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From the maker of such previous threads as "Greenlawn/Elwood" and "The Bellmores" comes my latest effort in the interest of fact-gathering as we continue to explore different areas of LI (when you plan your move back to LI for as long as we have...not really experiencing delays or setbacks but just knowing that we were eventually getting there without any true rush, I guess you can tend to overdo it a bit and start considering everywhere and anywhere).
To rehash all the background stuff, we're a young family with a 3 year old son (and more to come once we settle hopefully) originally from LI but now living in Boston where we've been since we came up for college...I work in financial services and will transfer to my company's midtown office, my wife being a speech therapist and is yet unsure where exactly she'll be (but flexible). We're trying to find a location that balances commuting to NYC (for me) but is fairly convenient to our families (FIL in Massapequa, my family in Smithtown, her mom's family in 3 Village), schools are obviously important, and we would love (but not require) to have a little "village" (colloquially, not actually incorporated necessarily). I know giving budgets helps folks understand where you're coming from, but we're not sure whether we're going to look to rent or buy (moving towards renting initially), or even stay with family initially while we look to do either, so I can't say we're even much concerned with hard numbers at this point...but I would say we're looking for a town with a decent housing stock in the mid-high 300's up thru the low 400's, or in rentals, 2-3 bedroom homes in the 2k-ish range. Standard "middle class neighborhood"/"starter homes available" type stuff.
This isn't to say we've been unhappy with other places we've "researched", just trying to get a feel for anywhere I can and get a feel for different area... big school districts vs. small, different shores, counties, etc. Farmingdale is a bit confusing to me, and seems a bit "weird" (not meant in a bad way): Opinions seem to vary greatly (especially on this board...threads go back years and even same posters seem to change their minds from thread to thread), and while everything I see online of the "village"/downtown area, it doesn't seem to get the same attention that other similar places do (Babylon, for example). I regularly hear about how the sports and music are one of, if not THE, best on LI...yet the schools themselves seem to get panned (and don't have very good test scores)...it would seem, to me, that thriving extracurriculars would point to a school that has a lot of spirit and engaged kids/parents, which should typically lead to a better school reputation than Farmingdale seems to have. It also seems to have a pretty good central location, convenient to most, and prices seem to be pretty much in line with "solid middle class town"...yet I rarely see/hear it mentioned much.
So...is there something I'm missing? Whats the big black eye here? Why are the schools struggling? And if it is better than it seems it rep is (my gut feeling), why does it not get the attention? If we were to take a trip there one day when we're visiting LI, what would be some spots to see to get a "feel" for the area? And since it is a big area...what are the more desirable areas? Better elementary schools? I'm assuming, as always, you don't wanna be next to the tracks, and the area bordering the "least desirable" border town (N. Amityville I presume?) would be the less desirable areas.
A map of the Farmingdale Union Free School District
The Farmingdale Union Free School District serves an area in both the Town of Oyster Bay in Nassau County and the Town of Babylon in Suffolk County.
Beginning on the north and moving in a clockwise direction, the Farmingdale Union Free School District includes all or part of the Hamlet of Old Bethpage, the Hamlet of East Farmingdale, the Hamlet of North Amityville, the Hamlet of East Massapequa, the Village of Massapequa Park, the Hamlet of North Massapequa, the Hamlet of Plainedge, the Hamlet of Bethpage, the Village of Farmingdale and the Hamlet of South Farmingdale.
A map of the Farmingdale Union Free School District:
The New York Times this past weekend had a spread on Farmingdale in its Real Estate Section. Lots of good information. You might want to take a look at it to get a viewpoint that's different from anonymous chatroom threads.
The New York Times this past weekend had a spread on Farmingdale in its Real Estate Section. Lots of good information.
Yes, except for "An oasis of a kind, it sits surrounded by the greater unincorporated Farmingdale area, ZIP code 11735, which straddles the Nassau-Suffolk line ... " (there is no unincorporated Farmingdale*), http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/30/re.../30living.html is fairly accurate.
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* Places that have a "Farmingdale, NY 11735" mailing address that are not in the Village of Farmingdale are in the Hamlet of South Farmingdale and the Hamlet of Plainedge, as well as in the Hamlet of Old Bethpage in the Town of Oyster Bay, Nassau County and in the Hamlet of East Farmingdale and the Hamlet of Wyandanch in the Town of Babylon, Suffolk County.
I'm not familiar with 100% of farmingdale. I've been told there is a bad area and a good area and parts in between. I've heard towards the south is not as nice.
Couple of things,
by Bethpage state park is very nice. as long as you're not on a main road, it has a great feel in the areas that boarder the park.
The village is nice enough, and it is a "downtown" but it isn't all that large or have that much stuff, which is probably why it doesn't come up more. you should visit and judge for yourself.
train to the city is not as frequent as the babylon line or hicksville line, I'm sure you could look that up if its important to you.
I'm not familiar with 100% of farmingdale. I've been told there is a bad area and a good area and parts in between. I've heard towards the south is not as nice.
Couple of things,
by Bethpage state park is very nice. as long as you're not on a main road, it has a great feel in the areas that boarder the park.
The village is nice enough, and it is a "downtown" but it isn't all that large or have that much stuff, which is probably why it doesn't come up more. you should visit and judge for yourself.
train to the city is not as frequent as the babylon line or hicksville line, I'm sure you could look that up if its important to you.
I know nothing really about the schools
This is kind of stuff that confuses me a bit about the town.
Toward Bethpage State park, I've read also elsewhere, is a really nice area, yet the elementary school near there doesn't seem to score as well as others in the district.
And in the "median income" report that came out last week, "Farmingdale" proper (however they defined that...I assumed that meant the incorporated village but I don't know) had lower numbers (by a significant margin) than either South Farmingdale or East Farmingdale (and I've always read East would be the "lesser" area). Not to mention, I figured SOUTH Farmingdale was the better area, along the western side, considering its proximity to very good areas/schools in Plainedge and Massapequa.
So stuff like this is good...I want to hear things, even if its just scuttlebutt, that would go against what would be my pre-conceived notions.
And I'm going to read that NYT piece, and yes, I would plan on visiting the downtown at some point to see it for myself (which is why I asked about good places to visit to get a feel for it one of the next times we find ourselves on the Island).
Used to work in Fdale - my impression is same as above, the part by the park has the nicest feel....anywhere else is just generic suburbia, high ranch after high ranch, nothing wrong with it, just boring from a development standpoint.
Don't know anything about the schools but my friend has lived i Fdale for 20 years, her kids are grown up now and in college, both in good schools, she was heavily involved in their education, always key.
Downtown is cute, not a hotspot along the lines of Huntington.
IMHO Fdale is impossible to get to from many places, my commute from Garden City was a headache, there is nothing nearby to lend any diversion to what is actually in the 'dale. Again, simply my opinion.
yeah, basically don't have too much of an opinion on schools or can clarify on your questions. maybe ask a RE agent?
Oh yeah, no, we'll definitely do our diligence if we ever get serious about looking there.
Like I said in the original post, we're pretty much on this perpetual fact-gathering mission right now and I'm just trying to get a community opinion together, especially since it seems to vary thread to thread when I do a search (and a lot of that covers a long stretch of time...so it'll be good to see in which direction folk's opinions are heading).
I mean, an agent or a fact sheet can give me the figures and all that, but want to supplement those things with actual experiences and opinions folks have, good or bad. I already see the figures for the schools aren't great, and I'm struggling to understand why.
I lived in Farmindale for 6 years so here is my input. The area closest to Bethpage State Park is probably the nicest area in F'Dale. It's called Lenox Hill but it is probably out of your price range. I would stay away from anything too close to Main Street and especially east of Main St. There seems to be an influx of illegal immigrants that live just east of Main. South Farmingdale is by no means a bad area but you just have to know where to stay away from. I had a friend who lived on Crestwood Blvd. and I think the area surrounding her was just like any other middle class LI community.
I will say there is an area that I think you should really consider looking into. It's a small community that is technically in North Massapequa but zoned for F'dale schools and this make the taxes lower and prices cheaper. It's called Viceroy Estates. My in-laws live there and i think the area is very nice and full of young familys moving in. Some of the houses there might be a little high for you but I think you could find a few that would be right in your range. Some of the street names in the community are John, Henry, Roy, Sunrise...so if you google it you will see the area I am talking about.
As far as the schools go.....yes, F'dale schools are not the most desireable on LI but I don't think by any means they are not good schools. You always have to take into consideration what you, as a parent, will do to influence your child's education. Unfortunately, the only thing the public has to go on when looking at a district is standardized test results....which sadly don't give a full picture of a district. A family I knew while living in Farmingdale had two sons....one went onto Fordham and the other onto Yale. They were a very solid, involved family and I think that made all the difference.
As far as the Main Street goes...it is cute and has a few good restaurants but I wouldn't say it's is a really "happening" downtown area. The village throws a Columbus Day Festival which was always nice...they close Main Street down, have a carnival, with food & craft booths.
Allen Park is nice if you have kids. There are two baseball fields, a football/soccer field and 3 playgrounds. I have a young kid so i spent a lot of time at this park when the weather was nice. I will also say that I loved Farmingdale's library. It is only a few years old and they have great programs for kids.
I found the location of Farmingdale to be a pretty good location in terms of parkway access. I lived not far from the Lenox Hill area and it was very conveinent to get to 135 and from there you can get the LIE or the Northern State. You can also get the Bethpage State parkway which will take you to the Southern State. I really felt that F'dale was a good central location on the island.
I hope my input was useful to you!! Good luck!!
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A map of the Farmingdale Union Free School District
