cjbell

I'm at the 13 year mark of living out here in Long Island.

I currently own a house in the Sachem school district, and commute to the city from the Ronkonkoma train station, which is a 10 minute drive. Train journey times into Manhattan range from 1 hr 10, to roughly 1hr 30 depending on number of stops. Trains are much slower than UK considering the distance. Area is relatively safe. UPS drivers leave packages by the front door and they are not stolen.

Long Island is very segregated around school districts. A large majority of local taxes that property holders pay are school taxes. Nearly every town will have it's own school district. This enables the wealthiest districts to keep their school dollars in their own towns. Some towns here have an issue with gang violence. (MS-13) However this is generally concentrated around youth in towns with larger hispanic populations.

Around here $3.5K would be enough to pay mortgage/taxes on a 3 bedroom house. You should be able to find 2 bedroom apartments easily in your budget. Things get more rural as you go further east. We have the pine baron out there where construction is more limited. North side of the island is more hilly versus the south. If you want to travel being nearer one of the east-west routes, such as LIE, Southern parkway, Northern parkway will enable you to get around easier.

Hope this helps and good luck with your re-location!

Hotscot

I enjoy visiting L.I. (Brookhaven).
But what's the pine baron? Are you referring to the wooded areas?

cjbell

Correct, I mis-spelt in my previous post. They are called the Pine Barrens. I can't paste a link to the details as I don't have the post count but you can google. Essentially construction is restricted that prevents the natural urban sprawl that would have occurred otherwise.

Hotscot

That's interesting...I've noticed in the past few years a whole bunch of new construction near Brookhaven in what looked to me a previously wooded area...

https://www.thereserveny.com/?utm_source=GoogleLocalListing&utm_medium=organic

It's a lovely area and if I was moving there I'd consider them.

Riverhead and Hamptons in convenient driving distance.

Not so close to the MS-13 terrorists.

cjbell

That area is part of what they call compatible growth area. Within that limited environmentally compatible development is allowed. There is also the core preservation area where no new construction is allowed.

cjbell

Think I have enough posts now to show a view of this area.

Hotscot

Cheers...
Did you find a cider?