Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
[quote=missionhill;58830856]Or Hartford's version of Brookline. Coolidge Corner is about same distance from downtown Boston as West Hartford Center is from downtown Hartford. Both have lots to do.
Yeah, probably more accurate. West Hartford has a lot of that bougie-urban feel of Brookline.
I agree that West Hartford is very similar to Newton. My in-laws have family in Newton and they chose it specifically because of that. If you like Newton, you will like West Hartford.
The Farmington River Valley is beautiful Avon, Simsbury, Farmington, Canton, Burlington and Granby are great towns but they are more family oriented. Still there are many retirees there too. The area has kind of a rural Shang-ra-la feel to it but still has a lot of conveniences mostly along Route 44.
If you want a town east of the Connecticut River, you might check out Manchester and South Windsor. Manchester is a nice older mill town with a lot of nice suburban neighborhoods. It has a nice downtown and is home to one of the largest regional shopping districts, Buckland Hills, in the state with a large mall and tons of big box stores. South Windsor is more suburban in character. It is just north of Buckland Hills so it’s very convenient to major shopping.
Middletown was mentioned. It has a great downtown with nice restaurants and is home to Wesleyan university which is nice. Check it out.
The shoreline between New Haven and Rhode Island has many options for retirement. Branford, Guilfor and Madison are suburbs of New Haven and have sort of beach feel to them. They are very convenient to New Haven and all it has to offer. Old Saybrook is a nice beach town you might want to consider though there is not a lot of shopping. Its the town Katherine Hepburn retired to. It might be too quiet though. Hope this helps. Jay
Thanks everyone for the great feedback. This is definitely going to be a project. We going to be doing lots of CT road trips!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by parentologist
East Windsor is cheap, close to the highways you want, and relatively close to the good amenities of the more expensive towns. I would also consider towns in southwestern Mass. There's excellent shopping in the Enfield area of CT, and it's right near the Mass Pike.
We will check these towns out. Thank you for the great feedback
Quote:
Originally Posted by WestRiverTraveler
Personally, a high rate annoys me. You might want to consider the Shoreline towns, in particular Old Lyme, Old Saybrook, and Essex. There is plenty of shopping and restaurants close.
Good luck on your move back to CT. I lived in the midwest for 12 years and ended up back in MA which is home. Been back for 20 yrs and wouldn't move back to the midwest for anything. Also high taxes bug me also. I thought Newton was bad!! We will be sure to also check out some of the shore towns. Love Old Saybrook. Stayed at the Saybrook Point Marina a few times!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by EmiSky
If taxes go up, it reduces the purchase power for many. Yes, if you purchase an inexpensive home, that offsets the high taxes. But unless this will be your forever home, you’ll have to consider how your home purchase will affect your ability to sell. Have you considered areas around Newport, RI?
I hope our next home is our forever home but I've said that before. Also don't want to sit on a house because of high taxes. Some of the Mill Property Tax rates are crazy in CT. However there are also some lower ones that are out there. I plugged in Newport but not a lot came up in my price range. I will however check some of the other towns.....maybe on the Kingston RI side.
Quote:
Originally Posted by missionhill
Or Hartford's version of Brookline. Coolidge Corner is about same distance from downtown Boston as West Hartford Center is from downtown Hartford. Both have lots to do.
If the OP found Tolland and Ellington too far from big box stores then nothing else up that way will appeal. Stafford Springs seems like a nice place but it's really small town living. The shore towns will have more retirees, a more Newton-like mix of professionals and academics, not as many Trump-Pence signs (this year anyway), and plenty of shopping.
Really don't want to move to a Brookline/Newton type of town. Sandra lived in Coolidge Corner when we first met. Too busy for me. She was forced to move so we ended up in Newton (train commute to Boston). Been in this area for 9 years now and would like to get out of the hustle and bustle with less going on. This town also has it's snub areas.......like everyone is more important than the other person so get out of my way. High taxes also because of the great school system and police/fire depts.
Also, less Trump-Pence signs/flags are a big plus lol. That was a big turnoff in some of the NH towns that we checked out. Younger days I could deal....not now!
Quote:
Originally Posted by hvexpatinct
It depends on how far out you are comfortable living, but at least glance at areas west of Hartford along 84, like Farmington. Farmington has lower taxes than Avon and is a bit more convenient to the interstate. It's about 1.5 hours to the 495/128 interchange during non-peak hours.
Yes Farmington is on our list.......and lower taxes. We may head out that way tomorrow to check out the area! Thanks!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by JayCT
The Farmington River Valley is beautiful Avon, Simsbury, Farmington, Canton, Burlington and Granby are great towns but they are more family oriented. Still there are many retirees there too. The area has kind of a rural Shang-ra-la feel to it but still has a lot of conveniences mostly along Route 44.
If you want a town east of the Connecticut River, you might check out Manchester and South Windsor.
Middletown was mentioned. It has a great downtown with nice restaurants and is home to Wesleyan university which is nice. Check it out.
The shoreline between New Haven and Rhode Island has many options for retirement. Branford, Guilfor and Madison are suburbs of New Haven and have sort of beach feel to them.
Thank Jay. Trying to stay away from the Newton vibe so I not sure if West Hartford is a good fit. Although Sandra would probably love it there. We also have the Farmington River Valley on our list. We will also check out Middletown. Location seems nice. S Windsor also but high taxes. Madison also looks nice and lower taxes :-) Going to have to find a good realtor that knows the area, tax rates and so on.
Thanks everyone for the great feedback. This is definitely going to be a project. We going to be doing lots of CT road trips!!
We will check these towns out. Thank you for the great feedback
Good luck on your move back to CT. I lived in the midwest for 12 years and ended up back in MA which is home. Been back for 20 yrs and wouldn't move back to the midwest for anything. Also high taxes bug me also. I thought Newton was bad!! We will be sure to also check out some of the shore towns. Love Old Saybrook. Stayed at the Saybrook Point Marina a few times!!
I hope our next home is our forever home but I've said that before. Also don't want to sit on a house because of high taxes. Some of the Mill Property Tax rates are crazy in CT. However there are also some lower ones that are out there. I plugged in Newport but not a lot came up in my price range. I will however check some of the other towns.....maybe on the Kingston RI side.
Really don't want to move to a Brookline/Newton type of town. Sandra lived in Coolidge Corner when we first met. Too busy for me. She was forced to move so we ended up in Newton (train commute to Boston). Been in this area for 9 years now and would like to get out of the hustle and bustle with less going on. This town also has it's snub areas.......like everyone is more important than the other person so get out of my way. High taxes also because of the great school system and police/fire depts.
Also, less Trump-Pence signs/flags are a big plus lol. That was a big turnoff in some of the NH towns that we checked out. Younger days I could deal....not now!
Yes Farmington is on our list.......and lower taxes. We may head out that way tomorrow to check out the area! Thanks!!
Thank Jay. Trying to stay away from the Newton vibe so I not sure if West Hartford is a good fit. Although Sandra would probably love it there. We also have the Farmington River Valley on our list. We will also check out Middletown. Location seems nice. S Windsor also but high taxes. Madison also looks nice and lower taxes :-) Going to have to find a good realtor that knows the area, tax rates and so on.
You will like Madison and Guilford. I didn't mention in my reply, but I'm moving to Madison. Coming from the same area as you, I wanted a balance of classic CT and access to decent urban area. New Haven is a cool little city with a lot to offer. It might be a nice balance for you and your wife. We were looking at houses from 350k-450k and looked a a few up to $500k just to get a sense of things. You can get a heck of a lot of house in Madison or Guilford for $450k-$500k. We ended up getting something 10 minute from town for $365K. For your price range, you can get something great close to town center and the water.
You will like Madison and Guilford. I didn't mention in my reply, but I'm moving to Madison. Coming from the same area as you, I wanted a balance of classic CT and access to decent urban area. New Haven is a cool little city with a lot to offer. It might be a nice balance for you and your wife. We were looking at houses from 350k-450k and looked a a few up to $500k just to get a sense of things. You can get a heck of a lot of house in Madison or Guilford for $450k-$500k. We ended up getting something 10 minute from town for $365K. For your price range, you can get something great close to town center and the water.
Thanks WRT, Branford, Guilford and Madison are next on our list. I cringe a little since I grew up on the water in MA (Rt 3A N.Weymouth, Hingham and Hull) so the summers were crazy with traffic. Also would like to be in a little woodsy area since we like the outdoors....hiking/walking with the pup and such. I read though a lot of posts and see that these area provide just about a little of everything so we excited about that. Also, I'm not going to trip too much as far as taxes. I decided that the overall monthly payment is what counts (to a point of course) to us at the moment.
I am also reading about town water/well and septic in those areas. Should we be focus on one and not the other?
My husbands uncle lived in Middletown and he was a principle of schools in Durham. He stayed in Middletown for retirement. It's a nice town.
Logistically these areas are ideal for us. They may not be east enough but they are sandwiched between Hartford and the beaches. They also seem to be a little more rural (which I like) but can easily access Glastonbury and Newington for shopping and restaurants.
Yesterday we took to the dog on a long road trip to CT. We ended up taking 9 the Pike 90 all the way to Rt 202 south. We went through Granby, Simsbury (nice downtown) and made to the Avon before taking 44 to W Hartford. However the power was still out so we turned off and went through Farmington and then stopped at Stew Leonard's in Newington. We really never got to check out Avon. Maybe another time.
The Farmington Valley towns seem beautiful. However, I felt that they were a little out there and as Jay mentioned; have a rural Shang-ra-la feel to them. As we got closer to Farmington and Newington, I felt like we were back in MA. Cars were going 90 miles an hour cutting in front of us to get home on a Friday afternoon. That use to be me haha but trying to get away from that scene in my older age ;-)
After Newington, we headed us 91 to 84 to check a house out in S Windsor. The rat race eased up after we got by Buckland Hills. S Windsor did have that suburban feel to it (as Jay said). We both agreed that it wasn't a good fit for us. We did love the proximity of the airport though.
Our next road trip with either be the Middletown, Durham area or the Branford, Guilford, Madison, Clinton shore towns. Off to VT this weekend to do a little hiking/kayaking with the Mrs and pup. Everyone, have a great weekend.
Thanks WRT, Branford, Guilford and Madison are next on our list. I cringe a little since I grew up on the water in MA (Rt 3A N.Weymouth, Hingham and Hull) so the summers were crazy with traffic. Also would like to be in a little woodsy area since we like the outdoors....hiking/walking with the pup and such. I read though a lot of posts and see that these area provide just about a little of everything so we excited about that. Also, I'm not going to trip too much as far as taxes. I decided that the overall monthly payment is what counts (to a point of course) to us at the moment.
I am also reading about town water/well and septic in those areas. Should we be focus on one and not the other?
Those towns are really not congested.
I go there all the time in the summer and have never been frustrated driving around on weekends.
The northern part of those towns are super quiet, along with towns like Essex and Chester.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
