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Based on what we've seen in the last 4-5 months in housing market, it sounds like we need to broaden our search to different areas. I get school district is one thing and unless it's horribly rated, they all should be fine. We try to stay on the north shore, at least north of 495 and I don't mind going 30-40 miles from work, and this gives us a big area to work with.
However that also creates problems because we don't know most of the areas, other than driving around, what are some of the things we should check? I use resources like this: https://www.homearea.com/county/suff...ew-york/36103/
Based on what I've read, I try to avoid through streets and double yellow roads, look for any commercial areas nearby, but otherwise neighborhoods look very similar. Any other tips or suggestions?
Check the FEMA maps for the flood zone designation. Even the North Shore could flood. I live in the desert now, and a few areas flood after a big rain.
Traffic --- if possible check out the main roads in the area you are looking at and see how they handle rush hour traffic, especially the evening rush. If the main road has alot of stores along it, then also check out what it is like during the weekend.
Noise --- for a suburban area, Long Island has alot of noisy areas near major roadways. Not just major highways but even some secondary roads can be surprisingly noisy. Also there is airplane noise near certain airports.
What is the composition of the town, racially and religiously? Are your kids going to be the only white/black/asian etc. in the district?
Example:
Jericho, Syosset, etc. are basically Asian and Jewish. A good thing for performance numbers perhaps but the Asian kids will be at Kumon all summer learning next year's math and the Jewish kids will be at camp. None of them will celebrate Christmas.
Garden City is basically Irish/Italian Catholic. The only Jews are the guidance counselors, and they tease the Asians because they don't play sports (other than fencing) and spend their summers at Kumon learning next year's math instead of going to football camp and getting a sports scholarship to Wake Forest.
Know what you and your kids are walking into. These things may sound trivial and you might think you're above such distinctions but you are not. And if you are, they aren't.
Probably not as much of a problem on LI, but what can be built nearby? That lovely wooded area behind the house, who does it belong to? Otherwise on LI I feel like most of the issues are obvious. One thing you should always check on is school district, some of the dividing line are quite close. You were looking in Greenlawn....I grew up in Huntington. One of my friends lived in a house where the people behind her were in the South Huntington district and the people on the other side of the main road (but same street as her) were in Greenlawn. ALWAYS verify the school district with the actual people at the district. I lived close enough to Cold Spring Harbor that my bus went through a street in the district on the way to my elementary school.
School districts are actually about as low on the list of priorities as they can be. Personally I look for things like ease of national highway access (aka how quickly can I reach an Interstate freeway and how isolated is everything from that given location), decent restaurants and shopping, whether or not the place has a lively cityscape (or at least an active downtown area), decent parks, good venues for concerts and other gatherings, and whether or not a given neighborhood has windows that are entirely barred off. My current house search also includes staying away from homes that open up onto major avenues or roads. Side streets only for me.
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