I just thought of something:

Will the numbers work if you stretch and do both?

Antolin

Its a toss up between very good and great. Bay Terrace has some gorgeous views of the water, great shopping in the Bay Terrace Mall, Fort Totten Park, great schools like PS 209 where our kids attend, and express busses to NYC. The only thing it doesn't have is a nearby train.

Little Neck also has great schools, a walk to a nice water view in Douglaston, nearby shopping in Nassau and along Northern Blvd, and Peter Lugers and other chic shops nearby in Great Neck. But since you apparently want to rent it out and not personally enjoy the views- I would go wtih Little Neck. Why? Simple: the LIRR has a stop in Little Neck, and the MTA's ESA project will only make that more valuable in the future. Your renters more than likely will be working in Manhatten, and it will probably be easier to find people willing to shove in for a 30 minute commute to midtown than board an express bus for 1 hour.

But perhaps I am wrong, as I well could be, and since basically this is all a financial decision anyway, why not go onto Craigslist to get a feel for the asking rents of comparable properties in those two areas. If the prices for the two properties are similar, as are the number of units, the only difference would then be the amount of rent you could collect, and be taking an average on Craiglist might show you which area supports a higher rent.

My bet using this method is probably still Little Neck, but I'd be interested in knowing if I was right.

Sharon, W/o specifying the streets which comprise Bayside Terrace, I'm left w/data for the whole of Bayside making a direct comparison w/Little Neck impossible. Nonetheless, price changes for 2-4 unit homes sold in Bayside and Little Neck for the last 5 years are below. (However, w/a yearly avg sold of 80 for Bayside and just 10 for Little Neck, the Little Neck #s are skewed due to a couple of very pricey properties .)

'03 ' 04 '05 '06 ' 07
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Bayside +18.6 +9.6 + 8.8 -.05 -.05
Little Neck +22.0 +7.0 +4.8 -3.0 +36.0
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Let me know if I can be of further assistance.

GerryV
vazquezgerry@yahoo.com