightfully expensive and unless you want to carry a huge mortgage, most people are either opting to move to Duchess County or across the Hudson into Rockland County or New Jersey. Two of my associates just purchased homes in NJ, one in South Orange for $950,000 and the other in Mahwah for $1,250,000 so those prices are not that inexpensive either because of the "ease" of getting into Manhattan. Although one colleague comes from Ramsey, NJ and her trains are screwy with the transfer station at Seacucus and is always late by from 10 to 30 minutes each and every day. Luckily she's a partner and can get away with it.

Ben

We are further east than this and the commute to Manhattan is one hour. Our neighbours do this all week and never find it a bother. The ones right next door to us used to live on Staten Island and don't find the commute that much different, longer but not as crowded all the way. Being this far out you can pretty much guarantee a seat on the train.

Schools are excellent on Long Island and if you were serious about the upto an hour commute you can get away with just being inside Suffolk County where the prices of houses do drop a little and the taxes are less(outside the city limits and expensive, in debt Nassau County). Teachers get paid a decent wage which goes a long way to having decent schools. Depending on the area you will also get a good cultural mix. We also find the school system and the system of teaching similar to the UK (differentiation).

If you would like more specifics, if you are interested in Long Island, then just send me a PM and I'll gladly try and help as much as possible.

New in NY

Hi,

If you want to enrol your child in the "local" school, it's easy. Each school has a catchment area and if you live in it, all you need is a health certificate, including proof that your child has had the compulsory vaccinations (Here's the requirements for New York State: http://www.health.state.ny.us/nysdoh/immun/2370.pdf). In NYC you will find people willing to pay a lot of extra rent to be able to stay in the "right" school area. Apart from local schools there are also special schools/programs for talented kids where admission is based on tests and not the area.

If you do a google search, you should be able to find school reports for all areas that might interest you. You can find reports from 2002 on NY State public schools here: http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/repcrd2002/home.html
You can see how they are doing on tests, what's the class size etc.
Some information is also available here: http://schooltree.org/

Good luck!

kwesimum

Thank you all for the information posted. It is all very intersting and I will have to take my time to digest it all and determine which situation is better for me and my family.

My husband will be working near the Empire State Building and will be commuting by rail. So we will also be checking the rail system and areas surrounding the stations etc.

Fortunately my husbands company are allowing us a 2 week preview of NewYork, so hopefully we will visit some of the areas that you have mentioned and start to reduce it to the areas we like and are affordable.
It will be a tough decision but I suppose that we can always move if we are not able to settle in an area - although this does become more difficult with children and their schooling.

Although we do not want to have to travel too far, (i believe i said about an hours journey for my husband), what is important for me is that the children are happy both at school and with the surrounding environment and that they are easily able to make friends etc. I just seem to blend into the background (haha).

Also does anyone reccommend a reliable relocation company - i will be getting quotes from Pickfords and 1st International - but are there any others that I should try?

thanks

Kwesimum

Rete

I worked at the Empire State Building for 14 years and used Grand Central/Metro North. It is an invigorating walk to the ESB each day. In fact I go to the corner opposite one night a week for my immigration law classes.

The area is closer to Penn Station which would make it easier to live on Long Island or New Jersey since the LIRR and the NJTransit all use Penn Station.

How long is his visa for? You might want to think about renting for a bit until you have a feel for the area. One nice area to rent in is Bronxville or Scarsdale. An easy commute and good schools for the kids and lots of after school activities. Both are in Westchester County and while renting is hefty it is no more so than Manhattan and would afford you a more countrified community.

Englishmum

You might like to read up on this article published a while back in the "New Yorker" magazine on affordable and desirable suburbs in the New York metro area where commuters are choosing to relocate to:

http://newyorkmetro.com/realestate/a...able/index.htm

Note that Maplewood, NJ is listed - I really think it's the sort of town you are looking for - you did mention you wanted diversity - and is a quick and easy commute to Midtown Manhatten....plus the trains to Hoboken with a choice of connecting to the PATH subway trains or ferries across the Hudson to lower Manhatten (Wall St/financial district).

kwesimum

Thanks Englishmum - this article seems to be quite useful. I will pass it on to my husband as he is in NY at the moment.

Kwesimum

Englishmum

Ooops - forgot to mention as I've just spotted that you have a two year old; there is a lovely nursery school in Millburn town centre called St. Stephen's (which is secular) and is owned by a really nice Englishwoman called Sheelagh Clarke who is from Wimbledon. I often go there to collect my Aussie friend's son and there are quite a number of expat children who go to St. Stephen's, including those from the UK. They have half-day or/and full day sessions plus a 'Summer camp' in the holidays and they follow the same calendar as Millburn township schools.

St. Stephen's has children going there mainly from Millburn, Short Hills, Maplewood/South Orange which is five minutes away (Millburn is one stop/3 mins further West on the train line) - and Springfield.

http://ststephensmillburn.org/preschool/index.htm

(It hasn't been updated for some time (!) but the main info and contact nos. are still there as well as staff profiles).

As anyone with a small child knows, you have to get your name down as early as possible for a nursery place but at least it's an option to explore.

Philgr

Kwesimum,

Having been relocated Stateside a couple of times now I would strongly recommend you try and figure out how much you can afford to pay for rental/house purchase before you go on your preview visit. That, coupled with local schools, will be the main deciding factor in where you can/want to live and you can waste a lot of time on a preview visit looking at areas that don't fit your financial situation. This is especially true in an area like New York where the choice of location is huge and entire areas can be removed from consideration pretty quickly.

If you are planning to buy, talk to a mortgage broker before you go to see how much you could borrow (you don't need to work with them when you get there - just get someone to give you an idea of your buying power). Then, buy or rent, try and figure out a rough budget to work out what you feel comfortable spending a month on housing. With that figure in mind you can narrow down potential areas to those with housing you could live with in areas you can afford. Your results don't have to be accurate (the budget won't be unless you have a lot of US based friends to help) but it will give you a much clearer idea of where to look and help you avoid spending a lot of time looking at areas where you can't afford the type of house you want.

Good luck.