Westchester or Long Island? (White Plains, East Meadow: 2009, houses, buying)

[adotnyc]

'been reading posts here for two straight weeks now. We're learning more about the communities we're looking into to buy a house, thanks to you all. We also do our due diligence, driving to and exploring the different areas. To those who checked out both Westchester and Nassau, where did you end up buying and what was/were the deciding factors? Like other members, we are looking for a good school district.

P.S. In Westchester, we're looking at Yorktown Hts, Croton-on-Hudson, Valhalla, White Plains. In Long Island, it's New Hyde Park, Westbury (but with East Meadow school district), East Meadow, Carle Place.

[newtoli]

I'm currently living on LI but lived in Westchester until I was in my mid-20's.

I prefer Westchester. It's less congested.

[tommya]

In my very biased opinion:

Westchester = small towns with some character that are close to one another, peripherial roads that you can actually use to get from place to place, and varying topography and architecture which is pleasing to the eye.

Long Island = strip malls, 3 main roads that are always congested, and the beach.

If you're huge beach people, then there are definately some tradeoffs for you to consider. If you only see yourselves heading out to the beach 2 or 3 times a summer, then I think Westchester is definately the better choice.

[newtoli]

Originally Posted by tommya

In my very biased opinion:

Westchester = small towns with some character that are close to one another, peripherial roads that you can actually use to get from place to place, and varying topography and architecture which is pleasing to the eye.

Long Island = strip malls, 3 main roads that are always congested, and the beach.

If you're huge beach people, then there are definately some tradeoffs for you to consider. If you only see yourselves heading out to the beach 2 or 3 times a summer, then I think Westchester is definately the better choice.

I agree. The strip mall thing is something I really dislike about LI and it was very jarring to the eye coming from Westchester.

[adotnyc]

Thanks for the replies. We're seeing more houses in Long Island, as there are more open houses there. We are finding that in Westchester, we need to work with a realtor to see the houses we're interested in (the ones we find in listingbook). We've been to Yorktown Heights mostly, and we've yet to check the Croton-on-Hudson area, and some parts of White Plains, Larchmont, Mamaroneck...

[Thruway]

Why is it that LI is more tacky than Westchester?

[7 Wishes]

Originally Posted by tberg224

Why is it that LI is more tacky than Westchester?

I think it's because LI has a lot more in the way of strip malls, sprawl, and chain stores than Westchester does. For some reason a lot of chains (Chili's and Olive Garden comes to mind) are not in Westchester, and for a lot of others, we are the last part of the NY area to get the chain (except for Manhattan), Wal-Mart, Home Depot, and PETsMART come to my mind here, they usually go to NJ and LI first, then Rockland, then Fairfield, then here. Chick-Fil-A and Sonic have put their first NY area locations in.....you guessed it....New Jersey, and I bet Long Island is next.

Both are equally expensive though. And I don't think LI is any more "pretentuous" than Westchester either, in some ways it may even be the other way around.

[NYorker4now]

I feel trapped in Long Island. You can't leave unless you cut through the congested NYC roads.

Here is a funny video about LI.

Video: Long Island Wants to Secede | The Daily Show | Comedy Central

[Thruway]

Originally Posted by 7 Wishes

I think it's because LI has a lot more in the way of strip malls, sprawl, and chain stores than Westchester does. For some reason a lot of chains (Chili's and Olive Garden comes to mind) are not in Westchester, and for a lot of others, we are the last part of the NY area to get the chain (except for Manhattan), Wal-Mart, Home Depot, and PETsMART come to my mind here, they usually go to NJ and LI first, then Rockland, then Fairfield, then here. Chick-Fil-A and Sonic have put their first NY area locations in.....you guessed it....New Jersey, and I bet Long Island is next.

Both are equally expensive though. And I don't think LI is any more "pretentuous" than Westchester either, in some ways it may even be the other way around.

Why is that the case?
Driving through Westchester...it really looks more "refined" than Jersey and LI...is it the zoning...is it more exclusive?

[7 Wishes]

Originally Posted by tberg224

Why is that the case?
Driving through Westchester...it really looks more "refined" than Jersey and LI...is it the zoning...is it more exclusive?

Partially that NJ and LI simply have more people. Part of it is zoning laws, there's a lot more NIMBYism in Westchester and NIMBY type rulings seem to succeed more in Westchester than NJ or LI.

I think Westchester and LI are more exclusive than NJ (but only because NJ is larger and I'm averaging it all out), but I don't think either is more exclusive than the other.