Where to move in Huntington area (New York, Huntington Station: crime, houses, school district)

[kew2006]

My husband and I have decided to move farther out. We're looking at Cold Spring Harbor, Lloyd Harbor, possibly Laurel Hollow. We'd be right at the bottom of the market in those areas preferably staying under 1mil, could go up to 1.2. Wouldn't mind at all and would probably prefer getting a fix it upper that we can live in for a year and then massively renovate. Concerned about the area being snobby and us fitting in since we'd be at the bottom. Wondering if we should consider areas of Huntington. We really want a good school district and just a nice community. I've heard Haborfields sd and Half Hollow Hills sd are good, but worried the commute may be too long for husband who does work in the city. (btw- he will be leaving on an early train..5:50-6:15ish) Opinions?

[Walter Greenspan]

kew2006, 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".

NYS Geographic Glossary and Excellent Long Island Geographic Resource may be of some help to you in understanding the geography of "Lawn Guyland".

On LI, You Ain't Where You Think You Are, rev. 1 may help you understand the great geographic confusions caused by non-conforming ZIP Code postal zones.


You can get a fact sheet for any city, village or hamlet on Long Island by going here American FactFinder and input the name of the city, village or hamlet for "city/town" (leave out the ZIP Code) and New York for "State", and then click "GO".

You'll get a lot of demographic, and some economic, statistics for the city, village or hamlet you selected, and if you click on "Reference map" (it's on the right hand side), you'll get a map.


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.

[kew2006]

this is great info, thanks!

[SuffolkGuy]

Those are all nice areas that you mentioned. Stay out of Huntington unless you plan on being right by the water. Huntington has gone downhill severely. Lots of crime and quite frankly, lots of people have moved in that have no business being there. My advice, forget Huntington altogether, and check out CSH/Lloyd Harbor.

[CoolaTroopa]

If you can afford Cold Spring Harbor, I'd say go for it!
With the possible exceptions of Jericho, Syosset, and Great Neck- you would be hard-pressed to find a better school district.
Harborfields, Dix Hills, Melville, and Huntington (not Huntington Station) are all good choices.

[Walter Greenspan]

Originally Posted by CoolaTroopa

Harborfields, Dix Hills, Melville, and Huntington (not Huntington Station) are all good choices.

Harborfields is a school district, not a village or a hamlet.

[Elke Mariotti]

Originally Posted by kew2006

My husband and I have decided to move farther out. We're looking at Cold Spring Harbor, Lloyd Harbor, possibly Laurel Hollow. We'd be right at the bottom of the market in those areas preferably staying under 1mil, could go up to 1.2. Wouldn't mind at all and would probably prefer getting a fix it upper that we can live in for a year and then massively renovate. Concerned about the area being snobby and us fitting in since we'd be at the bottom. Wondering if we should consider areas of Huntington. We really want a good school district and just a nice community. I've heard Haborfields sd and Half Hollow Hills sd are good, but worried the commute may be too long for husband who does work in the city. (btw- he will be leaving on an early train..5:50-6:15ish) Opinions?

This may help a little:

Trains from Huntington are at 5:46 and 6:15, or from CSH 5:51 and 6:20 - easy drive and easy parking at that hour (speaking from experience )

In Nassau, Laurel Hollow currently has three houses in your price range (CSH SD)
In Suffolk, in CSH and Harborfields SDs you have a selection of over 20 houses, almost half in CSH - only counting the ones with easy drive to the LIRR. The ride from houses in Half Hollow Hills SD will definitely take longer and is probably not necessary with the current inventory.

Given the option, CSH is definitely the nicer station to commute from (except when it snows and you have to dig out your car ) and an early train assures parking close to the platform . Lived in CSH for many years and commuted from there as well...
I wouldn't worry so much about "snobby" because of "lower price range" - at the moment you wouldn't be. It's more about how long you've lived there (although that's changing with the turnover of residents). I remember being told by a neighbor that the old timers consider you a "newcomer" for at least the first 10 years; I lived there for 17 yrs, so I finally qualified
Lloyd Harbor has two houses in your price range, but it can take a bit longer to get to the station; they strictly enforce speed limits in the Village! It's beautiful there though...

Hope this is helpful. Glad to answer more questions!

[kew2006]

Thanks! This is really helpful information. I think we'll stick with the CSH sd. It's just hard to resist the waterfront homes in Centerport area in our price range, but with the better schools and easier commute, it seems that CSH makes more sense.

[kew2006]

Oh, one other thing...concern about Laurel Hollow. Wondering if because it is not in Suffolk would I be in no man's land in terms community. Right now we live on the very border of two towns and have never really felt that we were a part of either community. Most of our activities take us to the other town (parish, shopping, etc.) but technically we don't live there. We don't know many people from our town because we chose to send children to parish nursery school and even if we stayed wouldn't do the public school. Wondering if that would still be the case in Laurel Hollow since many of our activities would probably be in Syosset.

[amyla]

We live in Melville-approx 7 minutes from the CSH train station. We are in the HHH school district-the train is 59 minutes to Penn-my husband takes it everyday. I find its a convenient location and the schools are good.