Moving to LI (Hicksville, Garden City, Stony Brook: short sale, real estate, school)

[sean sean sean sean]

Originally Posted by GCGuy

I have to explore out there more...Wading River, Setuket, Bell Terre, Stony Brook, Pt. Jeff., Rocky Pt., Sound Beach, etc.

I've honestly never been through a lot of these either. Setauket, Port Jeff and Belle Terre are all really nice. I've never seen Stony Brook close to the sound, only near SUNY which is eh to me.

I went to the Cub Scouts camp in Wading River when I was a wee lad...there was nothing out there at all. I think there was a pizza place and a deli, that was it. I know where Rocky Point and Sound Beach are on a map, but any time I drive through on 25A it looks like a whole lot of nothing too...maybe there are some signs of life towards the water?

Also, I don't think there's really a whole lot that compares to Garden City anywhere else on Long Island or anywhere else in the country for that matter...if only modern day developments were planned so well...

[nancy thereader]

I went to the Cub Scouts camp in Wading River when I was a wee lad...there was nothing out there at all.

Camp Wauweepex (?) My brother went there, also.

[sean sean sean sean]

Yup! Good times back then, used to be able to see the F-14s from Grumman flying over.

[clamboy]

Originally Posted by sean sean sean sean

I've honestly never been through a lot of these either. Setauket, Port Jeff and Belle Terre are all really nice. I've never seen Stony Brook close to the sound, only near SUNY which is eh to me.

I went to the Cub Scouts camp in Wading River when I was a wee lad...there was nothing out there at all. I think there was a pizza place and a deli, that was it. I know where Rocky Point and Sound Beach are on a map, but any time I drive through on 25A it looks like a whole lot of nothing too...maybe there are some signs of life towards the water?

Also, I don't think there's really a whole lot that compares to Garden City anywhere else on Long Island or anywhere else in the country for that matter...if only modern day developments were planned so well...

If you need an Ego Zip....Belle Terres the way to go.

Garden City is its own planet.

As for Rocky Point...its all about the bluffs and the water Wee Sean.
It's a unique little town thats managed to stay in touch with its working class roots.
It's very un-Long Island.

We dig it.

C

[clamboy]

Originally Posted by nancy thereader

Why Shoreham Village? Looked up some things..nice, but don't know much about it.

Does Shoreham have a village ? I didn't know that. Is it on 25A? I'm surprised that I never ran into it.

Its North ..off N. Country

Its small...secluded.

A lot of Old Money
Something of a well kept secret.

C

[clamboy]

Originally Posted by GCGuy

I have to explore out there more...Wading River, Setuket, Bell Terre, Stony Brook, Pt. Jeff., Rocky Pt., Sound Beach, etc.

Trust me on La Plage
http://www.laplagerestaurant.net/

Check it out before hitting the NoFo.

C

[Jrprofess]

Originally Posted by sean sean sean sean

I think those neighborhoods are great too, but even with the tax offset it's doubtful your typical middle class south shore resident could afford similar housing there, if at all. There's really no comparison that can be made, it's apples and oranges. Douglaston is crazy expensive, Bayside is up there too...I guess they're generally suburban and don't have subways, but Forest Hills is a totally different world. In a perfect world of free money I'd like to live in Douglaston....I'd like to live in the Taj Mahal and get served philly cheesesteaks in bed all day by nude Penthouse models too, but it ain't happening!

Jrprofess - It's true, hardly any south shore homes are waterfront...even those that are, the majority are really on bulkhead canals. The north shore definitely has nicer houses but they're only for the ludicrously wealthy in Nassau, and there's too many areas of Suffolk where I feel like I could be abducted by aliens at any given moment. Any place that doesn't have sidewalks is kind of weird to me. I like that there's a lot of people here...but there still aren't so many people that it's overbearing, I've kind of warmed up to Suffolk over the years but I think 231 is as far removed from civilization as I'd ever want to get!

The sidewalk comment is one thing that always came up from my wife when we would look at homes until she started to realize that some of the nicest neighborhoods tended to not have them. As for the alien abductions I'd be hard pressed from Cold Spring Harbor to Shoreham to think of a north shore suffolk town that feels like it is in the middle of nowhere at this point. For better or worse, things are quite built up. To each their own of course. In the end I am no great defender of the island. I grew up in CT, although my family is all originally (and most had stayed) in NY. The one long island native phenomenon I do find curious is how often I meet folks who have never really ventured outside of their immediate town radius their entire lives (including college in some cases) and rarely talk about living anywhere else on the island but near their local high school. This has a lot to do with extended families all being local, but I always found that surprising given we are in such a dense metro area.

After moving to suffolk I realized the wonders of never having to be on the Southern State Parkway, and that sealed the deal that I would never return to Nassau. God I hate that road...

[clamboy]

Originally Posted by Jrprofess

The sidewalk comment is one thing that always came up from my wife when we would look at homes until she started to realize that some of the nicest neighborhoods tended to not have them. As for the alien abductions I'd be hard pressed from Cold Spring Harbor to Shoreham to think of a north shore suffolk town that feels like it is in the middle of nowhere at this point. For better or worse, things are quite built up. To each their own of course. In the end I am no great defender of the island. I grew up in CT, although my family is all originally (and most had stayed) in NY. The one long island native phenomenon I do find curious is how often I meet folks who have never really ventured outside of their immediate town radius their entire lives (including college in some cases) and rarely talk about living anywhere else on the island but near their local high school. This has a lot to do with extended families all being local, but I always found that surprising given we are in such a dense metro area.

After moving to suffolk I realized the wonders of never having to be on the Southern State Parkway, and that sealed the deal that I would never return to Nassau. God I hate that road...

Amen
The nicest neighborhoods in Suffolk rarely have sidewalks or streetlights.
Just tree canopies, hidden driveways and Money.

Youre right about that 2 mile magnet embedded in most Long Islanders
It sounds like Sean has never ventured past Wantagh.


(Perhaps hes bought a myth that his parents sold him about the "boonies"?)

Maybe in 1959, but now, c'mon.
We're struggling to stay suburban due to to overdevelopment.

C

[GCGuy]

Originally Posted by Jrprofess

The sidewalk comment is one thing that always came up from my wife when we would look at homes until she started to realize that some of the nicest neighborhoods tended to not have them. As for the alien abductions I'd be hard pressed from Cold Spring Harbor to Shoreham to think of a north shore suffolk town that feels like it is in the middle of nowhere at this point. For better or worse, things are quite built up. To each their own of course. In the end I am no great defender of the island. I grew up in CT, although my family is all originally (and most had stayed) in NY. The one long island native phenomenon I do find curious is how often I meet folks who have never really ventured outside of their immediate town radius their entire lives (including college in some cases) and rarely talk about living anywhere else on the island but near their local high school. This has a lot to do with extended families all being local, but I always found that surprising given we are in such a dense metro area.

After moving to suffolk I realized the wonders of never having to be on the Southern State Parkway, and that sealed the deal that I would never return to Nassau. God I hate that road...

I love to explore, just haven't gotten around to do as much of it as I'd like to. I make my wife nuts, sometimes, but oh well. Not to sound corny, but Suffolk is the future for LI. Open spaces need to be preserved, and those mega mixed use developments need to be honed, then built.

When we were looking, we didn't want to move too far out b/c we didn't know how we would get used to the "no sidewalk/no street light" thing. I also hedged that if I ever work in the city again, I would not want too killer a commute. I love GC so far, and I do like a lot of Nassau still, so I am happy. I guess we'll see how things pan out. I do see some areas turning into Queens East and that's not what I want to see at all.

[sean sean sean sean]

Clam - I work on the road, exclusively on Long Island (meaning LI the geographic area including Brooklyn and Queens) so there's very few parts I haven't seen. I can be anywhere from Bay Ridge to Sag Harbor on any given day, usually multiple places. Nowadays it's centered more around Nassau & Queens but when I started we were based out of Yaphank and I still make plenty of trips out there. I enjoy this a lot too, I like seeing everything and the traffic doesn't bother me...it seems as if you've gotten the impression that I'm down on Suffolk and this is simply not the case. I enjoy it for visiting but as for living there, personally it's too isolated for me...too far removed from the rest of the world. I like the population density of Nassau for living, but I won't deny that I prefer most of Suffolk for killing some time with a full tank of gas.

Also, to refute Jrprofess, even though I was born here I'm not an LI lifer. I lived in and around the lovely Capital Region for the better part of 3 years...not even for college, just for very cheap living and a fun atmosphere. I plan to be gone again very soon (wish me luck -- interview in Brookline, MA next week) but ultimately I'd like to settle down here one day too....maybe by that time Suffolk will have sidewalks and streetlights and I'll be in love with it.