I need an intervention and I need one fast. It seems that someone has been serving me the crazy juice that all Long Islanders drink. The one that allows them to rationalize living here and paying the high housing costs and the high taxes. No, this is not another post bashing Long Island since it seems I am destined to live here. This post is to help me verbalize my thoughts so that I can maybe figure out WHERE I want to live. How do I know what’s important to me? I can’t have it all…so what wants stay and which ones go? The same theme keeps coming out though….Location, Location, Location.
So my dream is of a bigish house. Not massive (I’m not delusional) but a place where I don’t feel cramped, and all my stuff has a space. Not only do I want the house, but I want that house to have a nice yard. A yard that my son has room to run in. On top of that? I want that house to be in a good town/neighborhood. Sounds easy enough…but it’s not. Not here. I have so many ideas in my head as to what makes a good house, and after a bunch of research it seems that I am not going to get everything I want.
The town I currently live in is a good one. Good schools, and good reputation, and best of all….not much in my life would have to change if we found a house here. My friends would be the same distance, I could shop at the same grocery store, and The Captain and in laws can easily help me keep my work appointments and personal appointments by continuing to come over to watch the little man. Sounds perfect right? WRONG! This town is an expensive one. The house we can afford here will NOT be a big one. It will be a nice..modest house…with a small yard. So if we bought here I would get the location I want, but not the house I want.
I could go a little east. Not too far east, but enough to give us more house for our money. This town is also a good town with good schools. Only problem is that the town is HUGE and the houses we can afford run along the border, and this border is right next to some not so good areas. Areas I wouldn’t feel safe in. Here we could probably get the house and property we want, be in a good school district, but the location is no good.
Finally, there is another eastern town which would be the farthest away. Therefore, I am not in love with the location. Here, it is looking like we could get the house we want as well as the yard we want, and be in a descent school district. Not as good as the other two, but still good. I am not very familiar with this town at all, I just know I like the bigger colonials that we could afford. I am not thrilled about the distance away. You might think…20 minutes is nothing to commute. And you’d be right…but since I count on both my husband and my mother in law to watch my son so that I can work….it may just be too far.
So I obviously can’t have it all…so what do I find the most important? Where will I be the happiest? Will I be happy with a smaller house? Or will I just feel cramped again in a few years? Will I get the bigger house and hate my town? Will I hate the distance? What will work out? How do I know? Am I drinking the Long Island Crazy juice??
Someone please tell me where I want to live. This decision seems so HUGE!
haha trust me you are not crazy! Trying to find a nice first home on LI for less then $500k is almost impossible! We are going through the same thing right now. We need a town with a good commute to the City, also has that towny feel, but also has good school districts, plus I dont really want to redo kitchen and baths right now and a yard.. Finding that all in one place for the moeny we want to spend has been near impossbile. Think we settled on Lynbrook but finding the house we want has been hard.. Its definitely a give and take but the right house for you will come along. Just gotta be patient and willing to give a little I guess. But trust me you are not alone!!!
Ugh its so frustrating! So what has to give? I guess its different for everyone right? Good luck in your search! I feel like I would feel better about mine if I just picked one area I really wanted to be in so I can compare apples to apples…but where that is I am not sure!
I would always pick location over anything else. But then that’s how I ended up in a semi-small ranch house. But do you know what? The semi-small ranch house is fine for us. I’d like to think it still would have been fine even if we’d had the family we originally planned-but maybe i’m wrong.
Our first house was really nice. It was old, it had character, and it was totally landscaped. It was also a REALLY great price. And then a cop was shot down the street and people tried to run each other with motorcycles in our street an drug dealers took up shop in the park next door (that was originally ‘so quaint’) Yeah-we sold that house post-haste. And bought a smaller, not-even-remotely-our-style house complete with green/brown wall to wall carpeting (hiding beautiful hardwood floors) and a completely turquoise kitchen (hiding nothing-it was just awful). Five years later and it is a beautiful home that I created. Small, but enough.
Good luck!
Oh and PS-good schools are REALLY important. Which is why I’d pick a cheaper, smaller house…and then have money leftover for PRIVATE school. Sorry-I’m a public school teacher. If I had a child, I’d do darn near anything to put her in private.
The story of your first house reminded me of the book Marley and me…where they bought a nice house and all of a sudden the neighborhood turned. I would hate for that to happen. As for public vs. Private schools…there are ALOT of really good public schools where I live…which is why the taxes are absolutely INSANE! It’s in those districts that I would get the smaller house. I have never been a school snob…but here, there is a big correlation between the best schools and the highest prices, and there is not much of a middle ground. alot of have and have nots…
I refuse to read or watch Marley and Me-despite the fact that I’ve actually had students hand me the book and say ‘you MUST read this’. I’m pretty confident I’d end up huddled on the floor, hugging my dogs to my chest, sobbing. ?
You most definitely would be huddled on the floor…I was…My husband walked in scared cause I was sobbing and was like…What happened??? and I just couldn’t even say. lol but definitely a good book ?