[jojofree]

My husband and I are planning to relocate to the Simsbury, Avon, Canton area from Ovilla, Texas. We have visited several cost of living comparison calculators and are wondering, how accurate are they? Does anyone have advice on what we should expect?

btw- I did read a thread about how people can be snobbish. That sort of attitude can be found anywhere you go.

[JayCT]

It is hard to say how accurate cost-of-living calculators really are since the comparision is really a very complex issue. I would say that they should be used to give you a general idea of cost differences.

In your case, you live near Dallas and Simsbury-Avon-Canton is near Hartford. The CNN-Money.com calculator indicates that Hartford is about 25% more expensive to live in than Dallas with housing being about 73% higher. A look at listings on Realtor.com indicates that for $500k you would get a 2500 to 3000 s.f. colonial with 4 bedrooms and 2 1/2 baths. In Ovilla you can get a sized home for about $300k. Hope that helps. Good luck, Jay

[Cruikshl]

Originally Posted by JayCT

It is hard to say how accurate cost-of-living calculators really are since the comparision is really a very complex issue. I would say that they should be used to give you a general idea of cost differences.

In your case, you live near Dallas and Simsbury-Avon-Canton is near Hartford. The CNN-Money.com calculator indicates that Hartford is about 25% more expensive to live in than Dallas with housing being about 73% higher. A look at listings on Realtor.com indicates that for $500k you would get a 2500 to 3000 s.f. colonial with 4 bedrooms and 2 1/2 baths. In Ovilla you can get a sized home for about $300k. Hope that helps. Good luck, Jay

Keeping inmind the houses here in CT are not very attractive for that amount compared to the ones you have there. So it wouldn't be apples to apples when comparing. You are paying more and not getting the same house.

[jojofree]

I did notice that the homes were not as nice as the ones here, but we do get the trade off by not having to spend our lives behind a windshield.


Thank you for your replies, this site has been very helpful