Anyone live in Garden City? Some questions!

I live in Queens now, but but most likely when DH and i buy a house we will move to LI, or at least the more suburban parts of Queens. I saw this great Tudor house in Garden city, right near a park. I was wondering what the neighborhoods are like, how the schools are, etc. Do you like living there?

Also, there was an open house and we missed it. This is the first house that I want to see, just to test the waters. How do we go about doing this? Do we have to go through a realtor? I figured that in the next year or so we will get serious in our search, but this house looks like it has great potential and is in our price range (or at least what I think our price range is).

Thanks!

Re: Anyone live in Garden City? Some questions!

As far as seeing the house -- yes, unless you go to an open house, you will need to contact a realtor to set up a private showing. You can either contact the listing agent, or select an agent of your choosing (any licensed agent can show you any listed home, regardless of whose listing it is).

I would recommend that you do the latter, because (i) it's less work for you, if you ultimately want to look at other houses, to have one agent coordinate your showing appointments, (ii) it's to your benefit to develop a relationship with a realtor who can help you with your search and represent your interests in the buying process.

As far as Garden City -- my husband grew up there and his family still lives there. We got married at St. Joseph's Church and our son was christened there. It's a great area -- beautiful homes, great commute to the city by train, lots of stores and restaurants (on Franklin Ave., 7th Street).

Schools are of course a matter of personal opinion, but it's generally a highly ranked school system by Newsday and similar sources. I know the elementary schools are on the Princeton Plan (since that was a topic on here recently, it may be of interest). Some homes in the Garden City address fall within other school districts (e.g., Franklin Square). Homes within the GC school district are the most expensive. But the home prices are generally higher in Garden City -- The same cape cod style home would cost about $300K more in Garden City than it would where I live, in Bellmore.

I know it's a fairly small, insular community where people/families seem to know each other...and it's a pretty homogeneous area.

Since it's an incorporated village, there are some additional restrictions than what you find in other areas (like no signage in your yard, no pools, etc.). And village taxes as well.

Feel free to contact me if you have other questions or if I can help with your home search!

Re: Anyone live in Garden City? Some questions!

I do. If you have any questions that Christine didn't answer, please feel free to FM me.

Re: Anyone live in Garden City? Some questions!

Thanks, guys! After I posted, I had seen online that it was an incorporated village and there are rules like no private pools. That really turns me off, because my ILs live in a gated community with similar restrictions and they hate it and would never live somewhere like that again.

Re: Anyone live in Garden City? Some questions!

Re: Anyone live in Garden City? Some questions!