How did you settle on a town to live in???

Just wondering...we are looking at school districts mainly...are there other things to consider when looking???

TIA

Re: How did you settle on a town to live in???

i am looking for the feeling of the neighborhood as well as SD

I don't want to live on a crappy block or neighborhood

TAXES are a HUGE factor for us too

Re: How did you settle on a town to live in???

Re: How did you settle on a town to live in???

Re: How did you settle on a town to live in???

Re: How did you settle on a town to live in???

yes i agree..that is what we are doing at this point...driving around neighborhoods to get a feel of the area.

I look at how well the other houses are kept

ETA...we pick a different area each outing...

we started on centereach tonight

Message edited 5/23/2005 8:25:30 PM.

Re: How did you settle on a town to live in???

School district, area (near the water), a town (main street) with shops, restaurants, etc.

Re: How did you settle on a town to live in???

Re: How did you settle on a town to live in???

We found our house by driving around. Searching by primarily school districts and recomended neighborhoods was driving me insane. The town lines are soooo convoluted. And statistics don't tell you everything. We ended up in Centereach which many people told me to avoid. But the area is spectacular, school district I don't care for but she is in private school any how.

Good luck

Re: How did you settle on a town to live in???

We narrowed it down based on where we live now. We like where we're renting and the surrounding areas - it already feels like home.

We've driven through neighborhoods to get a feel for what we like and don't like - I agree with the others...this needs to be done at different times throughout the day and on weekends.

Taxes are also playing a huge factor with us...we aren't looking at any houses with true taxes over $7k.

SD's are playing another huge factor as well - we want the best we can afford in case we decide to raise a family in the "starter home" but mostly for re-sale.

Another big factor - mostly for me - is wanting a town with a main street...ie: Huntington, Sayville, etc. I like that feel.

Re: How did you settle on a town to live in???

we started with school districts, then narrowed it down based on the taxes, then whether or not we liked the house and the block it was on... we saw one beautifully redone house in a decent school district with decent taxes, but there was a house across the street that was a complete mess... who wants to stare at that all day?? plus it gave the neighborhood a skeezy feeling...

Re: How did you settle on a town to live in???

School District was not a factor for us because our children will go to Catholic School. Neighborhood was a huge deal to us. I wanted to live in a neighborhood that had a great reputation. And also how close it was to DH's job was a HUGE factor.

Re: How did you settle on a town to live in???

Re: How did you settle on a town to live in???

We decided on Suffolk/north shore- my DH grew up in Kings Park and I liked the feel of that part of LI the best- close enough to my family too....

We drove around alot looking at areas. I liked the town on Northport the best and it's closer to the city than Kings Park, Smithtown, Port Jeff....we couldn't afford northport of course so i hoped for East Northport- then we got lucky and found our house!

Re: How did you settle on a town to live in???

We knew we were looking for a quiet, picturesque neighborhood and that's what we got. I did not want to be near any stores or anything. We looked at the schools, proximity to the train station and also spoke with the neighbors - that's important!

Re: How did you settle on a town to live in???

Re: How did you settle on a town to live in???

I also heard that you should goto the polics station and ask about the area, and also the food stores to see the typs of people that come into the stores.
Scott

Re: How did you settle on a town to live in???

Re: How did you settle on a town to live in???

We chose an area that I knew very well. We're buying in Nesconset- Smithtown Schools which was very important to us. Even if your kids aren't going to go to public school, SD is VERY important for re-sale value.

Re: How did you settle on a town to live in???

We chose based on where on LI we wanted to be north shore, south shore, Nassau, Suffolk

Then we looked at the SD's and what we could afford.

Re: How did you settle on a town to live in???

I started with the LIRR schedule! From that I looked at towns with houses in our range and school districts. I always thought i would live on North Shore from that. Then we drove around towns to get feels for them. Well wound up I didn't feel the North Shore towns we looked at. So then we started looking elsewhere and I liked Garden City, South Merrick/Bellmore. (I liked others like Syosset and S.Massapequea but they were over our limit on LIRR commute time.) Wound up in South Bellmore.

Re: How did you settle on a town to live in???

we were pretty set on the north shore - then we went with SDs (b/c we planned on selling within 5 years, and wanted to make sure that we attracted buyers when that time comes)

we didn't wipe out anywhere because of taxes, but considered them when looking at house prices. (higher taxes, less house)

I wanted to be a little closer to the water (within blocks, we are now 2 miles away), but the deal and lot were too good to pass up