Forest Hills v. Great Neck v. Short Hills (New York, York: real estate, for rent)

[meditational]

Hi everyone,

Recently we had moved to New York with a 4 year old child.

My husband and I are immigrants and our total annual compensations are 350k(before tax), and we have some savings. Hope to find a place safe, affordable, and having a great public school system to settle down.

My questions are as follows:

1.Which is better choice, Forest Hills, Great Neck or Short Hills in New Jersey?

2. Rent or buy?

Appreciate any thoughts to reply. Thanks.

[ckhthankgod]

What about employment? Budget?

[meditational]

Originally Posted by ckhthankgod

What about employment? Budget?

My husband works in Manhattan, and I can work from home for most of the time.

For buying, our budget are less than or around 1.3m. Hope that the property tax could be affordable.

For renting, no clear budget, just sustainable for 35k (tax before )total compensation.

Thanks.

[Ringmaster389]

You should post this in both the New York City and Long Island sub forums to get more responses and opinions for forest hills and great neck neighborhoods. Both are good neighborhoods, but great neck may have better parking options and schools. Forest hills has better nightlife, but more parking and traffic congestion. Both have lirr train stations to get into the city, forest hills also has the subway and bus lines. I think that it depends how much of an urban / suburban feel you want. Not sure about the New Jersey neighborhood.

[ironlex]

You'll need a car in Short Hills or Great Neck. You can live without a car in Forest Hills. You will have to pay a NYC tax of ~4% in Forest Hills. Property taxes in NJ and LI are higher than in FH, if you decide to buy, but FH real estate is more expensive per sq. foot and the inventory is limited. Schools in Short Hills and Great Neck are better than those in Forest Hills.