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Just started lurking here, but will start posting...we were looking to move outside NY, however..I think we are going to stay put. Currently we are in the Hudson Valley Region. Lots of land, schools etc etc etc. Taxes are just as crazy on LI 10-20k. But we have lots of family on the Island and dh's will be commuting out to jersey city. Our top county choices to go are Rockland (similar to where we are), Perhaps westchester (NOT a top choice for me). And Long island (Before exit 37 on the LIE--OR a 40 minute LIRR train to the port authority). The connection is 3 minutes over to to the jersey city side.
A majority of dh's office lives in the port washington, great neck areas. I am familiar with garden city/mineola (from when I was there in my childhood). So LI isnt Foreign to me..but its still "new" for us.
Positives that i see are:
1. The LIRR from areas like port washington are less than 40 minutes. From areas near Garden city is the same.
2. Convenience...everything and anything is available on the island withing close proximity, whereas here in the Hudson Valley region we have one major strip and mall for the entire county..yeah I know..takes me 30 minutes to get to target, walmart etc etc etc.
3. There is an abundance of good schools to choose from.
4. The beach..may not swim in it..but its a nice to have
5. Lots of kids activities.
6. Closer to the city than the Hudson Valley
Some negatives:
1. After reading some of the threads, I do see areas seperated by heritage.."The jews live here, the koreans live her, the irish are here". I am not really comfortable with that dissection. Is it common? I guess its not considered rude or politically incorrect. Up where we are...its "Caucasion, Asian and African American, And European". Thats it. I have no idea whether my neighbors or childrens friends are italian, jewish, irish..they are just caucasion and we dont ask because we believe it to be rude. No one asks us if we are middle eastern, persian, indian...etc etc (we are indian)...we are just lumped in asian category.
We plan on renting a nice home or condo first..but i dont want the kids to be harrassed because they go or live in the areas of the jews, or the italians. Likewise I dont want to work with an agent that is going to steer us towards the indians, because she/he assumes that where we want live.
Our preference to rent is an nice mid-upscale, clean community with broad minded people, low crime and less than a 40 minute commute to the port authority. Your heritage background doesnt matter to me, and I dont want you to be worried either.
Does such a town exist area exist----give me the good, the bad and the ugly.
(if there are any moms that want to PM me, please do so. IF there are any indians (especially second generation ones)--please PM me for clarity on what your experiences were).
Thanks guys...the island really does seem like a strong contender based on the end commute to jersey city..and it really does appear to be a nice place to rent first.
Just started lurking here, but will start posting...we were looking to move outside NY, however..I think we are going to stay put. Currently we are in the Hudson Valley Region. Lots of land, schools etc etc etc. Taxes are just as crazy on LI 10-20k. But we have lots of family on the Island and dh's will be commuting out to jersey city. Our top county choices to go are Rockland (similar to where we are), Perhaps westchester (NOT a top choice for me). And Long island (Before exit 37 on the LIE--OR a 40 minute LIRR train to the port authority). The connection is 3 minutes over to to the jersey city side.
A majority of dh's office lives in the port washington, great neck areas. I am familiar with garden city/mineola (from when I was there in my childhood). So LI isnt Foreign to me..but its still "new" for us.
Positives that i see are:
1. The LIRR from areas like port washington are less than 40 minutes. From areas near Garden city is the same.
2. Convenience...everything and anything is available on the island withing close proximity, whereas here in the Hudson Valley region we have one major strip and mall for the entire county..yeah I know..takes me 30 minutes to get to target, walmart etc etc etc.
3. There is an abundance of good schools to choose from.
4. The beach..may not swim in it..but its a nice to have
5. Lots of kids activities.
6. Closer to the city than the Hudson Valley
Some negatives:
1. After reading some of the threads, I do see areas seperated by heritage.."The jews live here, the koreans live her, the irish are here". I am not really comfortable with that dissection. Is it common? I guess its not considered rude or politically incorrect. Up where we are...its "Caucasion, Asian and African American, And European". Thats it. I have no idea whether my neighbors or childrens friends are italian, jewish, irish..they are just caucasion and we dont ask because we believe it to be rude. No one asks us if we are middle eastern, persian, indian...etc etc (we are indian)...we are just lumped in asian category.
We plan on renting a nice home or condo first..but i dont want the kids to be harrassed because they go or live in the areas of the jews, or the italians. Likewise I dont want to work with an agent that is going to steer us towards the indians, because she/he assumes that where we want live.
Our preference to rent is an nice mid-upscale, clean community with broad minded people, low crime and less than a 40 minute commute to the port authority. Your heritage background doesnt matter to me, and I dont want you to be worried either.
Does such a town exist area exist----give me the good, the bad and the ugly.
(if there are any moms that want to PM me, please do so. IF there are any indians (especially second generation ones)--please PM me for clarity on what your experiences were).
Thanks guys...the island really does seem like a strong contender based on the end commute to jersey city..and it really does appear to be a nice place to rent first.
I think if you live in a decent school district, your kids will be fine. Long Island is heavily Italian, then come Irish, German, Hispanic, Jewish, and African American, but there are also plenty of Indians, Chinese, Koreans, and others. Can I promise you that at SOME point some knuckle head won't make fun of your kid for being Indian? No, it may happen eventually, but I don't think any more so than it would in Putnam or Dutchess Counties where the people are predominantly white. Harassed? That's pushing it to another level and I don't think it is likely that will happen...harassment implies constant intimidation and maybe threats.
Just started lurking here, but will start posting...we were looking to move outside NY, however..I think we are going to stay put. Currently we are in the Hudson Valley Region. Lots of land, schools etc etc etc. Taxes are just as crazy on LI 10-20k. But we have lots of family on the Island and dh's will be commuting out to jersey city. Our top county choices to go are Rockland (similar to where we are), Perhaps westchester (NOT a top choice for me). And Long island (Before exit 37 on the LIE--OR a 40 minute LIRR train to the port authority). The connection is 3 minutes over to to the jersey city side.
A majority of dh's office lives in the port washington, great neck areas. I am familiar with garden city/mineola (from when I was there in my childhood). So LI isnt Foreign to me..but its still "new" for us.
Positives that i see are:
1. The LIRR from areas like port washington are less than 40 minutes. From areas near Garden city is the same.
2. Convenience...everything and anything is available on the island withing close proximity, whereas here in the Hudson Valley region we have one major strip and mall for the entire county..yeah I know..takes me 30 minutes to get to target, walmart etc etc etc.
3. There is an abundance of good schools to choose from.
4. The beach..may not swim in it..but its a nice to have
5. Lots of kids activities.
6. Closer to the city than the Hudson Valley
Some negatives:
1. After reading some of the threads, I do see areas seperated by heritage.."The jews live here, the koreans live her, the irish are here". I am not really comfortable with that dissection. Is it common? I guess its not considered rude or politically incorrect. Up where we are...its "Caucasion, Asian and African American, And European". Thats it. I have no idea whether my neighbors or childrens friends are italian, jewish, irish..they are just caucasion and we dont ask because we believe it to be rude. No one asks us if we are middle eastern, persian, indian...etc etc (we are indian)...we are just lumped in asian category.
We plan on renting a nice home or condo first..but i dont want the kids to be harrassed because they go or live in the areas of the jews, or the italians. Likewise I dont want to work with an agent that is going to steer us towards the indians, because she/he assumes that where we want live.
Our preference to rent is an nice mid-upscale, clean community with broad minded people, low crime and less than a 40 minute commute to the port authority. Your heritage background doesnt matter to me, and I dont want you to be worried either.
Does such a town exist area exist----give me the good, the bad and the ugly.
(if there are any moms that want to PM me, please do so. IF there are any indians (especially second generation ones)--please PM me for clarity on what your experiences were).
Thanks guys...the island really does seem like a strong contender based on the end commute to jersey city..and it really does appear to be a nice place to rent first.
Port Washington is pretty diverse and isn't really segregated by race. There a good number of Asians in Port (about 10%), mainly Korean, Indian and Japanese. People won't make a big deal about you being Asian.
Port is a very easy commute to the city so it should definately fit your criteria in that regards.
One potential downside is that if you are looking for low-cost shopping (Target, Wal-Mart, etc.) you will have to drive 20-30 minutes to the Hicksville or Westbury area. Most of the shopping on Northern Boulevard ranges from Mid-scale (Macy's) to very upscale (Americana Manhasset shopping center).
Ahhh so you understand my plight in putnam and dutchess. Regarding low cost shopping. I should have been more clear.. I mean "mall shopping" including big box stores. With three kids in tow..you never know when you need pampers or something for an art project--or just need to grab, milk bread and eggs. Looking for a suburban community where everything is within a 15 minute drive.
You'll be able to get whatever you need in Port Washington or any town in Nassau, but the big box stores are more centrally located as pp noted. Port wash is pretty far north and it is a drive to get to a mall/Taget/Walmart etc.
1. After reading some of the threads, I do see areas seperated by heritage.."The jews live here, the koreans live her, the irish are here". I am not really comfortable with that dissection. Is it common? I guess its not considered rude or politically incorrect. Up where we are...its "Caucasion, Asian and African American, And European". Thats it. I have no idea whether my neighbors or childrens friends are italian, jewish, irish..they are just caucasion and we dont ask because we believe it to be rude. No one asks us if we are middle eastern, persian, indian...etc etc (we are indian)...we are just lumped in asian category.
We plan on renting a nice home or condo first..but i dont want the kids to be harrassed because they go or live in the areas of the jews, or the italians. Likewise I dont want to work with an agent that is going to steer us towards the indians, because she/he assumes that where we want live.
It's not anywhere near as common as you would think from reading these boards. There are a couple areas, Five Towns and Great Neck, where if you're not Jewish you're probably lost, and then there are a few places that are almost exclusively black or black & Hispanic.....outside of that it's really just "white people" and occasionally areas that are mixed. There aren't like legitimate "Italian" neighborhoods or "German" neighborhoods anywhere on LI.
We're also getting more diverse every day, especially in Nassau. Indian families are nowhere near as numerous as Italian & Irish, but they are not uncommon at all. Typically, you'll find at least a few Indian kids in any school district....like dman said, is it possible your kids might have to deal with some kind of ignorance at some point? Definitely...but nothing more serious than a couple words, and it's just as likely they will never be subjected to that kind of treatment either. The schools seem to be very good at squashing that kind of behavior.
So basically, I don't think you have anything to worry about no matter where you want to settle down. If you think a RE agent is steering, report it....it's illegal and embarassing!!
Good luck, I think you'll do well considering the other positives you laid out. In most Nassau towns, you don't have to go more than 5 minutes to buy necessities. The commute to Jersey City (PATH train from Penn?) shouldn't be that bad either....just curious though, why not look in Jersey too? It's not that much different from LI!!
I wouldnt mind NJ....as I am not a native to the NE..(moved when I was a kid)..but apparantly there is an unsaid rivalry between "NY and NJ"..that I dont understand! And my MIL is not in good health..so it will be easier to be closer to her.
I wouldnt mind NJ....as I am not a native to the NE..(moved when I was a kid)..but apparantly there is an unsaid rivalry between "NY and NJ"..that I dont understand! And my MIL is not in good health..so it will be easier to be closer to her.
It seems like you have a prevailing caretaker issue regarding your MIL, but I would also look in NJ if it is at all an option. No matter where you are east of the East River, getting across to Jersey City will be far more of a pain than being on the Jersey side of the Hudson. And I see little difference on a relative cost and suburb standpoint. Good luck in your search.
It al depend on who you talk to, but I agree with sean sean sean sean. I think Long Island is getting more diverse. I also don't think it's as segregated as Brooklyn, Queens, or Manhattan - other places that I've lived in besides Long Island. Like Manhattan which is getting expensive to live in, the Richer areas will always be for the rich, which is usually white folks.
Brooklyn is becoming the white kid's playground and is moving towards being 80% white young adults and 20% Russian. Queens has it's Asian Flushing, Indian Richmond Hill/ jackson Heights, Italian Howard Beach, Jewish Forest Hills. Bayside being the most divese in Queens in my opinion.
Long Island seems to be more of a melting pot and the areas are moving away from being segragated areas. There isn't a main Italian area, main asian area, etc... areas like Hempstead and Freeport are becoming more divese.
I live in Long Beach. Most people would automatically say it's a jewish area, but I have black, asian, Italian, Irish and Latino neighbors as well.
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