[lilibrarian]

Long Islander here, desperate to relocate my family to NE. We are interested in CT and NH. I plan to poke around here more later, but I was hoping for some opinions. I graduated from Wesleyan, have family in Fairfield Cty. (Darien, Rowayton etc.), and Grandparents used to live in Stonington. Close family friends in Avon. So I'm pretty familiar with the state. But it's been awhile, so I'm kinda blurry.

Anyway, what I'm interested in is this: what is a good area of CT for a young family looking for quiet, beauty, good schools and 250K-300K for a home? Is it doable? I'm not looking for LI north, I'd like my husband (and I) to find jobs in CT. I'm a librarian (NY certified for schools) and he is an electrician, with other construction experience. So we would like a decent proximity to areas with more jobs (Hartford? New Haven?). I want a library and preferably a walkable, pretty downtown area (but being the next town over would be fine ). My husband's eventual goal is to open a Martial Arts/Kickboxing school, so we would like to be near a populous enough town/towns to draw students.

I love Eastern Ct, but is it harder to find a job? Is commuting to Hartford etc. possible? These are the things I'm blurry on, distances and such.

If anyone could pass on any older threads or other websites to help me focus my search, it would be fabulous. Thanks.

[glxyman21]

Central Connecticut in the New Haven and Hartford Counties have the most population for the state and good highway access if you're looking to opena business like you say.

All towns operate a library, so you will always find one, larger towns will obviously have bigger libraries with more selections. For a "walkable" down town area, West Hartford can't be beat. You can find a cape or older colonial for around 300K but lots are small (usually 1/4 acre). 60,000 pop

Cheshire is a nice town with larger lots, but doesn't have a true town center. A nice ranch or smaller colonial on a 1/2 acre can be found in your price range, aprox 28,000 pop.

Southington is a nice town that is putting investment in their town center with a company slated to build town houses and store fronts in the town center so it might become like West Hartford on a smaller scale. A nice ranch or smaller colonial can be had in your price on a half acre. aprox. 42,000 pop.

You can look into smaller towns like Rocky Hill and Weathersfield which are similar to one another.

All towns mentioned have good schools and easy access to I-84 or I-91

[mels]

I don't think either of you would have much trouble finding a job (I have both a librarian and an electrician in the family!). With your price range I would suggest the Hartford area as opposed to the New Haven area.

If you want quiet, nice towns, good schools, etc. for that price range, I would look east of the CT River. Towns like Colchester, Marlborough, Hebron, Bolton, and Coventry. You should be able to find a nice house on a decent sized lot (1 acre or so) in your price range. All of the towns I listed are nice towns with a more rural feel, but you are a short drive to Hartford, East Hartford, and Manchester which is the general area where job opportunities are likely. Out of those towns, Colchester has the most active walkable downtown, but in any of those towns you are a short distance from everything you need. Living along Route 2 (Colchester, Marlborough) will also open up the possibility of a short commute to Norwich and Waterford areas for work.

Just to give you an idea of commute times, with no traffic it is about 20 minutes from Marlborough to downtown Hartford, about 30 minutes from Coventry to downtown. Traffic isn't too bad, except on I-84 during the rush. It isn't NYC traffic by any means, but enough where I personally made the decision to avoid 84 for commuting when we relocated.

We ended up in Marlborough and really like it here. You can't go wrong with many of the quiet towns east of the river, and most offer more house and land for the buck than west of the river, with Glastonbury being the main exception to the rule (more of an affluent town).

[CTlibrarian]

Hi there! We have a lot in common (starting with member names!). Although my husband and I currently live in CT, we are looking to move with many of the same criteria that you have. We are focusing on the eastern suburbs of Hartford and we are also considering NH... we love the Keene area.

Anyway, to your questions. In your price range, and considering you want to live someplace unlike LI, I would suggest you consider the towns east of the CT river that Mels talked about. I think these communities will give you the New England feel you are looking for, while allowing you to be close to the amenities of Hartford.

The public library system in CT is totally de-centralized, with each town having and overseeing its own public library (it is not a county system like NY). Since you are school certified, I assume you are working or could work as a school media specialist. You will have absolutely no problem finding a job in CT; school media jobs are plentiful (I wish I were certified...) Public library jobs are a little harder to come by, especially full-time ones. But they are out there. Here's a link you might find helpful: Connecticut Library Jobs (http://www.ctlibrarians.org/ctlibs/jobs.html - broken link)

As far as your husband's dream of a martial arts school... The eastern part of CT is attracting a lot of young families looking for affordable, nice places to raise children and there is a lot of development happening in Hebron, Marlborough, Bolton, and the like. So I think that you would have a good population base from which to draw students.

[lilibrarian]

Thanks so much everybody! These sound like great suggestions and I will definitely be investigating more. I've got to say, I've been looking around the Maine, RI, NH, NJ and LI forums and so far, Ct definitely has the most enthusiastic and helpful posters. You actually like your state, for the most part! We're going to Mystic next weekend, I'll have to find a way to wend our way back through a town or two.

CTLibrarian--Thanks for the link. I've worked as a SMS, but since my children were born, I've worked part time as a children's librarian in a public library (my first love). Being a School Media Spe.is great also, though. Is it a lot of work beyond the MLS, to get certified? It's worth it, gives you more options.

Thanks again for the input. Any further suggestions welcome.

[lilibrarian]

Ooh, I'm excited! Decent amount of library jobs right now in my area.

[S2000]

Originally Posted by lilibrarian

I've been looking around the Maine, RI, NH, NJ and LI forums and so far, Ct definitely has the most enthusiastic and helpful posters. You actually like your state, for the most part!

Really??? Wow I guess that is good.

[JayCT]

Originally Posted by lilibrarian

Ooh, I'm excited! Decent amount of library jobs right now in my area.

Everyone above has made some excellent suggestions for towns. Good luck in your move. Jay

[Rich Lee]

Originally Posted by glxyman21

Cheshire is a nice town with larger lots, but doesn't have a true town center. A nice ranch or smaller colonial on a 1/2 acre can be found in your price range ($250k - $300k), aprox 28,000 pop.

Unfortunately, the part about the nice Ranch or Smaller Colonial for $250,000 - $300,000 isn't the case...

[sun]

It might take some research to find out what populated towns don't already have a martial arts school. There seems to be a fair amount of them in the Central CT area.