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Finally, after having lived on Long Island for what feels like ages, we are ready to buy a house. We know what we want in terms of house, but the location is undecided. I would appreciate if you can pitch in with your suggestions or recommendations. Here are our requirements and my current choices:
1. budget: $600k, could go up to $650 including closing costs
2. We have two kids, one an year old and another 3 years old. School districts are an important priority. We have looked at following school districts as potentials:
These choices stemmed from the simple reason that I work in Stony Brook and the wife works in Mineola. If both of us were to drive, I would like to keep her commute shorter since she will be driving with the traffic in which case Plainview and Syosset would be fine. My commute will be longer, but anything less than 40-45 mins to Stony Brook is ok with me. OTOH, if she were to take a train, then I would rather have an LIRR train station near our home (less than 10 min drive) so that she could drive up to the station and drop the car -- this is what she does these days and is fairly comfortable with that. Her work is walking distance from Mineola train station. Ronkonkoma line is better for her timing wise, hence Commack and Dix Hills area.
3. We would like to keep taxes lower, so in that regard, Syosset is less desirable. And, there are not too many options available there.
Need a close to 2000 sq ft, 4 bedroom house preferably with some backyard for kids to play in.
Do you have family on LI? You might want to consider having one parent close to home and your children's school (once they start). Right now, perhaps you have full time care. But think ahead to when they are both in elementary school.
Location: Prince Georges County, MD (formerly Long Island, NY)
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I thought most Ronkonkoma trains skip Mineola during rush hours. I could be wrong, though. Usually when I use Mineola at rush hours, the trains are typically to/from Huntington (with a handful of Oyster Bay trains). I can usually only get a Ronkonkoma train in the late evenings.
3 village is not an option as the train timings are no go for my wife on port jeff line. Herricks is a good SD, but it is probably too far for me.
I vaguely understand that it would be better if one of the parents is closer to home, but why exactly is that important or critical?
Any other choices of towns that I could consider?
Quote:
Originally Posted by daisyLI
Do you have family on LI? You might want to consider having one parent close to home and your children's school (once they start). Right now, perhaps you have full time care. But think ahead to when they are both in elementary school.
There are trains when my wife takes them so that is not a problem. She usually takes 5:09 pm from Mineola to Ronkonkoma and in the morning the 8:10 one, I think.
Quote:
Originally Posted by bigjretrac
I thought most Ronkonkoma trains skip Mineola during rush hours. I could be wrong, though. Usually when I use Mineola at rush hours, the trains are typically to/from Huntington (with a handful of Oyster Bay trains). I can usually only get a Ronkonkoma train in the late evenings.
I think what Daisy meant is that it's good to have someone close by to the child's school so that someone can pick up your child quickly when you get that call from the school nurse to come get your child because s/he is sick. I can promise you that is absolutely going to happen, even when they are in middle and high school. Of course, many couples both work in Manhattan and they can't pick up their child in 2 minutes. If you can't get there, it's good if you have a grandparent, neighbor or family member who can get to the school fairly quickly in an emergency. It's awful for the child to sit in the nurse's office with a fever waiting a couple of hours for a parent to arrive. Also, schools are becoming increasingly picky about who is permitted to pick up a child.
I vaguely understand that it would be better if one of the parents is closer to home, but why exactly is that important or critical?
Once you have a child or children in school it is very helpful. Should your child become sick at school, need a change of clothes (younger ones sometimes have accidents), early weather-related dismissal, etc., someone is going to have to leave work to either bring home the sick child, or get home before the bus does if there is an early dismissal. There are a number of local families who panic if school is closing early for snow -- I'm the neighbor at the bus stop when mom or dad can't get home in time.
OBH brings up additional good points about early dismissal due to the weather. The decision and timing for an early dismissak due to weather can be made rather last minute so it isn't possible, sometimes, to let your clients/supervisors know about it in advance. One time, I had to drop everything and run out of work because my kid's 2 front teeth were knocked out in gyn. Stuff happens.
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