Mixed feelings about New Paltz - 4/10/2013

The other posters are correct that the houses are snapped up by investors to rent to students. Depending on where you live in town, you could be surrounded by student housing. Those homeowners (landlords) do not keep up the property. Your property, even well maintained, could be in a neighborhood of run down homes. It is also true that the real property taxes are much higher than elsewhere in this area. That being said, I think it matters where you live in the village and town. The location of your home, and having enough property to separate you from the other homes creates a buffer. Also, don't live in the heart of the Village immediately off Main Street. On a positive note, much of the village is walkable. There is public transportation in and around New Paltz, as well as from New Paltz to other surrounding areas, for example, to Ulster Community College, or to Kingston, or to connecting service to Poughkeepsie. There's a Trailways that can take you to Port Authority NYC, or Long Island, and other destinations. There's also a Park and Ride on the north side of the village, a nice community center, and tons of restaurants most of which are very inexpensive (due to the college students.) In the summer months, the students go away. The adults come in. Yes, they are tourists and they create traffic jams. But you can stay out of the village if you prefer and there are plenty of roadside farmers markets, you-pick-it-farms, hiking trails on Mohonk and Minnewaska. Speaking of farms, there are organic farms in the area, including a CSA. There's an learning center known as Unison, with workshops and performances. There's a nonprofit institute (I don't know the name) with mindfulness classes and memberships. Also on a positive note, the back roads have a lot of people on bikes. And best of all, the Rail Trail that runs through New Paltz provides a wonderful way to get from the south side to the north side on foot, or by bike. It's like walking in a forest, with lots of people walking their dogs and a great way to strike up conversations. And yes, the property taxes are ridiculous. As far as rents, apartments are high but for students, house shares provide a way to rent a room and share the common area. And yes, that usually means student housing which brings down the full time residents.

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Expensive and Bourgeois - 7/11/2009

Although New Paltz is a great place to visit, looks artistic and funky on the outside, and is in a beautiful location, inside it is bourgeois and run by families who can afford to live in this now expensive town. The housing prices more than doubled after 9/11 with people moving up from the city, and many local residents have moved away because salaries have not kept up with the town's high cost of living. During the housing boom, landlords bought up property to rent out to students at high rates. This has made it hard to find a house or condo to buy in town that is not next to a student rental. (This is a problem if you need to get to bed early and wake up early for work as the bars in town are open until 4am and drunk loud students roam the streets at night.) In addition, property taxes and especially school taxes are extremely high. Families move here for the good schools, but they also repeatedly vote to raise school taxes every chance they get. Attempts to bring an art center to the town were halted by townspeople who have a "not in my backyard" attitude. Traffic in town has become unbearably slow and bumper to bumper on weekends with the influx of tourists. The local government sticks its head in the sand about the town's growth and traffic problems. I would say New Paltz is worth a visit, but if you are looking for an artistic town, don't move here.

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Not Funky and Cool Anymore - 5/11/2009

New Paltz has a reputation for being a progressive artsy college town, but regrettably, this hasn't been true for a long time. It's become a crowded and expensive tourist town that has been over-run by bourgeois families who pump up school taxes and the cost of living, block the development of art centers and buy up houses for student rental investments. The view is beautiful, but the armies of families in mini-vans and weekend tourist gridlock have chased away the artists and progressives. Even the student body, the last breath of diversity in town, has become increasingly preppy, or up-state conservative, or inner city low-brow in contrast to its alternative reputation. It's simply not funky and cool anymore.

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New Paltz is HOT - 3/19/2008

New Paltz has it all: art, theater, restaurants, shopping, nature and proximity to New York City. The State University of New York brings a steady stream of smart, hard working young people into the area.

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