We have narrowed our search to 3 Nassau County towns (Oceanside: houses, neighborhoods)
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Hello everyone, this is my first post! I lurk often but finally decided to join to get some advice. DH & I have a 5 month old DD and live in a co op in Douglaston, Queens. Our Co op will officially be listed on May 1st. We need to be in Nassau since both of us work in Manhattan so Suffolk is just too far out. We would like easy train access to Penn, lots of young families, good to great public schools, a Catholic church with an active community, nice down to earth people, maybe a town pool- but that's not a must. A good rec program with classes and fun community events for my daughter. We have narrowed it down to Port Washington, Floral Park Village, & Rockville Centre. We know of the 3 FP has the lowest rated schools but they still seem above average. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated, and if you think there are any great towns that we don't have on our list please share! We thought about buying in Queens- Bayside, Auburndale, Whitestone. We love those areas and they all have good public elementary schools. But the fight to get into a "good" public junior and high school is intense in the city, and we would like to avoid private school if we can. Nothing against a private education, we are just big supporters of public schools. We also feel you get so little house for your money there, and there is no real downtown or community feel or town rec programs in Queens. Our budget is app. $750,000 and we would like a 3 BR, as we hope to have another child eventually. A decent size backyard, but it doesn't have to be over the top. If there are nice parks in the area that is also a huge plus. Thank you in advance!
Becky
I would look into Williston Park. The dividing line for Mineola vs Herricks schools is Willis Avenue. Herricks is a very good district however it is over 60% Asian if that is important to you. Mineola schools are good. Williston Park is a wonderful community with St. Aidan church in the center.
I'm not too familiar with homes in Pt Washington. However, with a budget of 750k I am wondering why you are looking at Rockville Center and Floral Park Village. There are homes in those areas in the 750k range, but they would be the exception.
I know FP pretty well and just looked at the Zillow listings. Most homes are in the 500k or less range, which makes sense. A few are listed higher, but IMO they are way over-priced. In FP village, you also get hit with high taxes to support the village hall.
Also, in western Nassau, you are paying for proximity to the city. The trade-off is that much of the area has become so over-developed that it looks like Queens... strip-malls, less green space, etc. Then again, you may prefer that.
Williston Park (as nuts2uiam mentioned) or even East Hills is a better choice. With that budget, you could look further north... Roslyn, Manhasset. Your requirement of an "active Catholic community" will eliminate some neighborhoods in the north.
How do you commute to work? Do you drive? If so, I can understand your desire to stay as west as possible. However, if you plan to take the train, you may want to look a little further east.
As you get to eastern Nassau County, your bang for the buck increases substantially. If I recall, the Wantagh train station if about a 50 minute ride to Penn Station (morning express train). Merrick is a few minutes closer. Both nice towns with good schools and plenty of nearby park access. By contrast, Rockville Center is 36-40 minutes. That's only 10-15 minutes difference (each way).
Go the next step and cross the county line into Suffolk. Right on the border of Nassau/Suffolk are towns like Melville (some areas) and Dix Hills. Both are in the Half Hollow Hills SD (which is highly regarded). 750k will buy you something very nice in those areas, with a _slightly_ more reasonable property/school tax burden. This may seem much further than you are looking, but is not that much of a difference, especially if you are taking the train.
Commuting from FP is going to be much shorter and easier. Pt. Washington is a little less convenient than that - LIRR is a better option than driving from there. Rockville Ctr is much tougher if you are going to drive (as is anything on the South Shore), but the LIRR is reasonable.
Personally, I like the feel of RVC and PW better than FP, as FP is more like Queens than it is a true suburb. Houses there tend to be on smaller lots and packed next to one another. For me, having a decent sized lot was very important and there were virtually none to be had in FP.
Driving is not great from PW or RVC, especially if you are further North in PW. I would say in that respect they are more or less equivalent. Taxes will be lower in PW and you can probably find something in PW in the New Salem area for that price. Inventory in RVC might be a little tight in that price range, although starter homes can be had in RVC for $750 range.
I live in New Hyde Park (Manhasset Hills area) and love the location. We moved from Jamaica Estates and were very used to being close to stores etc. Notre Dame and Holy Spirit are supposed to be great churches, with an active community. What i like about my area besides its location is the fact that its mixed. I live on a court of seven houses - 2 families are Asian, 1 Greek, 1 Indian, 2 Italian. School district is very good as well. If i were to choose any of the towns you are interested in, i would prefer PW as i like the North Shore a lot more due to the South Shore seeming more congested to me.
Also, i have lots of friends in RVC and they all love it. They all grew up either in the town or surrounding areas. They also send their children to Catholic schools and i believe the town has a large catholic population as well.
I live in New Hyde Park (Manhasset Hills area) and love the location. We moved from Jamaica Estates and were very used to being close to stores etc. Notre Dame and Holy Spirit are supposed to be great churches, with an active community. What i like about my area besides its location is the fact that its mixed. I live on a court of seven houses - 2 families are Asian, 1 Greek, 1 Indian, 2 Italian. School district is very good as well. If i were to choose any of the towns you are interested in, i would prefer PW as i like the North Shore a lot more due to the South Shore seeming more congested to me.
Also, i have lots of friends in RVC and they all love it. They all grew up either in the town or surrounding areas. They also send their children to Catholic schools and i believe the town has a large catholic population as well.
Your friends must be very religious, because RVC is a highly rated school district. Or maybe they live in the part of RVC that goes to Oceanside schools, which are not bad, but not stand out good either ... middle of the road. Catholic schools, particularly at the high school level, would be better in that case (Chaminade, etc.).
Your friends must be very religious, because RVC is a highly rated school district. Or maybe they live in the part of RVC that goes to Oceanside schools, which are not bad, but not stand out good either ... middle of the road. Catholic schools, particularly at the high school level, would be better in that case (Chaminade, etc.).
Agreed. The rankings I've seen have South Side rated anywhere between somewhere between top 5 and top 10 on Long Island. I believe the Washington Post had rated it around #125 in the country. Granted, all rankings should be taken with a grain of salt, particularly given that the differences between IB and AP make it tougher to compare apples to apples.
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