Manhasset vs Garden City

[Peppin0]

Although Hempstead might be the only "dangerous" part, I would say the parts of Mineola, Garden City Park, and New Hyde Park bordering GC are very industrial, and very ugly.

For example, see this?



This picture of a junkyard was taken less than 100 feet north of the Garden City border in Garden City Park

[azzurrony]

Pinuzzo,

You can't see that at all though from the GC side since it is divided by elevated train tracks. You have to go through and around an underpass to see that. I totally understand your point, but on the other side of that is a beautiful bird sanctuary and park.

Look, I'm not out here to convince you one way or the other. I'm simply expressing my personal preferences and why we chose Garden City over Manhasset. I'm Italian and my wife is from England...so we were completely neutral and had no ties to the area. In the end, we liked GC better, but I can certainly see others that think differently.

[Peppin0]

Of course, none of that can be seen from Garden City, in fact, almost all of Garden City is absolutely gorgeous (I'm a GC resident myself). However, chances are that if you live in Garden City, you will not be spending 100% of your time within its borders.

[hipogrito]

Hi,

Just out of curiosity... for new house buyers, and do not count people living in those towns for many years as stats will do, what do you think a family income/year should be appropriate to live in towns like GC or Manhasset or East Williston in order to be able not only to buy houses for $7K-$xMillion but also keep paying those taxes yearly?

Thanks,

Hipo

[Peppin0]

At first, I'd recommend at least $150k a year, though it varies tremendously based on how many kids you're paying for and housing choices.

[twingles]

Originally Posted by hipogrito

Hi,

Just out of curiosity... for new house buyers, and do not count people living in those towns for many years as stats will do, what do you think a family income/year should be appropriate to live in towns like GC or Manhasset or East Williston in order to be able not only to buy houses for $7K-$xMillion but also keep paying those taxes yearly?

Thanks,

Hipo

You should plan on comfortably being able to pay 50% more than what the taxes currently are. Our taxes more than doubled while we lived in GC ($4900 to $12K) and school taxes have gone up over $1,000 since we moved 2 years ago. ANd that's not even considered that bad. Most of the people I know who started out around me are around $15-$17K right now.

It's a village, and they have some huge pension obligations. Those taxes are already high and going nowhere but up.

[TVR1997]

150K a year as a new entrant in Garden City may be a stretch.

That is approx $7800 a month after taxes if you are married with 2 kids (before medical/401k contributions). Medical for a family of 4 plus 401k is going to reduce that to under $7000 easily.

Let's assume you take the LIRR ($223 a month and going up early next year). Possibly a Metrocard for another $104 a month.

Then you need to factor in cars/car insurance/gas...(let's say 750ish)

Nassau County (General Taxes), Garden City (School Taxes) and Garden City (Village Taxes). A GC resident can chime in about taxes, but using 15k number Twingles provided that would be 1250 a month.

I am already down to $4800 and you haven't paid your mortgage yet. What would be the cheapest mortgage in GC (exclusive of taxes) even in this down economy. $3000 ish? So I am under $2000 and I haven't bought food for the house, bought lunch in Manhattan (not cheap), bought the kids anything, put oil in the tank (are most GC residents on oil or gas?) paid LIPA, paid water, paid homeowners insurance, paid cable, paid cell phones, paid co-pays for docs visits/prescriptions, God forbid paid for daycare if that 150K is combined between both parents. Oh and most importantly you haven't saved a dime yet.

Yikes.