Nassau County (New York, Hempstead, Freeport: real estate, apartments, to rent)

[Cindy15161]

I am planning on moving to Nassau County in September on account my bf is working in Brooklyn as a teacher. Where are the best places to live and the best places to rent? Thank you for your help!

[lisux]

cindy, i don't mean to be cynical or negative, but moving to nassau county may be the worst mistake of your life.

it was certainly the worst of mine. unless you make 150,000+ a year, you can not afford to live here. mortgage companies will convince you that you can, but you will be sucked dry by astronomically high taxes (10g a year for a three bedroom ranch!), real estate prices, utilities, and gas prices. it's jaw dropping. you'd think people would complain, but it's nassau's way of keeping minorities "where they belong". that way rich whites get the prime real estate and the best education for their mediocre children.

you will also get caught up in a fascinatingly pathetic competition of materialistic greed that will make even simple tasks like parking your car a stressful, life threatening ordeal. the key to understanding the culture is the nassau motto "i'm better than you because i can afford to live here".

after 5 years of the "i count, you don't" culture of nassau's sheltered, white, i'm not racist but... population, we're moving. cutting our losses, chalking it all up to experience. this is no place to raise a child, unless you like whiny, spoiled brats who feel entitled to everthing, but are willing to work for nothing.

sorry for the rant but if my experiences can save yours, move to brooklyn. it's awesome, diverse, and REAL. moving to long island will ruin you, especially if you are living on a teacher's salary.

[pdcnret]

Originally Posted by lisux

cindy, i don't mean to be cynical or negative, but moving to nassau county may be the worst mistake of your life.

it was certainly the worst of mine. unless you make 150,000+ a year, you can not afford to live here. mortgage companies will convince you that you can, but you will be sucked dry by astronomically high taxes (10g a year for a three bedroom ranch!), real estate prices, utilities, and gas prices. it's jaw dropping. you'd think people would complain, but it's nassau's way of keeping minorities "where they belong". that way rich whites get the prime real estate and the best education for their mediocre children.

you will also get caught up in a fascinatingly pathetic competition of materialistic greed that will make even simple tasks like parking your car a stressful, life threatening ordeal. the key to understanding the culture is the nassau motto "i'm better than you because i can afford to live here".

after 5 years of the "i count, you don't" culture of nassau's sheltered, white, i'm not racist but... population, we're moving. cutting our losses, chalking it all up to experience. this is no place to raise a child, unless you like whiny, spoiled brats who feel entitled to everthing, but are willing to work for nothing.

sorry for the rant but if my experiences can save yours, move to brooklyn. it's awesome, diverse, and REAL. moving to long island will ruin you, especially if you are living on a teacher's salary.

Your response is a bit over the top. You don't need 150,000+ in income nor will your property taxes automatically be over 10,000 in Nassau County. Reading into your post, you have some issues you need to deal with.

[Dedalus]

I moved to Nassau County six long years ago, because I got a good paying job here.

IT WAS ONE OF THE WORST MISTAKES OF MY LIFE.


DON'T DON'T DON'T MOVE TO VILE, NASTY, NAUSEA COUNTY!!!!!!!

You can get TRAPPED there - it's so expensive you can't afford to move, as much as you might hate it. I'm trying so hard at the moment just to escape it. It sucks like a pay toilet.

If you have kids, don't come here because you think it's "safe." They might be safe from muggers, but they won't be safe from a real killer - boredom. There is nothing for kids to do here but drink and do drugs, and most of them do.

THIS PLACE SUCKS SUCKS SUCKS!!!!!!

[TeaJay]

Cindy- don't be deterred by some of the negativity you'll find here. Lots of people like and even love LI. There are people who like to bash instead of acknowledging the fact that no place is right for everyone and LI is simply not for them. Yes, it's expensive and crowded, there are materialistic people, and kids get bored. Raising kids is hard regardless of where you live. There are trade-offs no matter where you decide to live.

[ncc1701]

Shameful that as soon as someone says they plan on moving to LI, the naysayers pounce with their gloom and doom.

Cindy, Nassau county is a wonderful place to live and raise a family. For anyone that lives in the tri state area and wants a quasi subarban lifestyle, it is terrific. With that said, it most certainly is very expensive. More so than alot of other places in the tri state. If you control your spending, you can live comfortably on a $100k gross household income. If your debt payments and spending are high, it will be a daily struggle, which as you quickly found out, the other responders are all too familiar with.

[sirtiger]

Originally Posted by TeaJay

Cindy- don't be deterred by some of the negativity you'll find here. Lots of people like and even love LI. There are people who like to bash instead of acknowledging the fact that no place is right for everyone and LI is simply not for them. Yes, it's expensive and crowded, there are materialistic people, and kids get bored. Raising kids is hard regardless of where you live. There are trade-offs no matter where you decide to live.

+1

I agree

[Johninwestbury]

Nassau is a mistake. Considering the astronomic taxes, we get lousy services in return. Police, sanitation, parks,etc. There is talk of selling off Nassau's parks now to the towns.
Suffolk is a much better choice.

[Johninwestbury]

Originally Posted by lisux

cindy, i don't mean to be cynical or negative, but moving to nassau county may be the worst mistake of your life.

it was certainly the worst of mine. unless you make 150,000+ a year, you can not afford to live here. mortgage companies will convince you that you can, but you will be sucked dry by astronomically high taxes (10g a year for a three bedroom ranch!), real estate prices, utilities, and gas prices. it's jaw dropping. you'd think people would complain, but it's nassau's way of keeping minorities "where they belong". that way rich whites get the prime real estate and the best education for their mediocre children.

you will also get caught up in a fascinatingly pathetic competition of materialistic greed that will make even simple tasks like parking your car a stressful, life threatening ordeal. the key to understanding the culture is the nassau motto "i'm better than you because i can afford to live here".

after 5 years of the "i count, you don't" culture of nassau's sheltered, white, i'm not racist but... population, we're moving. cutting our losses, chalking it all up to experience. this is no place to raise a child, unless you like whiny, spoiled brats who feel entitled to everthing, but are willing to work for nothing.

sorry for the rant but if my experiences can save yours, move to brooklyn. it's awesome, diverse, and REAL. moving to long island will ruin you, especially if you are living on a teacher's salary.

Nassau isn't that white. True, most of the money areas are white, but Nassau has alot of ghettos, Freeport, Hempstead, parts of Westbury look more like Mexico than the USA.
You're right about the attitude of people here, they have a "me first" mentality to a T, and because they think they're too good to mow their own lawn they hire a bunch of illegals to do it for them. Thats why most of 'em are here, because these lazy snobs in places like East Hills cant do their own lawn. They dont care that their actions bring in more illegals to communities like Westbury, as long as they go back on the bus at 5pm.
There is really no middle class left in Nassau, you have the rich areas which are usually whites and persians, and then the barrios full of illegals to work for the rich.
Plus there is very little parkland. It is very stressful living here. It's too CROWDED. Parts of New York City feel more spacious than Nassau.

[sean sean sean sean]

Originally Posted by Cindy15161

I am planning on moving to Nassau County in September on account my bf is working in Brooklyn as a teacher. Where are the best places to live and the best places to rent? Thank you for your help!

Nassau County is a big place, and best is entirely subjective of course, so it all depends on what kind of atmosphere you're looking for. In my opinion the best places to rent would be areas that are more inclusive and somewhat geared towards renters. Long Beach, IMHO, is really something to look at as it's got everything you need close by, walking distance to beaches, about an hour to Penn Station (or Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn) on the LIRR and a lively community. Rockville Centre, the southern part of Freeport, Lynbrook, East Rockaway and Mineola are some others that come to mind. There are apartments everywhere, but since this is largely suburbia you'll end up with poorly converted basement or second floor apartments a lot of the time and there's some real horror stories about landlords in those situations. The good ones are out there, you just have to look!

I'll never understand why Nassau gets trashed as hard as it does on here. All I can say is come check us out for yourself and see what you think!