[Sammygirl 1]

My husband and I will be retiring in a couple of years. At the age of 55 for each of us, it will be a very early retirement.
We've lived in Westchester County nearly all of our lives in the Millwood area of the town of New Castle. .
Neither one of us wishes to move south and I myself have always favored New England.
Still, we would like to be rather near family & friends.
Our yearly income for the next 30 or so years will be equivalent to $250 thousand per year.
We would not be fond of neighbors on top of us as in condo living and would prefer a home with an acre of land. Both of us would enjoy something a little rural with shopping nearby.
In all these years , we have never spent enough time in South Western Connecticut.
I would love to just pick up and go myself to visit, but at this time we live 425 miles away.
Does anyone have any suggestions for us?

Thanks,
Sammygirl

[Stellaj]

If you area looking for a property with land I would suggest certain areas of Milford or Monroe, Newtown, Shelton & Trumbull. You would be able to get more bang for your buck, land can be hard to come by in Connecticut.

[skytrekker]

The best place to retire in CT- if coming from Westchester County NY is eastern CT-the so called 'quiet corner'- housing prices are about 100% lower. Tolland, Windham, and even New London Counties are very cheap for you- yet close to the beaches in CT and Rhode Island, Hartford and Providence and much more. Also consider the Connecticut shore- from New Haven east to the Rhode Island border- perfect really.

[kristiv]

When you say rural, how rural do you want to be? Some people, for example come to Ridgefield and find that very rural while others want the greater peace and tranquility of Redding. If you want to stay within an hour or so of your current location those towns might provide what you need. I am a real estate agent in the area so I am a bit biased but I do find Ridgefield a quintessential New Egland town with a main street that is great for walking, shopping or eating. There also are cultural events in town and it is not hard to get to NYC if you want the bright city lights. Redding is right next door so people living there can benefit from the Ridgefield amenities but come home to a more country feeling.

You can also head just a bit further north and find housing on Candlewood Lake. This is the state's largest lake. the towns bordering the lake have different personalities but there is something to suit almost everyone.

If you have specific questions about housing or the towns, please feel free to contact me. I am glad to help.
Kristi Vaughan

[westguy22]

Upon reading your post, two areas popped into my head.

First area being Candlewood Lake. The largest lake in Connecticut offers peaceful living in the towns of New Fairfield, New Milford, Brookfield and Danbury. Depending on the area of the lake, homes can range from cottages to mansions on anything from .25 acre to 5 acres. It has a huge variety. As for shopping, the Danbury Fair Mall is 15 minutes away, there's Target and Walmart 10 minutes away and plenty of restaurants on Newtown and Federal Roads. NYC is an hour away.

If you're looking for an area that has less diversity, a new "active adult community" was recently constructed further up the I-84 corridor in Oxford (about 25 minutes from Danbury). It's called The Village at Oxford Greens and is rather upscale. The 400+ homes here start around 500-600's and are mostly oversized 3 bedroom homes. It's on a public golf course and is in a rural area of town. Nearest shopping to Oxford is a 10-15 minute drive in Southbury (Gap, Kmart, grocery, Chicos, Victorias Secret, Anne Taylor, coffee shops, bagel shops, fine dining, etc.) and Seymour (Ocean State Job Lot, Starbucks, Stop and Shop, cinemas, etc.) Oxford is a 20 minute drive to New Haven, Danbury, Trumbull and Waterbury, where there is a larger selection of shopping. NYC is about an hour and 15 minutes away.

If you have any questions, feel free to private message me.

Good luck wherever your search may take you.

[JViello]

Litchfield county sounds like what you are looking for.

Litchfield itself is a "rural" New England town with one of the most photographed centers in all of New England and there are all the shopping needs (Large grocery store, pharmacy etc) there as well. Acess to the highways is good as well.

That's where a lot of NY'rs are now buying property (And pushing the locals out sad to say) for weekends and retirement.

http://www.munic.state.ct.us/LITCHFI.../pictures.html




Good luck, I'm sure you will do fine on that budget.

[Sammygirl 1]

Stellaj
[/b]


''If you area looking for a property with land I would suggest certain areas of Milford or Monroe, Newtown, Shelton & Trumbull. You would be able to get more bang for your buck, land can be hard to come by in Connecticut."

Actually, we have been researching this area. Do you know if there are many new or newer builds ? We do not wish to take on a fixer.
Thanks
Sammy

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skytrekker


"The best place to retire in CT- if coming from Westchester County NY is eastern CT-the so called 'quiet corner'- housing prices are about 100% lower. Tolland, Windham, and even New London Counties are very cheap for you- yet close to the beaches in CT and Rhode Island, Hartford and Providence and much more. Also consider the Connecticut shore- from New Haven east to the Rhode Island border- perfect really."

Hi,
The area does appear lovely, but also seemed a little too rural. I google earthed it yesterday. We'd be interested to know how far away major shopping areas ,hospitals & airports are from here. No need for a hospital or nursing home yet as we'll be very young retirees. Still its nice to know if these services are readily availabe.This should be our last home.

Thanks
Sammy
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kristiv
Junior Member


"When you say rural, how rural do you want to be? Some people, for example come to Ridgefield and find that very rural while others want the greater peace and tranquility of Redding. If you want to stay within an hour or so of your current location those towns might provide what you need. I am a real estate agent in the area so I am a bit biased but I do find Ridgefield a quintessential New Egland town with a main street that is great for walking, shopping or eating. There also are cultural events in town and it is not hard to get to NYC if you want the bright city lights. Redding is right next door so people living there can benefit from the Ridgefield amenities but come home to a more country feeling.

You can also head just a bit further north and find housing on Candlewood Lake. This is the state's largest lake. the towns bordering the lake have different personalities but there is something to suit almost everyone.

If you have specific questions about housing or the towns, please feel free to contact me. I am glad to help.
Kristi Vaughan"
Hi Kristi,

My husband and I have discussed rural-ness.
We don't wish to live miles from the nearest hospital, church or shopping area
and don't feel being cut off from the rest of the world is the right thing for us.
I suppose you could say we'd like the appearance of rural life , but it doesn't necessarily have to be so.
Perhaps woodsy would have been a better adjective.
We looked at the Candlewood Lake a bit yesterday on Realtor.com. and the price points are not bad at all.
We have about 2 years to go if all our plans gel and will keep a sharp eye on that area.

Thanks
Sammy

[Sammygirl 1]

westguy22
Member

I]"Upon reading your post, two areas popped into my head.

First area being Candlewood Lake. The largest lake in Connecticut offers peaceful living in the towns of New Fairfield, New Milford, Brookfield and Danbury. Depending on the area of the lake, homes can range from cottages to mansions on anything from .25 acre to 5 acres. It has a huge variety. As for shopping, the Danbury Fair Mall is 15 minutes away, there's Target and Walmart 10 minutes away and plenty of restaurants on Newtown and Federal Roads. NYC is an hour away.[/i]
If you're looking for an area that has less diversity, a new "active adult community" was recently constructed further up the I-84 corridor in Oxford (about 25 minutes from Danbury). It's called The Village at Oxford Greens and is rather upscale. The 400+ homes here start around 500-600's and are mostly oversized 3 bedroom homes. It's on a public golf course and is in a rural area of town. Nearest shopping to Oxford is a 10-15 minute drive in Southbury (Gap, Kmart, grocery, Chicos, Victorias Secret, Anne Taylor, coffee shops, bagel shops, fine dining, etc.) and Seymour (Ocean State Job Lot, Starbucks, Stop and Shop, cinemas, etc.) Oxford is a 20 minute drive to New Haven, Danbury, Trumbull and Waterbury, where there is a larger selection of shopping. NYC is about an hour and 15 minutes away.

If you have any questions, feel free to private message me.

Good luck wherever your search may take you."



Thanks for taking the time to write all of this wonderful information.We have been to the Danbury Mall several times.Taking 684 to 84 was easy for us. But that was as far as we'd go. We could always tell when we left NY and entered CT on 84, if you know what I mean.

Our son would ride on the carousel in the Mall. is it still there?

I don't know that an adult community would suit us, active or otherwise.
We'd be the "kids" there; as our age will be 55 when the time comes for us to move.
With extra large family gatherings,as I am sure we'll end up holding them all,
we'd be looking into 4-5 bedroom properties for stay over company.

Surly, there will be something else availabe in Oxford.Sounds quite lovely to me. We'll keep it in mind.

Thanks,
Sammy

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JViello
Senior Member



"Litchfield county sounds like what you are looking for.

Litchfield itself is a "rural" New England town with one of the most photographed centers in all of New England and there are all the shopping needs (Large grocery store, pharmacy etc) there as well. Acess to the highways is good as well.

That's where a lot of NY'rs are now buying property (And pushing the locals out sad to say) for weekends and retirement."

We actually drove quickly through picture perfect Litchfield quite a number of years ago when our son was about 11.
Coming up from the south in Westchester County, I recall turning left near the green to head towards Torrington.
Had to stop by a comic book store for him.
We never had a chance to look around Litchfield as we were headed to Vermont for a weekend get away. I had forgotten all about that village, but through you pictures , it seems to epitomize New England. We'll check it out.


Thanks

Sammy

[VLYS]

Old Saybrook or Madison!

[kristiv]

As mentioned the prices on Candlewood Lake will vary considerably depending on proximity to the water and the town. Sherman is the quietest town and also the furthest away from such places as Danbury Hospital and Danbury Mall. New Milford is at the northern end of the eastern finger of the lake and has several lakeside communities. New Milford also has a hospital and all of the shopping conveniences you'd need on a daily basis.

If you are seeking a quiet area that is not too far from everything you might also consider Redding. Most of the properties in Redding are on 2 or more acres and there is a fervent desire in town to preserve the stonewalls and rural nature of the area. Median prices right now are in the high $800's compared to the low $900s for Ridgefield. Upsomoing is a massive renovation of an old wire mill in the Georgetown section into residential, retail, restaurants and performing art space. There is also a train to NYC from Branchville (on the Redding/Ridgefield border). Westport and South Norwalk (SoNO) are about 20 minutes away