House for under $400k in good school district? (Hempstead, Babylon: houses, school districts)

[Jennifer06]

Can anyone point us in the direction of some of the things we're looking for?

Most important:
Good school district
Clean air
Nice house (comfortable, clean, doesn’t need too much work; preferably open/airy)

Second tier:
Art and culture
Activities for children
Nice property (not over-crowded / houses not clustered on top of one another)
The moon and the stars (dark at night)
The woods
The water
Eclectic or liberal sensibility (lack of bigotry; off-beat people welcome; any race/religion/lifestyle welcome)
Small town lifestyle (not entirely highway/superstore living – small shops, bookstores, a “Main Street” with foot traffic, sense of community, people know one another)

-----------------------

Also, as far as school districts, can anyone recommend a site I can view to see where the district dividers are (elementary, middle and high schools), how the schools compare to one another, test scores...anything important?

Can children live in one elementary district and attend a different school? Are there options like this here? I don't know anything about schools, and just starting to learn. Any info would be helpful.

Thank you.

[jfkIII]

Jennifer...my dad is currently selling his house in North Babylon that meets your first set of criteria. It's a good house, but needs some updating (it's like a time warp...walking into the 70's)! If you're interested, send me a PM and I'll send his RE agent info so you can contact her.

Sorry, your second set of criteria does not exist on LI.

[clamboy]

We think Rocky Point is a tremendous value for the North Shore but were off to CT.
Were listed at 339 if youre interested PM me..


THis site was VERYhelpful
City data, comparison and search. Cost of living comparison, index and calculator.

[Jennifer06]

Originally Posted by jfkIII

Sorry, your second set of criteria does not exist on LI.

What about on the North Fork? Does anyone have any opinions of the North Fork? It would be a longer commute for my husband, since Laurel is the first town past the Riverhead school district, but it might be worth it for us.

(The second set is a wish list, of course, knowing we can have some but not all...)

Jen

[clamboy]

Originally Posted by Jennifer06

What about on the North Fork? Does anyone have any opinions of the North Fork? It would be a longer commute for my husband, since Laurel is the first town past the Riverhead school district, but it might be worth it for us.

(The second set is a wish list, of course, knowing we can have some but not all...)

Jen

Beautiful but oversold and very overpriced.

Night of the living McMansions is roaring through Jamesport/Baiting Hollow etc.

Tough to get anywhere by car.

Stay out of Riverhead and Greenport schools if you can.

400k should get you a nice teardown in Southold.

[workingclasshero]

Jenn,

under 400k in a "good" school district is tough to do, not impossible, but difficult. Time, patience, and barganing is the key.

The air is "generaly" clean, but there is ALOT of traffic and smog

as for your second tier: there is arts and culture(mostly in the city), activities for kids has declined a little, but the schools do offer alot, most properties are small 60x100(you can find some that are bigger, you can see the moon but the stars are a little diminished due to all the lights, semi liberal areas, small town(not really on LI, most of LI's "villages" are bigger than many us "cities"(ie the population of the "village" of E. Meadow is 40k and its a small part of the "town" of Hempstead),,,the site for looking upschools is greatschools.org,,,,as far as being able to go to schools "outside" of district, the are many different rules on that, 1. it has to be APPROVED by the lossing and gaining district, 2. If you Chose to go outside the district you will NOT get busing

best of luck

[Jennifer06]

Originally Posted by clamboy

Stay out of Riverhead and Greenport schools if you can.

Can you tell me what's wrong with the Greenport school district? Or more/anything about it? We like Greenport.

Jen

[clamboy]

Bloods/Crips and a huge Illegal population.(farm labor camp)
Schools are poor.

Shame...cute town...then again so is Downtown Riverhead and Patchogue.
but I wouldnt drop 400k there.

Rocky Point/Sound Beach/Ridge/Wading River (SWR Schools)is most likely youre best bet on that budget for N.Shore if you want decent schools too.

[BovinaCowHateWindTurbines]

Having grown up on the North Fork if you are thinking of going to Greenport which is a great town and gone through an amazing revitalization as has all of the North Fork, certainly looking at Southold and Cutchogue (Mattituck Schools) would not hurt. If you can live on the NF I would concentrate between Southold and Laurel. For no other reason than it is the nicest chunk left out there gl. I can probably help giving some insight into areas on the better fork as we used to say. and if you could drop 400k be a pretty good investment - also Shelter Island And also quite a few of your other requirements would be met - not to say cheaply but it is possible.

[clamboy]

Originally Posted by BovinaCowHateWindTurbines

Having grown up on the North Fork if you are thinking of going to Greenport which is a great town and gone through an amazing revitalization as has all of the North Fork, certainly looking at Southold and Cutchogue (Mattituck Schools) would not hurt. If you can live on the NF I would concentrate between Southold and Laurel. For no other reason than it is the nicest chunk left out there gl. I can probably help giving some insight into areas on the better fork as we used to say. and if you could drop 400k be a pretty good investment - also Shelter Island And also quite a few of your other requirements would be met - not to say cheaply but it is possible.

I agree ...its beautiful, but expensive and difficult to navigate.
(as are the Hamptons)
The last I checked 400k bought nothing on the NF.
(except maybe Greenport/Riverhead and a Briarmere Pie)

Has it collapsed out there?
Teardowns were in the 4s in Mattituck not long ago.
C