Where should I live? (xpost)

i LOVE long beach- my friend lives there and i just feel like how could you go wrong- you're right by the beach, the boardwalk, cute places to eat and great places to shop....
I lived in Valley Stream (not that i would recommend that) but Rockville Centre is so much fun!
but thruthfully if you want cheaper then you're gonna have to go further east like way further east.

Thanks Ladies! So much great advice!
Now I have so many more places to look at -- I really don't know many neighborhoods in Queens or LI that well -- so this was very, very helpful!

I constructed the original list of Forest Hills, Merrick and Long Beach because I knew a little bit about them.

Thank you!

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Posted by MsPotterhead

Thanks Ladies! So much great advice!
Now I have so many more places to look at -- I really don't know many neighborhoods in Queens or LI that well -- so this was very, very helpful!

I constructed the original list of Forest Hills, Merrick and Long Beach because I knew a little bit about them.

Thank you!

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well you want to get a house right? do you want like a 2-3 bedroom home, something bigger? do you want a backyard? Are you open to buying a condo? Like i said before the start price for homes in Forest hills is a bit over $500k, just depends what youre looking for. When I looked on MLSLI.com, if you wanted lets say 4 bedrooms or higher the prices go into $900k and 1million and higher range. I would check MLSLI.com to get a good idea of price ranges and what they have at those price ranges. You might get more for your money in LI, but then again taxes are higher in LI so have to see if it evens out. Problem is with putting a down payment on a home that costs alot.

When it comes to schools in queens, what i can say is that ALOT of kids do go to schools by bus or train to other neighborhoods so its not the biggest deal. This is also why house prices are NOT determined by school district in Queens. ALOT of kids who grew up in my neighborhood in astoria went to school in other parts of queens and even manhattan. ALOT of girls i knew went to st. vincents in the city, it was just a 20 min train ride for them. DH went to Mcclancy which was one town over, then i also knew alot of ppl who went to school in bayside and went to st. francis, even BIL went to school in st. francis and he lived in astoria. Kids get metrocards at school bc of this. Even my HS, it was in astoria but half the kids were from other neighborhoods. There were over 4,000 students and trust me astoria didnt have that many hs age kids at once. Kids came from all parts of queens, some manhattan, some brooklyn. Even my friend helen who is on this site, she grew up in astoria but went to forest hills high school.

Forest hills is closer to the city so that is the positive about it. I used to take the LIRR bc to get downtown taking the E train there just took forever, if youre going into mid-town its not that bad to take the E there so if you'd rather do that rather than paying for the LIRR which can get pricey. If you were to move to whitestone or bayside you would have to take the LIRR bc there are no NYC MTA trains. You can take a bus to flushing and take the 7 but i used to do that and it was a very long commute. I dont know LI well enough to speak about those places.

I would suggest LIC or Astoria but not sure about jewish reform churches but the info can be looked up. Astoria and LIC are VERY close to the city. When I lived in astoria and i was at the last stop in astoria, it took less than 15 mins to get to lexington. From LIC you're even closer, its 1 stop to lexington so 5 mins tops. But the good thing about astoria is that you dont have to worry about them being the only jewish kids or standing out. It is the most diversed neighborhood in queens. My hs was in the newspaper for have 165 nationalities. You have just about every nationality in astoria so they would never be the odd ones out.

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Posted by MrsCastanedain09

Sigh, I also recently left Park Slope- 2nd street between 6th and 7th avenue. It was an amazing experience and I miss the lifestyle.

With that said, this thread is helpful as I am also looking at neighborhoods.

As far as Queens- Forest Hills is amazing, nearby Kew Gardens is just as lovely. Schools are very good and there's lots to do as far as dining and shopping.

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I second Kew Gardens. It is beautiful. It's a quiet residentual area predominately(sp?) Jewish. I don't live in Kew Gardens i am in Jamaica Estates which is right next door. It's a very lovely area. Forest Hills is also great. I was going to move there before we found our place inJamaica Estates.

Check out Woodmere or Cedarhurst. They are both VERY nice areas, have great school systems and have very high jewish populations.