[Katipv]

Hi,
We are a 5 member family from Latin American that will be relocated in CT due to my husband´s job, for at least 3 years.
His job is located in Darien, our income family will be around 123K, I need to know if it will be enough for rent a home and live in Greenwich area?, we visited the place and we know that schools are very good there, our kids are 9, 5 and 1 year olds.

I am worry about how easy will be the adaption in Greenwich for us, I read some blogs about snoby people? is it true? How you believe our children will be accepted by their partners in their school? which places in Greenwich can you recommend to me? Are any other town option that can fill our necessities: budget, excellents schools, nice enviroment, security, ease adaptation for the family, nice and happy stay?

We are both professionals (I cannot work for visa reasons) my husband has an executive position for 10 years in his job, we are nice persons, but not to much snobys

Does somebody knows about Greenwich Oaks apartments, some comments?

Thank you in advance!

[JayCT]

Housing prices in Greenwich are among the most expensive in the country. I am not sure how well you can live there on $123k per year, but if you can find an affordable rent, go for it. Though expensive, Greenwich is a somewhat diverse town and there should be other Latin American families there. I believe there have been posts about Greenwich Oaks before on this board but I do not remember what they were. You might try to do a search to find them.

If Greenwich does not work out, I would suggest looking in Fairfield. It is a town similar to Greenwich in character but is significantly more affordable. It has a nice downtown area, excellent schools and a wide range of housing options. A lot of people from lower Fairfield County move there to find more affordable homes. Jay

[KH02]

My husband and I make a similar amount and we could not afford to live in Greenwich so I doubt you would be able to either.
To get a home with enough space for a family of 5 with young children you would be looking at spending at least 800,000 on a home in Greenwich and even then it wouldn't be a brand new perfect looking home.

[heather121]

If you are planning on renting, it would be at least $3,000/month for a decent (livable) apartment/house with 3 bedrooms, and that wouldn't include utilities.

With the exception of the larger cities (Bridgeport, Norwalk, maybe Stamford), ALL of the schools in Fairfield County are excellent, you really couldn't go wrong anywhere in that regard.

You *might* be able to pull off living in Greenwich for 3 years, but you would almost certainly spend the majority of your income in housing costs and necessities. You might consider other towns in FFC close to Darien that would be slightly less expensive than Greenwich itself, there are PLENTY of nice ones.

[Katipv]

Thanks for your replies,

One of the things that we are thinking is the idea that a perfect school for us should have a variety of races, and better if the hispanics can be at least a 15% in the school.....the other thing is that school must have the English as second language program for our kids, they don´t speak any english. Does every school in Fairfield area have that program? is it a must for the public schools? I was lookig Fairfield, it seems there are not too much hispanics. Are any other place near Darien that have more hispanics? Are good special learning programs in Fairfield schools? one of our kids have a little speaking problem, he is in language terapies now, and he is making very good.

All our plans are changing now, please give all information you think is important

[Stratford, Ct. Resident]

Since it's only 3 years and you won't be putting the kids through high school here, i'd have to suggest North Stamford(06903), or most areas of the Ridgeway section of Stamford(06905). You'll get the benefit of city school ESL programs, while avoiding the urban ills that are common in cities.

[Beeker2211]

From my family's experience with the Fairfield School System, their special education program is much more than adequate. I would like to say fantastic, but I only really know about how my cousins that were given special treatment were handled and I have no real numbers to back up the claim, so I'll stick with very good.

One of my cousins had a speech impediment early on, and the town spent a lot of time and resources on specialists to make sure he did alright: and it worked as he went on to become a highly functioning student, usually earning high marks.

I remember a few students that had to take English As A Second Language in Fairfield High, and if I remember correctly the school had an extensive ESL programme. I knew of a few students that went into the school knowing little to no English, and though it was hard and they worked a lot at it they started getting the hang of it pretty quickly.

I loved the high school, as did most of my family that attended.

As for diversity for Fairfield, really depends on where you want to be. The neighbourhood that my parents live in is quite ethnically and economically diverse and well represented: Old, Young, Hungarian, Indians, Rich, Poor, Middle standing, African American, Syrians, Koreans, Twianese, Algerians, Yankees, Greek, Irish, Mexicans, Ecuadorians, and some Salvadorians just to name a few. However, you can go to neighbourhoods with less diversity just two miles away up north.

I wish you the best of luck, and hope you find Connecticut well enough!

~Cheers

[Katipv]

thank you all,

Could you please tell me all about Rowayton, is it a good option? is so expensive than Greenwich, or more affordable for us?

The maps say that the time by car from Fairfield to Darien is between 33 minutes, is it true? or maybe is better to take the train?

[KH02]

Rowayton is part of Norwalk. I would steer clear as the schools are less then desirable...

[Katipv]

Originally Posted by KH02

Rowayton is part of Norwalk. I would steer clear as the schools are less then desirable...

Thanks for your response, but I have read at greatschools that Rowayton elementary and middle are good schools, they are better than the other Norwalk´s. Besides, I´v read at community page and Schools pages, some info but not enough, I would appreciate more info and personal experiences pleeeease, and all about you can tell me about Rowayton. (we are getting close to take a decition )

As an alien I am lost with utilities costs, please give me an idea about Greenwich, Fairfield and Rowayton costs for a house of 3 bdr with yard? Which are normally the components of utilities costs?

Please tell us commute time from Fairfield to Darien. THANKS A LOT.