Best Neighborhood...

for a family of 4 (a 7 and a 1-year old) moving from Queens to the Island.

Looking for a good school district, near LIRR. We're used to having everything pretty accessible, so should be something of a "town" nearby, with shops, restaurants, etc. not too far away, although we're not looking for an urban feel -- we just don't want to have to travel 1/2 hour just to get to a good restaurant or a movie or park. Something with a "walkable" town would be nice.

Could be as much as 1 hour - 1 1/2 from Manhattan, and house should be in $400-450K range. We're actually going to rent for a year first...to see if we can take the suburbs!

Thanks for your input! Hope we're neighbors soon!

Message edited 5/2/2010 10:41:34 PM.

Re: Best Neighborhood...

long beach, maybe?

Re: Best Neighborhood...

Babylon

Re: Best Neighborhood...

I'll vote Sayville. There are a lot of towns that fit your description.. but there is just *something* that sets Sayville apart.

We have a beautiful Main Street with a lot of successful local businesses in them - gift shops, toy shops, restaurants. I love walking down Main. A single walk from St. Lawrence to Down The Rabbit Hole will result in 2-3 mini conversations and a lot of waves and other greetings. When they decide to have "Mystery Scooper" at Carvel (a teacher gets behind the counter) - it looks like half the school turns out. I love that small town feel.

The Opening Day speeches for Little League usually make me cry - when they talk about how invested the community is in the future of *their* children. And you look around and you realize just how many people are there.

The school - they know their kids. When you go there in the morning, the principal stands greeting her children. "Hi Robbie, Good Morning Timmy, Noah - pick up the back pack! Are you okay Rosalie?" Kindergarten through 5th and it seems like she's got most of the names down by October. And it is a very decent school district. It's not like 3 village with it's exceptional academic role model. It doesn't have the same kind of athletic talent pool as many of the larger districts.. but it has heart. And the kids don't get lost in the system.

And then there are the fairs. There are big ones like Seafood Fest, SummerFest. Pirate Festival. Bradstock and the Americana Fair. And then there are my favorites, the ones aimed mostly at the townspeople - Earth Day, Bike Rodeo, Miracle on Main Street, etc..

Plus the usual activities - Free Yoga & Tai Chi in the park, Family Fun Fridays all summer, outdoor movies, clean little playgrounds. And if you get really bored, walk down to the ferry terminal and go over to Fire Island for the day.

Geographically we sit on the south shore - about an hour and a half from NYC. There is a train station (Babylon Line) in the center of town.

Re: Best Neighborhood...

Northport or huntington area. They both have great Main St areas with great restaurants. I think the schools are betting in Northport. About an hour to the city by train and great beaches and parks.

Re: Best Neighborhood...

I am in Oceanside and we are so close to everything. Sometimes I can do all my errands in less than an hour without leaving the town. There is a great deal of shopping (Gap, Express, nine west outlet, nike, tjmax, marshalls, kohls, ect..) There are many restaurants and Long Beach is not far - where there is even more shopping, restaurants and the beach. Where I am, the train is in walking distance maybe 8 blocks away (and we rarely hear it). I have a CVS, 7-11 and post office basically up the block. The schools are very good.

We love the location. It is a bit out of the way to drive into the city because the parkways are not close by, but it isn't really that bad. I commute to queens 5 days a week.



Also, Massapequa Park is a great location. My parents live there, they have a town area that they decorate for xmas and do a tree lighting, lots of shopping (burlington, babies r us, pier 1, sports authority, and the Mall etc..) and lots of places to eat. The school is also very good and the train is close by.

Message edited 5/3/2010 8:35:55 AM.

Re: Best Neighborhood...

Re: Best Neighborhood...

We are Queens also and we are looking into and considering LI.

We like Floral Park, New Hyde Park. 30 min LIRR train ride.

$400 is a little low, but many houses I see listed are bw $450-500

Re: Best Neighborhood...

Thanks for the suggestions! We really don't know LI that well so we're fishing around in the dark.

Someone suggested Greenlawn to me...how's that town?

Re: Best Neighborhood...

Posted by DiamondGirl

...$400 is a little low, but many houses I see listed are bw $450-500

Re: Best Neighborhood...

Re: Best Neighborhood...

Posted by curlygirl

Posted by DiamondGirl

...$400 is a little low, but many houses I see listed are bw $450-500

Yeah, I know that, for $400K I really should be looking in Fantasyland!

Re: Best Neighborhood...

How far from the city do you want to be?

There are so many wonderful neighborhood in LI where you can get a lot for that amount of $$ but it sounded like you wanted to be able to get NYC quickly.




Yeah, we'd like to be able to get to NYC easily, and fairly quickly, but we'll sacrifice a bit on quickly.

An hour or a little more is OK.

Re: Best Neighborhood...

Re: Best Neighborhood...

Re: Best Neighborhood...

When we moved from Brooklyn to Long Island we were looking for the same things that you were and we ended up in Floral Park. We were also looking in, and would have been happy with, Williston Park, Rockville Center, and Lynbrook.

Re: Best Neighborhood...

Re: Best Neighborhood...

Maybe look into Floral Park/Stewart Manor area? It is right on the border of Queens so still has that "Queens" feel, but has a walkable Main Street with shops/bars/restaurants...close to LIRR and parkways, great community feel!

Re: Best Neighborhood...

We are in West Islip and moving to Northport this week.

Northport is our dream town and this is our second home.

I would highly recommend West Islip for what you are looking for. The schools are excellent, ton of community events, close to beaches, parks, pools and 5 minutes to the Babylon train station- gets to city in about an hour.

There is plenty of inventory in your price range.

Good Luck!

Re: Best Neighborhood...

I would suggest Bellmore or even North Merrick. Both have a town area and close to all and both have a train station

Re: Best Neighborhood...

Oakdale, my Dad walks to the train and it is great schools and a cute little town on the water.

Re: Best Neighborhood...

Re: Best Neighborhood...

We live in Mass Pk. I love it.

But I have heard some not-so-great things about the SD - specifically drug problems.

Re: Best Neighborhood...

Massapequa (all of SD # 23 which includes massapequa park), N. Massapequa- Plainedge schools, Bethpage, Seaford, Wantagh, Bellmore, Merrick. Lindenhurt (Lindy schools). They are al within an hour-and hour and a half from Penn.

Jenn, Its funny you mentioned the Massapequa drug problem. I also heard that Massapequa has drug issues in the HS. I went to MHS, but only heard about it in college b/c my sociology prof. mentioned it. I had NO CLUE that there was a big drug problem while in school. I knew of a few kids who did drugs, but more that didn't. Idk, maybe I was sheltered lol. I think it depends a lot on the individual kids and their upbringing.

For that matter, Seaford, Merrick and Bellmore have issues too. I guess kids in more affluent areas have more drug funds lol

Re: Best Neighborhood...

i grew up in seaford and i am in the process of buying my first home here.. i think its a great town and there is easy access to the train and NYC... you can get in express during rush hour, usually takes about 40-50 min. Also the area around is nice like wantagh, massapequa