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Old 01-15-2009, 07:12 AM
 
Location: New England
8,155 posts, read 20,915,302 times
Reputation: 3338

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Quote:
Originally Posted by njohnson View Post
I would say the further you go North the less desireable the areas in general, mostly due to the proximity of East Hartford and Manchester.
I was with you up to this point.

You ever been to Manchester? I mean REALLY been to Manchester. You can't toss a blanket over it and say "less desirable". It's simply too diverse.

In the areas South of 384 I would have to point out where Manchester stops and Glastonbury begins or you would not know. Same for the Case Mountain area.

The areas East in the city have many nice neighborhoods with nice homes in the 180-275K range and there are many other neighborhoods that are well kept and affordable such as Vernon Street area heading North towards 84 etc

Here are some MLS numbers for examples:
G491261
G502342
G509933
G506827
G512444
G512947

I'm sure "nice" and "decent" is relative - but I've never been one to think you have to have a "McMansion" or it's not "nice".

Public Schools? Maybe not the best in the state, but we also have several private parochial schools as well that are very good. For me, I chose the town for other reasons knowing I will not have kids in public schools.

East Catholic

www.thecornerstonechristianschool.com (Where I plan on sending my kids)

As for cost of the school, yes it can be a factor, but what you will save in housing costs may make up for it and then some. It's all about choices. For Cornerstone they have a great approach IMO:
Established in 1981~ The Cornerstone Christian School is a Pre-K-12th grade school serving the greater Hartford area and is located in Manchester, CT.

We offer a sliding scale tuition, based on your annual income, family size and number of children attending CORNERSTONE. We also offer various tuition payment schedules that will meet any budget.
It's not utopia, but please understand that this city is not East Hartford, Meriden etc. Far from it, it's a decent working class town with a lot to offer. For me, I'd rather live in a more modest home in a diverse area, send my kids to the school of my choice, and have the ability to tell my wife "quit your job" if she's wants too.
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Old 01-15-2009, 08:48 AM
 
Location: Connecticut
34,635 posts, read 56,369,388 times
Reputation: 11145
North Glastonbury is still very nice. I live there. There are a lot of very nice middle-income neighborhoods. In fact there is not a neighborhood I would not consider living in. I think that what NJohnson is saying is that the northend is a bit more modest than say South Glastonbury and that is true. But the neighborhoods in East Hartford along the Glastonbury border are among the nicest in that town. In fact, some are nicer than the neighborhoods in Glastonbury. As JViello pointed out, the part of Glastonbury bordering Manchester is VERY nice. Generally it is called East Glastonbury. Personally I like it better than South Glastonbury. There are beautiful homes on large lots and it is very convenient to shopping, restaurants and entertianment.

One thing I don't agree with NJohnson about is Glastonbury being less accessible than other towns. Route 2 runs right into downtown Hartford and I-84. Route 3 connects you over to I-91. It is very convenient and certainly a lot more convenient than the towns out in Farmington Valley.

Roxatwist - In your price range you can find a nice 3 bedroom home on 1/3 acre here. It is a great town and I encourage you to check it out. Let me know if you have any questions, Jay
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Old 01-15-2009, 08:54 PM
 
Location: West Hartford, CT
103 posts, read 426,406 times
Reputation: 93
As far as amenities, there are some shopping areas and a few major chains like a Home Depot, Barnes & Noble, Victoria's Secret, Whole Foods which are all primarily located close to RT 2/RT 3. Then there are more boutique-y sorts of stores. The farther outside of this area, there are some restaurants and apple orchards/farms so there is a mix of town and country.

They also have a lot of community events - there is a big apple festival, an irish festival and lots of kids related activities plus there are outdoor activities (Gay City Park is a State Park located on Hebron line).

Relatively close by is Manchester/South Windsor which has more stores, a mall and an outdoor shopping center, movie theater, restaurants etc.

I also think you might be somewhat disappointed with what you'll be able to afford. I'm not sure what part of the country you're from but our housing stock is older, which means homes tend to need more work, rooms smaller, impractical layouts, not enough bathrooms, etc. You can always start looking on-line to get an idea of what's out there - maybe you'll find just what you're looking for.
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Old 01-21-2009, 09:18 PM
 
1 posts, read 1,772 times
Reputation: 10
Have you thought of East Lyme? East Lyme schools are rated one of the best in the Nation. I'm sure you could find a nice home under 300k in East Lyme.
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Old 04-24-2009, 01:30 PM
 
Location: Connecticut, USA
157 posts, read 242,930 times
Reputation: 127
Quote:
Originally Posted by amandag09 View Post
Have you thought of East Lyme? East Lyme schools are rated one of the best in the Nation. I'm sure you could find a nice home under 300k in East Lyme.
I can second that East Lyme is a lovely place to live as I've lived here for almost thirteen years. It's divided into two villages: Niantic and Flanders (though everyone who lives on the Flanders side, like my family, just calls it East Lyme, while those on the Niantic side (like my in-laws) refer to their hometown as Niantic).

As far as housing prices go, East Lyme is one of the more expensive areas in New London County, but, much like other lovely towns suggested on this thread, you will find a wide range of housing prices. Plus, due to the current market, many of those prices are coming down to more reasonable levels. Just for an example, I did a quick search for a 3 BR/2.5 BATH for under $400,000 and found 9 listings.


With the exception of lakefront properties like the one above, it's very common to get at least 1 acre with your home, even under $400,000. I don't know how important this is to you, but I thought I'd mention it in case a large yard would be a selling point for you.

The reason why East Lyme (as well as Waterford and Old Lyme--which are also worth looking into, with Waterford having the most reasonably priced homes of the three) is so popular in this general area is that the schools are quite excellent. I have 4 children, 3 of them school-age, and they all love their schools. You can't go wrong with Waterford or Old Lyme either.

Another selling point for towns along the shoreline, such as East Lyme, is that there is very convenient highway access to I-95 and I-395. Depending upon where you live in town, there are 3 access points to I-95 that take you directly to East Lyme, an access point on the East Lyme/Old Lyme border and another one on the East Lyme/Waterford border. So commuting is very easy from here.

There are not really any major shopping outlets here other than Stop & Shop for groceries and CVS and Rite Aid for pharmacies. The downtown area in Niantic is very walkable, with several nice restaurants and mom-and-pop type small businesses. There's also Rocky Neck State Park and McCook Park here. However, Waterford boasts wonderful shopping with the Crystal Mall, Target, Wal-Mart, Borders, etc. since Waterford is East Lyme's next-door neighbor, I can be at those shopping centers in about 7 - 10 minutes. So, access to convenient shopping is not an issue.

My family will most likely be leaving East Lyme due to a job opportunity, and we are looking at the Glastonbury area (which is why I'm on this thread). I can honestly say that we will all be sad to go.

If you go to the Flickr website and do a search on East Lyme, CT, you can find a lot wonderful pics. Here are some photos I found on the web:
Rocky Neck:


Downtown Niantic during the holidays:
[CENTER]http://www.innharborhill.com/images/niantic-quote.jpg (broken link)
East Lyme, CT (off flickr.com)


Library and Community Center:

[/CENTER]

Last edited by JayCT; 04-25-2009 at 06:57 PM.. Reason: Removed advertising
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Old 07-14-2009, 08:18 PM
 
22 posts, read 43,909 times
Reputation: 23
Quote:
Originally Posted by usmcfamily View Post
Will he be retiring? Would you want to be close to MTF's or a commissary? If so, I would look at towns outside of New London Sub Base such as Madison, or Danbury (West Point) such as Bethel, New Fairfield. If you don't need to be near a base, then your options are greater.

Unfortunately, a lot of the towns with the best school systems are very expensive. Darien, New Canaan, Westport, Wilton, Weston, Greenwich etc. have top schools and million dollar housing. There are a lot of great schools districts all over the state where housing is less expensive.

What is your budget? What additional amenities are you looking for in a town?

If you really do need to be near the NL/Groton sub base, I would recommend Waterford or East Lyme (Niantic area specifically). The towns mentioned above aren't exactly as close as you would want to be if you need to shop at the commissary on a regular basis. Waterford and East Lyme are known for good schools, and Waterford is known for low taxes. New London is probably cheaper to buy a house, but the good areas may not be as cheap as say Crystal Ave... NL schools are not good as far as I know, but it doesn't cost too much to send your kids over to Waterford.
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Old 07-14-2009, 08:24 PM
 
22 posts, read 43,909 times
Reputation: 23
Ha, I didn't even see the East Lyme post until I posted my reply... Yeah Slymers!!
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Old 07-15-2009, 01:55 PM
 
8 posts, read 34,115 times
Reputation: 13
I would suggest Fairfield CT. right now you can get a pretty good deal on a house a small house. Fairfield Schools are one of the best in the nation It's a really great town as well and near many other great towns. Milford CT. is also a great town with great schools, you will get a better deal on a house there. Stay away from Hartford schools and Bridgeport Schools. Whom ever told you to go to tolland, you will be in the sticks unless that is what you like. Good Luck
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