saritam, in case you are unfamiliar with the local geography:
What people refer to colloquially as "towns" are actually villages and hamlets, which are within actual towns; and, because villages and hamlets are referred to as "towns", then, many times, the error is compounded when actual towns are referred to as "townships".
Also, many colloquially refer to a "downtown business district" in a hamlet as a "village".
http://www.city-data.com/forum/new-y...-glossary.html and
http://www.city-data.com/forum/long-...-resource.html may be of some help to you in understanding the geography of "Lawn Guyland".
http://www.city-data.com/forum/long-...you-think.html may help you understand the great geographic confusions caused by non-conforming ZIP Code postal zones.
When you do find a house that you like, you can find out in which community (city, village or CDP) that house is actually located, which is oftentimes different from the community named in that house's mailing address, by using the Census Bureau's
online address search function. (CDP or
Census
Designated
Place is the Census Bureau equivalent for a hamlet in Nassau and Suffolk Counties.)
And, very importantly, among other things, the Census Bureau's
online address search function also indicates in which school district an address is located.
For those who may not be familiar with Port Washington:
Port Washington is a hamlet (an unincorporated area) in the northeast part of the Town of North Hempstead, in the northwest part of Nassau County.
Beginning on the north and moving in a clockwise direction, the Hamlet of Port Washington in the Town of North Hempstead is bordered on the north by the Village of Baxter Estates, the Village of Port Washington North and the Village of Sands Point; on the east by Hempstead Harbor; on the south by the Village of Flower Hill; and, on the west by the Village of Plandome Manor and Manhasset Bay.
Port Washington is one of those villages and hamlets on Long Island where the majority of the places with the community name as part of their mailing address are not in the hamlet: places that have a "Port Washington, NY 11050" mailing address that are not in the Hamlet of Port Washington are in the Village of Sands Point, the Village of Port Washington North, the Village of Manorhaven, the Village of Baxter Estates and the Village of Flower Hill.
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