North Shore Vs South Shore

DH and I are actively looking for houses. We currently own a co-op in Little Neck (I grew up in Whitestone, he's from Flushing.. so both queens)
We don't have children yet but do plan on it...The hard part is that we're both from queens and dont know much about actually living on LI. Queens has changed so much and we feel we could get much more for our hard earned $$ going east. We also dont want to be far from the highway so places like glen cove and huntington have been ruled out.

On north shore we're looking at syosset and jericho (due to school districts and distance from parkway)
On south shore we're looking at Merrick, Seaford and Bellmore...

I mostly want a real neighborhood feel, safe, preferably a town that has a village, good SD, etc.

What's the major difference in north shore and south shore?

Re: North Shore Vs South Shore

money, to be honest

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I prefer the North Shore. It's a complete different atmosphere to me. Village in Huntington. Village in Northport. Port Jeff.

South Shore to ME.... party time and beach!

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I live in a town that borders both Jericho and Syosset. I moved up this way 10 years ago and absolutely love it. I grew up on the south shore.

Here's what strikes me as being different on the north shore - bigger houses, bigger lots. More open space overall. Hilly, winding roads. Things are a little more spread out. While the LIE and NSP are close, they are a hike for the most part (I am north). It may seem silly, but gas stations are not close where I am. Lots of horse farms.

On the south shore, I felt like there was more "downtown" type areas. Main street villages with lots of shops and restaurants. More strip malls. Closer to the ocean beaches (while there are beaches on the north shore and I am only a mile away from one, it's just the same!).

Like a pp said, money can be a factor, but its all relative. Each town you mentioned has a range of them all.

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I am from Queens (Whitestone too ) also. In a perfect world I would love to stay here (we also own a 2 bdrm coop).

I love Floral Park bc it is close to Queens, easy to get to NYC (DH commutes), but the homes are cheaper than the area of Queens we live in. Merrick is also really nice but iMO seems far from Queens...I mean I know it is not THAT far but to me it seems that way.

Message edited 7/12/2011 6:20:15 PM.

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For me it depends on the town more than whether it is North Shore or South Shore. You've got wealthy on both sides of the Island, you've got space (and lack thereof) on both sides. You've got beaches and cute little towns and parties and fun and nice neighborhoods and not nice neighborhoods and snobs and 'trash' no matter if you head north or south.

KellyFG on here gave the best advice ones relevant to searching for a town to live.. she said that you need to drive around the towns at different times during the day. Check out the shopping centers and the downtown areas - look at the different neighborhoods. You want to see the people you will be living among - get out there and see them. Spend some time and you'll get a decent feel for what you can expect. Do it a few times and you'll start to feel where you 'belong' and what area feels right to you.

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Posted by DiamondGirl

I am from Queens (Whitestone too ) also. In a perfect world I would love to stay here (we also own a 2 bdrm coop).

I love Floral Park bc it is close to Queens, easy to get to NYC (DH commutes), but the homes are cheaper than the area of Queens we live in. Merrick is also really nice but iMO seems far from Queens...I mean I know it is not THAT far but to me it seems that way.

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Posted by CatNYC123

Posted by DiamondGirl

I am from Queens (Whitestone too ) also. In a perfect world I would love to stay here (we also own a 2 bdrm coop).

I love Floral Park bc it is close to Queens, easy to get to NYC (DH commutes), but the homes are cheaper than the area of Queens we live in. Merrick is also really nice but iMO seems far from Queens...I mean I know it is not THAT far but to me it seems that way.

I could have written that!! I've been dying to move to FP, particularly the villlage but DH is not sold. He wants suffolk... I want whitestone so to compromise, we're going to nassau lol
DH wants no part of queens anymore. I can really work from any location on LI and he already works in melville. I also love Merrick but I just feell like its soooo far

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I am from Queens and now live in Merrick. My parents live on the North Shore. The North Shore is nice, but where they are is really far from the highway. I live right off the meadowbrook and can walk to many shops and restaurants. I really like that (especially when I was on maternity). There is a park and a school right by me and so many kids. I live in South Merrick...North may be different!

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Both my parents grew up in Floral Park and I spent a lot of time there at my Grandparents house, I love it because tudors are my favorite types of houses.

However I am a northshore girl through and through!

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I also grew up in whitestone! We are in Massapequa (Plainedge SD). Honestly I think the biggest difference is the house you can get for your money and the high taxes on the north shore. We love living here. DH grew up in Seaford. I am definitely a south shore girl!

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I live on the South shore as well.

Honestly, it reminds me a lot more of Eastern Queens down here and the North shore feels more like "home" to me where I am from originally (Upstate NY).

I feel like there's more space on the North shore and you don't feel so much like you are still in the boro/burbs because there's such a feeling of overcrowdedness and hustle and bustle (South shore).


Also in many places, it's much more affordable IMO on the SS.

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I grew up in North Syosset, I will always be a North Shore girl at heart. There are parts of Syosset (South)that are right next to the LIE and are more affordable. It really is a great SD.

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I grew up on the north shore, lived in Huntington. Then I moved to nyc, moved to forest hills and now I live in Bellmore.

The biggest difference I found is we got way more for our $ on the south shore. Our house would easily be close to a million bucks on the north shore-here it was no where close to that! Also, our taxes on the north shore would be 20k+-here they're 12. We felt the schools and commute were comparable so we opted to save by moving south!

We were looking in Pt washington just for your ref!

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I grew up on the north shore and currently live on the south shore.

I think, generally speaking, the north shore is more picturesque, with winding roads, hills, trees...it's just prettier. The south shore towns, many of them anyway, are set up like grids so there really is no charm, IMO, to the set up of the towns, with some exceptions.

In our personal situation, my taxes are just as high as my parents but I think the value of my house would be more on the north shore than it is here.

We will be moving in the spring and we are looking at south shore towns. We really like it here. We are boaters and boating on the north shore is nowhere near as good as it is on the south shore. DH and I are all over the place with our jobs and accessing all the highways is not a problem from here. My parents live off the beaten path and it's a giant PITA to get to the highways.

One thing that I thought about was how where we choose to live will effect our kids. Right now, where we are, we can keep up with the Jones' just fine. If we lived on the north shore, I know we would not be able to do that and I don't want my kids to feel left out or not be as successful in school because we can't afford the luxaries in life. There are some towns on the south shore where we would not be able to keep up as well...so its not just the north shore. I just don't want to struggle or be house poor. I work too hard to live like that.

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I grew up in Brooklyn and moved to Bellmore in high school. DS is also from Whitestone and now we live in North Merrick. I LOVE it!!! me personally i prefer the south shore. i think its more "down to earth". more middle class working families. JMO.

where I live there are 2 elementary schools in walking distance with a playground. the main part of town is a few blocks away. I can walk to the train if i want...but that's a half hour walk. the school district is one of the best on LI. I have nothing but great things to say about it.

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Posted by CatNYC123

I also love Merrick but I just feell like its soooo far

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Best advice I can give you is drive around both North and South shore areas you can afford, and see what you think. We did this often and ultimately decided this way.

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In the words of Billy Joel: you either date a rich girl from the NorthShore or a cool girl from the SouthShore

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