Questions for those who live/or are looking in Suffolk Co.

If you live or are looking for a house in Suffolk county, and work in NYC, how is your commute?

I live in western Nassau right now, and we are looking to buy a home, and cannot find anything reasonably priced in Nassau County. Everything in our price range is in Suffolk. My concern is that I am going to spend most of my day commuting and when we do decide to have children, its going to be impossible to work. My DH works for the city and my job requires me to be in NYC also.

Also, since I grew up in Nassau, I'm not sure what the good school districts in Suffolk are, any advice on both questions is greatly appreciated!!!

TIA!!

Re: Questions for those who live/or are looking in Suffolk Co.

I live in Lindenhurst and work in Chelesea. My commute door to door is 1.5 hours! The train out of Lindenhurst isnt too bad really I alway get a seat b/c it starts in Babylon.
My personal opinion on Suffolk County and the LIRR.

On the North Shore, dont move east of Huntington (unless you plan to drive to the Huntington station) Once you get east of Huntington, the trains arent as regular and they are diesel so you have to transfer.

South Shore, anywhere West of Babylon is a pretty easy communte.

Ronkonkoma train line isnt too bad has alot of trains. We are moving to Centereach and my plan was to go out of Ronkonkoma, but I just got a new job on LI.

When we were looking it was important to me to stay near a main station. I questioned people at work to see how their commutes were and then decided how far I was willing to go!

In terms of Schools, Ronkonkoma station is mainly in the Sachem School District. Which is HUGE but very good.

Around Huntington, Greenlawn is I think Elmont or Harborfields SD which is very good. My FBIL drives from Greenlawn to Huntington for the train. FH lives in Kings Park, a really nice area, but not soo good IMHO for a commute!

Babylon area, I havent heard anything bad about these SDs I knwo North Babylon isnt the best but I dont know much about the rest.
I went to Lindenhurst SD and it was good, the elementary schools are very good and there are alot of them so they arent TOO big in class size. (I love my area)

I had decided no matter what, when I had kids if I had to work it would be on LI. That was my decision. If this isnt an option for you you might want to consider staying in Nassau, anywhere in Suffolk is approx 1.5 hours door to door!

Re: Questions for those who live/or are looking in Suffolk Co.

Thank you so much, that is very helpful!!! We did see a few homes in Lindenhurst, and I wasnt familiar with the area. So maybe we will look in that area more now that I have a good review!!

Honestly, I think that when we do have kids, I will probably try to find a job on LI or just take a few years off till the kids are in school fulltime. I just cant see myself being away from them for so long of the day and miss out on all the 'firsts'.

We will just have to see.....thanks again!

Re: Questions for those who live/or are looking in Suffolk Co.

BTW...congrats on the job on LI!!

Re: Questions for those who live/or are looking in Suffolk Co.

From Babylon the train wasn't bad because they often have express--the ride was under and hour express. With subway it took an hour and a half to midtown. Look at how often the trains leave--I used to drive to Babylon (about 15 min. drive) because there were hardly any trains to my station (about every hour during rush hour, even less after 7PM) so if I missed one I was there for hours.

Re: Questions for those who live/or are looking in Suffolk Co.

If you look in the Lindnehurst area, let me know, as with most towns there are always the less desirable parts!

The area I live in is really nice because its an older neighborhood, near the schools, near the village, and I live on a dead end! I wouldnt have minded buying in Lindenhurst except for the whole 'everybody loves raymond' thing, I didnt want to be too close to either set of parents!

Re: Questions for those who live/or are looking in Suffolk Co.

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Posted by Kelly9904

I wouldnt have minded buying in Lindenhurst except for the whole 'everybody loves raymond' thing, I didnt want to be too close to either set of parents!

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HAHAHA

Re: Questions for those who live/or are looking in Suffolk Co.

where in NYC do you work? i live in babylon and for years commuted down-town to the world financial center. on a good day - with express trains, it was 1 1/2 hours. anything off-peak or non-express and it could easily be 2 hours.

also - do you have set hours? i worked in an accounting firm, so my hours were not your typical 9-5. the bosses didn't get that an extra 5 minutes in the office could mean an extra hour for me to get home if i missed the express train. if you have a set schedule and you can find express trains to fit that, you will be fine.

the babylon village school districts is one of the best in suffolk, so you can't go wrong there, either. obviously, the combination of good schools and good LIRR schedule, plus the village tax, causes the prices here to be very high compared to surrounding areas. north babylon had an iffy reputation for years, but i have read in several places that a lot of younger couples are moving in, and they expect that area to greatly improve in the next 10-15 years. i grew up in West Babylon and loved it! my parents are still there.

hope all that helps!!

Re: Questions for those who live/or are looking in Suffolk Co.

My commute su$^s.

Kings Park - Greenwich Village, almost 2 hours each way door to door.

I LOVE my job, HATE the commute. Someday the commute and the job are going to duke it out and the commute may win.

Re: Questions for those who live/or are looking in Suffolk Co.

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Posted by karen32

where in NYC do you work? i live in babylon and for years commuted down-town to the world financial center. on a good day - with express trains, it was 1 1/2 hours. anything off-peak or non-express and it could easily be 2 hours.

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I work in MidTown, in Rockafeller Center, right now it takes me about 45 minutes to get in to work (I take the bus to Jamaica and then take the F straight in). Costs me $4 a day!! Going from that to the LIRR is going to kill me!!!