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This is the advice I give everyone, you've got to do some hands on research.
Plan on coming out here on a Friday & staying overnight at a hotel or a friends house.
You've got to drive around the neighborhoods following the school buses to see how many kids are being met by parents, what the kids do when they get off the bus-would you want your kids to be on that bus? drive around late on Friday night & see if there are people everywhere walking the streets, see how many 24 hours places are open & what the demographic is like-do you feel comfortable? go to the shopping areas on Saturday afternoon see if you feel comfortable with the people there, the traffic & everything else, drive around the neighborhoods again & see how many families are outside working on there homes or playing with there kids, are the aesetics of the neighborhood suitable to you?.
Some of the best advice given on this forum right there.
I am married,36,with 4 kids and know suffolk county in and out. If I were you I would look into Selden (specifically north), coram (especially the w section), rocky point,sound beach,lake ronkonkoma,holbrook. If you seams to be the best home search site that I have used and easy to add nearby areas.Moderator cut: no advertisements . sorry
Selden is Middle country schools-good,coram is longwood,middle country and comsewogue (3) school districts depending which street you live on but stay away from the gordon heights areas.Longwood has a bad reputation especially from people that don't have kids in the district.It was a bad district but that is ancient history. It is not one of the elite but still a decent one.Comsewogue is good. Be smart though, if you like the house online-print it out,do a mapquest search for directions and take a trip with the few homes. Getting actual realtors involved can be a pain,and they are usually looking for the quick sales and not always interested in your well being(perfect schools). I would avoid IMO shirley,mastic,and mastic beach( too many sex offenders and stories of attempted child abductions,ridge has also had a problem with the sex offenders lately).
nothings wrong with mastic beach and mastic, people are scared for no reason of these towns, i grew up there no action except a few robberies here and there
Oh, is that it? I guess having a gun pointed at you while being forced to give up your wallet is no big deal...
I was thinking the same thing. I prefer not to take any chances with my and my families safety. Not saying bad things can't happen in any town, but if a town is known for not be that safe, why in the world would you take the chance? Cheap Housing? Nothing is that cheap imo.
Way back when - circa the mid-80s, Shirley and Mastic had a toxic water supply. Plain and simple. The area did have high crime, like Wyandanch, but that was nothing compared to having no potable (drinkable) water.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MinervaJean
My husband and I are first time homebuyers looking to move our family to Suffolk county Long Island.the taxes are VERY high, and initially we considered buying in Mastic or Shirley because the houses are very affordable.The question is.....why are they so affordable when everything else on LI is going for 350k+?
Why is everyone moving out of these parts of town?
According to the demographics, there are over 75% white people in these areas, and the crime rate is relatively low, so Im curious as to why people consider this a not-so-nice area....what gives?Why is it bad? Is it worth moving my family to,or am I going to be getting myself in a worse situation than what im in now, living in the Bronx?
Im stuck on this one...any advice is GREATLY appreciated.
Well it's never happened to me or anyone I am close to, and I have lived in many different places from upper middle class to lower income neighborhoods around the NYC/ LI area.
Go there and look, just recently they made a wbli appoligize, a jerk off community doesn't make you appologize..
20 years ago the majority of the neighborhood was rented out, the majority of it was owned by people in the city as vacation homes, they stopped vacationing and rented to whoever would pay..then the big rip off came around and everyone got stupid and thought there homes were worth 400k and better...so they sold, the neighborhood changed and now well you got people in trouble all over...
Like i say and i see every neighborhood is the same now...
Go and look there are some nice houses there, better then alot of other houses made of sheetrock and just thrown up (any levit built home, coram, mt sin,parts of pj)
You need to look for yourself though, im from queens originaly and i find a lot of li'ers exagerate and everything is going to kill you....it's silly...
You're right, alot of LIers exaggerate and as someone originally from Bayside Queens I can honestly say that someone moving to Suffolk should probably avoid Mastic,M.Beach,Shirley.All towns have nice areas and some not so nice. Those areas were recently in the news for a crack house they want bulldozed and also the 3 guys soliciting prostitutes from a common hooker hangout,too bad they got caught huh? I live in North Coram by rt 112 on the Port Jeff Station border and I used to live in PJS years ago. I can honestly say PJS by the lake streets has gone down hill somewhat,coram has greatly improved,medford has dropped a little and then you have a weird town like bellport---north(crap),south(beautiful). Unfortunately you really have to know your towns and as a note if you have the words heights attached to your town name it usually is not a favorable area. ie Gordon Heights (in coram,medford,middle island) for example even though its not its own town. I try to pretend that this is a relative asking for advice. Change that----a good friend (LOL)..
Well it's never happened to me or anyone I am close to, and I have lived in many different places from upper middle class to lower income neighborhoods around the NYC/ LI area.
Just because it hasn't happened to you or anyone you are close to doesn't mean there isn't crime in those areas, weather it be Smithtown or Mastic.
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as I remember ....
