Moving to NY 'burbs

[Agorw4]

Advice needed from US expats living here or from UK nationals who have spent time living in the burbs of NY with kids!

My husband and I are considering a move from Kent to New York with his job for approx 5 years. I have started looking into areas to live and schools for our two boys (5 & 8) and so far have deduced:
-Greenwich/Westport/Canaan in Connecticut
-Ridgewood/Montclair in NJ
-Westchester NY
.....could all be good places to start my search. Am I missing any other obvious places? What might we expect to pay in rent for a family home and garden in these places?
So, to schools. Where do I start? Does anyone have any recommendations? Are there any public schools that stand out in those areas?
Thanks in advance x

[mummytime]

If you are looking at Greenwich, I'd also look at Darien.

If you are going to buy, do look at Property taxes - that can be an ouch moment (I looked at somewhere DH could theoretically get posted and saw a house we could afford but has $32000 in property taxes).

Public schools in good areas are good - I heard the comment "people only send their children to private school in Greenwich to show their money". But then again you are paying for it in property taxes.

Where is your DH working? Which NYC station is best for him?

[Want2bSupermum]

Where will your DH be working in Manhattan and how often will he be flying? These are the most important factors in deciding where to live!

Lots of great towns but if you are going to buy look at property taxes very closely. We had a reassessment in our old house and they increased 25% in one year. We had a small house and paid $12k while those with a bigger home paid $25-30k. It's not unheard of to pay up to $40k in property taxes. Anything north of $50k is a really big house.

[Want2bSupermum]

You couldn't pay me to live that far out! I have done the suburbs and I'm now back in an urban area. I love that I can walk everywhere and if I need milk I'm not having to drive to get it. I also have really good services such as wash and fold pick up/ drop off at really cheap rates plus lots of restaurants deliver. There are suburban towns that offer all of this but not many. Here in NJ its parts of Montclair, Millburn, South Orange, Maplewood, Cranford and Westfield. There are also some great towns north such as englwood cliffs, tenafly as well as other towns along the palisades.

[Agorw4]

He'll be working on 5th Ave and we won't be buying, no way. Just renting. Have a big enough mortgage here without picking up another one! I think he'll be flying 4-6 times a year.
Thank you, Weill check those other place out.
Any advice re schools would be great, btw. Is the curriculum in any way similar to the UK one? Do I have to supplement it with tutoring if we're going to be coming back to the school system in the UK after 5 years?

[mummytime]

Your children will be 10 and 13 if you come back after 5 years. I wouldn't worry really about the younger one, there is lots of repetition in the English syllabuses and he'd probably have few problems catching up.
For the older one it could be a problem as he'd be going into year 9 or 10, both of which can be the start of GCSEs. I'd only really bother about extra tuition just before you come back- or send him to a U.S./international school.

[Want2bSupermum]

Sorry for the delay in coming back to you. In your shoes I would go online and see what school districts follow the IB program in middle school. This should make the transition back to the UK a little easier.

Another way to do it is see if your DHs employer will pay for boarding school from 11 in the UK so once you return when he is 13 he is switching schools rather than switching systems.

[MrsABrooks]

I'm originally from the NY area now living in London - suggest you look at the Hudson Valley which has commuter trains in to Grand Central. Places like Hudson, Tarrytown and Ossning are becoming increasingly popular. Families tend to be more diverse than the financial services crowd in CT.