LI relocation (East Meadow, Valley Stream, Plainview: new home, neighborhood, to buy)

[GiveMeCoffee]

Most Nassau school districts are well rated. There are large Jewish populations in Merrick-Bellmore and Hewlett-Woodmere, and a smaller population in East Meadow. How old are your kids? There's a great Reform synagogue in Wantagh where a bulk of Jews from Wantagh, Seaford, EM, Levittown and Massapequa attend. All of those districts are solid.

But we need more info to make a recommendation: price point, preferred commuting time, what specific factors you think make a "good" school...

[ducky11]

well our budget has changed from what we thought after looking around and it will depend if we buy a new house or fix one up.
i did mean judiasm and some of the neighborhoods that i listed are either orthodox or have changed over the years.
we are looking for a neighborhood where there are good schools and our child can grow with diversity but not feel like we are a minority.
is there a difference between north merrick and south merrick

[thebobs]

What? Rocky Point wasn't mentioned?

[Coney]

Don't rule out Hewlett. The schools have some diversity (Italian, Asian (growing), small minority of African-American and Latino). It's not all religious and there's secular, Russians, Americans, and Israelis. Good public schools. There's different levels of affluence with the most affluent in Hewlett Neck and Hewlett Bay Park and with that comes the snootiness that gives the Five Towns a bad rep. Parts of Woodmere also feed into Hewlett School district. Unfortunately, any affluent area, no matter the culture, has a population of people with an attitude. What about Port Washington?

[S.I.B.]

why are you excluding so many areas right off the bat? If you're not going to give a specific budget, can you at least give a range? The more details you can provide, the better advice you'll get.

[ducky11]

we excluded areas bc as i said they were either orthodox or the demographics changed. My budget was around $800k but we might have to go higher than that unless we want to do alot of work.

[S.I.B.]

Originally Posted by ducky11

we excluded areas bc as i said they were either orthodox or the demographics changed.

are either of these reasons really the case in Massapequa, Jericho, Syosset, or Manhasset?

[GiveMeCoffee]

Originally Posted by ducky11

well our budget has changed from what we thought after looking around and it will depend if we buy a new house or fix one up.
i did mean judiasm and some of the neighborhoods that i listed are either orthodox or have changed over the years.
we are looking for a neighborhood where there are good schools and our child can grow with diversity but not feel like we are a minority.
is there a difference between north merrick and south merrick

Water? If you're looking into South Merrick (or anything south of Sunrise Hwy in Nassau) ask about flood insurance. There were many homes that were impacted by Sandy, and more that require flood insurance, which can be pricey. All the high schools in the school district are well rated.

South Merrick has a larger Jewish population than North. Spoiler alert: Merrick is not known for it's diversity. It's quite challenging to find an area that's got a Jewish presence but still diverse. We were looking for the same thing when we were checking out homes (and ultimately bought in East Meadow).

[ducky11]

Yes to Jericho and Syosset as we were not only told by brokers but if you look at the school demo you can see the changes

I know people who live in Massapequa who suggested other places for me to live.

[GiveMeCoffee]

Originally Posted by S.I.B.

are either of these reasons really the case in Massapequa, Jericho, Syosset, or Manhasset?

Massapequa does not fall into either category. It's overwhelmingly white and has a very tiny Jewish population.