[Yankeerose00]

Maybe I'm still in sticker shock over FFC prices, but I'm looking at homes in New Milford and they seem so cheap! I realize that it's further from NYC and Stamford but is that the only reason?
I've only been through the town once and it seemed very nice.
Once house is advertising that it's 20 minutes to the Pawling, NY train station and then 90 minutes into NYC. Not good for a daily commute but my husband goes into the city only twice a week.
So is there anything I'm missing about New Milford? Can someone tell me the bad and the good about it?

[Appias]

New Milford is considered a bit more rough around the edges and less upscale than other towns in Fairfield county. This makes it less desirable than other towns to people so the prices are cheaper. It is also pretty far from NYC for commuting purposes, so that also keeps the prices lower than the more accessible towns in the county.

[Sleddog905]

I know that some of the home prices have dropped significantly since this recession began. I grew up in New Milford and my parents still live there. Their neighbors recently sold their home for about a 1/3 of what it had been worth a few years ago (just one example). It has always been cheaper than FFC, and I agree with the pp that it's mostly due to it's slightly longer commuter distance and less amenities than say, Danbury.

[jdhall1]

It is a longer commute & not as devolped as Danbury. There is a larger supply of homes for sale, because many corporate people were transferred to work in the Danbury area (for Durcell, Boehringer, etc) & with the economy, many have been transferred out of the area. Several of my clients that work in NY won't consider moving to New Milford because of the increased commute, even though they can get a newer larger home there for more favorable prices.

[kidyankee764]

It's very out of the way - there's pretty much one road in and one road out of town, which is Route 7. It's great if you live and work in New Milford, but even the commute to Danbury can be tough depending on where in NM you live.

I wouldn't live in Ridgefield for the same reasons (not that I'm saying I can even afford it, LOL). Just tough to get to.

[Yankeerose00]

oh okay. Around here, I'm always so skeptical when prices seem too cheap. It's so hard to tell on a map but it didn't look that remote. And I remember reading that Joan Rivers owns a house up there and that she couldn't sell it, but she wanted millions.
I thought maybe it was possible to live there, shop in Danbury and still commute to NYC.
Right now my husband only goes in twice a week but in case they ever wanted him more often, we do need a somewhat reasonable commute which around here is 1.5 hours one way, door to door.
How about New Fairfield? Is that a better commute?
As far as amenities, I'm susprised at how many upscale towns don't have much by the way of amenties and I'm not talking a mall, just a grocery store.
I can see a rural poor town lacking but we looked at upscale rural towns that didn't have anything. I would like to have shopping close by. We looked at Redding this past weekend and while it was beautiful, I didn't see any shopping at all. And it's not like homes were that cheap either.

[Yankeerose00]

Kidyankee can you expound why you wouldn't live in Ridgefield? I can't afford it now either but I was considering going really small just to live there.
I'm always looking for opinions from people who've lived here longer than me. Sometimes you just dont' think of things and then you buy a house and it's too late.

[kidyankee764]

Originally Posted by Yankeerose00

Kidyankee can you expound why you wouldn't live in Ridgefield? I can't afford it now either but I was considering going really small just to live there.
I'm always looking for opinions from people who've lived here longer than me. Sometimes you just dont' think of things and then you buy a house and it's too late.

It's not that I wouldn't live there, I would just need to be in a section of Ridgefield where it's easy to get to highways and shopping (like along G.W Highway in the northern section of town - but that's mostly ridiculous mansions so scratch that ever happening). I worked in downtown Ridgefield when I was in high school, and it was always a pain in the you know what to get to. Route 7 is the major route to shopping and highways and it is often stop and go with lights and traffic - though this has gotten better near the Danbury line where they've made it practically a speedway for a few miles. It takes a good 15-20 minutes to get to a highway from downtown, and if you need to go south to Norwalk, maybe more. Wilton is a traffic mess too. They are improving Route 7 but by the time they are done with it, traffic will be worse. (Can you tell I'm a huge fan of Super 7??) And if you get stuck behind a truck on 7, since many truckers use it as a cut through from 95 to 84, you'll be very frustrated.

Ridgefield is a fantastic town - I know many people who lived there and they love it. Perhaps it's remoteness from highways is part of its charm. If you can take back roads then you should be fine - I know that most Ridgefielders don't even take Route 7.

As for rural towns not having much - that's the way people like it here. I have mixed feelings about NIMBYism (for example, I don't think the Merritt should be improved just because people like to drive 80 on it, but I do think a small grocery store should be available in every town). When I lived in CA, it seemed like there was no zoning. Subdivisions being thrown up everywhere - and full towns just appearing out of nowhere. I found that to be startling.

[Appias]

New Fairfield is a nice town. There isn't much of a town center, but there is a good sized grocery store there (Stop & Shop I think). You should check it out if you are thinking about buying in northern Fairfield county. Have you thought about Bethel?

[Yankeerose00]

I don't like one extreme or the other. I do NOT want to live someplace like Florida where there is no zoning. However, I don't want to drive 30 minutes if I run out of milk. IF I do have to do that, I want a house that's dirt cheap. I know when I first moved to VA it was like that. I had to drive 30 minutes for groceries, a hardware store, any shopping. But the town was small and the homes and taxes were cheap.
What I'm looking for is a town moderately priced with at least some amenities.
I'm also realizing that while I like hills, I do NOT want these steep inclines to get to my driveway. Some of these homes we looked at were way up on a hill or you had to drive down a steep road. No thanks. In the south with no snow, I'd go for it, but not here.

I've never been through Bethel. I only know that my neighbor told me not to consider it because it's
"not too nice" or something like. But he didn't elaborate. I haven't ruled it out though. Any opinions on that town would be good too.

I can see what you mean Kidyankee about Ridgefield. That is what scares me with buying a house. A lot of times, it's only after living in a house or a town for a year or so do you realize that it's really not the place for you.
I like a rustic and rural feel, but I don't want to feel like a shut-in. I don't need a mall in my town but I'd like a couple of grocery stores. I don't like the idea of only one store because I feel like prices will be higher because there is no competition. In other states, I've never been impressed with the one grocery store type of towns.

If I had to choose my dream town here in CT, I adore the east side of Hartford. I love Manchester shopping w/ the Buckland hills, Evergreen walk, Target, all the amenities a person could want. Then to drive home to the country in a town like Tolland, Coventry or Vernon would be my ideal. That is what I'm looking for. However, we are chained to FFC because of my husband's job right now. Ugh. I wish he could find work in his field in Hartford.