Help - Is there anywhere in Nassau County for us? (Hempstead: sale, rentals)

[Jackson Pollock]

Yep. Despite a few pockets of poverty, Elmont is mostly middle-class. Most black people in Elmont are West Indian immigrants who are obsessed with home improvement and backyard gardening. And of course there are a lot of *gasp* Italians in parts of Elmont.

Originally Posted by Jennifer06

Since AlexisT pointed out that the LIRR won't work for my husband's commute to Hauppauge, and he feels he can carpool during the possible stretches he won't be able to drive, can anyone tell me if someplace in Nassau would work for us?

Under $350k
Safe
Fantastic schools; a general focus on academic excellence
Jewish community
Short drives, small stores (ideally a self-contained "town" type place)
Asian (Korean) community or ethnic diversity
Liberal

I am handicapped and can't drive or walk long distances. We've wanted to stay on the East End for the small towns and relaxing ease of getting around. But my husband works in Hauppauge and needs to be closer to work.

After all the looking I've done, I've learned quite a bit about Suffolk. Plainview leads the pack, but for its big-highway lifestyle. I know nothing about Nassau. In thinking that perhaps the population density creates shorter drives for basic necessities - or to get to anything - maybe even smaller stores(?) is there a town/hamlet that meets our needs?

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The areas I'm familiar with that you might consider:

Bayside, Queens--Jews, Asians, restaurants, dense, liberal, middle-class. But long commute and perhaps too urban.

Floral Park/Bellerose, Nassau/Queens--Middle class, dense, old homes, many Indian Asians, some Jews. Not very liberal and not that convenient for your husband's job.

New Hyde Park, Nassau--Middle-class, dense, old homes (along the LIRR), many Indian Asians and some Jews. But long commute and more moderate than liberal.

Mineola, Nassau--Small town atmosphere, working-class (many Portuguese and Brazilians), old homes, loads of shops and amenities within walking distance. A lot of traffic.

Garden City, Nassau--you could afford a condo or coop and pretend like you're living in Forest Hills. Wealthy area with a lot of shopping. Very walkable in the village area. Fantastic schools.

I'm not too familiar with Herricks and Williston Park. But I think they're somewhat like New Hyde Park.

I know next to nothing about Hicksville, but they have a handicap friendly listing for under $350K that might be interesting for you: Home sweet home...POSSIBLE MOTHER DAUGHTER

[AlexisT]

Garden City is not diverse at all. A few Asians, a few Jews, but overall, not diverse and not liberal.

Herricks (SD also includes Searingtown and Albertson) is mixed Jewish and Asian. Williston Park is split between Herricks SD and Mineola SD.

[sean sean sean sean]

The replies to this thread are a joke...who are these people and where did they come from?

Nothing in a good school district in Nassau for $350k? Who are you kidding, this isn't 2006. The OP said she was looking for "fantastic schools with an overall emphasis on academic excellence" - this doesn't mean she's expecting (or seeking) a Jericho/Cold Spring Harbor Newsweek Top 100 schools caliber public education system. There are plenty of excellent districts in Nassau that are not attended exclusively by the children of millionaires. In most towns, $350k is not going to get you a humungoid property....big deal! Not everyone has a hard-on for an acre yard, I certainly don't.

Getting from the south shore to Hauppauge takes 30 minutes or less in the morning. SSP to Sagtikos to the LIE, piece of cake. AM traffic going east is fairly light. The return commute isn't at all, for some reason - but on days with heavy traffic you can take a detour down Robert Moses/Ocean Parkway to save some aggravation. That's what I always do.

It sounds like we have some Plainview residents in this thread who are threatened by someone even considering their town with a budget under $400k. Get a grip losers, you couldn't pay me to live there. Plainview, Syosset, Jericho....stuck-up suburban hell, IMHO.

Jennifer - I wouldn't get hung up on trying to find the "best" schools, 90% of Nassau districts are going to be an enormous step up from Riverhead, academically. Hempstead, Westbury, Roosevelt and Freeport are the only ones that would be a downgrade. Is your reasoning behind seeking a "Jewish community" more based on wanting to live somewhere with a strong religious identity, or to have a place for your son to feel more comfortable? Basically every single town in Nassau has tons of Jewish families. It's not like the east end at all. I went to Levittown schools and there were a lot of Bar Mitzvahs and Menorahs. I'd estimate that somewhere between 25-35% of my graduating class were Jewish....and this is not an area known for being particularly Judaic whatsoever. Not many Asians to speak of, but you're not really gonna find that anywhere east of Queens.

[djdairyp]

Originally Posted by sean sean sean sean

The replies to this thread are a joke...who are these people and where did they come from?

Nothing in a good school district in Nassau for $350k? Who are you kidding, this isn't 2006. The OP said she was looking for "fantastic schools with an overall emphasis on academic excellence" - this doesn't mean she's expecting (or seeking) a Jericho/Cold Spring Harbor Newsweek Top 100 schools caliber public education system. There are plenty of excellent districts in Nassau that are not attended exclusively by the children of millionaires. In most towns, $350k is not going to get you a humungoid property....big deal! Not everyone has a hard-on for an acre yard, I certainly don't.

Getting from the south shore to Hauppauge takes 30 minutes or less in the morning. SSP to Sagtikos to the LIE, piece of cake. AM traffic going east is fairly light. The return commute isn't at all, for some reason - but on days with heavy traffic you can take a detour down Robert Moses/Ocean Parkway to save some aggravation. That's what I always do.

It sounds like we have some Plainview residents in this thread who are threatened by someone even considering their town with a budget under $400k. Get a grip losers, you couldn't pay me to live there. Plainview, Syosset, Jericho....stuck-up suburban hell, IMHO.

Jennifer - I wouldn't get hung up on trying to find the "best" schools, 90% of Nassau districts are going to be an enormous step up from Riverhead, academically. Hempstead, Westbury, Roosevelt and Freeport are the only ones that would be a downgrade. Is your reasoning behind seeking a "Jewish community" more based on wanting to live somewhere with a strong religious identity, or to have a place for your son to feel more comfortable? Basically every single town in Nassau has tons of Jewish families. It's not like the east end at all. I went to Levittown schools and there were a lot of Bar Mitzvahs and Menorahs. I'd estimate that somewhere between 25-35% of my graduating class were Jewish....and this is not an area known for being particularly Judaic whatsoever. Not many Asians to speak of, but you're not really gonna find that anywhere east of Queens.

She said more than just an excellent school district, she was looking for many other things.

If all school districts are excellent, why is there such a discord in prices for the same house on the same size of land moved from one town to the next. Try to find a basic 3 bdrm home thats not a handy man special in great neck for under 600k, it doesnt exist. Fantastic is a very strong word, that rings top schools and the top schools in LI are rated in the top 100 in the country. Other districts are good, but not fantastic in terms of their rankings and student percentages going to colleges. US News rankings and newsweek rankings.

Go to MLS, there are zero homes for sale in plainview under 350, and just a few under 400k ... then actually go look at those houses and your price range will quickly move to the upper 400's because you don't want an outdated home or fixer upper or something on the LIE. In most of Nassau in decent districts, most home are still above 350k, and the ones that are not often need a lot of work. You might find houses listed below 350k, but actually go out there and look at them and you will see some of them are total knockdowns and the others are either cramped or need another 50k put into them.

Your statements lack and supporting data. "I estimate 30% or my class was jewish" care to actually provide a backup for that. Plainview actually is one of the few communities that match her requests and it does have both a jewish and a small korean contingent, I dont know to what degree but it does exist. The other area that exactly has this is great neck southern part, over 30% of the south school is asian with more than 20% korean, I dont know the jewish percentage but it is substantial as well, of course it is much more expensive.
William A. Shine Great Neck South High School - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[AlexisT]

Sean, one, not everywhere is so Jewish--especially not today. No way is anywhere in Levittown 25% Jewish (IME, Long Islanders tend to overestimate minorities) and I should know because that's one of the reasons my parents left the area. The Jewish population on LI has clumped up even more in the past 15 years or so. You'd never know now that Baldwin Harbor was once almost all Jewish.

There's actually a pretty fast growing Korean community on LI. They've moved into the affluent Jewish districts on the North Shore/Mid-Island--Great Neck, Jericho, Syosset, Plainview. Jericho is 30% Asian now, largely Chinese and Korean.

[llama8]

Originally Posted by AlexisT

Sean, one, not everywhere is so Jewish--especially not today. No way is anywhere in Levittown 25% Jewish (IME, Long Islanders tend to overestimate minorities) and I should know because that's one of the reasons my parents left the area. The Jewish population on LI has clumped up even more in the past 15 years or so. You'd never know now that Baldwin Harbor was once almost all Jewish.

There's actually a pretty fast growing Korean community on LI. They've moved into the affluent Jewish districts on the North Shore/Mid-Island--Great Neck, Jericho, Syosset, Plainview. Jericho is 30% Asian now, largely Chinese and Korean.

Actually, I live in Levittown and I do have to say that Sean is not too far off, based on the number of menorahs I see around my area of Levittown and the people that I have met. I would put it around 15% -20% Jewish in my section.

So would my husband...and he's Jewish. He was pleasantly surprised by the number of Jews in Levittown, he totally didn't expect that many.

[Smash255]

Originally Posted by llama8

Actually, I live in Levittown and I do have to say that Sean is not too far off, based on the number of menorahs I see around my area of Levittown and the people that I have met. I would put it around 15% -20% Jewish in my section.

So would my husband...and he's Jewish. He was pleasantly surprised by the number of Jews in Levittown, he totally didn't expect that many.

I don't think the number is quite that high. Keep in mind Nassau County itself is somewhere in that range (I think a study was somewhere around 16%). Areas such as Plainview, Syosset, Jericho, Roslyn, Great Neck, etc are quite a bit higher than that and some areas are a bit lower. Levittown likely has more Jews than Garden City, but I don't think its as high as you think. I would say Massapequa is probably 15-20% Jewish and I think Massapequa is quite a bit more Jewish than Leittown.

[sean sean sean sean]

I can go through my high school yearbook and count, there are no published statistics I know of for this type of data. I'll report back in a few minutes.

EDIT: 52/230, which equals 23.5 percent....ever so slightly less than I though - and that's leaving out anyone I wasn't sure of, so it could be higher. This is from 2001, I don't think demographics have changed much (if at all) since then.

[djdairyp]

Religion 76.00% of the people in Levittown (zip 11756), NY are religious, meaning they affiliate with a religion. 52.03% are Catholic; 5.61% are Protestant; 0.12% are LDS; 1.87% are another Christian faith;



15.51% in Levittown (zip 11756), NY are Jewish;



0.02% are an eastern faith; 0.84% affilite with Islam.

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[llama8]

Originally Posted by djdairyp

Religion 76.00% of the people in Levittown (zip 11756), NY are religious, meaning they affiliate with a religion. 52.03% are Catholic; 5.61% are Protestant; 0.12% are LDS; 1.87% are another Christian faith;



15.51% in Levittown (zip 11756), NY are Jewish;



0.02% are an eastern faith; 0.84% affilite with Islam.


Moderator cut: link removed, linking to competitors sites is not allowed

thanks for the stats