Floral Park Bellerose Schools -- Nassau County (Hempstead, Valley Stream: real estate, houses)
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We are just beginning our search for real estate in the suburbs. We love the easy commute to Manhattan, the tree-lined streets, and some of the stately homes (tudors, some colonials) in the West End and Colonial Gardens area of Floral Park. Our current budget keeps us at a maximum of $700,000.
Can someone shed some light on the schooling situation in Floral Park? I know GreatSchools is not everyone's favorite site for information but it seems that Bellerose-Floral Park leaves a bit to be desired. We have a child who is not yet school-age and we don't know too much about the schools on Long Island yet, but it is obviously a huge concern as that will eventually become a big part of all of our lives.
If anyone can help, I'd love to hear your thoughts! Thank you!
You sound like me about 8 years ago when I was looking for my first house on Long Island. 2 houses later, I am finally getting out of state. If you can, I would follow suit. Not to discourage you, but you will eventually know what I am talking about. Don't do it.
You sound like me about 8 years ago when I was looking for my first house on Long Island. 2 houses later, I am finally getting out of state. If you can, I would follow suit. Not to discourage you, but you will eventually know what I am talking about. Don't do it.
Conversely I have been here my whole life (except for college - came back!) and would never live anywhere else.
So I've heard mixed things about Floral Park. It's a NICE Village- I grew up in Floral Park Queens so I always had Village envy. They have a nice pool, Village only park, their own police. I've heard from others I've worked with through the years who grew up there that they found most kids in the High School obnoxious. I know 2 other girls who are in their early 20's who grew up there and seem like good girls (neighbors neices so I don't know them that well). It was voted one of the safest places in NY. The LIRR line from there isn't the best. My dad took it for his whole working career. I couldn't afford those Village taxes so we didn't look there. We moved to mid-nassau and I'm loving it. I have friends in the Village of New Hyde Park who can walk to the LIRR and that's a MUCH better line and the schools are definitely good schools. Just don't ask me what the advantages of that Village are. From what I see they just pay more taxes and don't have to deal with the County for permits for building. And it's not a pretty Village. I have other friends in East Williston but 700,000 won't go far there- though they bought for under that I think they got lucky. Decent LIRR line but again, high taxes. Excellent schools- it was a buying point for them. Honestly, I know this will sound crazy but I used Urban Dictionary to help with our neighborhood search and it actually was fairly accurate!! Or if I read that too many were too obnoxious we took the neighborhood off our list. People laugh but the few areas I knew we didn't like were razzed a bit on UD and I felt it was a pretty good indicator of liking an area or not, even if it wasn't FULLY accurate. It didn't have that much to say about where we moved or they just talked about the largest minority population here drinking under bleachers or something. Totally fine by me! We are very happy in Nassau County. Only reason I'd want to move is if taxes keep going up. But all our friends or family are Brooklyn, Queens or Nassau. Suffolk isn't really my cup of tea and bridges really divide people so for now we stay. Good luck- moving can be very stressful and EVERYONE has an opinion. Use your instincts, try to do homework and ask around. Great Schools weakness is its just test score driven.
Can't say how the area is now but I went to school there and it was very good. Principal Sottille is wonderful and it's also a good school if a child has special needs/autism. Floral Park is also a good community albeit small.
I recently bought a house in Stewart Manor (neighboring village to Floral Park). The area is great, we moved here from Queens and still wanted to be close to the city and an easy commute to NYC. I originally was looking in FP, but ended up settling on Stewart Manor, one selling factor was that I could walk to both the New Hyde Park LIRR and the Hempstead Line, so it doubled the amount of train options. So far, the Hempstead Line isn't bad, but during off peak times it doesn't run as often as I would have like.
$700k might be a challenge in FP, but you might get a fixer upper. You might want to look at NHP as it's a bit less and still a nice neighborhood.
I know a lot of people in FP and SM send their kids to Catholic School.
Best of luck, it took us awhile to find a good house in the area.
Also check out near Westwood Station (Lynbrook and Malverne). Similar neighborhood with nice homes and easy commute to NYC.
Some of Westwood is within the village of Valley Stream. The school district could be Malverne, Lynbrook or Valley Stream SD-13 depending upon the address. It’s a pretty neighborhood with a good commute.
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