Syosset/Woodbury vs. Oceanside (Huntington, Malverne: crime, affordable houses, neighborhoods)

[CoolaTroopa]

So, my fiance and I decided to change the time we move into a house to "when we get married" to "when we find a house we like".

We aren't sure if we want to send our future children to Long Island School for the Gifted or not yet.. it depends on if they get in and how our financial situation is. Syosset is significantly closer than Oceanside.
Living a mile away as a kid definitely had more advantages than disadvantages..

Here are some pros and cons I can think of.
Syosset/Woodbury
Pros: Top 5 school district, Close to my parents, Close to LISG, Atmosphere seems more conducive to ambition, Surrounding areas seem to be very safe, Shorter commute to the city
Cons: Close to my parents, Slightly more expensive houses

Oceanside
Pros: Awesome school district, Far from my parents, Atmosphere seems more laidback, Slightly cheaper houses, Near the water
Cons: Prone to flooding, Far away from LISG, Far from my parents, Surrounding areas don't seem very safe, Longer commute to the city

The set of houses we are looking at are all around the same price.
$400K to $600K.. if we want to lower the range to $400K to $500K.. we would probably just move to Oceanside since the houses less than $500K in Syosset on the market aren't really to our liking...

EDIT: Just Google mapped both places to where I work and it's actually quicker to get there from Syosset than Oceanside.
Oceanside is less distance but Syosset is less traffic.

[twingles]

I wouldn't even put them in the same category. Syosset. It's news to me that Oceanside has "awesome schools"...but I've been in my house 12 years and don't pay that much attention anymore.

I grew up in Huntington and we looked a little in RVC and Malverne but it was too darn far from Huntington...we live in GC and that is far enough.

[CoolaTroopa]

I grew up in Huntington as well.
I have heard mixed comments on Oceanside's school district.
I've heard all good things about Syosset.
I was ready to move to the South Shore but my fiance found some affordable houses in Syosset and she strongly believes it's a better area to live in than any of the places I've found on the South Shore or elsewhere.

[llama8]

Syosset is definately better than Oceanside. Oceanside has a nice, average school district, but it is no comparison to syosset's school district. Also, you can't really compare the town's either; Syosset is much nicer.

[CoolaTroopa]

Something about Syosset feels right to us. We decided to narrow our search to this school district specifically- along with Huntington and Harborfields- my fiance really wants to stay around the area where we are now.
Syosset is probably where we'll be moving in a few months- assuming house prices don't go ridiculously up.
Unfortunately, CSH is way beyond what we can afford right now..

[hotkarl]

Syosset has more money. And snobbery.

[Grew up on Long Island]

Having grown up in both school districts I would definitely vote for Syosset. When I was a kid Syosset was the number one district on the Island. Oceanside has more crime than it used to and the schools aren't as good as they once were.

[hotkarl]

Avoid Oceanside. It's still decent compared to many other neighborhoods/school districts, but it is headed down the crapper rapidly. The elementary schools are still good, but the highschool is a different story.
I wouldn't invest any money in Oceanside, I predict within 10 years it'll be a total washout.

[scottzilla]

Syosset and Woodbury are nice places. Typical snooty Nassau attitude.
If it were my money, I would live there instead of Oceanside.

[CoolaTroopa]

That's a shame about Oceanside.
It was a nice area in the 80's apparently.
My family moved from Oceanside to the North Shore all the way back in '84 though.