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We are thinking about moving to Westbury from Brooklyn.
I understand it might not be the best Long Island has to offer, but it's probably one of the few places we can afford to buy a house.
We are planning on spending around $350K.
So far we have seen some pretty houses, for example compared to Hicksville or Levittown.
We have one little baby under 1 year old, which makes me think that worse comes to worse we still have time to move again before she goes to school.
The problem I have is I can't understand which are the good areas in Westbury. I read that New Cassel is bad but I don't know the exact coordinates, some people say west of post is good, some people say closer to Hicksville is better.
Where are the acceptable areas to live in Westbury? The good ones? The really bad ones?
How about schools? Are they really as bad as some people have told me? Like district 1, Westbury?
If I were moving to Westbury, I would want to be south of Old Country Road any where East of Post Ave, or North of Old Country Rd, West of Post Ave (bordering Carle Place)
elisa19, Westbury has an extremely confusing geography because Westbury is one of those many villages and hamlets on Long Island where most of the places that have the community name as part of their mailing address (4,302 acres) are not in the village (1,511 acres).
Places that have a "Westbury, NY 11590" mailing address that are not in the Village of Westbury are in the Hamlet of Jericho and the Hamlet of Hicksville in the Town of Oyster Bay; the Hamlet of Carle Place and the Hamlet of New Cassel in the Town of North Hempstead; and, the Hamlet of Salisbury, the Hamlet of East Garden City and the Hamlet of East Meadow in the Town of Hempstead.
A map of the Village of Westbury in the Town of North Hempstead, Nassau County:
elisa19, 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.
We are thinking about moving to Westbury from Brooklyn.
I understand it might not be the best Long Island has to offer, but it's probably one of the few places we can afford to buy a house.
We are planning on spending around $350K.
So far we have seen some pretty houses, for example compared to Hicksville or Levittown.
We have one little baby under 1 year old, which makes me think that worse comes to worse we still have time to move again before she goes to school.
The problem I have is I can't understand which are the good areas in Westbury. I read that New Cassel is bad but I don't know the exact coordinates, some people say west of post is good, some people say closer to Hicksville is better.
Where are the acceptable areas to live in Westbury? The good ones? The really bad ones?
How about schools? Are they really as bad as some people have told me? Like district 1, Westbury?
Thank you all for your help.
Elisa
There are more good areas than bad areas in Westbury, and no "really bad" ones. North of the Northern State Parkway and west of Post Ave is generally considered the nicest area. Immediate vicinity of Post and east of that (and into New Cassel) is not so great. It's not a warzone or anything, but there are much better options even a few blocks away. Post Ave itself is actually a pretty nice little retail strip. If you end up moving to the area you'll definitely be spending some time there.
Regardless of all that, I would seriously urge you to look elsewhere if you plan on sending your child to public schools. Is the school system as bad as people say? I dunno, people say some crazy stuff....but it's undoubtedly one of the absolute worst performing districts in Nassau. You said your budget is $350k - for that money you can do a lot better in terms of school district in virtually any other town nearby. That's not some huge criticism of the schools, but if you can do SO much better elsewhere, why pay more for less? If you've really got your heart set on Westbury for some reason, houses on the extreme western side of the village are in the Carle Place SD which is an excellent district. Houses in Salisbury (which has a Westbury ZIP code so you will still feel like you're living there) are in East Meadow SD which is also an s-load better, but I actually think Carle Place is preferable.
For $350k you can now get a home in virtually any south shore community and there are lots of good ones. Essentially everything in the middle of the island too, except for places like Garden City and East Williston. I'd personally look elsewhere or stick to one of the few parts of Westbury (and vicinity) I mentioned.
You do pay what you get for. While the homes in Westbury school district are probably nicer for 350k than Hicksville or Levittown, the reason for the low price is the less desirable school district. There are homes in the Jericho school district and Carle place school district that have Westbury zip-code, but these are going to be substantially more than 400k. For example, a smaller ranch with just 1100 Sq Ft with Westbury zipcode and Jericho schools will sell in the mid to higher 400's, but a large split with 1800 sq ft and westbury schools in a nice quite area of Westbury will sell in the low 400's.
We are thinking about moving to Westbury from Brooklyn.
I understand it might not be the best Long Island has to offer, but it's probably one of the few places we can afford to buy a house.
We are planning on spending around $350K.
So far we have seen some pretty houses, for example compared to Hicksville or Levittown.
We have one little baby under 1 year old, which makes me think that worse comes to worse we still have time to move again before she goes to school.
The problem I have is I can't understand which are the good areas in Westbury. I read that New Cassel is bad but I don't know the exact coordinates, some people say west of post is good, some people say closer to Hicksville is better.
Where are the acceptable areas to live in Westbury? The good ones? The really bad ones?
How about schools? Are they really as bad as some people have told me? Like district 1, Westbury?
Thank you all for your help.
Elisa
We bought our home with a 5-year plan in mind --- that was 16 years ago. Do not buy thinking that you will sell in 4 or 5 years, which is your timeframe if you do not want your daughter going to a certain school district.
Frankly, if you are questioning the area AT ALL, do not settle there. $350,000 can find you a home in any number of neighborhoods nearby.
Thank you so much for your info. And thank you Walter for all that data. It really helps.
The problem is easy: we come from Brooklyn and the Bronx and have no idea about the single little towns in Long Island.
We started with Levittown because my husband has a friend that lived there. But I got tired of the Levi's real fast. They all looked the same and I always wanted to have a basement.
So the real estate guy suggested the next town over, better for travel back to NYC, Hicksville.
Hicksville felt a bit gray. I've been told it's industrial, and I guess it's not my idea of a pretty house in LI. Where is the green?!?
Then people said oh no, Hicksville school s*ck.
So we kept looking around there and once again the RE guy suggested Westbury.
For the first time, and for our money, we saw pretty houses, which made me think exactly what you people have said here, we are buying more with our money because the neighborhood must be bad.
So back to my husband and I, we have no idea about any other town in LI. The RE guy has pretty much told me that he could never stir me one way or the other or ever say that one town is better or worse, so we are looking around blindly.
This forum is the best card I have to play.
I've been here before and the info is great because nobody here has to sell a property and make it look good no matter what.
So if you folks don't mind, I would like to pick your brains some more, and maybe find the right town for our little family with a decent school where my baby girl will study one day.
So if we forget about Westbury, which by the way we had no strings attached to anyway, where could we find a decent home for around the $350K? If at all possible, the LIRR should be close as we both work in the city.
You could always send your kid to private school, thats what most ppl in Westbury do. Of course it costs $$. Though I've heard rumors the village has helped a few folks cover the cost of private school.
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