If school district doesn't matter... (Hempstead, Oyster Bay: house, to buy, school districts)

[56 Fighter]

Where would you buy your house if school district doesn't matter? Meaning, you either don't have kids or plan on sending your kids to private school anyway... what hamlet/ village would you purchase into in Nassau County?

Thanks!

[Mantaray14]

I like Island Park. The taxes are reasonable (compared to say Oceanside, Long Beach or Rockville Centre) because it does not have it's own school district. High School Kids are bussed to Long Beach or West Hempstead schools, niether of which are too bad. There is a nice housing stock there (I think they are called splits) and the prices reasonable as well. There are also nice parks in the area and you are practically in Long Beach, another plus.

[Walter Greenspan]

Originally Posted by Mantaray14

I like Island Park. The taxes are reasonable (compared to say Oceanside, Long Beach or Rockville Centre) because it does not have it's own school district. High School Kids are bussed to Long Beach or West Hempstead schools, niether of which are too bad.

Huh?

There is the Island Park Union Free School District which taxes the real property within its district and operates elementary and middle schools, and then contracts with and pays other school districts to send district residents to high schools in these other districts.

[I_Love_LI_but]

School districts always matter, whether you don't have kids or whether you are planning to send them to private school, because the resale value of your house goes up or down according to how good/poor the school district your house is located in is. Most school districts are "okay" and better than in the rest of the country so on Long Island we really don't have much of a problem, but we still do have some really bad school districts. Therefore, I would not buy a home, even if it's in a beautiful area, that is zoned for one of the worst school districts on Long Island.

[Walter Greenspan]

Originally Posted by 56 Fighter

Where would you buy your house if school district doesn't matter? Meaning, you either don't have kids or plan on sending your kids to private school anyway... what hamlet/ village would you purchase into in Nassau County?

56 Fighter, you might want to consider the eastern-third of the Hamlet of East Massapequa, the part that is in the Amityville Union Free School District, in the extreme southeast of Nassau County.


For those who may not be familiar with East Massapequa:

East Massapequa is a hamlet (an unincorporated area) in the southeast part of the Town of Oyster Bay, in the southeast part of Nassau County, along the Oyster Bay/Babylon town line and the Nassau/Suffolk County line.

Beginning on the north and moving in a clockwise direction, the Hamlet of East Massapequa in the Town of Oyster Bay is bordered on the north by the Hamlet of South Farmingdale; on the east by the Hamlet of North Amityville and the Village of Amityville in the Town of Babylon, Suffolk County (the Oyster Bay/Babylon town line and the Nassau/Suffolk County line); on the south by the Great South Bay; and, on the west by the Village of Massapequa Park.





East Massapequa is one of those many villages and hamlets on Long Island where none of the places in the community have the hamlet name in their mailing address: places in the Hamlet of East Massapequa have a "Massapequa, NY 11758", "Massapequa Park, NY 11762" and "Amityville, NY 11701" 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

[I_Love_LI_but]

How could you recommend Amityville SD? That is one of the worst of the worst and to add insult to injury, the property taxes are still pretty high in East Massapequa considering what they get. The homes are no super cheap bargain there either.

[rocafeller05]

OK, I will play. I would go with either Copiague or Amityville South of Sunrise Highway!

[I_Love_LI_but]

I wouldn't even take one of the lovely victorians in Freeport because of that school district.

[rocafeller05]

He said Amityville b/c the OP said "if school districts dont matter".

Originally Posted by I_Love_LI_but

How could you recommend Amityville SD? That is one of the worst of the worst and to add insult to injury, the property taxes are still pretty high in East Massapequa considering what they get. The homes are no super cheap bargain there either.

[I_Love_LI_but]

Originally Posted by rocafeller05

He said Amityville b/c the OP said "if school districts dont matter".

I understand, but there should be somewhere you draw the line.

I think perhaps the OP is not looking at the whole picture. Even if you don't have kids or plan to send them to private school, the school district your home is in can have a very negative effect on resale value and even on the chance of selling it if the home is in a bad school district. So to a certain point, school district does matter.

Another thing is that the taxes in bad school districts are not significantly less than in a better (at least fair) school district, so you are not getting any discount for being in a bad school district. They eat up your money too. Plus the price of homes is not $200K less than in a better school district either. So where is the incentive to buy in a very bad school district?