[dadsinvt]

Hi - We are a gay male couple in our early 40s with two small children (ages 2-1/2 and 9 months). One of us may be getting a new job in Hartford, and so we are researching possible places to live. Our preference is to live in a small town, where we can easily walk to things, and be not more than 45 minutes from downtown Hartford, preferably more like 30. We don't have much money, and so need to find a place where we can buy a house for less than $250k. Also, we'd prefer to be on the north/east side of the city, since we have family in MA.

We've been through Stafford Springs a few times, and that seems affordable, and we like the "feel" of it a lot. Are there other small towns like this around? We also checked out Willimantic - it seemed ok, but we liked Stafford Springs better. I'm not too worried about the gay thing... My experience has been that as long as we're decent, people will be decent to us. Is this a realistic outlook in CT?

Thanks in advance for the advice!!

[xyz affair]

Tolland is a good place, see tolland.org
everyone here will be thinking I am pushing Tolland

Bolton is another good choice-east of Hartford. http://bolton.govoffice.com/

Also consider Coventry-also east of Hartford- http://www.coventryct.org/

at the 45 minute time scale- Putnam CT- near the RI border is very pleasant- nice Main street, great restaurants, antiques- and also 45 minutes to Providence.
see http://www.putnamct.us/

A final possibility is Somers

[Appias]

How about Glastonbury? Charming downtown, daily commuter buses into Hartford and excellent schools. It's isn't the cheapest town in Hartford county but it has a lot of amenities. I just took a quick peek and there is a 4 bedroom, 2 bath ranch house on Stevens Lane asking $230,000. Or a 3 bedroom, 1.5 bath split level on Lancaster asking $242,000.

[Lowerdeck]

Putnam would be nice, but it's an hour to Hartford. Probably would be too far.

I'd easily take Stafford over Willimantic too.

[JayCT]

There are many small towns in Connecticut that fit your needs. Stafford will be one of them but it is over 30 minutes from Hartford. Most towns with a nice downtown area within 30 minutes of Hartford will be a more suburban type community. I would recommend checking out Granby, East granby or Suffield. These are just about 30 minutes from Hartford and have small downtown areas that you may be able to find a home near. Jay

[Uconn97]

i personally like Hebron and Bolton, but neither has a real downtown.

[llyjk]

You could always go for West Hartford which is much safer than Hartford and you could be near BlueBack Square, but square is what West Hartford is and expensive, but there are small homes you could probably get. However, I live in W. Hartford and do not like it, but excellent educational system, so good for kids. Also lots of gay families nearby on Kenyon Street in west end of Hartford. Expensive street though. I would suggest checking out Collinsville and surrounds. Much cooler and diverse.

[formermainer13]

I would second the Collinsville recommendation. Reasonable home prices, quaint, pretty, and artsy. Much more vermont-ish than other Hartford area towns. It is also home to several same-sex couples.

[diane2]

Stafford- I lived there for 10 years, my husband grew up there, and still has family there, taxes are very low, but it has no shopping other than graocery, gift shops, drug store. If you need to buy shoes, for example you'd have todrive to Enfield, or Vernon/Manchester area. Alos it's a town where everyone knows everyone's business and many people there are related. But it does border MA and is about 60minute ride to Boston, 25 miles to Hartford. Enfield abuts Springfield. What part of MA is your family from?

[dadsinvt]

Thanks for all the tips! Still waiting on the results of the job interview, and more pending interviews...not a great time to be looking for work!

@diane2 -- I have family from one end of Mass to the other, which is part of the reason for looking up toward Stafford. Driving a half hour for stuff would be ok - we're used to that after living in northern Vermont!