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Long Island is definitely a great place to live, but I will agree that it has become one of the most expensive places inthe country to live. Property taxes are becoming insane and it is cheaper to build up on your house than to buy a resale these days. For a real decent house in a good school district, you are looking at a price of at least $425K. Some North Shore towns I'd suggesst are Smithtown, Northport, East Northport, Commack, Hauppague and Kings Park.
South Shore, I'd suggest: Oakdale, Sayville, Bohemia, West Sayville, East Islip and West Islip.
We're actually considering moving to NC, so I understand how confusing it is to try and find the best place to live in a state you are not familiar with. Any other questions, feel free to e-mail me!!
You are right on the money with the towns you listed. I live in Hauppauge but pay Smithtown taxes and it keeps going up year after year. And it is cheaper these days to extend your own house versus the purchase of a resale. And we are also moving to NC the end of the summer. Good luck with whatever you decide.
I'm a teacher on Long Island, have lived here my entire life, and have moved all around.
It's really not a pleasant place to live, overall.
The real problem is that the negative comments you read are true -- at least in part -- and the positive ones are trending toward the negative.
Problems:
1) House prices have gone through the roof and taken taxes with them.
Middle class: expect $400,000, and $10,000 taxes. That's a small lot with 2-3 bedrooms.
2) Traffic: rush hour lasts 10 hours per day (true) and you constantly sit in traffic.
3) Stereotypes: the stereotypes that really ruin this place aren't racial, but class. This is truly the land of conspicuous consumerism. People compromise quite a bit to have "things." Yeas, 30 year olds live at home because of costs -- some of them frivolous, some of them bc housing is insane.
4) Attitudes: yes, they are rude and hostile. To degres, of course, but always, my fiancee and I are fascinated by the way the rest of the country behaves when we are elsewhere.
5) Costs: Car insurance is phenomenally expensive. Even groceries cost more here than elsewhere. Gas, too.
6)The upsides of LI -- culture, things to do -- are truly disappointing. Movies, bowling, beaches, malls -- all crowded and filled with obnoxious loud aggressive people. Culture? You have to go to NYC: 1 hour away - expensive train, tolls, gas, parking, etc.
I've lived and travelled elsewhere (Northern VA, FL, Boston, Iowa, upstate NY) and LI is simply one of the most disappointing places in this country.
I was born and raised in Port Jeff ( I now live in Pittsburgh ) One thing to remember about LI, there is only one way in and one way out - it's an island. If that doesn't bother you, I'm sure the traffic will. The housing is exspensive and you get an old style Levitown looking house - not a lot for your money. LI is a good place to visit but not a great place to live - one of the reasons I left. Port Jefferson Harbor was a great place to live but it's sooooo touristy now. It's a shame.
I was born and raised in Port Jeff ( I now live in Pittsburgh ) One thing to remember about LI, there is only one way in and one way out - it's an island. If that doesn't bother you, I'm sure the traffic will. The housing is exspensive and you get an old style Levitown looking house - not a lot for your money. LI is a good place to visit but not a great place to live - one of the reasons I left. Port Jefferson Harbor was a great place to live but it's sooooo touristy now. It's a shame.
I lived in Port Jeff in '97 and at the time my husband was commuting to Lake Success. Well, what should be just a 10-15 min drive from the end of the Northern State, thru Route 347 and down to Port Jeff turned into a 45 min halt and that's not even during the summer time when (as you mentioned), the tourists heading down. So we ended up moving further west just for that reason. When I visit my parents in Queens, I have to leave no later than 12:30pm in order to try and avoid the traffic that builds up on the highways heading to and thru Long Island.
A good friend of mine grew up and still lives in the town of Rockville Centre. I've visited her a few times there and fell in love with the town. Assuming I could afford it, if I were to live anywhere on Long Island, it would be Rockville Centre. Granted, I have a "visitor's" perspective as opposed to that of a resident. It's very quaint, unique, has a nice walkable downtown and has a strong sense of community. It's located on the South Shore of Long Island in Nassau County, around 20 miles from Manhattan, not too far from JFK Airport, or Jones Beach for that matter. Crime is low and the schools are good (the high school is one of the top-rated in the country and has an International Baccalaureate Program). I'm sure the cost of living has shot through the roof in recent years. I don't know the specifics for housing costs or taxes, but I do know that both of my friend's parents were public school teachers and able to live comfortably there on that salary. Of course, like many residents, they also have lived there for at least 30 years and most likely bought their home for a fraction of it's current value. I know that teachers up there who have been with the same school for a long period of time can earn upwards of $80,000 a year, which seems insane to me (in a good way) as I don't think veteran teachers here in the DC area where cost of living is similar, earn only around $35,000 to start off, and even the 20, 30, 40 year veterans I don't think clear $60,000, maybe not even $50,000.
I've also always found people on Long Island, and in New York as a whole to be incredibly friendly, going against the stereotype. I don't know where the whole idea of Southern hospitality took hold, because I've found people in the South to be among the most hostile and unfriendly whereas people from the Northeast have been incredibly hospitable, bucking the assumption. Maybe I'm just weird though?
with the previous posting. I was born and lived on Long Island for fifty plus years and I couldn't wait to leave. Ever-escalating taxes, promises from governors and local officials about better roads, lower taxes, etc. were all empty promises.
Long Island friendliness: A short while before I moved from Long Island, I was in line at a deli to pay for my food. I thought a friend of mine was a few people up the line. As I approached him I said , "Hey, how's it going?" but at that moment I realized it wasn't my friend, but rather someone who looked like him.
This man looked at me gave me an "only on Long Island" answer: "What do you want to know for?" Very friendly.
Endless and increasing traffic on a constantly under construction Expressway, stratospheric electrical rates plus threats of brownouts due to NIMBY-ism (Not In My Back Yard) attitudes that discourage construction of new generating facilities, garbage disposal problems and prohibitive transportation costs made me close up my business and move it out taking jobs and taxes with it.
After I moved I received a letter from the NY Department of Motor Vehicles stating that if I didn't pay a parking ticket I got on the day I was actually moving out, they were going to tow my car away and refuse to renew my car registration. I took that letter, framed it and hung it over my desk where I proudly display it today. It's a long way to tow it back to NY.
I had enough. I live better and less expensively here and many of my relatives are throwing in the towel too. I heard promises from the politicians for decades. It'll never get better.
Is everyone moving to NC? Please don't. People in NY and NJ are way nicer than people here. When will you people understand that life is not better in Florida and NC? A little snow comes to NY and half the state moves south. You ruin your own state by decreasing the population, and then ruined NC by increasing the population tenfold in a few decades. Then you blame the lack of jobs. Wake up, people. Jobs go where the people go, not the other way around. Do you know how many people I know here from NY?! And they all complain that they want to go back. Taxes too high? Stand up to your representatives and tell them to lower taxes. Most people would rather run from their problems. They run from a world class area like NY to some filled-in swamp in Florida, land of alligators, relentless heat, fire ants, roaches, hurricanes, and the flattest most boring landscape in America. Not to mention that the people are dumber than a box of rocks. I've spent half my life here in NC, and I can tell you, they don't want anymore Yankees here. They have become rude, inconsiderate, and they claim to be moral, but most of it is based on a bad fundamentalist version of a good religion. You think you are moving away from crime, immorality, and bad values by moving to NC, think again. There's plenty of strip bars, lewdness, and immorality here. They just go to church on Sunday to be forgiven. I'll take the realness of NY any day.
And I suspect, in the coming years, as the earth gets hotter from global warming, you will see a major reverse trend back to the northeast. Buy your house now!
Wow... Forrest Gump, I agree 100% and have said the same thing many times. Well not 100% I moved from Upstate NY to Raleigh NC 11 years ago and feel the same way, that many people are too whiny about cold weather..... but I don't think it's fair to stereotype all of the native NC and FL people as idiots. Not even ALL of the northerners moving south. I don't see a major shift back to the Northeast, not by a longshot. But I definitely see the "new south-aholicism" dying out and the growth in the south leveling off. And I do see somewhat significant resurgence of the Northeast, with people valuing their family and heritage more than cheap land and warmer weather, and moving home to take car of elderly parents, or raise their kids where they were raised and all that good stuff though. We just have to see how things will play out.
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I must respectfully disagree
