[oliverthecat]

Hi! We currently live in Brooklyn, NYC, and are contemplating a move to Connecticut. I grew up in RI and long to be back in NE, and my husband grew up in the NJ sticks and is just sick of NYC life.

We have 2 young kids, 3 and 5 years. Education is our number 1 priority-- we want the best public schools and everything else will fall into place. But so many CT towns have excellent towns! Our budget is about $700,000. we'd like to pick a town, buy a house, and stay there forever (or at least until retirement). He is looking to open his own fitness/personal training business and is willing to go anywhere. I'm going to start a career in interior design and can also go anywhere; however, I'd like to be close to towns where people hire interior designers and also close to places where I can shop for furnishings and decor. I'd love to be within a short-ish train commute back to Manhattan for those purposes, although if there are enough alternatives I suppose that's not a requirement.

What I do require is a lot of "stuff". I love Brooklyn and this is a hard change for me. By stuff I mean shopping, restaurants, and things to do that are *within the town* we choose and not where you have to drive 15-20 minutes for anything. Also, coming from NYC, we'd love to have a little diversity. And despite our large budget, a non-snobby community.

We visited Ridgefield this weekend and I fell in love. it's pretty much exactly what we're looking for. it has the stuff I'm looking for-- shopping and restaurants, as well as having it's own rec center, swimming pool, skating rink, lake with a beach, concerts, movies, and events. I suppose the only "cons" we've discovered about it is that it's a bit of a far drive to my parents in RI (2:45, which isn't drastically different from our current 3:30 from Brooklyn) and the taxes on houses we saw are about $12k.

Are there any other towns like Ridgefield we should look at? We're sort of also considering Guilford and Old Saybrook. Any other towns with the excellent schools and all the stuff? and is $12k what we should expect anywhere?

thanks sooo much!

[SeaDoo342]

Check out the town of Fairfield...it's basically exactly what you're looking for..

[seymourct]

Not drive 15-20 minutes?? Really.. That's tuff.. with traffic lights even Fairfield will have you in a car driving 15-20 minutes across town..

[SJNE17]

The Byram neighborhood in Greenwich might be worth a look. Nearby in Port Chester are TERRIFIC restaurants of all shapes & flavors, the Capitol Theater, close to Greenwich downtown (shopping, restaurants, etc.), two train options (Greenwich and Port Chester), which means travel into the city is relatively easy. Lots of restaurant options in the Byram neighborhood as well--Mill Street Bar & Table is awesome.

There's all kinds of debate on if schools are good or not, but we have friends with kids in them (Western and New Lebanon) and they are smart, doing well, etc. Good parenting produces good kids, by & large, but that's typically a separate highly charged discussion depending on the audience (most will agree or disagree on that)....

[JayCT]

I am confused, are you looking for a town that you can commute to New York from? or is being closer to Arai more important. You mention Guilford and Old Saybrook but did you look at Madison? It has a really nice small town center, a beautiful waterfront park and some of the best schools in the state. You should realize though that living in this area will require a significant drive for major shopping (malls, department stores, bid box stores).

One town that immediately came to mind was West Hartford. It has excellent schools, all the shopping you need right in town including a great mall, one if the best town centers and excellent schools. You will be a bit closer to RI but it is still a drive. I hope this helps. Jay

[CTartist]

Originally Posted by oliverthecat

Hi! We currently live in Brooklyn, NYC, and are contemplating a move to Connecticut. I grew up in RI and long to be back in NE, and my husband grew up in the NJ sticks and is just sick of NYC life.

We have 2 young kids, 3 and 5 years. Education is our number 1 priority-- we want the best public schools and everything else will fall into place. But so many CT towns have excellent towns! Our budget is about $700,000. we'd like to pick a town, buy a house, and stay there forever (or at least until retirement). He is looking to open his own fitness/personal training business and is willing to go anywhere. I'm going to start a career in interior design and can also go anywhere; however, I'd like to be close to towns where people hire interior designers and also close to places where I can shop for furnishings and decor. I'd love to be within a short-ish train commute back to Manhattan for those purposes, although if there are enough alternatives I suppose that's not a requirement.

What I do require is a lot of "stuff". I love Brooklyn and this is a hard change for me. By stuff I mean shopping, restaurants, and things to do that are *within the town* we choose and not where you have to drive 15-20 minutes for anything. Also, coming from NYC, we'd love to have a little diversity. And despite our large budget, a non-snobby community.

We visited Ridgefield this weekend and I fell in love. it's pretty much exactly what we're looking for. it has the stuff I'm looking for-- shopping and restaurants, as well as having it's own rec center, swimming pool, skating rink, lake with a beach, concerts, movies, and events. I suppose the only "cons" we've discovered about it is that it's a bit of a far drive to my parents in RI (2:45, which isn't drastically different from our current 3:30 from Brooklyn) and the taxes on houses we saw are about $12k.

Are there any other towns like Ridgefield we should look at? We're sort of also considering Guilford and Old Saybrook. Any other towns with the excellent schools and all the stuff? and is $12k what we should expect anywhere?

thanks sooo much!

I am originally from Stamford but have many relatives and friends in many towns in Fairfield County. I went to Pratt Manhattan (graphic design & illustration) and have many friends in the creative fields in Fairfield County. My mom's side is from Brooklyn and they came to Fairfield County and opened businesses (some in the creative fields) and did very well. My gut feeling is you would do well in Greenwich or the Westport/Fairfield areas. My cousins wife was an interior designer and she had a little shop in Greenwich and she did very well. She was a fabulous seamstress also and she sewed all her own her curtains, she did her own upholstery etc.

Do you know Lillian August and her catalog. She basically started in Westport and she has her warehouse in Norwalk on the border of Westport. And of course Martha Stewart started her empire in Westport out of her house. For the creative fields Westport and Greenwich has a certain cachét. I go into Lillian August all the time when I am in the area to get inspiration. You can see all the workers sewing all the custom designs for the catalog. It is very cool, you would like it.

Read the Lillian August story and how she started in Westport.
https://www.lillianaugust.com/pages/...n-august-story

I also think the areas I noted would be very good for a fitness/personal training business too. You and your husband want to start businesses that service people with high disposal incomes and the people with the most disposable incomes are in Fairfield County.

[willow wind]

For someone looking to be in interior design you'll need to be in an area with the income and population that would use that service.

I, too , agree with the suggestion of the town of Fairfield. It will put you in a town with great schools, in a town with good incomes for CT, near other pricier towns in Fairfield county that would use your services and on the train line to NYC.

Madison & Old Saybrook are lovely towns but the population depth isn't there and a glut of high income homeowners aren't in Old Saybrook and to a lesser extent Madison.

Being in a more populous/ higher priced area would also be good for your husband's business. Good luck on your move to CT

[Stylo]

Fairfield is a great option from your description. It has more "stuff" and amenities in close proximity than Ridgefield, and a lot more than Guilford.

If you don't mind the distance to NYC, Guilford and Madison are stunning and a lot cheaper than Ridgefield or Fairfield, with the same quality of schools. But the shopping options, density of customers, and proximity to NYC is inferior.

Another option you could consider is Woodbridge/Orange. You'll get a lot more house than Ridgefield or Fairfield for the money, great schools, proximity to a ton of shopping, not too far from higher income areas in FFC, and better access to NYC than towns east of New Haven. It's sort of an "in-between" option to consider.

Still, from your description and budget, Fairfield seems quite perfect.

[oliverthecat]

Wow, thanks everybody! Some great advice here. We will put the town of Fairfield on our list to check out immediately!

Re, the 15-20 minute drive thing-- that's my Brooklyn speaking. I can walk out of my house and with a 15 minute walk get everything I need. I know I can't get that in CT. I guess what I should have said, my husband would live on 100 acres in the middle of the woods somewhere and be happy to drive 'into town' for things. that's like my worst nightmare. (yes, my husband and I have to do a little more talking/compromising with each other!) If the 15-20 minute drive to stuff is unreasonable, though, then I accept having to change that expectation.

SJNE17, I assumed we were completely priced out of Greenwich. I'll look into that 'hood! thanks.

JayCT, I'm torn about the commute to NYC. It wouldn't be a commute, it'd be maybe once a week. But I'm not even sure if it's necessary... I have no experience being a designer in CT and am not sure what the options are there (I know, for example, that there are no trade-only showrooms in all of CT, and there are like 6 in Manhattan). But if there are enough trade shopping options without going into NYC, then that's perfectly fine.

And, West Hartford is on our list to look at! I'm glad some people mentioned it. Also maybe Glastonbury and Simsbury? Saw their schools are fantastic.

CTartist, thank you so much for that perspective on the artistic/small business side of things. definitely helpful... I wonder what you think about the West Hartford area instead of Fairfield on those fronts?

willow wind and Stylo, thank you as well. Yes, we drove through and researched Guilford and Madison-- both are lovely and we saw they had great schools. Wonder about what some other people are mentioning about the customer base. But, we'll keep them on the list!

[willow wind]

These are a couple of design showrooms that cater to the designers only, not the general public. Is this what you are looking for ?

Wakefield Design Center- Stamford

Schwartz Design - Stamford

Would save you a trip to NYC and you could take the train from Fairfield to Stamford.