Considering a move to Great Neck / Kings Point (Hempstead, Scarsdale: real estate, mortgage)

[nyrocket]

Hi I grew up in Brooklyn NY, and work in midtown manhattan, after recently getting married and having a son I am toying with the idea of moving our family to the Great Neck / Kings point area. Main choice for that is that it is a very close commute to work in midtown, and not too far from my family and parents in Brooklyn. We are not on any specific budget and are wandering if there are other nice towns other than Great Neck area to look at? Im a little nervous about the move because it may be a bit too quite for us but I do want a property with a big yard an acre or more so thats an important thing for us. and a good school for the kids. How does Great neck/ kings point compare to Scarsdale or some other premium suburbs?

also within Great Neck are there better or worse parts to look? same for Kings point are there preffered areas to be within the towns?

Thanks for the replies.

[Walter Greenspan]

nyrocket, (1) both Kings Point and Great Neck are self-governing villages in the Town of North Hempstead; and (2) the majority of places that have a "Great Neck, NY 11020 through 11024" mailing address (6,022 acres) are NOT in the Village of Great Neck (866 acres).

Places that have a "Great Neck, NY 11020 through 11024" mailing address that are not in the Village of Great Neck are in the Village of Great Neck Estates, the Hamlet of Great Neck Gardens, the Village of Great Neck Plaza, the Hamlet of Harbor Hills, the Village of Kensington, the Village of Kings Point, the Village of Lake Success, the Village of Russell Gardens, the Village of Saddle Rock, the Hamlet of Saddle Rock Estates, the Village of Thomaston and the Hamlet of University Gardens.

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.

[nyrocket]

thanks for the post but it does not really tell me which is the one to look at more which is nicer or anything? can you be more specific?

[I_Love_LI_but]

What is your budget in terms of house price and yearly taxes? You may or may not be able to afford to live in the very good areas, in which case I would say forget it because the few not so great areas would not be worth it and then you could set your sights on other places.

[WJFM]

If the OP ( I think it means Original Poster..) is choosing between Scarsdale and Great Neck, she can definitely afford many parts of Great Neck. Both Scarsdale and Great Neck are exclusive communities for upper-middle class to rich, but I personally think Scarsdale is nicer. But Great Neck is shorter commute ( only 20 minutes express to Penn station), and as you mentioned, closer to Brooklyn. Scarsdale schools are comparable to great neck schools, and I would rate them equally. Culture wise, Scarsdale is more upper-crust ( there are a lot of people in Scarsdale making over 500k a year), though both of these neighborhoods have plenty of people making over 300k a year. Scarsdale has a wide range of professionals and some intellectuals too. Recently, I have heard a lot of Indian families have been moving in to Scarsdale, while a lot of Asian families ( Chinese, Koreans) are moving to Great Neck South.

To get an idea of the many parts of Great Neck, you can check out the interactive map in Zillow.com. Just search for Great Neck, and it will show you the boundaries of Kings Point, Great Neck Village, Great Neck Plaza, Great Neck Estates, Saddle rock, Kensignton, Thomaston, Lake Success etc.

[I_Love_LI_but]

Originally Posted by WJFM

If the OP ( I think it means Original Poster..) is choosing between Scarsdale and Great Neck, she can definitely afford many parts of Great Neck. Both Scarsdale and Great Neck are exclusive communities for upper-middle class to rich, but I personally think Scarsdale is nicer. But Great Neck is shorter commute ( only 20 minutes express to Penn station), and as you mentioned, closer to Brooklyn. Scarsdale schools are comparable to great neck schools, and I would rate them equally. Culture wise, Scarsdale is more upper-crust ( there are a lot of people in Scarsdale making over 500k a year), though both of these neighborhoods have plenty of people making over 300k a year. Scarsdale has a wide range of professionals and some intellectuals too. Recently, I have heard a lot of Indian families have been moving in to Scarsdale, while a lot of Asian families ( Chinese, Koreans) are moving to Great Neck South.

To get an idea of the many parts of Great Neck, you can check out the interactive map in Zillow.com. Just search for Great Neck, and it will show you the boundaries of Kings Point, Great Neck Village, Great Neck Plaza, Great Neck Estates, Saddle rock, Kensignton, Thomaston, Lake Success etc.

Don't be so sure! Often people state they are desiring to move to someplace that in reality they couldn't afford if it meant the firing squad. Why do you think so many real estate agents insist on seeing at least a recent prequalification letter or they will not take people out to look at homes? There are a lot of people out there that have no idea how much a mortgage for $700K and #23K annual taxes will run them every month and just assume they can afford it until reality bites them in the butt.

As for your discourse on Great Neck, I have heard that there is a ton of middle eastern "persian" types moving in there too and that the current status quo is not too thrilled about the prospect of them "taking over."

[Walter Greenspan]

Originally Posted by I_Love_LI_but

As for your discourse on Great Neck, I have heard that there is a ton of middle eastern "persian" types moving in there too and that the current status quo is not too thrilled about the prospect of them "taking over."

Are you referring to the Torah-observant Persian Jews moving into the northern part of the Village of Great Neck and the southern part of the Village of Kings Point and that this is a bit upsetting to the secular Ashkenazi Jews already living there?

[AlexisT]

There is a substantial Persian Jewish community in Great Neck. The stories get more and more inflated the further you go from the source. They're concentrated in Kings Point and the northern end of Great Neck village. There is some tension, due in part to teardowns and several large new synagogues, but honestly--compared to what I've heard about West LA/Beverly Hills, it's nothing. There is also an Ashkenazi Orthodox community in the area, a little further south, and Great Neck in general has long been a heavily Jewish community.

Great Neck South does have a large and growing Asian population, which should be no surprise given the proximity to large Asian communities in NE Queens.

Any time you hear the term "taking over" from someone on LI, take it with a grain of salt--as a VS resident, you should probably know this!

[AlexisT]

Originally Posted by Walter Greenspan

Are you referring to the Torah-observant Persian Jews moving into the northern part of the Village of Great Neck and the southern part of the Village of Kings Point and that this is a bit upsetting to the secular Ashkenazi Jews already living there?

Well, they're technically Orthodox, but they're not all observant: you can't apply Ashkenazi definitions to Sephardim. (The Persians have been growing more observant in recent years, but it's still not the same.)

[I_Love_LI_but]

Originally Posted by Walter Greenspan

Are you referring to the Torah-observant Persian Jews moving into the northern part of the Village of Great Neck and the southern part of the Village of Kings Point and that this is a bit upsetting to the secular Ashkenazi Jews already living there?

Yes.