South Merrick? any thoughts... (Hempstead, Freeport: real estate, mortgage, houses)

[giobob]

Been looking for homes all over nassau county...I live in Gibson section of Valley Stream so familiar with the island...We are a young professional couple with small kids...South Merrick is one of the neighborhoods we have narrowed search to (others are Garden City & Syosset-Woodbury)...Our price range is 700 to 900k & we have looked st some nice homes in s. merick (south of merrick rd.).. It seems like we get the best house for our buck in S. Merrick (as compared to Garden City/Syosset)...
Is there anyone in the forum who could give me some inside info on this area....Should we be concerned about the proximity to Freeport/Roosevelt? Are the demograpics changing (like they are here in valley Stream)..? What about School District?
We are trying to find an area that will still be nice in 20 years!

[thepokerdepot]

Originally Posted by giobob

Been looking for homes all over nassau county...I live in Gibson section of Valley Stream so familiar with the island...We are a young professional couple with small kids...South Merrick is one of the neighborhoods we have narrowed search to (others are Garden City & Syosset-Woodbury)...Our price range is 700 to 900k & we have looked st some nice homes in s. merick (south of merrick rd.).. It seems like we get the best house for our buck in S. Merrick (as compared to Garden City/Syosset)...
Is there anyone in the forum who could give me some inside info on this area....Should we be concerned about the proximity to Freeport/Roosevelt? Are the demograpics changing (like they are here in valley Stream)..? What about School District?
We are trying to find an area that will still be nice in 20 years!

Nice areas in S. Merrick with well maintained homes. Taxes are between 14k and 25k and doesn't look like a school budget will ever fail. Some blocks are very social and others not for children. I don't live there but also have been looking even though it might be better to wait til end of year til prices adjust.

Just to add to your list if you haven't made your mind up.
Massapequa(nassua shores/Biltmore)
Glen Head
Sea Cliff (taxes are reasonable)

All of the areas you listed and the ones I gave you are mostly IMO are well balanced areas with one neighbor could be a Doctor and the other a Plumber,..with the exeption of S. Merrick.

S. Merrick is mostly business persons.

So, I think if you look at 20 years from now,...all these areas will be stable. If you could get a great deal in S. Merrick,..you may be able to get more bang for your buck in resale value.

I'm sure you will get other posters that can hopefully give you better insight.

[alexanderdennis]

Merrick -it is safe , nice , good area -period.
The proximity to the Freeport or other areas -does not change that.
Merrick was like this since allways and will be the same 50 yrs from now .
I live in Merrick for 5 yrs now - and I am very happy.
What i found intersting about Merrick - it is the location - close to everything - easy comute to Manhattan( train or car) - about 40 min, close to the malls , plenty of supermarkets , beauty parlors, restaurants,- and still does not have the commercial look.
Plenty of parks and recreational places for kids, close to the pools, beaches( Jones, Atlantic, Lido) , close to HWYS .
As far as the Merrick South - it is nice - but a litle to snoby for my taste.
You can try also the sections called - Gables and Lindmere- bet. Merrick Rd and Sunrise .
I live in Lindmere now for 5 yrs - very happy , but Gables - it is like a dif. world- nice stucco mediteranean style colonials - and very conviniently located to everything.
And at your price range - you can get something realy good.
I pass every morning on my way to the train station - by a new construction - really nice - with huge kitchen, master bedroom suite - the walk in closet - huge ( larger than my size of my bedroom -LOL) . You should see that house . I went to an open house there and I think it is in the seven's. I do not recall - I am not intersted in buying - just curious.
If you want me I can get the phone # for the listing agent from the sign.
PM - if you like .
As far as the prices getting lower than this - I am not sure .
I did not see a very steep decline in prices.
The same old -need work small cape that you could buy in 2004-2005 for 400's ......you could buy now .
Maybe a 10-15 grand -lower -.
But again when the prices goes down the interest moves up so...the mortgage amount would be about the same. Any point in mortgage rate means - 10 % in price - up or down.
Let me know if I can be of any help.
If I would have money now - I would grab that house.
And by the way I am not a real estate agent - I just want to help.
Alex.

[sean sean sean sean]

Be concerned about proximity to Freeport. Local vagrants, hysteric in a zombified crack frenzy, have been known to swim across Freeport Creek, dodge SUVs on Meadowbrook Parkway, scale the landfilled terrain at the Norman Levy Preserve, sneak through the 9 hole at the Merrick Road Golf Course and leap across the inlet off Merrick Bay to pillage Plasma Screen TVs, Mercedes-Benz hood ornaments, rubies, Planet of the Apes VHS box sets, diamond encrusted mezzuzahs and Sega Genesis game systems (especially those with the Golden Axe cartridge in the unit).

[WJFM]

I did not know anything about Merrick, so I read about it in Wikipedia. It says that the highly rated high school in Merrick is a "magnet" school.. that draws only the best kids in the school system. ( The calhoun school is ranked in the top 1000 So, all kids are not guaranteed admission to this magnet school.. its done by selection later on. I would exercise some caution with this kind of system.

School districts like Jericho and Syosset do not have such selection systems. All kids go on to the same high school ( and they still have higher test scores than most magnet schools).

[Johninwestbury]

Levy Preserve is great though, a major plus to being in Merrick. Great view and you dont have to pay admission! On a clear day I can see the Fire Island lighthouse from there.

[giobob]

Thanks for the insight...may have to give the Gables area a look!

[Chrisk327]

I also prefer Merrick woods or Lindmire south merrick. generally, if you look south merrick/bellmore etc. is either your cup of tea or not. the style houses, high ranches, splanches and splits then the stuccoed section, are either wow this is nice, or this isn't my thing. Not that there aren't others mixed in, but those are the most prevelent.

You are buying in the top part of Merrick as far as price so you should have great selection. you might also want to check out Wantagh in the Woods section if you're spending that kind of money.

[sean sean sean sean]

Originally Posted by WJFM

I did not know anything about Merrick, so I read about it in Wikipedia. It says that the highly rated high school in Merrick is a "magnet" school.. that draws only the best kids in the school system. ( The calhoun school is ranked in the top 1000 So, all kids are not guaranteed admission to this magnet school.. its done by selection later on. I would exercise some caution with this kind of system.

School districts like Jericho and Syosset do not have such selection systems. All kids go on to the same high school ( and they still have higher test scores than most magnet schools).

Huh? That's not true at all. Northern Merrick & North Merrick kids go to Calhoun, south of Merrick Road kids go to Kennedy along with Bellmore students. It's entirely based on geography.

[Walter Greenspan]

Merrick is one of those geographically confusing places as about one of out of every three places that have a "Merrick, NY 11566" mailing address (3,860 acres) are not in the Hamlet of Merrick (2,647 acres).


For those who may not be familiar with Merrick:

Merrick is a hamlet (an unincorporated area) in the center-south part of the Town of Hempstead, in the central-south part of Nassau County.

Beginning on the north and moving in a clockwise direction, the Hamlet of Merrick in the Town of Hempstead is bordered on the north by the Hamlet of North Merrick and the Hamlet of North Bellmore; on the east by the Hamlet of Bellmore; on the south by the East Bay and Merrick Bay; and, on the west by the Village of Freeport.





Merrick is one of those many villages and hamlets on Long Island where many of the places that have the community name in their mailing address are not in the hamlet: places that have a "Merrick, NY 11566" that are not in the Hamlet of Merrick are in the Hamlet of North Merrick and the Hamlet of North Bellmore; and, at the same time, there are places in the Hamlet of Merrick that have a "Freeport, NY 11520" mailing address.


For a good set of town-by-town maps showing all the villages and hamlets in each of LI's 13 towns (3 in Nassau County and 10 in Suffolk County): http://www.city-data.com/forum/long-...-resource.html