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Thanks for the replies... the budget, well, 2000$-3000$ a month for mortgage/taxes/insurance... being 3000$ somewhat painful and 2000$ really awesome, and 2500$ the comfort zone. I mean, in Providence, around 1600$ a month we have mortgage/taxes/insurance for a decent single home in one of the nicest area of the city.
Kind regards,
Hipo
Ok, so if you're going to buy, in order to figure out an approx. monthly cost, we'd also need to know how much of a downpayment you're going to have.
If you can put down at least 20%, you won't have to pay mortgage insurance (PMI for conventional or MIP for FHA loans) and that'll save you $$.
We don't know how good your credit is, so here are some examples for a $400,000 mortgage (principal and interest):
at 3.75%....$1,852
at 4.00%....$1,910
at 4.25%....$1,968
at 4.50%....$2,027
at 4.75%....$2,087
at 5.00%....$2,147
and also for a $360,000 mortgage (principal and interest):
at 3.75%....$1,667
at 4.00%....$1,719
at 4.25%....$1,771
at 4.50%....$1,824
at 4.75%....$1,878
at 5.00%....$1,933
add to that insurance, let's say $125/mo, give or take a little and then the RE taxes; the bulk of RE taxes are school taxes on Long Island, and they vary from school district to school district.
I would not say that west of Garden City to the city line is The Big City at all. You still need a car to get around and single family home dominate. There aren't tons of apartment buildings on Long Island. Most apartments are in someone's 2 family house. It is dense and congested for a suburb, but it's not like NYC.
Thanks for the replies... the budget, well, 2000$-3000$ a month for mortgage/taxes/insurance... being 3000$ somewhat painful and 2000$ really awesome, and 2500$ the comfort zone. I mean, in Providence, around 1600$ a month we have mortgage/taxes/insurance for a decent single home in one of the nicest area of the city.
Kind regards,
Hipo
I would rent a house and don't buy anything now until you know the job works. Check rentals on mlsli.com, and you'll have to pay a month's fee.
Our ideal place (totally idealistic place, I know), would be:
- Good public schools.
- Safe vs boring... ok, safe, but not way too boring.
- The same social diversity of the country. So, we do not want a pure white town neither a pure black neither a pure Asian neither a pure Hispanic.... you get the idea...
- Not for riches, not a ghetto. Middle class/College degree type of people.
- Walkable to restaurants/little shops/churches? With side-walks? Does that exist?
- Single home better than apartment/condo.
- Within 20 miles from Garden City. The closer the better.
Have you looked into Williston Park at all? The western side, I believe, is in the Herricks school district, and Herricks is excellent and one of the best on Long Island. Willis and Hillside Aves. offer shopping and restaurants, etc. Seems fairly diverse and working class where mere mortals can afford to live.
Housing stock seems to be priced around $400K+.
Bear in mind, here too, Williston Park is another of those many villages and hamlets on Long Island where the majority of the places that have the community name in their mailing address (933 acres) are not in the community (390 acres).
Places that have a "Williston Park, NY 11596" mailing address that are not in the Village of Williston Park are in the Village of East Williston, the Hamlet of Roslyn Heights and the Village of Mineola.
Places that have a "Williston Park, NY 11596" mailing address that are not in the Village of Williston Park are in the Village of East Williston, the Hamlet of Roslyn Heights and the Village of Mineola.
Are any of those places to avoid or considerable worse than Williston Park itself? or are they basically the same type of area? Pretty complex the zoning as I see... so, could we end up having an address of Williston Park but really be living in Mineola and our kid belongs to the Mineola schools? (Nothing against that, just to make sure that the zoning works like that).
Some people keep telling us about Huntington but not only is further away but also the school ratings are not that great... what would you think comparing to Mineola or Williston or the places we have been talking so far?
hipogrito, since you are unfamiliar with the area, you might want to get a Hagstrom map of Nassau County and a map of Suffolk County. These Hagstrom maps show the borders of cities., towns, villages, school districts and ZIP Code postal zones (but, not the borders of hamlets).
School district means everything on LI, so any house you look at, it will be pretty clearly stated on the listing what district it's in. But ALWAYS call the district and double check.
Not much difference between Mineola, NHP, Herricks IMHO. I wouldn't worry about one over the other.
Are any of those places to avoid or considerable worse than Williston Park itself? or are they basically the same type of area? Pretty complex the zoning as I see... so, could we end up having an address of Williston Park but really be living in Mineola and our kid belongs to the Mineola schools? (Nothing against that, just to make sure that the zoning works like that).
Some people keep telling us about Huntington but not only is further away but also the school ratings are not that great... what would you think comparing to Mineola or Williston or the places we have been talking so far?
Thanks a lot!
Regards,
Hipo
The posts regarding hamlets and villages are essentially useless for your purposes. I have lived my entire life here whiteout knowing that I reside in a Hamlet. Williston Park is a wonderful community and has some very nice homes in the $400k range. Many colonials and a real family feel to the neighborhood. If you look at a map it is nearly impossible to give you a guideline of which school district you reside in. For example, north of Hillside avenue the dividing line is Willis Avenue, west of Willis is the Herrick's school district, east is Mineola. Once you head south of Hillside the dividing line changes and is no longer Willis Avenue. It is very irregular, I suggest that you go on to MLSLI.COM and type in Williston Park and the school districts will come up in each listing.
The same holds true for each town you select.
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