South shore of nassau (Oyster Bay, Levittown: fit in, 2014, houses)

[NYClove615]

Looking for input on the following towns- Merrick, Bellmore, Wantagh, Seaford, Massapequa. Our criteria:

Strong public schools
a good child care center in the area
lots of young families
things to do- park & rec dept, playgrounds, indoor playspaces for the winter, etc
safe & quiet
decent commute to Manhattan
strong Catholic presence

We will most likely not look south of Merrick Rd. due to flooding concerns. Also willing to look into areas of Wantagh that are Levittown schools and areas of Massapequa that are Plainedge schools. Our budget is 500-700k. Thank you in advance!

[Coney]

All of those towns pretty much fit into your criteria. Seaford would have the biggest Catholic demographic and Merrick (south) the least.

[SandyJet]

Originally Posted by NYClove615

Looking for input on the following towns- Merrick, Bellmore, Wantagh, Seaford, Massapequa. Our criteria:

Strong public schools
a good child care center in the area
lots of young families
things to do- park & rec dept, playgrounds, indoor playspaces for the winter, etc
safe & quiet
decent commute to Manhattan
strong Catholic presence

We will most likely not look south of Merrick Rd. due to flooding concerns. Also willing to look into areas of Wantagh that are Levittown schools and areas of Massapequa that are Plainedge schools. Our budget is 500-700k. Thank you in advance!

On 10-1-2014 Nassau County updates the school taxes and you can see it on-line at the land record viewer website.

I only bring this up as certain towns that you listed had flooding on south side of town but no flooding on the north side of town. All the sandy tax grievances are finally getting processed and the school taxes etc may jump on certain "non-flooded" houses.

Massapequa is very nice but that is a long commute to NYC in morning. This may sound crazy but parts of Lynbrook describe what you are looking for and parts of Lynbrook have a great school system. Lynbrook is a really short commute to city plus LIRR ticket is a lot cheaper.


Also the water got absolutely no where near Merrick road in most towns. And in most towns up to one mile south of Merrick is not a flood zone. By not going South of Merrick you are limiting your self. Plus in all the towns you named the nicer, better homes are towards South Side of town as pre-sandy you build nice homes by water and smaller houses by tracks and Sunrise Highway

[daveyjones978]

I grew up in Levittown and North Wantagh (North of Southern State/Levittown Schools). Only difference is Massapequa is considered Town of Oyster Bay (for tax/municipal/sanitation reasons) and that may or may not play a difference in your final decision.

Seaford/Wantagh/Bellmore (at least when I lived there) had express trains to NYC in the morning, only stopping at those stops (not sure if that is still the case).

As SandyJet said, depending on your pricepoint, Lynbrook, Valley Stream, Baldwin and Rockville Centre may fit your bill as well, and are much closer to NYC via LIRR.

Most of South Shore Nassau county has a fairly strong Catholic presence, so that should not be a problem no matter the town.

Best of luck.