Help - Moving from MA to LI (Babylon, Huntington: hardwood floors, sales)

[MagicTouch]

I have received a great job offer in Amityville.

Some Background:
I currently live in Bedford, MA but have only been here since Oct '07'. Prior to that I've lived my whole life in SoCal. I am a 47 yo female and want to live in a nice and safe area. Have 3 adult sons that may visit on rare occasions (they are in the military).

What I'm looking for:
An apartment 1/1 (with garage or underground parking), W/D in unit (don't like laundry rooms) and will pay up to 2K per month. Don't want roommates or a share situation. Nice quiet neighborhood, shopping, stores and restaurants within a reasonable distance (don't mind driving to get there). I prefer a slower pace, small town feel and attitude, lived my whole life in a big town and fast paced. Have really come to enjoy living in the suburbs (rural). No more than a 45 min drive to work. Will be moving around October 1st.

Questions:

1) Where is a good place to live? I've been looking at Smithtown, Melville and Coram.

2) What is vehicle insurance costs like? (I have a 2004 Chevy Tahoe - has all the smog requirements for CA).

3) What is traffic like? I come from the LA area so I can deal with bad traffic

3) What is it like living on LI?

4) What are the winter's like?

5) I know gas prices are through the roof, what about the cost of utilities. Any approximation of what I would be looking at paying for gas, electricity, water, cable and Internet?



I have never even been to the state, so this will be my second big move in a little less than a year. I'm really excited and can't wait to visit, which will probably be late July.

Any information you can provide me with would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance!!!

[OhBeeHave]

For up to $2K/mon you could find something nice in Smithtown, Lake Grove, Nesconset, Hauppauge, Kings Park....I would steer clear of Coram.

[cottercutie]

There is nothing here like Bedford (please, LI'ers don't take it as a knock on LI, but I grew up in the area she is coming from so I'm VERY familiar with it) Bedford is beautiful. Having made a very similar move, I'd recommend sitting right where you are. Then again, coming from SoCal you may not get sticker shock like I did. And you'll be surprised at how quickly you get used to not having the traffic issues and then going back to them.

The LIE makes the merge from 128 to Rt 3/Burlington mall at rush hour on a Friday night at Christmas time look like a walk in the park. Traffic out here is insane, so are the drivers (of course, the insanity of the drivers is only slightly worse than in Boston). The term "backroads" doesn't exist out here like it does there. If you can find alternate routes to get somewhere they're just as congested as the main way.

Your car insurance will double, mostly because your policy length will shorten from 1 year to 6 months.

You're stuck on an island. And, it's flat. And, unless you go out waaaaay out east you're unlikely to find anything like the area you're in.

Your taxes will go up, both income and sales tax. You will lose the Mass deduction for half your rent on your taxes as well.

You won't have to pay excise tax. Though driving a 2004 you're probably not paying much for that anyways. It's normally new cars they slam you with for that...

You can't border hop to New Hampshire for tax free shopping.

A LIPA electric bill is at least double what a Mass Electric bill is. I paid for electric heat and hot water in my Mass apartment which was poorly insulated and had hardwood floors and over 1K sq ft and my highest bill was approx 150, including summer months. A relative here has only electric with oil heat/hw and her electric bill is about 200 month, not including summer months.

Cable is comparable, as are phone services.

Gas, groceries, clothing? All more expensive. A can of coffee in a supermarket here is like 11 bux. Remember, it's an island. And they remind you in the prices that it's an island.

It's feasible, where you are, to work within a 25-35 mile radius and have a reasonable commute. Coming out here, I accepted a job less than 20 miles away from home and wanted to slit my wrists. I used to drive 60 miles EACH WAY from the Fitchburg area to Boston via Route 2 and it took me less time (about 1 hr)!

You're also going to find that people tend to look down at renters out here. There is a severe shortage of proper apartments. There is this whole issue of illegal accessory apartments that you need to research. (or you find out the hard way like I did after the fact)

The winter IS milder here which is a plus.

There's a plethora of strip malls and malls out here. Shopping is recreation here.

You have the benefits of being close to NYC (though it's not cheap to ride the LIRR)

[OhBeeHave]

Gotta love the tax free shopping in NH! Anytime I head to VT I hop the CT river to shop in NH

Whereabout are you on LI Cotter? There are some communities on the north shore in Suffolk which are New Englandish. The north shore has hills, a sylvan feel. I was driving up some backroad from CT up to Sturbridge in Sept and some spots along the way sort of reminded me of Stony Brook.

[cottercutie]

I am on the South Shore, Babylon for now but moving to Brightwaters in 2 weeks.

There's a couple spots that have felt "homey" to me, like Sayville Village and parts of Smithtown (I think it was anyways, somewhere near there) that had a feel of New England. It's funny, there's a couple houses in Farmingdale/Amityville that really remind me of New England. They have those big, Victorian style charm about them. I think that's part of what I miss about Mass..It's not unusual to see a high ranch on the same street as a saltbox from the late 1600's or a Queen Anne Victorian mansion which houses 5 condos.. Levittown to me is odd. Capes and ranches abound.

I miss tax free shopping so much. I miss 24hr Super Walmarts. I miss being able to get in the car and just drive aimlessly and discovering some quaint little town in NH or VT or even some small antique shop in Mass......

But, there are things I do like on LI, don't get me wrong. It does have an upside. Love being close to the city. Love being close to the ocean.

But did I mention I miss tax free NH shopping???

[Glad2BHere]

I would recommend Smithtown out of all the areas you listed. Quiet areas, safe, lots of shopping, etc.- I don't know how easy you will find an apt though...many towns on LI don't have rental apts.

[I_Love_LI_but]

A lot of the suggestions and some of the places you are looking at are out in Suffolk County. Amityville is right on the border of Nassau and Suffolk. My suggestion is to LOOK CLOSE TO THE JOB. Especially with the gas prices these days ... combine that with sitting in "rush hour" (as if you can get anywhere in a rush) traffic and burning gas ... forget it!

You do not sound like the type of person that would want to live in somebody's two-family house, so you will need to find management companies of area apartment buildings. I will look for a few links to get you started and post them.

Good luck!

[I_Love_LI_but]

Fairfield Properties, Melville, NY Fairfield Properties - A full service real estate company. They have a lot of apartment complexes: Babylon, Farmingdale, West Babylon would be close to Amityville. 631-499-6660

Broadwall Management Corporation, Levittown, NY (516) 731-7441. They might have something near Amityville (eastern Nassau County/western Suffolk County of LI). The buildings I personally know of theirs are in western Nassau County.

******

Besides strictly rentals, sometimes you may be able to rent a co-op or condo apartment from the owner. That type of building would have the amenities you need. Hiring a realtor that handles the areas surrounding Amityville would be the best bet to find one.

[MagicTouch]

I really appreciate all of the information, it really helps.

Cottercutie - Yes I love it here in Bedford, but I have a contract position and they may not renew (I'm a cage rattler and they don't like that...but just doing my job the right way...lol), This new job will put me in a permanent position with a company and will require travel, which I enjoy. The money I will be getting will more than compensate me, it's a 25% increase and I already make more than enough. I'm not a shopper, but sometimes I like to go just to get out for a bit, I'm pretty much a home buddy.

I_Love_LI -_but - Thank your for that information I will check into them for rentals.

I was born and raised in LA County, so traffic...well it just is what it is. I know the gas prices are around $4.15 gal. which is about the same in CA. In CA I drove 63 miles to and from work which was about a 2 hr commute each way. So the long wait in traffic isn't unusual for me, I just want to keep it to a minimum.

I've been looking at the Avalon complexes, since I really don't like the multi-family or sharing situations. I'm not a big city girl at all, like things more rural and I stay pretty much to myself. Since I don't know a soul in NY, it's not like I will be going out, I just want a place that will give me some space and my peace. Prefer a small town, which it seemed that LI had, or so I thought. I'm not into living in sky scrappers or anything like that, prefer complexes that are no more than 4 stories. I know I won't get the view I currently have (I over look the forest through every window of my corner unit - you could hear a pin drop right now). Since I will be working for the company starting in July but won't have to live in NY till the 1st of October, that should give me plenty of time to find a place that will suit all of my needs.

I was surprised that everyone seems to agree on staying out of Coram, the Avalon complex there looks nice (on a golf course) and they are building another one that will be opening up for rental in Fall. That is why I was thinking of that area (in case anyone is familiar with there locations).

As stated I come for CA so I don't think I will have sticker shock, I'm use to LA and their prices, and I know living on Long Island will be similar in cost to living on Catalina Island (except LI is connected to the Main land where Catalina is not).

Keep the information coming in so that on my visits I will know more of what to expect and where to avoid.

Again I really appreciate the information!!!

[OnOurWayHome]

We moved here from Framingham last June.

I don't find that much of a difference in grocery prices - I mean, they're up overall anyway, but I don't think there's a big difference. Comparison-shop to find the best deals - there's a huge selection of stores here.

Sales tax is 8.375%, so almost double what you're used to.

Our auto insurance actually stayed about the same, but Framingham's was higher than Bedford's, I'm sure.

Electric is somewhat higher, but I haven't seen a huge difference.

One thing that was a pleasant surprise was the beaches. In Framingham I paid $35/year to sit on a dinky town beach on a lake. Now I live in Fort Salonga, in the town of Huntington, and have access to great beaches for $25/year. You can also get an Empire pass which gets you access to state parks for $59/year.

One thing that was AWFUL was getting my car registration transferred. I probably spent 5 hours at DMV and dealt with some truly nasty people at the DMV near Garden City. The whole process here is ridiculous. When I transferred my license I dealt with the DMV in Huntington Station, which was much smaller, more manageable, and faster. There ae so many things related to your car - insurance cards, photo inspection, registration, license - and everything is a separate process.

We have been happy with the move overall. I agree traffic is bad, but I used to take the Mass Pike to work and now I take the Northern - I don't see that it's so much worse. I remember trying to go West on the Pike the Friday before a holiday weeekend - you could be stuck for hours. I started working from home on those Fridays.

Good luck with your decision. There are some beautiful areas down here to explore.