Starter Houses on Long Island? (Brookhaven, Stony Brook: camping, live, appraise)

[Transpl]

Wow, just wow. Please leave already, I get it, you don't like brown people. Move on.

[Johninwestbury]

Originally Posted by Transpl

Wow, just wow. Please leave already, I get it, you don't like brown people. Move on.

I dont like urbanization, my Long Island towns looking more like Brooklyn and the Bronx, that's what I dont like.

[sheena12]

We are living in Stony Brook and are moving very soon. Prices are ridiculous and even homes for 200 to 250 are crazy. We are moving to the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area in Pa. You can get a beautiful 5-7 bedroom 1920's Victorian home with over 3,500 Sf for that price. In the area near Wilkes Barre called West Pittston, you can get a real mansion for those prices. We have $18,000 taxes and our home has dropped in value to $550,000 from $975,000 two and a half years ago. We are so out of here.

[sean sean sean sean]

Originally Posted by Johninwestbury

I dont like urbanization, my Long Island towns looking more like Brooklyn and the Bronx, that's what I dont like.

Hahah, nothing in Nassau or Suffolk looks like Brooklyn or The Bronx, nor will it ever....unless you're talking about Throg's Neck or Riverdale....maybe those look like some places out on LI but not really.

[Crookhaven]

Originally Posted by sheena12

We are living in Stony Brook and are moving very soon. Prices are ridiculous and even homes for 200 to 250 are crazy. We are moving to the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area in Pa. You can get a beautiful 5-7 bedroom 1920's Victorian home with over 3,500 Sf for that price. In the area near Wilkes Barre called West Pittston, you can get a real mansion for those prices. We have $18,000 taxes and our home has dropped in value to $550,000 from $975,000 two and a half years ago. We are so out of here.

Dont do it....Scranton is the Buffalo of PA.
Especially if youre looking for a better education for your kids.

We fled from Stony Brook to Rocky Point in 2000 and never regretted it for a minute.

600k could put you either in a 3500 sf Contemporary or waterfront with half the taxes(or you can downsize and be walk to beach for low to mid 2s).

Theres still a few good value plays on LI, if youre not hung up on a zip code and you shop smart.

Theres a lot of smart money tucked away here.

crooks

[sean sean sean sean]

Originally Posted by Crookhaven

Dont do it....Scranton is the Buffalo of PA.
Especially if your looking for a better education for your kids.

But The Office makes it look so nice...

[Crookhaven]

Originally Posted by sean sean sean sean

But The Office makes it look so nice...

Unless you work for Dunder Mifflin ...and your name is Dwight Schrute.

: )

crooks

[TomMoser]

Actually, I am very familiar with Scranton. It's actually a very nice city with very nice people. There are many cultural opportunites due to the large number of Universities that are located there. There are two negatives that I see in Scranton: 1) The job situation is not great, but actually not as bad as, for example, Buffalo or other upstate "rust belt" cities; and, 2) The city charges a wage tax to people who live within the city limits, so many people chose to live outside of the city.

[Elke Mariotti]

Originally Posted by sheena12

We are living in Stony Brook and are moving very soon. Prices are ridiculous and even homes for 200 to 250 are crazy. We are moving to the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area in Pa. You can get a beautiful 5-7 bedroom 1920's Victorian home with over 3,500 Sf for that price. In the area near Wilkes Barre called West Pittston, you can get a real mansion for those prices. We have $18,000 taxes and our home has dropped in value to $550,000 from $975,000 two and a half years ago. We are so out of here.

Regardless of whether you're moving or not, please get ready to grieve your taxes! Just be careful whom to use, if you're not doing it yourself.

If you're selling your house, your high taxes will put you at a disadvantage; however, if you can show that you're grieving, it'll make a difference.

Just something to think about...

[alexei27]

Originally Posted by sheena12

We are living in Stony Brook and are moving very soon. Prices are ridiculous and even homes for 200 to 250 are crazy. We are moving to the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area in Pa. You can get a beautiful 5-7 bedroom 1920's Victorian home with over 3,500 Sf for that price. In the area near Wilkes Barre called West Pittston, you can get a real mansion for those prices. We have $18,000 taxes and our home has dropped in value to $550,000 from $975,000 two and a half years ago. We are so out of here.

Be wary of that area however...a lot of the Wyoming Valley is a rough ride. My dad lived in W. Pittston and now lives in Pringle. You can get a heck of a house...I agree. Lots of fantastic Victorians. However if you have kids...the schools are terrible and there is a LOT of petty theft and robberies. It is also a big drug trafficking area. I know I know you can say this about a lot of areas...but its is particularly bad in Wilkes Barre. Also avoid the low-lying areas like the plague...the Sesquehanna River likes to flood.

However I do know some nicer areas are a little further north like Carbondale.

One suggestion might be to look a little further east in Allentown or some of the smaller towns like Stroudsburg.

Best of luck looking...just make sure the grass is in fact greener.