Queens or Five Towns

amother

Linen

Thu, Jun 08 2017, 9:48 am

We currently live in Brooklyn. Dh was learning in Kollel here and just got a job in Queens. I work twice a week from home and twice a week in the city. There is really no reason for us to be in Brooklyn anymore and I would love a house and more of a community. I am really not familiar with either area. From what I hear on this site Queens is pretty unaffordable and not very spacious yet it seems like a simpler area than the five towns. A lot of people my age range from Brooklyn are moving out to Inwood and buying houses for under 500-600k. How far is the commute from Queens to Five Towns? How far is the commute from both places to the city? Which area makes more sense for us to move to? Is there any other communities where I can buy a house for 500-600k that would be under an hour commute for both of us?

amother

Saddlebrown

Thu, Jun 08 2017, 10:10 am

hi I live in queens
queens is the best place for commuting to the city- the subway is one short bus ride away, there are express buses that go straight also...w no traffic in a car you could be in the city in 25 minutes..

queens to the 5ts can be anywhere from 25 minutes with no traffic to an hour , the van wyck could have reaally bad traffic..
the 5ts has the LIRR train, which is great, but can be $$$ and takes prob an hour to get to the city.

in terms of housing, ya queens has become really expensive. your looking at small 3 bedroom houses for 700-800's..(insane, I know)
but many people choose to live here bc as you said it is a much simpler life here, all diff types of ppl live here and bh (I think) the schools are pretty good.

in terms of community, so far my experience is that in big frum areas it can be hard at the beginning to find your group..(at least for us it was) and feel part of the community...

amother

Apricot

Thu, Jun 08 2017, 12:50 pm

Queens is great but like everyone said unaffordable. You wont be able to touch a semi attached house thats 3-4 bedrooms under 800k. Its commutable but not that great. It takes my husband an hour and 15 min to commute to midtown between the bus and train. Schools here are fantastic and I know they work with kollel/chinuch families for tuition. Tuition is around 10-12k per kid if you both work.
From what I heard, Inwood is rising closer to 600k amd that is also for small, simple homes. Very nice community. 5 towns in general is extremely fancy and has a strong keeping up pressure. It is also really pricey now and I doubt u can buy anything decent for under 600-
Keep in mind taxes are very high. Another option u may want to consider is west hempstead which is a suburb of queenS. It is a warm, diverse community with many frum queens couples moving put bec it has busing to schools. You can def find in that price range

amother

Mistyrose

Thu, Jun 08 2017, 1:23 pm

I grew up in Queens and I now live in the 5 Towns.

Different neighborhoods have different characters, so we may be able to help you more if you describe yourself and your hashkafa.

The truth of the matter is that the more you want to be in the center of things then the more it will cost you. Housing on the outskirts tends to cost less, but it's a trade-off.

Someone mentioned that in Queens you wouldn't need a car. That's not entirely correct. You can maybe manage without a car in KGH if you live near Main Street, but otherwise you definitely need one. Public transportation in Queens is decent, but unless you move to Forest Hills or Kew Gardens you will need to take a bus to the subway which will obviously add time to your commute. Public transportation on Long Island is even less ideal. There's the LIRR, of course, which is much more expensive than the subway. It helps to live within walking distance of a station because otherwise you need a station car or to take a taxi or depend on getting rides.

I think tuitions may be slightly cheaper in Queens, but it all depends on which schools you choose. There's a pretty good selection in both Queens and the 5 Towns. Some may be harder to get into than others though, not because of narishkeit but because of space issues.

The 5 Towns does have a reputation for gashmiyus, which was a concern for us when we moved here. We've found that it really depends on the people you make friends with and the values you raise your children with.

amother

Sapphire

Thu, Jun 08 2017, 1:48 pm

amother wrote:

I mentioned about the car. We lived in KGH for years and I never bothered to even get a license. It was so easy living without a car that I never once thought "I should get a license because things would be a lot easier if I could drive". I only learned to drive when we moved to the 5 towns. Bus to the train was not a huge deal, and the express buses are convenient if you're going to that part of the city.
And about the gashmiyus, yeah it's not every single person but it does permeate the general sevivah and unfortunately I found it very difficult to find like-minded people there. I had a very hard time making any friends and it was hard to keep my kids from caring about certain things. We ended up moving after a year and a half because I couldn't take it anymore. I think it's important that anyone considering moving to the 5 towns should be aware that it mostly does live up to the reputation and to keep that in mind. If you're into that sort of thing, you'll do great. Moving there expecting to keep marching to your own beat and still have a social life is not so realistic.

amother

Linen

Thu, Jun 08 2017, 1:58 pm

amother wrote:

I grew up in Queens and I now live in the 5 Towns.

Different neighborhoods have different characters, so we may be able to help you more if you describe yourself and your hashkafa.

We are a family with three kids. Oldest one is going to Kindergarden next year. We currently live in Midwood (Flatbush) and are very happy type wise. DH learned five years now going to work. I would consider myself open minded yeshivish and I am definitely not fancy. No TV and non jewish movies in my house. We keep CY. Not super yeshivish DH does not wear hat and jacket every time he leaves house and no Peyos behind ears.