What's your neighborhood like?

DH and I are doing research on neighborhoods for a condo or house purchase next year in eastern Nassau or western/central Suffolk.

Would you mind sharing what town you live in and what are the pro's and con's of your neighborhood are? Specifically we're interested in:

1. Proximity to a commercial area (villages like Port Jeff and Huntington are our favorites)

2. Proximity to a train station for commuting

3. Value/upkeep of homes or condos in your area.


Any help you could give would be wonderful.

Thanks in advance!

My town: Plainview
- About 20 min. from Port. Jeff and Huntington.
- Less than 5 min. from Hicksville and Bethpage train stations.
- I don't know much about condos so I can't help you there.
- Value of homes is a little high, but it's a very safe and nice town. There are no 'bad' areas of Plainview and our school districts are excellent.

I don't own a house yet, but I currently live in Hewlett (Five Town area). The neighborhood is beautiful here and the houses are all very well kept and very clean. I drive about 3 minutes to the Lynbrook train station off of Sunrise Highway. We are adjacent to Peninsula Blvd. so we are close to quite a few shops and stores. The school district is excellent. The nearest towns are Lynbrook and Woodmere and also Cederhurst (which is full of great clothing stores, retail shops, trendy boutiques and coffee shops).
Mercy Hospital is about a 6 minute drive straight down Peninsular Blvd and the Southern State is entrance is right next to the hospital. There are also several beautiful parks in the area (one big one off of Peninsula going towards the Southern State but I can't remember the name - sorry).

We're hoping to buy a house in this area within the next 2 years.

Hope this helps, and good luck with your house/coop hunting.

I live in Sayville and I LOVE it.

It is friendly and has a great school district (one of Newsday's top 3. The people are lovely, there is a WONDERFUL downtown area with lots of great shops and restaurants. We are close to a terrific little beach area and the ferries to fire island are right here. They do a lot of community activities, Sayville Summerfest, Sayville Seafood Festival, parades and street festivals for so many different things. They also have a Common Ground - planned activities for the townfolk all the time. I go to the park every friday for story time and clowns and all sorts of good stuff.

I LOVE it here and I am always thankful to live in such a great community

Sorry I got carried away before answering your primary questions:

1. Port Jeff is probablyl 20-30 minutes away. Huntington is about 20 minutes away... but you will fall in love with Sayville Main Street so much you probably won't need to go to Huntington or Port Jeff as often!

2. About 5-10 minutes from the train station in Oakdale... maybe 10 minutes from Ronkonkoma.

3. The homes are mostly beautifully kept and have pretty high property value. I don't know if there are any condos, but there are new townhomes going up. Go to www.mlsli.com and do a search for properties in Sayville School District or for Sayville and West Sayville.

i found this website which may be of interest to you, there's tons of info about each city. :)

http://www.city-data.com/toplists.html

this is my city, love it 'cus it's got such a great view of nyc and it's a great commuting town with tons of bars and restaurants!
http://www.city-data.com/city/Hoboken-New-Jersey.html


hope that helps!

I rent in West Babylon and we're in a very Italian neighborhood with tons of specialty delis... YUM (says the Irish people!). We're minutes from the Village of Babylon where there is amazing shopping and tons of cute little restaraunts. Close to Sunrise Hwy & Southern State. Also very close to Rt. 109 (which brings you right to Rt.110 to take you into Huntington) which ends at Hempstead Tpk. Minutes to the water and 3 or 4 exits (on Sunrise) away from Robert Moses Pkwy.
About 5-10 minutes away from the Babylon train station. The schools are great and the area is so centrally located... you're within minutes from everything.
I don't own but I know that in the area I'm in (right off of Little East Neck Rd.) there is so much potential to up the value of the houses (it's my understanding that the neighborhood that I'm in has a lot of older families living in these houses, so when they go to sell, there's a lot of work to be done).
There is a Coldwell Banker right on Main St. in Babylon Village. They will be a tremendous resource in helping you find out more info about the general Babylon area.
HTH! Good luck!!

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Posted by KimAMalone

I rent in West Babylon and we're in a very Italian neighborhood with tons of specialty delis... YUM (says the Irish people!). We're minutes from the Village of Babylon where there is amazing shopping and tons of cute little restaraunts. Close to Sunrise Hwy & Southern State. Also very close to Rt. 109 (which brings you right to Rt.110 to take you into Huntington) which ends at Hempstead Tpk. Minutes to the water and 3 or 4 exits (on Sunrise) away from Robert Moses Pkwy.
About 5-10 minutes away from the Babylon train station. The schools are great and the area is so centrally located... you're within minutes from everything.
I don't own but I know that in the area I'm in (right off of Little East Neck Rd.) there is so much potential to up the value of the houses (it's my understanding that the neighborhood that I'm in has a lot of older families living in these houses, so when they go to sell, there's a lot of work to be done).
There is a Coldwell Banker right on Main St. in Babylon Village. They will be a tremendous resource in helping you find out more info about the general Babylon area.
HTH! Good luck!!

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FH & I own a home in West Babylon and we LOVE it there!!! We bought our house in Oct of 2005 and we have such great neighbors. Although I do not live there yet (I am moving in when we get married), I am so happy with everything I see when I am there. Their is so much life in West Babylon (between shopping, restaurants, parks, the village, etc) and their is always something to do and yet still so relaxing. Like I said we bought our house in Oct and I am only at the house 1 day a week, and all of my neighbors always talk to me and are so friendly. Halloween and the 4th of July was so much fun (the town puts on such a great show). Besides loving my neighbors and the town itself, West Babylon has a great school district and is centrally located to the parkway and the train station. It is also right on the border of Suffolk and Nassau County, so it is close to all towns.

Good Luck with your house/condo hunting!

I grew up in Miller Place.

It is 5 minutes from Port Jeff and um, about half hour to 40 minutes to Huntington.

To get to the city is a little long if you take the LIRR out of Port Jeff (only b/c it is like the slow boat to China) but you can drive to Ronkonkoma and take the faster train.

I loved it out there. DH and I would love to go back, but we are stuck on Staten Island til we know where DH is stationed.

i grew up in Mt Sinai/Port Jeff area


i loved it over there and if that area was in our price range I would of bought a home there in a second!

i know townhomes over there are $$$...a friend got 1 for over 600k

schools are great as well!

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Posted by rojerono

I should mention that Sayville is the gateway for Cherry Grove and has a pretty vocal gay community - there is OUT in Sayville day. So uber-conservative folk might not love it so much...

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HAHA! I grew up in Bohemia... right across Sunrise Hwy and we always called Sayville 'Gayville' for the whole Cherry Grove factor...
All kidding aside... it really is the quintessential town... I love it there!

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Posted by KimAMalone

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Posted by rojerono

I should mention that Sayville is the gateway for Cherry Grove and has a pretty vocal gay community - there is OUT in Sayville day. So uber-conservative folk might not love it so much...

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HAHA! I grew up in Bohemia... right across Sunrise Hwy and we always called Sayville 'Gayville' for the whole Cherry Grove factor...
All kidding aside... it really is the quintessential town... I love it there!

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LOL... I was going to mention that some people have called it Gayville... but I opted to stay more PC!

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Posted by rojerono

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Posted by KimAMalone

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Posted by rojerono

I should mention that Sayville is the gateway for Cherry Grove and has a pretty vocal gay community - there is OUT in Sayville day. So uber-conservative folk might not love it so much...

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HAHA! I grew up in Bohemia... right across Sunrise Hwy and we always called Sayville 'Gayville' for the whole Cherry Grove factor...
All kidding aside... it really is the quintessential town... I love it there!

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LOL... I was going to mention that some people have called it Gayville... but I opted to stay more PC!

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HAHA!! Not me! WOOPS!

GREAT stuff here everyone! Keep it coming, I'm going to give DH the link to this thread.

So no one has any 'cons' about their neighborhood? C'mon, you can be honest. I noticed some neighborhoods mentioned seem to be flanked on one side with what I've heard are considered 'bad' areas. Any thoughts on that, if it affects you at all?

So you want to know the DARK SIDE OF SAYVILLE... dun dun DUN!!!!!!!

Like I mentioned - if you are uber conservative, you may not appreciate the gay presence. It isn't overt, but it isn't 'hidden' either. The towns on either side are great - Oakdale is really pretty (Dowling College, St. John's and Vanderbilt Museum) and Bayport/Blue Point is GORGEOUS/. But some of the roads are really busy. I wouldn't want to buy a house on Lakeland, Johnson or Broadway because they have pretty heavy traffic - especially on weekends.

The streets can be a little packed on the weekends in the summer and there are a lot of visitors during the festivals and events.

The library is a bit beat up and outdated.

The cost of houses is exorbitant, so you may have to buy a smaller home than you imagined - and build it up to where you want it.

I - personally - don't like my next door neighbors.. and their house is closer than I would like it to be. But the rest of my neighbors are AWESOME!

We purchased a home in Wantagh: We also live on a dead end & are the only house on that portion of the block

-You have your pick of train stations within 5 minutes of you (Seaford or Wantagh)
-Everyone keeps their houses & properties nice & clean
-Friendly people with tons of kids in our neighborhood
-You are within 2 mile distance to shopping centers with CVS, pizzeria, bank, Dunkin Donuts
-1/2 a mile to the Seaford Oyster Bay & 1 Mile to Southern State
-Great schools (Ours is part of Levittown)