[Stylo]

Originally Posted by BPt111

The thing people want live in premium Fairfield County towns they seeing most population growth in the state

Not all FFC towns are growing. The rural "middle" of the county is stagnant with home prices dropping.

[East of the River]

Originally Posted by BPt111

Southington, Middletown, East Hampton, West Hartford, Simbury, Farmington the towns I will choose If I move to Hartford metro area. It will take time adjust because Fairfield County, Milford, Downtown New Haven spoils you.

West Hartford offers the most similarity to Milford NH area. But value for money is better in most of the other towns you listed. Middletown is a good choice as well. My choice at that list would be East Hampton or Simsbury because I lean a bit more rural, but my wife wouldn't like it because she prefers more amenities.

[davwve]

Originally Posted by BPt111

Southington, Middletown, East Hampton, West Hartford, Simbury, Farmington the towns I will choose If I move to Hartford metro area. It will take time adjust because Fairfield County, Milford, Downtown New Haven spoils you.

I lived in lower FFC for 15 years but now resided in Southington. Wife and I will be buying another house in Hartford country (e.g. Avon, Simsbury, Suffield, etc) in the spring. There are only a small handful of things I miss about FFC, but the difference in cost and traffic make me easily forget about those things.

[JayCT]

Originally Posted by East of the River

Small houses in South Windsor, Bolton, Coventry, East Granby, Enfield.

Windsor, East Windsor, Windsor Locks, Bloomfield, Newington, Wethersfiedl, Rocky Hill, Cromwell.

$235,00 gets you 3 bedrooms and 1400-2200 sqft in many towns in Hartford region and gets you smaller houses in the better school towns.

https://www.zillow.com/homes/for_sal...mm3_crid/1_rs/

That is correct. You can get a nice little house (cape, ranch, raised ranch) in these towns. The schools are good in these towns and there are a lot of amenities (parks, shopping, entertainment, restaurants, etc.). Jay

[JayCT]

Originally Posted by BPt111

Southington, Middletown, East Hampton, West Hartford, Simbury, Farmington the towns I will choose If I move to Hartford metro area. It will take time adjust because Fairfield County, Milford, Downtown New Haven spoils you.

I am not sure you would miss as much as you think. Greater Hartford has as much as greater New Haven, if not more. There are tons of restaurants, stores and entertainment options. The only thing they don’t have is the Shoreline. I moved here from a Fairfield and do not miss much. Some food items (rye bread, thin crust pizza, NY deli) are harder to find here than there but that hardly is a deal breaker for me.

If you like a Milford, you will love West Hartford. It has a much bigger downtown area which is probably the best in the state. It also has Westfarms mall which certainly is much nicer than the Connecticut Post Mall. It is more upscale and has a nicer mix of stores. The other nice thing about West Hartford is how close it is to Hartford and all the great things that city has to offer (theaters, museums, entertainment).

Middletown also offers a lot but it is not as easily accessible to Hartford. Still though it is only 30 minutes to New Haven so not too far. The other towns on your list are smaller and more suburban so there will be less things nearby. Still they are great places to live. Jay

[LMPA]

Long article but page 8 mentions New London/Norwich as a top gainer re: jobs in 2018. I would expect that to continue into 2019.

https://assets1b.milkeninstitute.org...S-2018-WEB.pdf

[Mr_250]

Just read that Lamont wants to tax groceries.

CT had an upper hand on those dang sourthen states because we didn’t tax groceries. Atleast we still have world class pizza.

[kidyankee764]

Originally Posted by Mr_250

Just read that Lamont wants to tax groceries.

CT had an upper hand on those dang sourthen states because we didn’t tax groceries. Atleast we still have world class pizza.

These tax and spend politicians just don’t get it.

[Stylo]

Originally Posted by JayCT

I am not sure you would miss as much as you think. Greater Hartford has as much as greater New Haven, if not more. There are tons of restaurants, stores and entertainment options. The only thing they don’t have is the Shoreline. I moved here from a Fairfield and do not miss much. Some food items (rye bread, thin crust pizza, NY deli) are harder to find here than there but that hardly is a deal breaker for me.

If you like a Milford, you will love West Hartford. It has a much bigger downtown area which is probably the best in the state. It also has Westfarms mall which certainly is much nicer than the Connecticut Post Mall. It is more upscale and has a nicer mix of stores. The other nice thing about West Hartford is how close it is to Hartford and all the great things that city has to offer (theaters, museums, entertainment).

Middletown also offers a lot but it is not as easily accessible to Hartford. Still though it is only 30 minutes to New Haven so not too far. The other towns on your list are smaller and more suburban so there will be less things nearby. Still they are great places to live. Jay

I somewhat disagree as I don’t think any part of the state offers quite as much as the shoreline from Greenwich to New Haven, but that makes sense because more population is centered there. The Hartford area definitely holds its own though. I prefer downtown New Haven and its extensions to West Hartford (more of everything, plus cultural amenities and Yale architecture), but as a well rounded family friendly town it might be the best downtown in the state. Though Westport, Fairfield aren’t far off.

[GeoffD]

Originally Posted by Stylo

I somewhat disagree as I don’t think any part of the state offers quite as much as the shoreline from Greenwich to New Haven, but that makes sense because more population is centered there. The Hartford area definitely holds its own though. I prefer downtown New Haven and its extensions to West Hartford (more of everything, plus cultural amenities and Yale architecture), but as a well rounded family friendly town it might be the best downtown in the state. Though Westport, Fairfield aren’t far off.

The difference is the house in the gold-plated Hartford suburb is 50 cents on the dollar compared to the comparable coastal towns. $700k will buy you a small cape on 0.2 acres in Westport. Walkable to West Hartford Center, the same house is $350k. Westport has a way lower mill rate so mortgage/taxes/insurance won't quite be double but housing is way more affordable for 20-somethings and 30-somethings buying a first home.


The neighborhood around any Ivy is always going to be a good place and Yale is always somewhere in the top-5 of any list of elite universities in the world. Metro Hartford has nothing like that. Metro Hartford also hasn't seen job growth in decades which is why the top suburbs are affordable.