Hi Sunbury,
I hope by now you have found all of the answers to your questions. I thought I would chime in as a semi-recent (2013) BK to Newburgh resident. My partner and I have been sharing a vehicle and live on Grand St. With each of us having very different work hrs for the commute into the city, I have to say our commute continues to be one of our biggest challenges. Although Newburgh has much potential, in all honesty we have found the public transportation to be lacking. It sounds like you will be a peak commuter so you will have access to most of the conveniences, but if your schedule changes be aware of the following:
Yes, there is a ferry. The ride is lovely and at 1.75 each way, very affordable…but it has a very limited window of schedules (morning peak and evening peak only)
Yes, there are Newburgh-Beacon Link Bus shuttle routes…but there are only a few times a day that go directly to Beacon otherwise they actually loop over to Stewart Airport first. Also, depending on which bus you take you might have to wait 20-30 min before the train arrives for the city.
Yes, there is a also a bus (Leprachun) that goes to the city (Penn Station) but the pick up is not within the city of Newburgh. For those of us without a vehicle it’s not convenient to get to.
You mentioned taxes-the taxes are indeed very high here for the services we receive as residents. If you plan to purchase try to be sure the previous owners have appealed their taxes and kept them within market for the type of house. You have to pay your taxes up front so if they are in check, it is much less hassle. If they have not appealed and you purchase the home it is automatically assessed at purchase or higher the next yr and in our case it was more difficult to dispute. Residents get one chance each year to appeal. ( We are over 12k for a 2076 sqft house purchased in 2013 with no extraordinary features besides our view.)
Overall the cost for us is actually more, than our rent in BK, but the sense of community is strong here in Newburgh, we love our view and we look forward to being part of an ever-evolving, growing, changing city that has enormous potential.
Feel free to contact us if you would like any other info.
Best,
Melanie