[rochester1]

OK so I continue to look for the answer. I originally thought that I could grab a little piece of land, throw up a little house, within an hour and a half or so from the city and live happily ever after. Now that that seems like a fantasy, I'm looking at New Haven. I figure if I had to get my heiny into the city for work, maybe I could come in 3 or 4 days a week and deal with a longer commute for a partial week. I really won't know until the job search haze clears a little but I'm planning on the worst case scenario.

New Haven seems like a tale of two cities: urban blight on one hand, hip, smart, cosmo on the other. I'm not sure butI know there's a train that can get me to NYC in under two hours. So maybe I'll take a look.

My question is where to look. I'd like to take a look at 2 options. One, maybe right in the city. And the other; just outside maybe 5-10 minutes.

What do the experts think? Where should we look in those 2 scenarios? I'm looking for 4 bedrooms.

Thanks all.

[Lizzie007]

do you have kids and are schools a concern?
what is your price range for 4 BRs?
metronorth has a train from new haven to grand central which has some stops in some nice towns like milford and stratford.
for a 5-10 minute commute to new haven, you should stick with hamden, north haven or orange. all are very nice options.

[Lizzie007]

i just realized your title was "new haven with a family" so you obviously do have kids. hamden would give you the shortest commute to new haven but the public school system is not much to brag about. orange and north haven have much better schools and are great family places.

cheshire has some of the best schools in the state and is great place to live with a family but you'd have to limit yourself to the southern end of town to keep the commute in 15-20 min range to new haven. milford also a nice option but you would be pushing 15-20 mins there too. but those are options is you want to expand your radius slightly bigger.

[seymourct]

I'm not sure there are very many buildable lots left (being sold individually) that you could build on. Most I've heard of are inside a larger parcel and the developers want to give you only a few choices of home models, but they will do a bit customizing for lots of $$$.

If your looking to commute to NYC from NH you can consider the River Valley ie: Derby Ansonia Seymour. Stratford, Milford, Shelton too. Just hop the train from a closer depot. We have people on our street go to Stamford and NYC from Seymour.

I know that times are tough but if you can afford it, maybe you want to look for a teardown? Then you can build your home on your own lot.

[Stratford, Ct. Resident]

Well.....
I didn't respond to your original post b/c you were looking for a shorter commute, but since you're considering new haven now, i'll give you my .02. Stratford would give you a shorter commute, better schools, and a safer community.

There are always numerous "sweat equity" opportunities on the market because Stratford has a sizeable elderly population who don't have the $$$ to update/remodel. When these homes hit the market, they need updating. Many people are buying these small capes and ranches and expanding/renovating them as their family grows and finances permit.

I don't think it would be difficult for you to find an outdated cape on a third of an acre in the north end for 250K. If your budget is 350K and you're looking to get hands-on with the renovation, i think that 100K that you'll invest in improvements will yield you a really nice home.

[rochester1]

That's exactly waht I'm looking for.

I would hate to but something that was totally done. I love the renovation stuff.

So tell me more about the North end.

And as always, thanks for your input, people!

[Stratford, Ct. Resident]

Originally Posted by rochester1

That's exactly waht I'm looking for.

I would hate to but something that was totally done. I love the renovation stuff.

So tell me more about the North end.

And as always, thanks for your input, people!

Barnum Ave.(Rt.1) is the dividing line in town. North of Barnum is the north end, south of Barnum is the south end. When you're researching prospective homes, concentrate on 06614 zip code, as that is the north end(south end is 06615).

I would probably suggest eliminating homes that are west of Broadbridge Ave. up to Success Ave. This is not an unsafe area, it's just kind of tight, mixed zone, etc.

The area that falls between Broadbridge Ave. and Nichols Ave.(Rt.108) is safe and has quite a few expandable properties on average to above average sized lots and is overwhelmingly single family zoned.

The area between Nichols and Huntington Rd. is safe, nice and predominantly single family. Lot topography isn't as good and expansion potential is fair. I think some people like this area because for the most part, it's built-out. It's not really a concern here that one of your neighbors may try to subdivide their lot.

There's a lot more to cover here, but i just realized it's not practical to list it all! So i'll try to summarize from here.

Paradise Green is very popular, but it probably won't yield anything for you. Nice community, but the lots will be too small(narrow) for you.

The Putney and Oronoque neighborhoods have the largest lots, but they will be out of your range.

[rochester1]

Wow. Awesome. Thanks so much. This exactly the kind of info I'm looking for.

[Lizzie007]

you could probably find more renovate-able properties even closer to new haven if you wanted even closer. there are tons out there. you need a good realtor to dig up the best ones. private mesage me if you want the names of some good new haven area realtors (no, i am not one. just have dealt with some very good and very bad ones).

[rochester1]

Thanks so much.