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I vote Great Neck South- your kids will be surrounded by ultra-competitive asians and jews.
I went there for high school, and the competition there made college and med school seem easy.
Since you will be renting for the fist few years, high property taxes don't apply to you, but Great Neck has low property taxes relative to other towns because of the commercial base.
Long time reader, first time post. After years of saving and planning, we are moving onto LI. I will be working at LIJ hospital. We have 4 young children, oldest is going into 2nd grade. We are looking for the best place for us. Here are our priorities:
#1. Excellent public school, not just good (might as well take advantage of the high taxes and having 4 kids, right?)
#2. Close to LIJ hospital (I consider <30min by car as close, 10min would be awesome).
#3. Availability of 4-5 bedroom colonials in a neighborhood setting (as opposed to ranches/splits or on a random street).
#4. Hamlet/Village is mostly young families with good community spirit.
#5. Has a pretty town center with shops/restaurants and available kids activities (dance, taekwondo, swimming).
Budget is up to $6k/mo for rental for first 1-3 years, then buy the house later for $1mil (can stretch to $1.3mil).
No place is ideal obviously, but I'm thinking Syosset-Woodbury area.
But how about GN south (is it too expensive or not a good community feeling?), Munsey Park (is it too snobby/expensive?), Garden city (too close to Hempstead?), Port Washington (big drop in 2013 school ranking, why?), Jericho (no town center a problem?), or Dix Hills (too far?)?
What would you recommend/not recommend for us and why?
I'm going to throw a wild one out there....how about North Shore Towers?
But he will have to incur the NYC income tax if he lives in Queens
Why does everyone throw this out there like it's some fatal flaw?
The savings that come from living in NYC - super-low property taxes, often the ability to live with one car instead of two - as well as the conveniences of a place like North Shore Towers - gym, (I believe) pool, parking garage, someone else handling all the maintenance (i.e. snow removal, cleaning/maintenance of common areas, repairs to the apartment itself if it's a rental) - could very well save someone more money than they'd "lose" to the city income tax. Add up what you'd spend on a second car, a year-round contract with a landscaping company (for property maintenance in summer and snow removal in winter), average yearly cost of home repairs, and the additional $10K-$15K you'd spend per year in property taxes, and - depending on a particular family's particular financial situation - it could well be worth it to take the income tax hit instead of paying for all of those service plus the insanity of western Nassau property taxes.
Why does everyone throw this out there like it's some fatal flaw?
The savings that come from living in NYC - super-low property taxes, often the ability to live with one car instead of two - as well as the conveniences of a place like North Shore Towers - gym, (I believe) pool, parking garage, someone else handling all the maintenance (i.e. snow removal, cleaning/maintenance of common areas, repairs to the apartment itself if it's a rental) - could very well save someone more money than they'd "lose" to the city income tax. Add up what you'd spend on a second car, a year-round contract with a landscaping company (for property maintenance in summer and snow removal in winter), average yearly cost of home repairs, and the additional $10K-$15K you'd spend per year in property taxes, and - depending on a particular family's particular financial situation - it could well be worth it to take the income tax hit instead of paying for all of those service plus the insanity of western Nassau property taxes.
NYC Super low property taxes... LOL..... Not anymore.. what world are you in? NYC property tax + NYC income tax = Nassau property tax.
For us, NYC income tax was greater than our Nassau property tax. No brainer for us.
That's why I specifically said that living in NYC *could* be cheaper, depending on a specific family's particular financial situation. For you, it was cheaper to live in Nassau. Depending on what type of community a family is looking for, how much they make, and lifestyle choices, Queens can be cheaper for some families. Everyone needs to do their own individual math before making that decision, and "LI is cheaper" is not a blanket rule.
Thanks for the recommendation about North Shore Towers...looks really nice, but it maxes out at 3 bedrooms, and we really need 4 bedrooms.
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For us, NYC income tax was greater than our Nassau property tax. No brainer for us.
