Tell me about Far Rockaway...

amother

Sun, Dec 18 2011, 3:39 pm

amother wrote:

Is it a young, growing community?

What are the pros/cons of living there?

Can you describe the "type"?

I'd be soooo grateful for any help here...

My DH grew up in FR. It's a nice community, but the prices for housing are through the roof.

In terms of type - I'd say baalhabatish/black hat open-minded for the most part, with lots of room to go both ways. It is very "in-town" in terms of materialism.

I think the young families are settling a bit out of FR - Cedarhurst, Bayswater, etc. - each are very different communities.

There are quite a few schools and shuls, tons of restaurants etc.

Perhaps people living there now could chime in to supplement.

Hatzlacha!

amother

Sun, Dec 18 2011, 3:59 pm

I live there now. im not from here though. it's nice. a lot of young couples. good schools for kids. apartments are very expensive and hard to find. houses also expensive. I agree with a previous poster that it's more of a "in-town" community than out of town. but I dont think we want to stay here for very long though...not our type really.

amother

Sun, Dec 18 2011, 4:06 pm

amother wrote:

OP here.

amother, you sound like me.

where would you move to, that is less "in-town"?

trying to explore my options here...

amother

Sun, Dec 18 2011, 7:29 pm

I live in far rockaway, and while I love it here, this in NOT the place where I see us settling. you have to spend a LOT of money and you really dont get much bang for your buck. we are currently renting a three bedroom condo- two floors plus a basement and a small yard. if we wanted to buy, it would be between 250,000-300,000 with no room for expansion. we could make the basement and garage into rooms, but then we would lose all our storage space and our play room.
the schools are great, and there are also more options in the five towns. there is one kosher grocery store here, and then more stores in the five towns. BUT I dont shop here (food, clothing, restaurants, etc are VERY expensive) tuition is also VERY high- pre 1A at darchei, for example, is 9,000+, and nursery at tag for next year is 7,000+. the 2 cheapest 3 year old play groups are 300something a month, from 9-1, with extended time for an extra fee. (the next cheapest is 420 a month, from 9-3. with the extra fee, they come out about the same.)
I love my friends and I love living here, but unfortunately I just cant afford it, even with my husband making a decent salary. (I am currently not working, although I would love to be doing something art time)

gold21

Sun, Dec 18 2011, 7:37 pm

I am also interested in hearing about far rockaway.

it sounds like its really hard to find an affordable apartment there. I wonder why...?

is the crowd in cedarhurst similar to the crowd in far rockaway? is it easier to find an apartment there?

is bayswater growing and expanding? it sounds pretty freaky in terms of crime rates... I wonder if its becoming more populated by frum families, or if its not that popular because of safety concerns...

amother

Sun, Dec 18 2011, 8:12 pm

gold21 wrote:

the newest trend I have heard about it inwood. its officially part of nassau, so youre not paying the same city things you are paying in far rockaway. but in terms of schools and shopping and stuff, you still run into the same problem you run into in far rockaway- everything is SOSOSOSO expensive!! thats one of the reasons (the main one actually) that we decided not to move there.
I dont really know much about bayswater, but it also has the same cost of living problem.

we have only dont preliminary stuff, as in talking about places, but the ones that have come up are staten island (the big draw for us is that its still NY, so in terms of getting services for our child who needs, this is a huge draw) edison, philly, pittsburgh (although we would really like to live there, my husband would not be leaving his job if/when we move, so he would be a home on the weekends husband/daddy, and im not willing to do that) twin rivers, and jackson, nj (if we could find a place for them to go to school- lakewood schools are not really an option for us)