Manhasset vs East Williston (Hempstead, Union: house, neighborhoods, school district)
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Hi, how would you compare these two towns. We have school-aged kids and work in the city, so commute and schools are both important to us. Also, not too snobby/elitist of an environment is a definite plus. Looking for homes in the 800K range. Which area do you think would be a better fit for us?
First off, as a hamlet, Manhasset is governed on an at-large basis by the Town of North Hempstead while as a village, East Williston is a self-governing municipality. Other things being equal, prefer a village to a hamlet.
Second, the Hamlet of Manhasset is in the Manhasset Union Free School Dsitrict while the Village of East Williston is in the better regarded East Willistion Union Free School District.
A map of the Hamlet of Manhasset in the Town of North Hempstead, Nassau County:
Manhasset is one of those villages and hamlets on Long Island where the majority of places with the community name in their mailing address are not in the community: places that have a "Manhasset, NY 11030" mailing address that are not in the Hamlet of Manhasset are in the Village of Plandome Manor, the Village of Plandome, the Village of Plandome Heights, the Village of Munsey Park, the Village of Flower Hill, the Village of North Hills and the Village of Thomaston.
A map of the Village of East Williston in the Town of North Hempstead, Nassau County:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/8d/East-williston-ny-map.gif (broken link)
East Williston is one of those many villages and hamlets on Long Island where none of the places in the community have the community name in their mailing address: places in the Village of East Williston have a "Williston Park, NY 11596" mailing address.
Both are lovely areas with beautiful homes. If forced to choose I would go with Manhasset simply because I prefer an area with a "downtown" and also because Manhasset is pretty much surrounded by nice areas.
DH and I looked in East Williston and quickly decided it was a no-go because of the lack of "downtown" (if I say "village" Walter will get me). I can't imagine paying that much for a house and having Hillside Avenue as my shopping destination. I don't think your money goes as far in Manhasset though - last year Manhasset was a holdout for being incredibly overpriced. We were selling our house in Garden CIty and got a few people from Manhasset who were priced out of that market. Not sure of the current status though.
Can't beat the commute from Manhasset into Manhattan. Rock solid upper middle class enclave. $800k in Manhasset is generally considered one of the cheaper homes on the market. Most likely a fixer upper or a smaller home. Snobby? Maybe, but not compared to the upper east or west side of Manhattan. Redfin.com is showing 20 out of 153 homes listed for $800k or less in the 11030 zipcode which includes Manhasset, Munsey Park, parts of Flower Hill, the Plandomes, etc...
Stay away from east Williston if you want to stay away from snobby/elitist attitudes. 7 year olds all have the newest and best iPhone, uggs, etc and if your kids don't have it too they will be looked down upon.
Having been through similar decisions this year - coming from the city, looking for an easy commute town with good schools - at the outset of our search, we considered Manhasset, Port W, GC and East Williston.
After 1 drive around, we discounted East Williston for the reasons stated above -- lack of a downtown. Though the homes look very nice.
We then later discounted Port W. Just too much of a mish-mash of a town, way up on that peninsula, good and not so great neighborhoods, kind of a wierd mixed housing stock.
So, it came down to Manhasset versus GC. As a long thread from a few years ago on this forum attests, each of these towns has its pros and cons (which I will not repeat here). We then discounted Manhasset - mainly due to price. If you're spending under a million bucks in Manhasset, you're really not getting much at all. If you're spending $800, you're getting even less. I would say that in that price range you'll have to deal with a good number of the following: no EIK, no den/family room, no powder room, no master bath, unrenovated, 3 brs max. If you spend in the $900s- 1 million, you will be able to avoid some - but not all - of these items.
You get much more house for the $$$ in GC where it looks like we will be heading to. For your price point, you should be able to find plenty there as the previous poster noted.
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