Where to live?

I know this has been posted again and again, but I need some help and suggestions.
I live in Park Slope. I LOVE it here, but absolutely cannot afford to buy here. Its disgusting. A small 2 bedroom condo is at least 699K. Its crazy!

Soooo, We are thinking of Queens or Nassau.

We are looking for a neighborhood with a reasonable commute to the city or brooklyn, with a good school system, with stuff to do, and with a decent sized Jewish population (we are reform, but just don't want our kids to be the only Jewish kids in school).
we are thinking of

Forest Hills
Long Beach
Merrick

If anyone lives in anyone of these areas, or can recommend an area that sounds like what I described, I'd greatly appreciate it.

TIA!

Im not Jewish but I know some jewish neighborhoods

Kew Gardens
Rego Park
Definitey Forest Hills
Jamaica Estates
Some parts of Flushing

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Posted by Espo22

Forest Hills is actually a very big jewish community, majority are russian jewish people. Theres jewish schools all over, theres even one right by me and quite a few around the area. To buy a house in forest hills though is not cheap at all, they are quite pricey.

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Wow, that might be too Jewish for me!
I don't want to send my kids to a Yeshiva, I'm not really religious at all, I want to live in a neighborhood with good public schools, and where there is a reform Jewish synagogue.

Where I live now is so diverse, I like it so much, its just so impossible to buy here.

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Posted by MsPotterhead

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Posted by Espo22

Forest Hills is actually a very big jewish community, majority are russian jewish people. Theres jewish schools all over, theres even one right by me and quite a few around the area. To buy a house in forest hills though is not cheap at all, they are quite pricey.

---

Wow, that might be too Jewish for me!
I don't want to send my kids to a Yeshiva, I'm not really religious at all, I want to live in a neighborhood with good public schools, and where there is a reform Jewish synagogue.

Where I live now is so diverse, I like it so much, its just so impossible to buy here.

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forest hills is pretty diverse though. I am not jewish and MANY people i know who live here also are not jewish. There is a big jewish community. Theres jewish schools but theres also lots of public schools. When it comes to queens, most areas will be very diverse and forest hills is this way too. Its the same way with Astoria, everyone thinks of it as a greek neighborhood, there are greek schools and greek everything around lol. But at the same time, Astoria is the most diverse neighborhood. My HS in astoria was in the newspaper for have like 165 different nationalities in the school. Queens is the most diverse place in the world, i read about this not making it up lol, and in queens astoria is the most diverse, so i guess astoria is the most diverse place in the world lol. So even though everybody always associates greeks with astoria and theres lots of greek schools, churches and stuff here, its still extremely diverse. The same with Forest hills, its known for its jewish community but at the same time its extremely diverse and most people I know in FH are actually not jewish

when i said majority are russian jewish, i didnt mean as in majority of people in the neighborhood. Sorry i meant majority of jewish people in FH are russian jewish.

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Posted by Espo22

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Posted by MsPotterhead

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Posted by Espo22

Forest Hills is actually a very big jewish community, majority are russian jewish people. Theres jewish schools all over, theres even one right by me and quite a few around the area. To buy a house in forest hills though is not cheap at all, they are quite pricey.

---

Wow, that might be too Jewish for me!
I don't want to send my kids to a Yeshiva, I'm not really religious at all, I want to live in a neighborhood with good public schools, and where there is a reform Jewish synagogue.

Where I live now is so diverse, I like it so much, its just so impossible to buy here.

---

forest hills is pretty diverse though. I am not jewish and MANY people i know who live here also are not jewish. There is a big jewish community. Theres jewish schools but theres also lots of public schools. When it comes to queens, most areas will be very diverse and forest hills is this way too. Its the same way with Astoria, everyone thinks of it as a greek neighborhood, there are greek schools and greek everything around lol. But at the same time, Astoria is the most diverse neighborhood. My HS in astoria was in the newspaper for have like 165 different nationalities in the school. Queens is the most diverse place in the world, i read about this not making it up lol, and in queens astoria is the most diverse, so i guess astoria is the most diverse place in the world lol. So even though everybody always associates greeks with astoria and theres lots of greek schools, churches and stuff here, its still extremely diverse. The same with Forest hills, its known for its jewish community but at the same time its extremely diverse and most people I know in FH are actually not jewish

when i said majority are russian jewish, i didnt mean as in majority of people in the neighborhood. Sorry i meant majority of jewish people in FH are russian jewish.

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Thank you for all the info Denise!
Do you live in Forest Hills now?
Do you like it?

How does it compare with Astoria?

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Posted by MsPotterhead

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Posted by Espo22

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Posted by MsPotterhead

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Posted by Espo22

Forest Hills is actually a very big jewish community, majority are russian jewish people. Theres jewish schools all over, theres even one right by me and quite a few around the area. To buy a house in forest hills though is not cheap at all, they are quite pricey.

---

Wow, that might be too Jewish for me!
I don't want to send my kids to a Yeshiva, I'm not really religious at all, I want to live in a neighborhood with good public schools, and where there is a reform Jewish synagogue.

Where I live now is so diverse, I like it so much, its just so impossible to buy here.

---

forest hills is pretty diverse though. I am not jewish and MANY people i know who live here also are not jewish. There is a big jewish community. Theres jewish schools but theres also lots of public schools. When it comes to queens, most areas will be very diverse and forest hills is this way too. Its the same way with Astoria, everyone thinks of it as a greek neighborhood, there are greek schools and greek everything around lol. But at the same time, Astoria is the most diverse neighborhood. My HS in astoria was in the newspaper for have like 165 different nationalities in the school. Queens is the most diverse place in the world, i read about this not making it up lol, and in queens astoria is the most diverse, so i guess astoria is the most diverse place in the world lol. So even though everybody always associates greeks with astoria and theres lots of greek schools, churches and stuff here, its still extremely diverse. The same with Forest hills, its known for its jewish community but at the same time its extremely diverse and most people I know in FH are actually not jewish

when i said majority are russian jewish, i didnt mean as in majority of people in the neighborhood. Sorry i meant majority of jewish people in FH are russian jewish.

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Thank you for all the info Denise!
Do you live in Forest Hills now?
Do you like it?

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i live in the kew gardens/forest hills area. I am 2 mins from forest hills lol. I do love it. If you take the LIRR from the forest hills station, it is 15 mins on the dot to penn station, from the kew gardens station it is 17 mins on the dot to penn station. Theres Austin street that is blocks of just great shops and boutiques, bigger named stores like Victoria's secret, sephora, banana republic and so on, plus lots of great restaurants. The area is very nice. You have your commercial area but also very residential areas. The residential areas are tree lined streets, nice scenery and great neighborhoods. It's a great place to live.

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Posted by Espo22

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Posted by MsPotterhead

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Posted by Espo22

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Posted by MsPotterhead

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Posted by Espo22

Forest Hills is actually a very big jewish community, majority are russian jewish people. Theres jewish schools all over, theres even one right by me and quite a few around the area. To buy a house in forest hills though is not cheap at all, they are quite pricey.

---

Wow, that might be too Jewish for me!
I don't want to send my kids to a Yeshiva, I'm not really religious at all, I want to live in a neighborhood with good public schools, and where there is a reform Jewish synagogue.

Where I live now is so diverse, I like it so much, its just so impossible to buy here.

---

forest hills is pretty diverse though. I am not jewish and MANY people i know who live here also are not jewish. There is a big jewish community. Theres jewish schools but theres also lots of public schools. When it comes to queens, most areas will be very diverse and forest hills is this way too. Its the same way with Astoria, everyone thinks of it as a greek neighborhood, there are greek schools and greek everything around lol. But at the same time, Astoria is the most diverse neighborhood. My HS in astoria was in the newspaper for have like 165 different nationalities in the school. Queens is the most diverse place in the world, i read about this not making it up lol, and in queens astoria is the most diverse, so i guess astoria is the most diverse place in the world lol. So even though everybody always associates greeks with astoria and theres lots of greek schools, churches and stuff here, its still extremely diverse. The same with Forest hills, its known for its jewish community but at the same time its extremely diverse and most people I know in FH are actually not jewish

when i said majority are russian jewish, i didnt mean as in majority of people in the neighborhood. Sorry i meant majority of jewish people in FH are russian jewish.

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Thank you for all the info Denise!
Do you live in Forest Hills now?
Do you like it?

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i live in the kew gardens/forest hills area. I am 2 mins from forest hills lol. I do love it. If you take the LIRR from the forest hills station, it is 15 mins on the dot to penn station, from the kew gardens station it is 17 mins on the dot to penn station. Theres Austin street that is blocks of just great shops and boutiques, bigger named stores like Victoria's secret, sephora, banana republic and so on, plus lots of great restaurants. The area is very nice. You have your commercial area but also very residential areas. The residential areas are tree lined streets, nice scenery and great neighborhoods. It's a great place to live.

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Thank you!

There are a LOT of places that fulfill those criteria!

Queens: Fresh Meadows, Forest Hills, Kew Gardens/Kew Gardens Hills

LI: Merrick, Bellmore, East Meadow, Wantagh, Plainview, Syosset, Lynbrook, Massapequa (Massapequa and Plainedge SD)... I'm sure there are more.

eta: DH and I bought in East Meadow last October, and I love it here. I work in Queens and it takes me 20 minutes to get to work. You can take the Merrick or Hickvill trains into the city, which takes about 40 minutes.

i'm in Forest Hills & i absolutely ADORE my neighborhood...but unfortunately it's about the same in price i get sad when i think about how it's very possible that we may have to leave here one day when we want to buy s*cks to say it, but most areas in nassau that are nice are right around the same too..... ny is just so freakin' expensive..hopefully the costs go down over the next few years

Defintly look into south merrick or south bellmore
There is an extremely large jewish population

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Posted by Espo22

when i said majority are russian jewish, i didnt mean as in majority of people in the neighborhood. Sorry i meant majority of jewish people in FH are russian jewish.

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Sorry, had to post cause this made me laugh - cause apparently my mind works way too much in wedding mode, and I completely read the 'FH' as future husband...

Good thing it's Friday!!!

All of the area's you listed have a Jewish population. It really depends whay you are looking for ... Forest Hills ( where I live ) is similar to park slope in population, things to do , shopping , quick commute to NYC . I love where Iive , I am a block away from Austin street , the subway and 2 miles from the grand central. I belong to a conservative temple even though I am reformed , there is a large mix.


Long Beach is also a great town , I lived on west beech street , and in the summer that is the place to be! The winter it is much more quiet , but the restaurants are great. My problem with Long Beach ( if you drive alot) is that it takes 15-20 minutes to a parkway . The closer you are to the beach , the more expensive the condo's are , the beach is the attraction.

Merrick , it depends on the area, but for the most part is very nice area and very Jewish.

If commute is a huge deal, then your best bet is Forest Hills. Door to door ,-my DH works by wall street and he takes the E train, and it is 1 hour

** If school districts are most important, then Merrick is your best bet

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Posted by MsPotterhead

Thank you so much ladies! This made everything so much cleared, and I now have a list of places to check out. You all rock -- thank you!

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Good luck

if you have any other questions regarding forest hills or queens in general, feel free to fm me anytime. I am looking to move to LI right now and I know how hard it can be to look at places that you dont know much about. Everytime I find a listing of a place that i like i have to ask, ok so is this neighborhood good, how far, and find out info. So i completely understand what youre going through. I hate looking at places and being clueless about the area.

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Posted by Espo22

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Posted by MsPotterhead

Thank you so much ladies! This made everything so much cleared, and I now have a list of places to check out. You all rock -- thank you!

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Good luck

if you have any other questions regarding forest hills or queens in general, feel free to fm me anytime. I am looking to move to LI right now and I know how hard it can be to look at places that you dont know much about. Everytime I find a listing of a place that i like i have to ask, ok so is this neighborhood good, how far, and find out info. So i completely understand what youre going through. I hate looking at places and being clueless about the area.

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Thanks! I probably will take you up on it!
Where in LI are you looking?