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I would look into Greenlawn. You can get something decent for that. Nice little walkable town, about an hour to Penn on the train, has a beach in Centerport, 5 minutes to Huntington (probably best "downtown area" on LI) and Harborfields is one of the highest ranked School Districts on Long Island.
Great suggestion! Two "walkable" towns for the price of one - Greenlawn and Huntington .
You were talking about renting for a year - good idea actually - but didn't mention your budget for that...?
Huntington's walkable "downtown" commercial district is colloquially referred to as Huntington Village.
A map of the Hamlet of Huntington in the Town of Huntington, Suffolk County:
The Hamlet of Huntington has a different border than does the "Huntington, NY 11743" ZIP Code postal zone (i.e., a place can have a "Huntington, NY 11743" mailing address and not be in the Hamlet of Huntington and a place can have other than a "Huntington, NY 11743" mailing address and be in the Hamlet of Huntington): places that have a "Huntington, NY 11743" mailing address that are not in the Hamlet of Huntington are in the Hamlet of West Hills, the Hamlet of Halesite, the Village of Huntington Bay, the Village of Lloyd Harbor, the Hamlet of Cold Spring Harbor, the Hamlet of Centerport, the Hamlet of Greenlawn, the Hamlet of Elwood and the Hamlet of Huntington Station; and, at the same time, there are places in the Hamlet of Huntington with a "Huntington Station, NY 11746" and a "Greenlawn, NY 11740" mailing address.
We moved to Greenlawn from Queens a couple of months ago with our 2 young kids and we have been very happy here. My daughter goes to a nice preschool and we have found lots to do with the kids. There are many choices but we are happy here. Our budget was similar to yours. I run and get around fine in town with the stroller. Don't always have to get in the car for everything and I like that. The town is small but you have Huntington nearby too.
Great suggestion! Two "walkable" towns for the price of one - Greenlawn and Huntington .
You were talking about renting for a year - good idea actually - but didn't mention your budget for that...?
I have NO idea what rentals cost on LI...can you give me an idea? Is it possible to rent a house? I mean, without paying $5,000/month!
We have an amazing deal on our apartment in Queens -- awesome place, 3 BR, under $2,000...anything like that possible in Greenlawn or Huntington? In whatever form -- apartment, condo or co-op rental, house? Oh, co-ops are just a City thing, right? Anyway, just something to rent!
Thanks for all the great advice, folks! Who says NYers are nasty and cold?!
I have NO idea what rentals cost on LI...can you give me an idea? Is it possible to rent a house? I mean, without paying $5,000/month!
We have an amazing deal on our apartment in Queens -- awesome place, 3 BR, under $2,000...anything like that possible in Greenlawn or Huntington? In whatever form -- apartment, condo or co-op rental, house? Oh, co-ops are just a City thing, right? Anyway, just something to rent!
Thanks for all the great advice, folks! Who says NYers are nasty and cold?!
No 3 BR co-ops; there are not many condo rentals in the Greenlawn/Huntington area and would generally be more expensive. Not a lot of apartments around but Avalon comes to mind - can be expensive, depending on location. Houses are easier to find, and can run between $1,800 - $2,500/mo depending on location and condition. Plus utilities of course...
Curlygirl, if you want to be close to Manhattan and feel like you are still in Queens, then look for a home in Nassau. There are severak towns where you can walk to everything and you can manage with one car or even no car. There are gifted and talented programs in most school districts but they usually start around 3rd grade. Even without a gifted and talented class, I think you will find that most districts on Long Island will be an improvement over your child's school in Queens. There are co-ops in Nassau, but not as many as in Queens. I am estimating that a full house rental will start at $2300 per month plus utilities for anything decent.
Curlygirl, if you want to be close to Manhattan and feel like you are still in Queens, then look for a home in Nassau. There are severak towns where you can walk to everything and you can manage with one car or even no car. There are gifted and talented programs in most school districts but they usually start around 3rd grade. Even without a gifted and talented class, I think you will find that most districts on Long Island will be an improvement over your child's school in Queens. There are co-ops in Nassau, but not as many as in Queens. I am estimating that a full house rental will start at $2300 per month plus utilities for anything decent.
Actually, we don't really want to be so close to Manahttan or feel like we're in Queens...that's why we're moving! I really mentioned that just as a background for what we're used to. But I also don't want to feel like we're in the middle of nowhere and it's a major production just to do simple things like go to the store or go out to eat.
Not crazy about that house rental price, but oh well...it is what it is. Thanks, Coney!
We moved to Greenlawn from Queens a couple of months ago with our 2 young kids and we have been very happy here. My daughter goes to a nice preschool and we have found lots to do with the kids. There are many choices but we are happy here. Our budget was similar to yours. I run and get around fine in town with the stroller. Don't always have to get in the car for everything and I like that. The town is small but you have Huntington nearby too.
This is sounding great! Were there many options available, as far as houses go, at $450K, or is that really too low, do you think?
Do either you or your husband commute into the City? What's the trip like? Parking at the station easy?
I could probably ask you a thousand questions, but I'll stick to those...for now!
No 3 BR co-ops; there are not many condo rentals in the Greenlawn/Huntington area and would generally be more expensive. Not a lot of apartments around but Avalon comes to mind - can be expensive, depending on location. Houses are easier to find, and can run between $1,800 - $2,500/mo depending on location and condition. Plus utilities of course...
I'm actually relieved to hear that houses are easier to find...we really need the space, and just moving into another apartment probably wouldn't be a great solution.
What are the chances of finding something decent at the lower end of that range -- keeping it to $2,000 (or below)? Also, what would monthly utilities on a house cost, approximately (summer vs. winter)?
This is sounding great! Were there many options available, as far as houses go, at $450K, or is that really too low, do you think?
Do either you or your husband commute into the City? What's the trip like? Parking at the station easy?
I could probably ask you a thousand questions, but I'll stick to those...for now!
Well we had a lot of choices of houses, but not all of them were suited to our taste. A lot of the houses we saw that had big yards (which my husband wanted) also had pools (which I did not want) But I think if you check the comps in Greenlawn you'll see that there were a bunch of things that sold in the $450-500k range in the past year. Depends on how many bedrooms you want (we wanted 4). I have run past several houses in the past month or so that are in your price range. I'd assume they are at least 3brs.
I'm home with the kids (mine are still young- 2 and 6 months) but my husband's commute to the city was not a problem. If you work on the East side then you can take the train out of Greenlawn into Hunterspoint. Otherwise you can go into Penn. Very easy to park in Greenlawn with or without a sticker. Huntington can be trickier, you need the sticker. My one piece of advice if one or both of you is going to commute to the city- don't buy something too far from the station. We originally made an offer on a house in S. Huntington and the commute would have been much longer. Takes my husband 5 minutes to get to the station from here and he can ride his bike in nice weather.
We moved here rather than Nassau for the same reason. I have friends who have moved to Nassau recently. Feels too much like the city still. We wanted something different. Greenlawn feels like a small town. We are finding a lot to do with the kids here. Everyone is very friendly. We're happy with our choice.
We did look into rentals. It's a whole long story but we owned a co-op that we sold and we had to be out but we were still looking at houses to buy. Seemed like most things were above $2000. More like $2500. Cannot tell you how much we love being out of an apartment. No more neighbors complaining about the kids. The kids love the yard and we can walk to a few parks/playgrounds.
Sorry for the long post... Good luck!
Last edited by redrunner+2; 04-12-2010 at 07:23 AM..
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