First, I should say, I LOVE these forums!!
I've found a lot of really helpful info just by searching old posts.
So my family is relocating to Long Island, and we're looking to rent a home or apartment on the North Shore for about 2-3yrs. We were looking mostly in Melville, Plainview, and Woodbury, but didn't see any good sized rentals in our price range ($2,000 - 2,700/mth).
Currently looking at two properties that are in pretty good shape and in our rental price range - one is in E. Northport (Northport/E. Northport school district), and the other is in N. Hicksville (Hicksville school district). Which would you choose? If someone lives in the areas and wants specific addresses, PM me and I'll let you know the exact locations for even more specificity!
We want to rent in an area where we'd ultimately buy, so here are our requirements:
-Have two children (5 and 2), so schools are important
-Family friendly neighborhood
-We're both professionals, so we want a nice neighborhood.. doesn't have to be full of ultra-wealthy folks, but I guess middle-class to upper middle class is what I mean (i know, different people define these differently).
- Also, I've heard people refer to both the Plainview/Old Bethpage and Northport/E. Northport as SD4. Are they the same SD 4? Are they both highly regarded? Which is better?
In terms of the properties themselves, we're looking for 3BR, fin bsmt, in good shape - not requiring lots of work. Yard for children to play.
- Are there other areas of the north shore that we should consider? And if you're a realtor with specific locations or properties, even better
- No more than about an 1hr from Penn Station (I work downtown). My husband works in Plainview, so I guess we'd like to stay reasonably close to there so that we're not both working an hr away from home.
I've seen some concerns on other threads about both the Hicksville area (around the train station) and E. Northport (a bar somewhere), but do you think we should rule both towns/HAMLETS
out on the basis of this information? I seemed to see positive thoughts about E. Northport as a whole.
Let me know what are the pros, cons, and what else we should consider! Thanks in advance. Sorry the post is long, but I wanted to put in all the relevant details. If I can/need to elaborate more, do let me know!
And please NO MAPS and info about hamlets and their geography
thx!