Topic: Looking to move to Newburgh – advice?
Looking to move to Newburgh – advice?
Have a few questions on a potential move:
Best realtors to contact.
Ideal location for someone without a car and needs to be able to walk to commuter bus to NYC or to ferry to Beacon.
General commute time to midtown, taking into consideration winter months, bad weather conditions.
Renovation costs for hopefully a house that needs cosmetic work and plumbing connections and average electrical work.
Supermarkets/food stores within walking distance of ferry or bus.
Cost of renting one bedroom to “test the waters”.
Thanks all,
8 Replies Add Reply
Hello Sunbury, and welcome to Newburgh!
If you are looking to live in a good commuting neighborhood in Newburgh, then I think MLG is right for you.
Beacon is the closest transportation hub to NYC from Newburgh. There are several ways to get from Beacon to Newburgh and vice versa. The three trails of transit that are most the prominent are bike, bus and ferry.
Biking would take you from your home over the Newburgh-Beacon bridge bike & pedestrian path (also the path of I84). The train station is only about a mile after the bridge. IF you are a biker and bike to work in the city this may be for you. (The whole trip is only 2 miles, google bike says its about 18 mins.)
There is a bus route that goes directly from the Beacon train station to Newburgh, stoping in the MGL area first. The bus only costs 1$ and is fast. The driver will also let you off wherever you want.
The ferry leaves from Newburgh’s waterfront and brings you directly to the Beacon train station. This too only costs 1$ and the views are beautiful. (Note that the ferry runs on a schedule and is probably the slowest option if you don’t time your travel appropriately. Total travel time on ferry is about 11 minutes.)
The train takes about an hour and 20 mins during rush hour to midtown. It will take a little longer with traveling from Newburgh to Beacon.
You can find a decent 1 Bedroom in a decent area in the MLG neighborhood starting around 700$ a month.
If you need help with anything send me a message.
Thanks,
Dan
Hi Dan
Thanks so much for this information. I will need to figure out schedules on buses, ferries, trains. Between CoachUSA/Shortline (same company?), Transit Orange, ferry. I really can’t figure out the most expeditious way to get to and from midtown NYC for work during the week. It would be great if someone could give me the “recipe” for this.
Excuse my ignorance – but what is MLG or MGL?
Thanks
PS – I has to search my generic password to login to reply. Can I change to a password I would like to use?
Hi,
My wife did the same exact thing your are thinking of doing. that was back in 2010, when we moved here from Brooklyn. MLG – stands for Montgomery, Liberty, Grand, and they are three streets running parallel to the hudson river, also known as the Historic District. It is only one of many cool neighborhoods in the City of Newburgh. I think the previous person who replied to you suggested you move there while you “test the waters,” is because it is very commutable. My wife and I used to just walk to the ferry from our apartment on Grand Street, which used to take about 8 minutes, then take the ferry to
Beacon (that pass was $11/mo. back then), and finally a beautiful train ride into Grand central Station. All told it was 1hr and 40 minutes from my door to Grand Central Station.
A one bedroom is possible for about $700/month. Ours was $750 and had the most amaing views of the river.
Then the City of Newburgh is pretty walkable, although there aren’t any great supermarkets right now. There are however, farmer’s markets and CSAs that you can walk to easily.
We bought a house on Liberty Street and renovated it for $140,000. It is over 4000′ sq and it’s a two family. You can easily buy a smaller property for less (although most of the houses in the historic district are quite big).
A great realtor to talk to is Chris Hanson from Historic Newburgh Homes.
Good Luck,
Eddie
Thanks Eddie. Commute time was great to know. So process is walk to ferry and get train from Beacon. I can only assume the Beacon train station is next to ferry. What about winter months? Does that pose problems for ferry? There is a bus from Newburgh to midtown NYC. Where does that leave from in Newburgh? I want to check out schedules then and determine what time I need to leave Newburgh on weekday mornings.
I hear taxes are rather high there but cost of living is not as expensive as NYC.
I want to go there for a weekend before winter sets and would like to line up appts. for looking at places and get a feel for the place. I am also moving from Brooklyn…
Very happy that this site is in existence!
Hi Sunbury,
In winter months the river freezes and the ferry service stops and is replaced with a bus service. One of the buses that goes to NYC leaves from Broadway but that is out in the town, far from the city. I am not too sure if there are buses that leave from the city of Newburgh straight to NYC, but I doubt it. But here is a link to check out with bus service schedules.
A great weekend to head up will be this weekend. Columbia students will be out at 12 different sites for their urban design studio, and it is Last Saturdays in Newburgh. There will be extra exhibitions and longer business hours all around to help promote the area. Hope this helps!
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
Melanie – thanks so much for this very useful information. Because the ferry doesn’t run at weekends, I still haven’t been able to check out Newburgh. Sad. It seems that transportation is quite a challenge there for a person without a car. I suppose the ideal scenario is to look for somewhere within 10 mins. walking distance of ferry. But then in winter months, as some mentioned before, the ferry does not run if river is frozen, so I would be stranded. What is your location? Do you have a car? If not, what is your regular form of transport into Manhattan during the week? I really would love to become part of the Newburgh community but clearly have to make sure I can commute to work in NYC without much trouble.
The advice re: taxes was most helpful. Something I never would have known of course.
Thanks again.
Regarding the taxes;I read that if you purchase one of the historical district homes and restore it, you are eligible for 10 year tax abatement. You can buy the property with 203k loan.