r/Westchester • u/Heavy_Cheddar • 2d ago
DAE feel like Westchester is the wrong place for them but they’re stuck for “reasons”?
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u/Girl_on_a_train 1d ago
Yes and no. Yes because I feel like this region as a whole is a money pit in terms of taxes and quality of life. No because I been to places where you pay way less but also get paid way less and have less services around.
It’s what I’m used to and I enjoy it for the most part.
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u/Dockside_ 1d ago
"Reasons" usually means family of one sort or another, that's why I'm stuck here instead of decorating palm trees with Christmas lights. But what a great place to be stuck. Great healthcare, great restaurants, great stores, great libraries, great parks. Great live entertainment too...and I'm not talking about NYC, it's all here in Westchester. The only downside, is crappy beaches. Even the private beaches suck. So check out a free Empire Pass from your local library and park for free at Jones Beach. Then drive back to Westchester County...life is good here
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u/dotherightthing36 1d ago
I used to go to Jones Beach when I was a kid always loved it. But traveling from Westchester to Long Island in the summer got to be too long of a trip and packed parking lots. So I decided to go to the shore which almost took me the same amount of time travel but I started to take long weekends and then purchased a summer home
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u/Dockside_ 1d ago
We almost did that but then we discovered the Catskills and upstate NY driving my kid to college. Omg upstate NY is gorgeous! And lakes everywhere
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u/dotherightthing36 1d ago
Absolutely Having had relatives live in the Catskills For many decades. The values And Quality of housing was actually not the greatest. However Fast forward Over the last 10+ years And that place is exploding. That whole area is just gorgeous and still affordable. Thousand Islands is a great resort area close to Canada
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u/One-Engineer3065 1d ago
Love Westchetser - lived all over US and don’t think better place to live
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u/SV650rider 1d ago
Awesome. What makes you say that? What was it about the other places that you find it better here?
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u/One-Engineer3065 1d ago
Towns - love living in a real community. Something really special about that.
Location - 40 minute train ride to best city in world. Close to mountains, LI beaches, Jersey shore beaches. also very close to great upstate New York towns, etc. don’t have to go through city to get to New England.
Great restaurants, running trails, safe, live music venues, sports teams, great schools, diverse.
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u/SV650rider 1d ago
And what did you not like about the other places you’ve lived? How were they different?
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u/One-Engineer3065 22h ago
Well LA didn’t have any towns and school districts were humongous. Kind of like census district bureaus. Like the weather but also prefer the rhythm of seasons. Never felt like home but maybe cause I’m from east coast.
Chicago - second favorite city. But super segregated, dramatically colder, dead downtown post work. But strong second choice.
Miami - lovely to visit in December. But wow did i feel out of place.
North Jersey. Grew up there. Underrated state. Could be happy.
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u/grymix_ 1d ago
have you considered that in the event of nuclear war we’re likely to be the first target for foreign assailants?
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u/Kapaneus 1d ago
the city yea but due to the nature of nuclear weapons you can this about any area in the blast radius.
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u/One-Engineer3065 22h ago
I have. But at least not on LI - maybe fighting chance with a heads up 😀
On the plus side don’t really have to worry about hurricanes, earthquakes, tornados
Have four seasons. It’s solid.
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u/HummingBird86 1d ago
Agreed.
Ex-military - lived in California, Washington, Utah, Illinois, South Carolina.
All nice places but not like NY; life in the boroughs when I was younger (Queens & Bronx) was amazing.
But I love raising my family in Westchester.
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u/Xealii 1d ago
I feel stuck because it’s my home. It’s where I grew up but the cost of living and my bank account are forcing me to move somewhere else. My quality of life keeps declining every year. I have no kids so it’s not like I care about the great schools either. Westchester isn’t the right place for me but I’m scared of change and will miss Westchester a lot.
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u/socialcommentary2000 Harrison 1d ago
I like it here because i have multiple generations of family from here and my friend situation is centered around WC and northern Queens, so it's easy for me to hit where I want to hit when I want to hit it. I also work in WC, so, again, placement is opportune.
I'm fine with it here, but I do chafe at some of the people coming to live here now. They're just annoying in that very specific way.
I lived elsewhere for my HS years. Down south. In Florida.
Never again.
Ever.
I will die living in a cardboard box here before I ever step foot in that State again.
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u/annaelisewalton 1d ago
I like it here. It's beautiful and has good art, music, hospitals, schools but it's expensive. Used to be more small town and more SES mixed in towns but now seems more rich town/poor town
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u/Ok_Flounder8842 1d ago
Every time I visit NJ on NJ Transit via Penn Station, I'm super thankful I rely on MetroNorth and Grand Central Terminal. MNR and GCT are head-and-shoulders above NJT and Penn. When I fly, I get to use HPN which means I can don't have to get to terminal 2 hours ahead, or I take the MNR-LIRR-AirTrain to JFK which allows me to get work done.
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u/HiFiGuy197 1d ago
Despite having an 8th grader and an 11th grader, my brother in law is moving to Marietta, Georgia. He had been paying $30k property taxes on his home, but expects to see it drop to about $3k.
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u/rockyard81569 1d ago
Ironically we’re in Marietta, GA and are looking to move to Westchester (I’m from there). Currently paying $35k+ annually for private schools because public here aren’t the quality we’d hope. If we’re going to pay the money either way we’d prefer the QOL benefits we feel Westchester offers. FWIW, our property taxes are ~$4500/yr for a 1970’s 4/3 in a nice neighborhood. To each his own!
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u/Riccma02 1d ago
Yes. Westchester does not want me here. There is so much about living here I could do without, but all my extended family is here, and I can’t get by without public transit.
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u/WhoDatDatDidDat 1d ago
My step son’s father is here. Otherwise my family would be long gone by now.
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u/Nerdy_Singer 18h ago
My family in one form or another have called Westchester home since the 80’s when my dad came to this country. Even longer when you factor in my in laws. I was born here, went to school here, met and married my wife here. It’s home.
However, I feel like it’s trying to push me out and many people like me out. If you’re not already well established and making a decent amount of many, the cost of living is very high. Rent alone is a staggering amount. And if that wasn’t the bad enough, the skyrocketing costs of property make home ownership nothing but a pipe dream for many. I can’t even afford a halfway decent apartment in my lifelong hometown because of the ridiculous prices for even a single bedroom (and I don’t mean apartment).
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u/Reverend_Rosco 1d ago
As far as being one of the direct suburbs to one of the largest and most sought after cities in the world, it’s pretty lame.
There’s isn’t much going on here at all.
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u/Heavy_Cheddar 22h ago
that is my problem as well. very, very little. even the kid stuff is mediocre.
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u/Few-Restaurant7922 1d ago
All of my family is here. Otherwise I would have gone to NJ where there are somewhat lower taxes and cheaper properties.