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AriMama
LIF Infant
Member since 5/13 50 total posts
Name:
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Why do you love your town?? Looking to buy home!
Hello All!!!
So we are planning on finally buying our first home in December. We started looking on Zillow to see whats out there. We are VERY flexible in the town that we move to, as long as it is safe, good schools, (we have a 5 month old) & I dont want to go too far east, as I work by JFK. Does anyone just love their town?? Im looking to find a town that has a real sense of community & lots of events and fun things to do. I heard from friends that I should check out Huntington and Babylon. Do you just love your town? Tell me why!
Thanks everyone!
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Posted 5/21/13 11:31 AM  |
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Prudential Douglas Elliman Real Estate
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Jenn627
Laaaaaaaambert!
Member since 5/08 9818 total posts
Name:
Jenn
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Re: Why do you love your town?? Looking to buy home!
I'm pretty happy in Massapequa - love the proximity to trains/shopping/parks/village.
My dream town is Sayville.
Babylon's fantastic.
I have a love/hate with North Shore - LOVE property sizes, hate that I feel like it's hard to get to parkways and such.
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| Posted 5/21/13 11:51 AM |
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alli3131
Peanut is here!!!!!!
Member since 5/09 18388 total posts
Name:
Allison
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Re: Why do you love your town?? Looking to buy home!
Posted by AriMama
Hello All!!!
So we are planning on finally buying our first home in December. We started looking on Zillow to see whats out there. We are VERY flexible in the town that we move to, as long as it is safe, good schools, (we have a 5 month old) & I dont want to go too far east, as I work by JFK. Does anyone just love their town?? Im looking to find a town that has a real sense of community & lots of events and fun things to do. I heard from friends that I should check out Huntington and Babylon. Do you just love your town? Tell me why!
Thanks everyone!
Just an FYI on Zillow. They are very inaccurate. They have had my house on there for sale for years and I have let them know its not for sale and they refuse to take it down.
They also have all wrong info on other houses in my neighborhood. I would not trust a thing on their site.
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| Posted 5/21/13 1:05 PM |
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KatieP
LIF Adolescent
Member since 12/11 758 total posts
Name:
Katie
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Re: Why do you love your town?? Looking to buy home!
were in babylon now but we're moving to fort salonga. We loveeee babylon!! and school districts are great. We're really sad to leave. We're moving bc DH wants more property for less taxes and I want a basement for the kids.
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| Posted 5/21/13 1:16 PM |
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AriMama
LIF Infant
Member since 5/13 50 total posts
Name:
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Re: Why do you love your town?? Looking to buy home!
Katie, I for sure will look at Babylon. I know that there is a North, West, and just regular Babylon. Is one a better location that the others? Is there anywhere that you would stay away from?
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| Posted 5/21/13 1:25 PM |
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AriMama
LIF Infant
Member since 5/13 50 total posts
Name:
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Why do you love your town?? Looking to buy home!
Jenn, I really havent looked in Massapequa yet so I will check it out!!
Alli, dont tell me that!! nooooo!!!! lol I have spent a million hours on Zillow!! Its my new favorite thing in the world! Now Im sad :( lol But thanks for the heads up!!! I will def be careful. Thats so terrible because what if someone were to get all excited about a certain house only to find out that its not even for sale??!! :(
Thanks all!!
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| Posted 5/21/13 1:25 PM |
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JDubs
different, not less
Member since 7/09 13160 total posts
Name:
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Re: Why do you love your town?? Looking to buy home!
i am familiar with south shore nassau towns from merrick to massapequa, the are all very nice.... if you are looking closer to queens also check out rockville centre or lynbrook.
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| Posted 5/21/13 1:27 PM |
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ElizaRags35
My 2 Girls
Member since 2/09 20494 total posts
Name:
Me
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Why do you love your town?? Looking to buy home!
My favorite site from when I was looking for a house was Redfin.
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| Posted 5/21/13 1:28 PM |
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nraboni
Uggh...
Member since 10/09 6905 total posts
Name:
Nicole
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Why do you love your town?? Looking to buy home!
Download the MLSLI App....much better than Zillow
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| Posted 5/21/13 1:37 PM |
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Re: Why do you love your town?? Looking to buy home!
Posted by JDubs
i am familiar with south shore nassau towns from merrick to massapequa, the are all very nice.... if you are looking closer to queens also check out rockville centre or lynbrook.
Me, too! As an agent, I work all over Long Island and there are many great areas to live with lots of positive attributes. So if you have questions about anything real estate related, don't hesitate to contact me.
Personally speaking, I grew up in Seaford and I know live in N. Bellmore. I think the Merrick to Massapequa area is great value for the house and property you get, proximity to parkways, Babylon train line with lots of express trains to Penn, near parks and beaches, well regarded school districts...
In N. Bellmore there are lots of things for kids to do -- family festivals/street fairs, sports activities for kids. There is Bellmore Village area, too.
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| Posted 5/21/13 1:46 PM |
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Jenhos
Maeve
Member since 6/05 3273 total posts
Name:
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Re: Why do you love your town?? Looking to buy home!
What price range? How high in taxes are you willing to pay? These things will help drive more specific locations.
I live in Rockville Centre. Town is great, schools are amazing. Lots of shopping and restuarants.
That being said the houses are on the pricey side and the taxes are high compared to many neighborhoods. You can get "bigger" property than in other towns.
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| Posted 5/21/13 1:47 PM |
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Re: Why do you love your town?? Looking to buy home!
I live in Valley Stream - specifically the Gibson section. We are super close to JFK, my husband travels for business on a weekly basis, so the proximity to the airport was a must. He can easily drive or hop on the train to Jamaica and catch the air train from there.
Our school district is Hewlett-Woodmere, which is one of the best in the county.
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| Posted 5/21/13 1:50 PM |
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AScottWolf
I <3 our squish!
Member since 11/10 2237 total posts
Name:
Adriana
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Re: Why do you love your town?? Looking to buy home!
I love my town (Malverne, VS sd#13).
It's not a huge town but I love almost every single house and every single block in the town. The town itself hosts many events throughout the year. Their biggest is the Christmas parade/fesitval they have at Christmas time. They also have the Easter bunny in town w/a easter egg hunt, some groundhog day event, and a few other things here and there. About a month after we moved in, people from the village association came to our door to introduce themselves and gave us a big binder about everything "Malverne".
It's about a 25-30 min. drive to JFK.
I also  RVC. It def. has TONS of things going on within the town (St. Patricks day parade, craft shows, etc) and tons of shops and resturants. My only complaint about RVC are the taxes and parking around the shopping area.
Message edited 5/21/2013 2:48:12 PM.
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| Posted 5/21/13 2:45 PM |
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AKD
LIF Adult
Member since 1/12 2637 total posts
Name:
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Re: Why do you love your town?? Looking to buy home!
I LOOOOOVE our neighborhood. So happy that we moved there - it's tree lined streets, everyone is so nice, there's an amazing sense of community, great school district, etc. I could go on for days. FLORAL PARK! Check it out! Super close to JFK also, I think like 10-15 minutes?
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| Posted 5/21/13 3:47 PM |
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MrsM-6-7-08
<3
Member since 8/06 4249 total posts
Name:
Nicole
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Re: Why do you love your town?? Looking to buy home!
I am in Massapequa-with plainedge schools.
I really love living here, I feel like I am in close proximity to everything in Nassau county. I can get to Roosevelt field, walt whitman, or americana mall in under 20 minutes.
I am very close to southern state, 135 and the wantagh parkway.
I like my specific neighborhood, all working class people, no one is trying to out do eachother, i don't really feel like its that typical keeping up with the jones's
And we live a mile from work, so you can't beat that!
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| Posted 5/21/13 4:19 PM |
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Dizzyblonde54
LIF Zygote
Member since 3/13 37 total posts
Name:
Dana
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Why do you love your town?? Looking to buy home!
I just moved to Sayville and so far I love our town. They have alot of festivals like margaritaville and summerfest. I also heard around Christmas time they have a tree lighting on Main Street. It may be a bit farther then you are looking to go but so far I love it!
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| Posted 5/21/13 4:34 PM |
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TtcDc2
LIF Toddler
Member since 1/13 431 total posts
Name:
Mel
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Re: Why do you love your town?? Looking to buy home!
Posted by AKD
I LOOOOOVE our neighborhood. So happy that we moved there - it's tree lined streets, everyone is so nice, there's an amazing sense of community, great school district, etc. I could go on for days. FLORAL PARK! Check it out! Super close to JFK also, I think like 10-15 minutes?
I live here too n love it!! It's a beautiful town n close to highways n the train. This town reminds me of a norman rockwell paintings...a close community.. We have our own sanitation, dept of public works, n police. The town pool in the summer is great! Any questions feel free to ask
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| Posted 5/21/13 5:42 PM |
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LotsaLuv
Us
Member since 6/10 4094 total posts
Name:
F
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Why do you love your town?? Looking to buy home!
I love Massapequa Park. I can walk into town to do errands, walk to the train, walk to restaurants, walk to parks, walk to the preserve. We are close to all highways, and shopping. If I ever sold my house I would def stay in Mass Pk
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| Posted 5/21/13 6:38 PM |
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AriMama
LIF Infant
Member since 5/13 50 total posts
Name:
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Why do you love your town?? Looking to buy home!
Thank you all for your suggestions. We will for sure look at these neighborhoods. I cannot tell you how excited I am to finally buy a house!!! Right now we are living at my parents and its great, but its time to fly the coop!!!
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| Posted 5/22/13 8:59 AM |
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lucky1007
My Princess is Here!
Member since 11/11 1131 total posts
Name:
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Re: Why do you love your town?? Looking to buy home!
I love realtor.com and estately. Realtor.com has an iphone app.
We bought in Holbrook, loved that it was close to transportation, quiet and residential and got a good amount of property with low taxes. School district it good too.
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| Posted 5/22/13 2:34 PM |
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lucky1007
My Princess is Here!
Member since 11/11 1131 total posts
Name:
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Re: Why do you love your town?? Looking to buy home!
Posted by AriMama
Katie, I for sure will look at Babylon. I know that there is a North, West, and just regular Babylon. Is one a better location that the others? Is there anywhere that you would stay away from?
I would say Babylon is the nicest. North Babylon school district isnt great.
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| Posted 5/22/13 2:35 PM |
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Re: Why do you love your town?? Looking to buy home!
Zillow may have inaccuracies in the property values but it has a useful feature that MLSLI does not have and that is Sale History of the house.
This is particularly helpful if you see a house that was initially listed in 2010, then sellers dropped in price $50K in 2011 and then taken off the market, only to have it come back on the market at $80K less in 2012-- you have more leverage as a buyer to negotiate/bargain if you know the particular house was listed for sale X months/years ago (it can be used to argue the sellers were unable to find a qualified buyer, or that no buyer made a decent offer on the house). You can also see how long prior owners held onto the home - I tend to raise my eyebrows when I see homes that show sales every 3-5 years (ie sale # 1 in 1999, sale # 2 in 2004, sale # 3 in 2010, etc). It makes me wonder whether the sellers bought the home for the purpose of flipping it, or if the street location isn't great, or maybe the house has ghosts (yes, this is one of those things that realtors dont like to mention) etc.. MLS doesnt seem to carry that info.
Also dont be afraid to use the Apps for both MLS and Zillow - I have found the maps on the app to be a great tool to narrow down my search to particular streets and limit my search to my parameters of price range, taxes, etc. You can even run a search for Open Houses only for a specific date and zoom into the specific neighborhood to get current listings.
(piggybacking on your C-D thread).
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| Posted 5/22/13 3:46 PM |
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JenMarie
One day at a time
Member since 11/07 7397 total posts
Name:
Jennifer
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Why do you love your town?? Looking to buy home!
We're in contract on a house in West Islip. We chose it because of the school district. And it's close to everything. We're moving from Farmingdale. I'm not happy here at all. Crime has gone up and the school district isn't great. I grew up in West Babylon and we considered there, but the school district isn't doing too great. I'd personally avoid North Babylon. Babylon is nice.
And I highly suggest Redfin as a site. None of the sites reflect houses as unavailable right away, but Redfin is a great site in general.
Good luck!
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| Posted 5/22/13 4:07 PM |
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AriMama
LIF Infant
Member since 5/13 50 total posts
Name:
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Re: Why do you love your town?? Looking to buy home!
Posted by EclecticEsq10810
Thank for the advice!!! I am really learning so much about this whole process.
And very cute doggy! :)
Zillow may have inaccuracies in the property values but it has a useful feature that MLSLI does not have and that is Sale History of the house.
This is particularly helpful if you see a house that was initially listed in 2010, then sellers dropped in price $50K in 2011 and then taken off the market, only to have it come back on the market at $80K less in 2012-- you have more leverage as a buyer to negotiate/bargain if you know the particular house was listed for sale X months/years ago (it can be used to argue the sellers were unable to find a qualified buyer, or that no buyer made a decent offer on the house). You can also see how long prior owners held onto the home - I tend to raise my eyebrows when I see homes that show sales every 3-5 years (ie sale # 1 in 1999, sale # 2 in 2004, sale # 3 in 2010, etc). It makes me wonder whether the sellers bought the home for the purpose of flipping it, or if the street location isn't great, or maybe the house has ghosts (yes, this is one of those things that realtors dont like to mention) etc.. MLS doesnt seem to carry that info.
Also dont be afraid to use the Apps for both MLS and Zillow - I have found the maps on the app to be a great tool to narrow down my search to particular streets and limit my search to my parameters of price range, taxes, etc. You can even run a search for Open Houses only for a specific date and zoom into the specific neighborhood to get current listings.
(piggybacking on your C-D thread).
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| Posted 5/22/13 11:07 PM |
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AriMama
LIF Infant
Member since 5/13 50 total posts
Name:
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Re: Why do you love your town?? Looking to buy home!
Thanks Jenmarie!! I downloaded Redfin. I'm going to check it out now. Congrats on the new house!
Posted by JenMarie
We're in contract on a house in West Islip. We chose it because of the school district. And it's close to everything. We're moving from Farmingdale. I'm not happy here at all. Crime has gone up and the school district isn't great. I grew up in West Babylon and we considered there, but the school district isn't doing too great. I'd personally avoid North Babylon. Babylon is nice.
And I highly suggest Redfin as a site. None of the sites reflect houses as unavailable right away, but Redfin is a great site in general.
Good luck!
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| Posted 5/22/13 11:09 PM |
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