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Relocating to Long Island from the South... interracial couple, mid-30's, combined income $180k a year, and we have kids in elementary and high school. We are having to downsize quite a bit as we're used to a lot of space and its limited here. We found a home with a W Hempstead mailing address, although it is apparently in Lakeview, and the schools are Malverne. I've read lots of your comments on other threads about the area and I am not sure if this is a good area for us.
We are looking for a diverse area, but not a ghetto by any means. We need a large home, want good schools and low crime rate.
Any info you can give me about this area and the direction you think it's going would be helpful... thanks alot!
Yes, we need to be near the city for work. Yes, the post is very real. I'm looking at MLS 2352113 and even put an offer on it but don't know if it's been accepted. I'm a little worried about the area. My husband has seen it and I haven't. He saw it only once and it was getting dark out at the time. Said there wasn't much shopping in the immediate area but it wasn't far away...
You're gonna spend a small fortune fixing up that house as it is a foreclosure. I'd like to know the street name if possible, that way I can give you a little more info about the area. I can tell you one thing though, your commute is gonna be rough at best as you are closest to the West Hempstead branch of the L.I.R.R. Don't think you'll have a problem being an interracial couple though. People will tell you Malverne schools stink but, I have family that went there recently and none of them or their friends had any problems getting into college (and i'm not talking about community college)
Relocating to Long Island from the South... interracial couple, mid-30's, combined income $180k a year, and we have kids in elementary and high school. We are having to downsize quite a bit as we're used to a lot of space and its limited here. We found a home with a W Hempstead mailing address, although it is apparently in Lakeview, and the schools are Malverne. I've read lots of your comments on other threads about the area and I am not sure if this is a good area for us.
We are looking for a diverse area, but not a ghetto by any means. We need a large home, want good schools and low crime rate.
Any info you can give me about this area and the direction you think it's going would be helpful... thanks alot!
Lakeview is far from being a ghetto and the Malverne SD is "decent" at absolute worst. You're probably best off just ignoring everything you've read on here. Any area with a noticeable percentage of minority residents will get blasted on Long Island regardless of what it's really like. Our population is descended from people who grew up constantly running in fear from blacks moving into their neighborhood and bringing all sorts of mysterious "urban blight"....although (and I'm being completely serious) don't let that scare you. I don't think people here are actively racist or hateful, for some there's a little bit under the surface (true for anywhere probably?), but for most it's just something that was built into their psyche from the prior generations that lived through the 60s-80s when New York City briefly turned into a toilet*. Everyone has been conditioned to look at any non-white area and assume it's like living the South Bronx circa 1977. It might as well be in our DNA... but in my experience, people don't discriminate/hate/stereotype/etc. on an individual basis.
*=Most Long Islanders either are, or are the children of, former Queens and Brooklyn residents.
Now, with all of that said - my take on Lakeview is that, at least in the realm of Nassau County, it's a totally mediocre area. IMO there is not one thing at all wrong with it, and at the same time there is nothing exemplary about it either. It is a total plane-jane, run-of-the-mill suburb... and everything about it is the complete definition of "average". Nothing wrong with that at all - trust me, I live in the MOST average of average places - but on that income, I think you could probably do better elsewhere.
The rub is that if you're not willing to live somewhere that is like 90%+ white, it's basically your only option in the area. If that's where you end up, don't feel like you're settling. I feel like I'm being extremely negative, but I think it's a good, solid community. No crime reports available, but I've never heard anything and it seems like a pretty stable area. It's in a great location and it's surrounded almost entirely by some pretty ritzy locales, so it's not at risk of some kind of mysterious "element" you constantly read about seeping in from outside communities.
Now that we've covered all of that - RUN AWAY FROM THAT HOUSE!!! I just looked it up on MLS and it's a total disaster. It looks like it needs EVERYTHING. If that house was in good shape, and wasn't a 1949 Cape "remodeled" in several hundred different phases by some guy's lazy cousin using nothing but duct tape and fucco, it would cost a lot more money. You're not getting a good deal here. I guess I can kind of understand the appeal seeing as you're coming from the south and all the nice neighborhoods down there have newer homes that look a little like that, but this is not what it appears. You are stepping into an entirely different world here. The housing stock is much older (not always a negative) and smaller (probably a negative in your case). If that's the kind of thing you're shopping for, you might have to re-align your expectations somewhat. There's no way you're gonna be able to get a house that is actually "big" unless it's way out in Suffolk County or in one of the absolute worst neighborhoods in Nassau.
What's the reason behind this $280k budget on a $180k income? Not much of a down payment? Lots of kids who need crazy expensive daycare? I'm not trying to pry, and if this really is the ceiling for what you can spend I applaud you for staying within your means... but if you can somehow swing around $350k that will open you up to a much wider range of possibilities.
I'm gonna limit my suggestions for other areas because I'm not really sure what your locational requirements (work, commute, etc.) are yet, but I will throw one out there since it's right in the same neighborhood - South Hempstead. Limited selection because it's an extremely small area, but I think it qualifies for everything you've stated so far. The schools are Rockville Centre SD (some is Uniondale SD - skip that one....no good) which are still around 80% white, but that other 20% is a good mix...and increasing by the year. One of the best communities in Nassau and one of the best school districts on the planet. Lots of wealth in RVC proper, but I find the people generally down to earth. There are more listings there than usual on MLSLI.com right now, check it out....might be perfect timing.
Last edited by sean sean sean sean; 01-27-2011 at 03:25 AM..
Reason: redundantly trying to make a very redundant post sound less redundant
Relocating to Long Island from the South... interracial couple, mid-30's, combined income $180k a year, and we have kids in elementary and high school. We are having to downsize quite a bit as we're used to a lot of space and its limited here. We found a home with a W Hempstead mailing address, although it is apparently in Lakeview, and the schools are Malverne. I've read lots of your comments on other threads about the area and I am not sure if this is a good area for us.
We are looking for a diverse area, but not a ghetto by any means. We need a large home, want good schools and low crime rate.
Any info you can give me about this area and the direction you think it's going would be helpful... thanks alot!
You can also try Valley Stream and Baldwin. Both diverse, low crime communities with decent schools. You would get more house for your money compared to South Hemstead, but you go down a notch when it comes to the school districts. I think you would be happy in either.
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