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I know a family who lives in FHG. Hungarian Jews. Husband owns PE firm. Wife stays home. They bought the house for around $2.5MM more than 20 years ago. Its not a big house. The area is lovely. If you can afford it.
Makes sense. You have some in the Diamond District that live there or in places like Jamaica Estates.
Still lots of old money here in NYC, esp. here in Midtown.
I can tell you from personal experience Forest Hills Gardens is one of the least hood neighborhoods in NYC. Unless your definition of hood is spotting a non white person walking in the streets.
I can tell you from personal experience Forest Hills Gardens is one of the least hood neighborhoods in NYC. Unless your definition of hood is spotting a non white person walking in the streets.
I believe OP meant proximity to 'hoods,' not that FHG itself is one.
To OP, Jamaica and surrounding area (the closest area you singled out), is nothing like a "real" hood in the Bronx or east Brooklyn. There really aren't any massive projects to speak of and large parts of Jamaica are working Caribbean origin immigrants.
Even so, you still have Kew Gardens, Briarwood, and Richmond Hill as "buffer zones" around FHG.
I can tell you from personal experience Forest Hills Gardens is one of the least hood neighborhoods in NYC. Unless your definition of hood is spotting a non white person walking in the streets.
Forest Hills still has a significant White population anyway so idk what all this white flight talk is about. Its not Richmond Hill or Woodhaven.
Plus Forest Hills is far from any bad areas unlike Howard Beach. Arguably the worst area near Forest Hills is Richmond Hill which isn't even that bad.
Forest Hills still has a significant White population anyway so idk what all this white flight talk is about. Its not Richmond Hill or Woodhaven.
Plus Forest Hills is far from any bad areas unlike Howard Beach. Arguably the worst area near Forest Hills is Richmond Hill which isn't even that bad.
Technically speaking, Howard Beach is only bordered by Lindenwood, which is ok overall. Granted, East New York isn't far away, but you have to going to Howard Beach to be going there, since it is isolated and cut off by the Belt and the water.
I used to live in Lindenwood for 4 years and technically it is a subsection of Howard Beach. Overall Howard Beach is white but lindenwood has a small pocket of blocks where the population is diverse. My landlords were Egyptians & the house had Pakistani tenants & Puerto Rican tenants. It was a clean and safe neighborhood but the pink houses & spring creek apts were behind the marsh that began at the end of 156 Ave. you can hear the gun shots sometimes coming from there and although it was a quiet hood the real noise were the planes landing. If jfk used that one runway facing lindenwood we get the wide body jumbo jets landing & they were loud as fu*^ the commute was horrible because to grant Ave A train was about a half hour walk during the late night hours when the Q41 & Q21 wouldn’t run. Other than that taking those buses to the A at rockaway Blvd and liberty was a nightmare. Rent was cheap though. Basement apts there went for just $800/month with utilities as the apts were illegal but they were nice because the homes there are modern.
If you draw a 6 mile radius around Forest Hills Gardens and can't find a hood, then I don't know what to tell you? I don't understand the fixation with the comment about the hood proximity when the bigger concern is being targeted for property crime. Criminals seek out nicer, wealthier neighborhoods and places like FHG and Jamaica Estates (to a lesser extent) appear to be distinct neighborhoods and I'm just concerned about that.
I agree with you regarding Whitestone and Bayside homes being brought all cash, it's definitely pervasive.
Since you know people who live in FHG, do you care to provide any insights regarding the following:
1. What type of residents live in the houses (both detached and townhouses)? I know that there are rental/Coop buildings scattered in FHG -- I assume the residents there are much more transient.
2. What are the drawbacks/lesser-known issues of FHG? I am looking for a real opinion rather than real estate marketing gloss.
3. Due to its Central Queens location, the proximity to the 'hood' is always there. I know all about the 112th Precinct Crime stats, however, are the properties in the Gardens are major targets for property crime?
1. Obviously people who are mostly well-off. What type of residents are you expecting with the prices of the houses??? The coops do not have "transient" people. One of my good friends has been in her coop for 20+ years and most of her building includes long-term residents.
You will likely have security like everyone else so I wouldn't worry about crime. I'm pretty sure the neighborhood also has its own private security driving around, making the rounds.
2. It's pretty residential and a bit far from some things if you are further out. That doesn't seem to bother some but it would bother others.
3. No.
If I were you, I probably wouldn't even take the LIRR. My friend takes the E, even though she's just as close to the LIRR. It's only about 25-30 minutes to get to midtown.
Forest Hills still has a significant White population anyway so idk what all this white flight talk is about. Its not Richmond Hill or Woodhaven.
Plus Forest Hills is far from any bad areas unlike Howard Beach. Arguably the worst area near Forest Hills is Richmond Hill which isn't even that bad.
I did some research and found the following.
Always take into consideration the geography of a neighborhood.
Howard Beach has multi million dollar homes, just like Forest
Hills Gardens although
Howard Beach is in close proximity to some of the unsafest neighborhood
in New York City but.....and this is a big but.....
It is cut off by bodies of water an airport and a highway making it
minimally accessible to the exposure of high volumes of all types of crime.
Forest hills, on the other hand, is easily accessible from many
other neighborhoods.
The total crime rate for Forest Hills for a calendar year is 34.85 per 1,000 people.
The total crime rate for Howard Beach for a calendar year is 30.50 per 1,000 people.
Howard Beach is a 4.35% safer neighborhood..............just saying..............
I did some research and found the following.
Always take into consideration the geography of a neighborhood.
Howard Beach has multi million dollar homes, just like Forest
Hills Gardens although
Howard Beach is in close proximity to some of the unsafest neighborhood
in New York City but.....and this is a big but.....
It is cut off by bodies of water an airport and a highway making it
minimally accessible to the exposure of high volumes of all types of crime.
Forest hills, on the other hand, is easily accessible from many
other neighborhoods.
The total crime rate for Forest Hills for a calendar year is 34.85 per 1,000 people.
The total crime rate for Howard Beach for a calendar year is 30.50 per 1,000 people.
Howard Beach is a 4.35% safer neighborhood..............just saying..............
I personally would still choose Forest Hills for one other reason, public transportation. Driving a car in Queens is now borderline illegal so this is also something to consider.
Also, Austin Street IMO is a much more interesting commercial strip then Cross Bay Boulevard.
I did some research and found the following.
Always take into consideration the geography of a neighborhood.
Howard Beach has multi million dollar homes, just like Forest
Hills Gardens although
Howard Beach is in close proximity to some of the unsafest neighborhood
in New York City but.....and this is a big but.....
It is cut off by bodies of water an airport and a highway making it
minimally accessible to the exposure of high volumes of all types of crime.
Forest hills, on the other hand, is easily accessible from many
other neighborhoods.
The total crime rate for Forest Hills for a calendar year is 34.85 per 1,000 people.
The total crime rate for Howard Beach for a calendar year is 30.50 per 1,000 people.
Howard Beach is a 4.35% safer neighborhood..............just saying..............
I am familiar with both neighborhoods and the demographics. Howard beach is not even in the same class of neighborhoods as FHG. Not even close!
Howard beach is much more blue collar than FHG. FHG has more educated, professional, business owners demographics.
The median household income of FHG is considerably higher than Howard Beach.
Howard beach suffers from bad location on 4 fronts:
1. Right under JFK's flight path. Noisy plane landings all the time. This is NOT SOMETHING YOU WANT TO LIVE WITH.
2. Flooding. During Sandy many homes were flooded and incurred total lost. Howard beach homes also experiences flooding during non catastrophic times. I know homeowners and renters who live in Howard beach. Being so close to Jamaica bay and on such a flat terrain means the water table is high. Coastal flooding is often
3. Howard Beach is out of the way and has limited transportation options. The A train is it. And that is a long haul to Manhattan. FHG has a plethora of transportation options (both MTA and LIRR)
4. Howard beach does not enjoy the proximity to amenities that FHG.
I would not spend $1 million to live in Howard beach. I would absolutely not spend $2 million dollars to live in Howard Beach. If my budget allowed it I would spend $2 million to live in FHG without blinking.
Howard Beach is not safer. It is walking distance from East New York and the Pink Houses. The only reason it is deemed safer is because of the reputation of the Mafia and their determination to protect the neighborhood so outside criminals don't run around over in Howard Beach.
P.S The mafia and mafia affiliated are still alive and well in Howard Beach.
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