[basehead617]

Originally Posted by nep321

. The median home value in FFC is $478K, but only $395K in Boston metro.

I think you'll find that looking at it this way is very misleading. What brings down the Boston area median are the large working class towns like I mentioned. Places you definitely will not be satisfied with. FFC doesn't have much comparable. The desirable towns are likely the same. Weston, Dover, etc have similar median home prices to Greenwich/Darien/New Canaan (well over $1 million). Most of the other western outer suburbs like Wayland, Lincoln, Wellesley etc are not at all affordable. Could you afford to live in Lynn? Yes, but it's an awful place you'd never choose. Some possibilities might be places like Dedham or Framingham. More middle class and more affordable but still close enough to the city and job areas.

One thing I have noticed is how disappointed people are when looking at all but the top tier towns in the area... Given that you are very picky, I suspect if you toured around with a realtor you wouldn't be too impressed. A lot of the middling towns don't have much to recommend them, and I think there's something about the harsh weather that makes places look a little more beaten up than CT.

I'm interested in hearing what you think about towns in the area if you visit. Personally I'd live in Concord if money were no object. It's absolutely gorgeous.

[kidyankee764]

Originally Posted by basehead617

I think you'll find that looking at it this way is very misleading. What brings down the Boston area median are the large working class towns like I mentioned. Places you definitely will not be satisfied with. FFC doesn't have much comparable. The desirable towns are likely the same. Weston, Dover, etc have similar median home prices to Greenwich/Darien/New Canaan (well over $1 million). Most of the other western outer suburbs like Wayland, Lincoln, Wellesley etc are not at all affordable. Could you afford to live in Lynn? Yes, but it's an awful place you'd never choose. Some possibilities might be places like Dedham or Framingham. More middle class and more affordable but still close enough to the city and job areas.

One thing I have noticed is how disappointed people are when looking at all but the top tier towns in the area... Given that you are very picky, I suspect if you toured around with a realtor you wouldn't be too impressed. A lot of the middling towns don't have much to recommend them, and I think there's something about the harsh weather that makes places look a little more beaten up than CT.

I'm interested in hearing what you think about towns in the area if you visit. Personally I'd live in Concord if money were no object. It's absolutely gorgeous.

Yes but the uber wealthy towns in the Boston area are far smaller in population than Greenwich, Darien, New Canaan, Westport, Wilton. By a lot. These towns are more in line with Weston, CT and Redding. And Fairfield County has Bridgeport, Norwalk and Danbury (all medium sized cities) bringing down averages.

There are a lot of nice, affordable, middle class towns in the Boston area. A lot. Halifax, Abington, Weymouth, Framingham, Waltham, Natick, Medford, Winthrop, Billerica...You don't really have that in and around Fairfield County.

[KaoCT]

Originally Posted by kidyankee764

Sigh...here we go.

lol that's exactly what I thought too.

[Stylo]

basehead, I think you are missing the bigger picture. Boston has those working class towns where you can buy a decent place for the money. Lower FFC does not have that luxury. Even Norwalk and Stamford are very expensive. And commuting from any reasonable distance becomes a more difficult task than in the Boston area. It's a matter of the accessibility to affordable housing that the Boston metro area bests lower FFC.

[kidyankee764]

Originally Posted by Stylo

basehead, I think you are missing the bigger picture. Boston has those working class towns where you can buy a decent place for the money. Lower FFC does not have that luxury. Even Norwalk and Stamford are very expensive. And commuting from any reasonable distance becomes a more difficult task than in the Boston area. It's a matter of the accessibility to affordable housing that the Boston metro area bests lower FFC.

Absolutely.

[basehead617]

...whereas I think you guys are missing the point, which is that I doubt nep would EVER want to live in any of those affordable working class towns. Let's be real.

Also, some of the wealthy towns are small, but e.g. Wellesley is larger than both New Canaan and Darien.

[kidyankee764]

Originally Posted by basehead617

...whereas I think you guys are missing the point, which is that I doubt nep would EVER want to live in any of those affordable working class towns. Let's be real.

Why? Some of those towns are very nice. You're suggesting towns that are among the wealthiest in the nation. That's like saying Nep would only want to live in New Canaan, and not Milford. Right now, he lives in Plainville and lived in Vernon and Middletown previously.

Just being real...

Originally Posted by basehead617

Also, some of the wealthy towns are small, but e.g. Wellesley is larger than both New Canaan and Darien.

Again, you're missing the point. SW CT has many larger (15k +) towns that are among the wealthiest in the country. The Boston area has a few, and most are very small towns.

[basehead617]

... and I suggested a few middle of the road places. Most people would probably be fine with them - let's just say nep has ......a more refined palette

I'm interested in hearing his thoughts if he does visit, if he is actively looking and serious and not just posting to post. Trying to provide helpful information here.

I also don't like to concede things that give the wrong impression.. there aren't a couple well off towns amid a middle class landscape in that area.

In the greater Boston area - Wellesley, Weston, Dover, Carlisle, Boxford, Sherborn, Sudbury, Winchester, Concord, Lexington, Newton and Wayland ALL have incomes with a median over $150k and a total population of nearly 300,000. There are only 6 towns in Connecticut (FFC) in that group totaling about 100,000 people.. throw in Greenwich/Redding/Ridgefield and you're still under 200,000 people.

There is probably more extreme wealth in total in a few towns in CT - all I'm saying is that it's still extremely expensive to live in a desirable town in the Boston area. I would not think of it as a step down from FFC (and I have lived in both for long periods of time).

I agree that there are a higher number of affordable towns in the Boston area, there are simply way more towns to choose from - period. Many of the affordable ones are actually quite poor though, with all the associated issues.

[Wilton2ParkAve]

I'm not sure what you mean by "throwing in Greenwich, Redding and Ridgefield?" Each of those towns already have a median household income well above 100,000. Also FWIW, Wellesley, Boxford, Winchester, Concord, Lexington are between 100 & 150k per the ACS Survey 2009.

I saw the Boston.com article which quoted much higher incomes, but failed to provide a source. If we want to cherry pick, a few annual top towns list in Money Magazine provided an alternative median income which put 5 towns in Fairfield County above the 200k figure. However I'm a bit leery of either source, since I can't arrive at a similar figure from census data.

[kidyankee764]

Originally Posted by Wilton2ParkAve

I'm not sure what you mean by "throwing in Greenwich, Redding and Ridgefield?" Each of those towns already have a median household income well above 100,000. Also FWIW, Wellesley, Boxford, Winchester, Concord, Lexington are between 100 & 150k per the ACS Survey 2009.

I saw the Boston.com article which quoted much higher incomes, but failed to provide a source. If we want to cherry pick, a few annual top towns list in Money Magazine provided an alternative median income which put 5 towns in Fairfield County above the 200k figure. However I'm a bit leery of either source, since I can't arrive at a similar figure from census data.

Bingo.

Basehead - if nep has a "refined palette", he won't be happy anywhere in the Northeast. But you can't cherry pick certain towns when comparing MSA to MSA. The point here is that he'll be able to get (a lot) more for his money in decent, safe towns outside Boston than he will in Fairfield County. Period.