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Old 01-08-2011, 10:53 AM
 
Location: N. Colorado
345 posts, read 910,987 times
Reputation: 286

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LoL that SW/SE CT does not help my sense of direction. Born and raised in NY and any which way you faced me I would say North lol. Here it is so easy due to the mountains. I always know which direction I am facing.
Is the Hampton area Northern CT?

Oh yes I have pets and livestock. Dogs, cats, goats and poultry. Our Humane Societies do not spay or neuter so it has to be from a vet. Prices for it vary from $60 to spay a little dog up to $120 to spay a larger dog for the cheaper vets. There are of course more expensive ones. There is a mobile van that does cheap spays/neuter for $50 but they never come around here. Rabies $10 other shots cost more. Adopting a dog from the Humane Society is now ridiculous, they are charging $395 to adopt a small breed dog. Large breeds around $150. No license required in the country so I do not have to worry about that. All my dogs are already chipped. Lots of shots and some vet things I take care of myself. Livestock vets are really expensive here, farm charge $50, plus exam fee $50-75, plus any work they do.

Pros and Cons all the way around. I pay more for the trees, ocean, being close to family and friends, having four seasons, buying less hay since it is not brown and dead with snow on and off from Sept till April. Or I pay less and stay here where I am familar with the area know what the costs are of living here, am use to high altitude cooking and etc.
I extensively looked into moving to VA and I really do not like it there to live, visit yes. Pretty but I do not like the way it is laid out, town after town of nothing the further South you go. Seems like a depressed area till you hit the actual VA Beach area. I am not a History buff and I have never lived in a state that "lost the war". Plus running up to NY really would not be a day trip. Even on the express train it takes 3 to 3 1/2 hours just to get to Grand Central. The cost of living calculator claimed it would be 11% more expensive to live there. Been there twice last year and priced everything I could think of, calculator again seems off.

Another pro to going back is I would never ever have to again say no mustard on my burger, that is beyond gross! lol
Combo meal here costs around $5.95 for the small size which is the old med
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Old 01-08-2011, 12:55 PM
 
Location: New England
8,155 posts, read 20,934,377 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gmm_24 View Post
Another pro to going back is I would never ever have to again say no mustard on my burger, that is beyond gross! lol
If that's worth a 9 grand increase in property taxes go ahead with your bad self.
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Old 01-08-2011, 09:34 PM
 
Location: Connecticut
34,700 posts, read 56,496,602 times
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There are similar deals here for spray and neutering. Jay
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Old 01-08-2011, 11:37 PM
 
Location: Texas
2,394 posts, read 4,067,225 times
Reputation: 1411
Quote:
Originally Posted by DandJ View Post
Does CT have higher vet care costs too?
Any kind of personal or professional service in Fairfield Country (if not all of CT) is quite expensive. The providers have to take in enough to pay their mortgage and taxes and gasoline and heating oil and ... at Fairfield County rates.
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Old 01-09-2011, 05:35 AM
 
Location: Central CT, sometimes FL and NH.
4,498 posts, read 6,742,509 times
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Originally Posted by HeadedWest View Post
Any kind of personal or professional service in Fairfield Country (if not all of CT) is quite expensive. The providers have to take in enough to pay their mortgage and taxes and gasoline and heating oil and ... at Fairfield County rates.
The OP mentioned they were looking in the Deep River area. The general costs of living in that area are not comparable to Fairfield County. Nearly everything is more expensive in Fairfield County. Deep River has homes offered in a wide range of prices.

Here is one the OP may have been referring to in the $150k range:

207 Warsaw Street Deep River CT Home for Sale - Real Estate - MLS #G561076 - Realtor.com®

If you ever watch House Hunters on HG TV you will see that some of the homes in Connecticut are surprisingly reasonable compared to what you get in other parts of the country. I recently watched an episode where the buyers were looking in a Denver suburb. The houses were small and nothing fancy. They needed updates. They were all $400k+. I instantly associated them with homes 1/2 that price here in Connecticut in a number of different locations.

Not everyone is looking for the McMansion, classic Tudor, or looking to live in Fairfield, Darien, or Greenwich.
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Old 01-09-2011, 06:24 AM
 
5,064 posts, read 15,845,295 times
Reputation: 3571
Quote:
Originally Posted by gmm_24 View Post
Prices for it vary from $60 to spay a little dog up to $120 to spay a larger dog for the cheaper vets. There are of course more expensive ones. There is a mobile van that does cheap spays/neuter for $50 but they never come around here. Rabies $10 other shots cost more. Adopting a dog from the Humane Society is now ridiculous, they are charging $395 to adopt a small breed dog. Large breeds around $150. No license required in the country so I do not have to worry about that. All my dogs are already chipped.
I have shopped around, but prices are very high in my area of Fairfield County. I recently spent $500 to have our 42 lb. puppy spayed and microchipped. She did stay overnight. That includes pre-op bloodwork. The cheapest vet (and I called several!) wanted $400, some wanted upwards of $600. I don't think there are any mobile spay/neuter services for dogs in Ct., only cats. The cheapest I found was at the Ct. Humane Society, "only" charging $138 for a puppy that size. I really wanted to use a vet that I knew and trusted, though. That would have also been a bit of a drive for me, and my puppy gets horribly carsick. You can also get low-cost vaccines at the Ct. Humane Society for $14-18 each.

The Connecticut Humane Society: Spay And Neuter Fees
The Connecticut Humane Society: VaccineClinics

Rabies at the vet's office around me are $20+, as are other vaccines. I recently paid $28 for a rabies shot at our vet. Plus you have to pay an exam fee, which can range between $65-75. Sometimes local towns will have a rabies vaccination day charging around $20. Petco has low-cost vaccine days occasionally, with the "core" package price of $49. I took our cat there once, and spent well over two hours in line waiting, though.

Adoption fees vary around the state. Some places charge less than $100 for a dog, some over $300. But that generally includes the cost of spaying/neutering/vaccines. I do think most towns/cities require an annual license for your dog, but that will run less than $10 a year.

Regarding the price of homes, I looked through the OP's recent posts. I gather he is looking for several acres? That will dramatically raise the cost of a home/taxes.
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Old 01-09-2011, 06:37 AM
 
Location: New England
8,155 posts, read 20,934,377 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Lincolnian View Post
The OP mentioned they were looking in the Deep River area. The general costs of living in that area are not comparable to Fairfield County. Nearly everything is more expensive in Fairfield County. Deep River has homes offered in a wide range of prices.

Here is one the OP may have been referring to in the $150k range:

207 Warsaw Street Deep River CT Home for Sale - Real Estate - MLS #G561076 - Realtor.com®

If you ever watch House Hunters on HG TV you will see that some of the homes in Connecticut are surprisingly reasonable compared to what you get in other parts of the country. I recently watched an episode where the buyers were looking in a Denver suburb. The houses were small and nothing fancy. They needed updates. They were all $400k+. I instantly associated them with homes 1/2 that price here in Connecticut in a number of different locations.

Not everyone is looking for the McMansion, classic Tudor, or looking to live in Fairfield, Darien, or Greenwich.
I looked at that house as a possible remodel/addition project. Disaster, and a candidate for gut and remodel. Never got far enough for a well or septic inspection, but both are over 50 years old. It's also on a very busy main road with a shared non paved driveway. The town will not allow subdivision of the lot so the extra property is just an honorable mention and more to maintain.

Those are the type of houses you bump into in this state for < 220K that are not in a "city" like Meriden, Bristol, Manchester, New Britian etc. Trust me, I've been looking hard for the past 6 months or so and that's pretty much the deal. Buy a house for 180-220K and dump another 50K into it to bring the mechanicals and asthetics up to par and still have a <1500sf house in the end. Either that, or it's a short sale/foreclosure which all but eliminates any FHA backing and adds a ton of red tape IF you can get the house at all and it STILL needs work. (A recent example would be a RR house in Colchester we looked at for 219K that was in good shape. 80's kitchen and bath included. ) They short sale'd the house so hard, the bank almost laughed.

The difference in the Denver example is the neighborhoods are more akin to West Hartford than bumblebutt east egypt. They are in areas going through a lot of gentrification, and there are not nearly as many older "craftsman" style houses so they have more "value". (That ranch above is not one either. It's just a cheap, basic house from 1940.)

I'm not trying to bag on this state, I'm just coming to the reality that there is an entry fee to get out of the cities no matter how you slice it and that's around 300K give or take 25K. Or as I said in the past, you live in a 50-60 year old home with a "cheap" mortgage and let it drain you dry via repairs and updates slowly.
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Old 01-09-2011, 08:57 AM
 
Location: Central CT, sometimes FL and NH.
4,498 posts, read 6,742,509 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JViello View Post
I looked at that house as a possible remodel/addition project. Disaster, and a candidate for gut and remodel. Never got far enough for a well or septic inspection, but both are over 50 years old. It's also on a very busy main road with a shared non paved driveway. The town will not allow subdivision of the lot so the extra property is just an honorable mention and more to maintain.

Those are the type of houses you bump into in this state for < 220K that are not in a "city" like Meriden, Bristol, Manchester, New Britian etc. Trust me, I've been looking hard for the past 6 months or so and that's pretty much the deal. Buy a house for 180-220K and dump another 50K into it to bring the mechanicals and asthetics up to par and still have a <1500sf house in the end. Either that, or it's a short sale/foreclosure which all but eliminates any FHA backing and adds a ton of red tape IF you can get the house at all and it STILL needs work. (A recent example would be a RR house in Colchester we looked at for 219K that was in good shape. 80's kitchen and bath included. ) They short sale'd the house so hard, the bank almost laughed.

The difference in the Denver example is the neighborhoods are more akin to West Hartford than bumblebutt east egypt. They are in areas going through a lot of gentrification, and there are not nearly as many older "craftsman" style houses so they have more "value". (That ranch above is not one either. It's just a cheap, basic house from 1940.)

I'm not trying to bag on this state, I'm just coming to the reality that there is an entry fee to get out of the cities no matter how you slice it and that's around 300K give or take 25K. Or as I said in the past, you live in a 50-60 year old home with a "cheap" mortgage and let it drain you dry via repairs and updates slowly.
I don't disagree with you. I've done plenty of rehabs myself. West Hartford homes are definitely premium priced in many areas. Now the Park Road area is seeing a gentrification as many people (as well as many looking on this site) have targeted it as a community to move in to.

I like West Hartford but I personally believe it is a little too over-hyped and the discussions about it are not always honest. The schools are good but are not of equal quality throughout the town. Many people talk about the walkability of the downtown and the new-urbanist qualities however many who move there find that it is too pricey to shop there on a regular basis.

You're right. Good houses under $200 in highly desirable communities are hard to find. They are there but they are smaller and often in need of work and updating. There are a few in my new hometown of Granby in that category. Some that I looked at in that price range were in decent shape but were definitely on the smaller side.

Conversely, there are some amazing houses in the Connecticut cities and towns you mentioned that in some cases are half the cost of their comparables in neighboring communities. In many cases these locations offer better schools than many places people are moving from outside of Connecticut. It's all relative.

The tax issue is what it is. If we don't like it we need to make our voices heard. The last election showed me that it's not enough of a burden for too many people since they voted in more people less likely to address the fiscal lunacy. However, it is a problem that most of the country is facing as well and at some point will be addressed.
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Old 01-09-2011, 10:15 AM
 
Location: N. Colorado
345 posts, read 910,987 times
Reputation: 286
Ahh but I do want to live near bumblebutt east egypt I have no desire to live in or very near a large city nor do I want to live near Fairfield County. While it is pretty and such the prices, taxes and etc are not want I want to pay.
It does not bother me in the least to live 100 miles or so from family and friends. Short train trip, or a 2 hour drive is much better than the distance I live now. That is like a quick trip down to the Springs for me. There are people, things and food that I am home sick for, just not sick enough to move home.

I hope the 9k in taxes you mentioned JV is for Fairfield, the realtors are listing or telling me the places I am looking at are $4-5k yearly. The house sizes are 1800-2400 sq feet, smaller then where I live now but it is 3 and 4 times the land I have which to me was worth the extra taxes to an extent I currently pay $2k a year and that is being zoned AG for a portion of the land, not house and yard. That stills pays RES. Oh and my homeowners insirance is now $3,500 a year due to a hail storm that swept through here in '09 causing 20k damage to my house. Oh your rates won't go up it it an Act of God, they told us. Yea once they figured in all the damage which was in the millions all our rates went up. I hate hail and tornados.

There is a house in an area I do not know, maybe North? lol
Does not need work, it sits on 20+ acres, taxes are $4k and the house is just under 200k. I might be 30 mins to an hour from a major city but that is fine. As long as I can get to see family, friends, eat Pizza, Dunkin Donuts, go to the ocean AND..... no mustard on my burgers lol, it may be worth it. That kind of house with that much land, for that price is not available here unless you truly live in out in the boonies, like way out East, or far to the South. Areas I would never live in since nothing, nothing is out there. Your boonies is not like our boonies. Miles and miles of nothing. Another major problem here is water, or lack thereof. The state sells lots of it to AZ and Cali so we are told we are in a drought many years, they make it illegal to catch rainwater and etc. Every place has issues, no state is perfect.

I appreciate all this info, it is helpful to me.
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Old 01-09-2011, 11:15 AM
 
Location: New England
8,155 posts, read 20,934,377 times
Reputation: 3338
Quote:
Originally Posted by gmm_24 View Post
I hope the 9k in taxes you mentioned JV is for Fairfield, the realtors are listing or telling me the places I am looking at are $4-5k yearly. The house sizes are 1800-2400 sq feet, smaller then where I live now but it is 3 and 4 times the land I have which to me was worth the extra taxes to an extent
Depends on where you live. High cost of living is not isolated to FFC by any stretch. My inlaws are paying almost 7K per year taxes for a 300K beach house in Clinton. My BIL is paying $9600 per year in Glastonbury for a 450K house. There really are no low tax towns in CT. Some lower than others, but not many "low". If you think you are going to find a $400K house and pay 4K a year in taxes, it's going to be a hard find. Granted, if you live in a town like Lebanon, you can probably get away with it. You also have to factor in vehicles including RV's secondary vehicles such as a plow truck or a travel trailer etc which can easily add another $1K per year.

Now they are talking about implementing a state property tax on top of it all and expect the income tax to go up to make up for budget shortfalls. (30 Billion underfunded pension fund is just a start.)

I'm not trying to scare you away, just slap a little reality your way.

I've been out your way, I know what boonies are and agree we are more condensed in that manner. Just don't think here is like there and the "boonies" are cheap. Quiet the opposite actually. The "boonies" of NW CT is very expensive because it's a weekend playground for NYC. Same for many parts of the Berkshires.

About the only place in CT that is "lower" cost of living is Northeast and parts of Eastern CT.

That whole water thing is what steered me way from CO.

P.S. You do realize they put mustard on burgers everwhere right? "no mustard please" is not that hard to say.
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