How did you decide where to live?

DH and I are having a tough time deciding on what town to purchase our first home in. We are considering these factors:

-Commute for both of us to work
-Proximity to family, shopping
-School district

what else should we consider? right now we have about 10 towns we are looking in and i would love to narrow it down some more. TIA

Re: How did you decide where to live?

what were factors for us when we decided where to live?

-Location to the train (we both commute into NYC)
-Safe area
-Strong Schools
-Well keep area
-affordiability (we were on a tight budget and I'm glad we didn't overextend ourselves)
-resale abilities

Re: How did you decide where to live?

TAXES!

proximity to stores
Family neighborhood

eta: most house for our $$
suffolk county
at least a third of an acre of land
not a busy street
school district

Message edited 8/30/2007 10:22:56 AM.

Re: How did you decide where to live?

-There had to be a train station for me

Proximity to DH's work

-Had to be in one of the 5 boroughs or in 7 specific counties in NY State

-Proximity to family

-Price of homes

-Taxes

-Access to town golf course


So, we ended up with one town that met all of our needs. DH is in the fire department so has some residence restrictions and he's an avid golfer and a fan of the course in our town. My main request was that we be near a train so I could easily commute into the city.

Re: How did you decide where to live?

At the time we bought our house, we weren't even engaged , so it was all about us at the time. I worked in the city, needed a quick train line with good parking. DH works in Queens, he needed to have an easy route there. We wanted a decent school district for resale (we weren't even thinking kids at the time) and of course, we wanted to most property for our money.

Re: How did you decide where to live?

affordablity
within a reasonable distance from the train
taxes

Re: How did you decide where to live?

We wanted:
To stay in Nassau County
A house near a main street (preferably that we could walk to)
Near Train
Near Highways
Under 400,000
A town that would allow us to get the most house for our money

Re: How did you decide where to live?

-Needed to have a "reasonable" driving commute to NYC and the NYC airports (therefore Centerport was as far east as we were willing to go.)
-Wanted land, minimum of 1/2 acre of usable land...preferrably an acre of useable land
-mature trees on property
-Tree lined streets
-North Shore, near 25A
-Close to Huntington Village
-School district with a good reputation
-Community feel, walkable blocks/neighborhood
-No double yellow lines on the street
-Good resale value should we decide to move

Message edited 8/30/2007 10:47:15 AM.

Re: How did you decide where to live?

I bought my house on my own before I even met DH, so I had a lot of requirements. The top two were that it had to be affordable on my one salary and I had to feel safe staying there by myself. I previously owned a house that was quite a distance from a parkway and didn't like that, so it also had to be close to major roadways (not a double yellow, but a major parkway) - not so close I could see it or hear it, but close enough that I could be on that road in a couple minutes. I wanted a neighborhood where people took care of their homes and the people seemed friendly. Low taxes, good school district, and high resale value also figured into it, as did being close to work, the LIRR, shopping and the beach. I wanted to be close to my family but not too close.

ETA: Also, I did not want a house in a flood zone.

Message edited 8/30/2007 12:41:15 PM.

Re: How did you decide where to live?

We had the same concerns as most of the posts here. We also knew, after thinking long and hard, that we wanted to stay in the town we grew up in if it was possible since it had so many of the amenities we wanted.

Re: How did you decide where to live?

well we spent over a year looking in a totally different part of Suffolk because it was closer to the area I had lived in for about ten years. We were planning on buying an ordinary house in an average neighborhood that was centrally located & DH wanted to buy rural property upstate to build our dream vacation house.
Then my DH started working on a project in this neighborhood(he's a contractor) & he fell in love with the rural/rustic feel out here. We researched a bit & both decided that living further east in a community like this was better than buying a regular house & a vacation house hours away.
We picked this area for the lifestyle and knew the tradeoff was my commute would double, DH's is shorter.
We are closer to some of my family, further away from friends but we made sure we had a guest room & frequently have overnight guests. Honestly school district did not play a big part for us since our children don't attend it. Resale based on schools isn't an issue in our neighborhood.

Message edited 7/14/2009 9:25:42 AM.

Re: How did you decide where to live?

We wanted:

- the most house for our money
- a decent sized yard
- less than 30 minutes from work for me
- good school district
- close to shopping, etc..
- near highways (easy to get to)

Re: How did you decide where to live?

i wanted to be near my parents, so what better place to live than in the same town!

Re: How did you decide where to live?

work / school..... it's as simple as that. Mom lives 40 min away, and at one time, I commuted. Such a waste of time and gasoline... It's so great living within 10 min of work. we can pop in and out whenever we want.

doesn't hurt that stony brook u is nestled among some really pretty neighborhoods.... makes life pretty comfy.

Affordable? we'll this area sort of ISN'T. But, we make do with a manhattan-sized apartment... We prefer location to space...

Message edited 8/30/2007 3:55:22 PM.

Re: How did you decide where to live?

- We have friends who live in the neighborhood

- Love the houses in the area

- GREAT schools

- Easy access to the major roadways and train to NYC

Re: How did you decide where to live?

Safety
Cost of Homes
Proximity to Shopping and Other Amenities
Resources in the Community (recreational, etc.)
Pollution/environmental issues

Also, I think you just need to drive around and look at towns and visit a few open houses, see what you can get for your money. DH and I visited a number of towns on Long Island before really settling on two.

Re: How did you decide where to live?

Re: How did you decide where to live?

Secluded area
Wooded- lots of trees
No busy streets nearby
North of 25 A
Beach Rights/Private Beach
Good School district
Acreage very important
Ranch to blow out in 2 years
Commute no biggie for us
Safety
Homes not piled on top of eachother!

Re: How did you decide where to live?

School district
Safety and reputation of town
Distance from LIRR
Quiet Block
Possibility for expansion
Near all

Re: How did you decide where to live?

We havent bought yet - but have decided on the town we want.

DH works in lower Manhattan and I work in Riverdale - so the commute was a major concern. We didnt consider suffolk for that reason.

School district. I dont mind the crazy taxes if the schools are great.

Walkability - We both drive, but we wanted a town that was really walkable and had a main street. Our neighborhood in queens is so wonderful - with parks, little shops, the piers - and everyone knows everyone - I never want to have to drive everywhere.

Quaintness - I wanted a pretty town with parks, pretty streets, not too noisy, an identity beyond strip malls and chain stores.

Proximity to family.

Re: How did you decide where to live?

DH already had a house in this town.

We stayed here and moved to a larger house because:

1. excellent school district
2. large plots
3. low taxes
4. North Shore

Re: How did you decide where to live?

it needed to be in queens for tax reasons and both of our commutes to work being in queens

it needed to be by my family

it needed to be a great neighborhood with a great school district

of course it needed to be affordable

these are my basic reasons for our choice but maybe not in this order

Re: How did you decide where to live?

I bought my co-op before DH and I met. At the time my criteria was just getting the heck away from my roommate in Manhattan, a place I could afford (I was a student) and in a safe neighborhood.

For a house our criteria is a bit different:
good schools
close to family
reasonable taxes
easy commute

Message edited 8/30/2007 9:17:10 PM.

Re: How did you decide where to live?

we wanted Suffolk County/south shore
good school district
nice size property
house with potential
not astronomical taxes