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We’re deciding where to relocate in the greater Hartford area. My husband is considering an offer from P&W, so he’ll be commuting to East Hartford. Long ago I lived at various times in Southbury, Roxbury, Canton and Windsor Locks. I loved living in Connecticut and am happy to return. We’ll be looking for a single family home, approx 2000 sq. ft, one or more acres of land but still in a development or on a street with other homes so my ten year old daughter can ride her bike and meet other kids.

I’m having difficulty setting our real estate budget because I’m seeing very broad fluctuations in property taxes from area to area. I’d say our max budget is $400K if the taxes are $5K, but we’d much prefer to be around $350K. If the taxes are up around $9K(!), well then we have to adjust our budget. We currently live in a 1970’s rancher with outdated bathrooms and a list of projects we swore we would get to our first year. We’d rather not repeat that pattern, but we wouldn’t mind an older home that needed some basic cosmetic work.

We homeschool so our needs are somewhat different than the average. We prefer to live in an area where the school are good, but don’t need to. We will need to be within a 20-30 minute drive to programs where certain classes are taught, most importantly Talcott Mountain Science Center, Farmington Valley Arts Center, and the Hartt School in Hartford. We currently live on a country road with 1.7 acres abutting park land and although we are surrounded by rural areas north and west, we are only 5 miles to a small college town to the south, which we love. We drive 4 miles to a supermarket and 7 miles to a Home Depot and wouldn’t mind having to go a bit further.

We’re not big fans of strip malls or big shopping developments. I’m also not a fan of light pollution and overdevelopment. Blue Black Square in West Hartford seems appealing, at least online, but I think the area is a bit too developed for us. We go to the mall about three times a year. We do eat out regularly and go to movies, but don’t mind driving to get there. We love to hike, bike, star gaze and be in nature.

Oh yeah, and we need to board our horse nearby and cheap. There’s no way we can afford the upscale horse hotels I’m seeing advertised in the Farmington/Avon/Simsbury corridor. Our boy’s an easy keeper, mostly pasture board and we keep him at a friend’s barn here for next to nothing. Horse-wise, it seems like we might be more successful with Granby or New Hartford. The cost of boarding our horse is probably going to directly impact how much house we can afford (ack!), but I haven’t gotten any good leads on that yet.

We’d really prefer a small village with a few shops – someplace we can bike to for an ice cream or lunch on a Saturday. Simsbury seems to be a good fit, well located, and I’ve got to assume that I could easily make friends in a town where people plant flowers on a bridge! But this seems to be one of the high tax areas.

I’ve looked over these forums, done a lot of “cyber driving” on google maps and perused various statistics and lists and come up with the following towns in order of current preference, Collinsville, Simsbury/Tariffville, Granby, New Hartford, Canton, Unionville, Burlington.

I’ve been watching the ConnDot traffic cams and compared to Boston, NY, DC, LA and some of the other cities I’ve lived in, it looks like Hartford gets a few slowdowns, but nothing we couldn’t work around. However, there’s no cam on the roadways that my husband would have to commute to get to the more southerly locations in the Farmington Valley. If I remember, the traffic on those local roads can be fierce and he might be happier going up 91 to Granby, Tariffville, etc.

Here are my questions:

Is New Hartford reasonably commutable to East Hartford or will the local roadways be pretty clogged during rush hour?

Is a small town like New Hartford likely to have families with children? Might it be a bit on the conservative side? I realize I’m not likely to find a Unitarian Church there, but I wouldn’t want to unwittingly move to an area where my freedom of religious choice felt socially hampered.

I remember Canton having strip malls (and this is going back 20 years) and it seems even more built up now. Does it still have that rural feel?

I also remember Canton being one of those towns where the same families have lived there for ever and have street named after them and it can be hard to break in socially. Any opinions?

Are the roads in any of these towns biking safe? I don’t mean an actual bike path, just a decent shoulder or even a grassy strip that’s negotiable.

In areas where the homes are near to the Farmington River, does the River Trail have lots of access from the roadways or do you have to drive to access points every mile or so along the way?

Anyone know any non-secualr homeschoolers in the valley who might be able to steer me toward resources?

We obviously have to make a house-hunting trip, but since we are on a tight schedule I’d rather have as much research done as possible before getting there. Thanks so much for reading this long post! I really appreciate all the advice on these forums. Feel free to make any and all suggestions.

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I wrote non-secular and I meant secular. In other words are there any homeschoolers in the Farmington Valley who are open to diverse religious viewpoints?

Thanks.

[JayCT]

Commuting through Hartford during rush hour can be difficult. Pratt & Whitney is located east of Hartford while the Farmington Valley is to the west. Your husband will be facing a difficult daily commute just to be nearer schools that will be visited not as often and during off-peak traffic hours. I would consider investigating towns east of the Connecticut River instead. Not only would your husband's commute be easier, home prices are less as would be the cost of boarding your horse.

You will find higher taxes (and home prices) in the Farmington Valley because these towns offer excellent public schools and are willing to pay for them. Since you are home-schooling this is not important to you, so why live there.

Canton does have some shopping along the Route 44 corridor but it is hardly the common strip malls found in other parts of the country. These are mostly just some small rows of shops here and there with housing and other businesses in between. This is however changing. Recently a large life-style center was built and a proposed home improvement center was approved on Route 44 in Canton. Also there have been many nice newer homes built there, so there are more "new" people in town. It should not be difficult to meet people there.

Another town in the Farmington Valley to consider would be Burlington. It is a nice rural community and I have noticed that the taxes seem a bit more reasonable than other communities. Granby is also nice. It is a bit rural but has some shopping and I find the people there to be very firendly. It is however pretty far from East Hartford. The trip is about 20 miles and would take 30 minutes without traffic. With traffic assume it would take 45 mintue to an hour. New Hartford is about 30 miles from East Hartford would be a 45 minute drive without traffic or over an hour with it. Neither of these is someting I would want to do every day.

East of the Connecticut are many lovely rural towns with nice homes at reasonable prices. Consider looking at Bolton, Hebron, Andover, Coventry and Tolland. Good luck, Jay

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Thanks Jay. A 30-45 minute commute would be OK for my husband and he can adjust his hours to miss the worst of it. Sounds like New Hartford is pushing it too far, though.

I didn't put in my first post that as my daughter gets older she will likely go to high school. She's visually impaired and needs to develop some transition skills before doing so. Some of the private schools in the Avon/Simsbury area would be ideal for her in a year or two. I'm not locating those same educational opportunities east of the River.

I also find that if we don't live in the places where she takes her programs, it is very difficult to form out of class friendships. Most parents don't want to drive 20-30 minutes just to drop a kid off for a playdate. I've explored some of the towns you mentioned and they just don't seem to have the same emphasis on the arts and education that the FV does. But I will drive through the area when we visit. It's so hard to tell from a distance.

I appreciate your reply.

[AmyBergquist]

It's helpful you provided extra info because I was going to suggest Tolland, Hebron, Bolton, etc. too because you'll get more house for the money East of the River and areas to board your house.

I have a colleague that commutes from New Hartford to West Hartford and it takes him about 35 minutes. There really isn't a direct route from New Hartford to East Hartford, so you'd be looking at about a 50+ minute commute to Pratt.

Canton, for the most part, continues to have a rural feel. Almost all of the commercial development has been focused Route 44.

If you want low taxes, Farmington will have the lowest taxes when compared to Simsbury, Canton, and Avon. Simsbury and Canton are known for having very high taxes. Avon is known for having very high home prices.

People do bike on the roads, but many also use the biking trails along the river, which is probably your safest bet with kids.

Hope this helps.

[parentologist]

Consider Simsbury - best CAPT scores, least problem with disruptive students. If you want great music programs, West Hartford. If you want beautiful rural areas at cheap price and plan on not using public schools, consider Bloomfield. There are home schooling associations, but all the home schoolers I see in my pediatrics practice are doing it for reasons of fear of what their children will be exposed to in school - different religious views, teasing, other unique reasons.

Your husband's commute will be a challenge. I agree that you should consider east of the river.

[JayCT]

Originally Posted by Back to CT

Thanks Jay. A 30-45 minute commute would be OK for my husband and he can adjust his hours to miss the worst of it. Sounds like New Hartford is pushing it too far, though.

I didn't put in my first post that as my daughter gets older she will likely go to high school. She's visually impaired and needs to develop some transition skills before doing so. Some of the private schools in the Avon/Simsbury area would be ideal for her in a year or two. I'm not locating those same educational opportunities east of the River.

I also find that if we don't live in the places where she takes her programs, it is very difficult to form out of class friendships. Most parents don't want to drive 20-30 minutes just to drop a kid off for a playdate. I've explored some of the towns you mentioned and they just don't seem to have the same emphasis on the arts and education that the FV does. But I will drive through the area when we visit. It's so hard to tell from a distance.

I appreciate your reply.

You are correct that there is more to be offered in the arts and private education in the Farmington Valley area, so I now see your point and what you are looking for. The problem though is you are going to pay a premium to live there. It is just so desirable. I would look into Burlington and Granby though. Both are very nice towns with a rural character you seem to be looking for. In Granby you should be able to find more affordable horse accomodations. You might want to check the local papers for places since the larger operations will be less expensive. I know someone there that use to rent space for horses and she was reasonable. Jay

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Thank you to everyone who responded. We're still negotiating the offer, but we should be up there soon to look at different areas. My specific questions based on all your feedback now are...

I'm concerned about air traffic noise. From what I've read as long as we are West of the Metacomet ridge, we should be OK. That means Granby is OK, most of East Granby is not? How about Bloomfield?

I still feel pretty committed to the lifestyle and education opportunities in the Farmington valley, but if it turns out to be financially impossible what is the one best town you would suggest we look at East of the River.

How about Burlington or Collinsville? Could I get from that area to a private school in Simsbury or Avon at 8am in under a half hour drive? How about mid-day traffic? I seem to remember some terrible traffic on the local roads around Avon and Farmington.

Jay, if you are still in touch with any horse people in Granby, I'd be happy to be put in touch with them.

Thank you to everyone. This is incredibly helpful!

[JayCT]

Originally Posted by Back to CT

Thank you to everyone who responded. We're still negotiating the offer, but we should be up there soon to look at different areas. My specific questions based on all your feedback now are...

I'm concerned about air traffic noise. From what I've read as long as we are West of the Metacomet ridge, we should be OK. That means Granby is OK, most of East Granby is not? How about Bloomfield?

I still feel pretty committed to the lifestyle and education opportunities in the Farmington valley, but if it turns out to be financially impossible what is the one best town you would suggest we look at East of the River.

How about Burlington or Collinsville? Could I get from that area to a private school in Simsbury or Avon at 8am in under a half hour drive? How about mid-day traffic? I seem to remember some terrible traffic on the local roads around Avon and Farmington.

Jay, if you are still in touch with any horse people in Granby, I'd be happy to be put in touch with them.

Thank you to everyone. This is incredibly helpful!

The most upscale town east of the Connecticut River would probably be Glastonbury. Great schools, a lot of family activities and a nice shopping area. Also nice are Marlborough and Hebron. They are little further out and do not have a lot of shopping but very nice. Another option is South Windsor.

As for Canton (Collinsville is part of the Town of Canton) and Burlington are under a half hour to Simsbury and Avon. The traffic problems in Simsbury and Avon is to do with getting into Hartford not the towns to the west.

As fo rmy friends in granby, while they still own the stable, they rent it out to a private person now who does horse training, so it would not be an option for you. Jay

[Back to CT]

Thanks for your help, Jay!