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Now that I think of it, when did Westport actually took off? In the late 90s I find it hard to imagine that a sleepy like Westport can become such an affluent town when its further to NYC than Norwalk. I used to think that Darien will be the final cut off point but how wrong I was!
A lot of people associate Westport and it's wealth with Manhattan but a lot of your are forgetting that there are a lot of high paying jobs right here in Connecticut. Stamford, Norwalk, even Bridgeport has large law firms and physicians at top-rated hospitals.
While most of the money in Fairfield County is centered around NYC, there are many people who make their money right here in the state.
In fact many people I've heard about in Westport make it in areas such as Norwalk, Bridgeport and Stamford and less so in Manhattan. That's just what I've seen though.
Having lived in Fairfield for the first part of my life (and still have lots of friends there), I can agree 100% with this. Fairfielders often have an inferiority complex and try very hard to associate with Westport, Darien, New Canaan and Greenwich.
I find this to be true right up to Waterbury and New Haven. Southburians try to latch onto the Danbury area and ignore the Waterbury area. Oxfordites are obsessed with Monroe and Trumbull, and ignore the Valley. Try to tell someone from Shelton they're part of the Valley. You'd better duck or run.
This is one of the reasons why CT folks bug me a little.
Oxfordites are obsessed with Monroe? That's odd. Considering I feel a half of Monroe is obsessed with Bridgeport.
A lot of people associate Westport and it's wealth with Manhattan but a lot of your are forgetting that there are a lot of high paying jobs right here in Connecticut. Stamford, Norwalk, even Bridgeport has large law firms and physicians at top-rated hospitals.
While most of the money in Fairfield County is centered around NYC, there are many people who make their money right here in the state.
In fact many people I've heard about in Westport make it in areas such as Norwalk, Bridgeport and Stamford and less so in Manhattan. That's just what I've seen though.
Doesn't make sense spending 2 hours on door to door commute each way everyday when you are making big $$ already unless they keep a family home in Westport and a small studio in nyc.
Doesn't make sense spending 2 hours on door to door commute each way everyday when you are making big $$ already unless they keep a family home in Westport and a small studio in nyc.
Westport is not 2 hours door to door. Not even Milford takes that long. Not if you work in midtown.
Westport is a 60-65 minute train ride. So, if you live within 5 miles of the train station and your office is in midtown, it's not a terrible commute. A LOT of people do that commute.
But as a previous poster mentioned, a lot of people also work in the area. There's a lot of the finance industry in the region, even in Westport itself. Stamford and Greenwich have a ton.
Also, FWIW, Westport was affluent in the late 90's. It has been for a while.
Westport is not 2 hours door to door. Not even Milford takes that long. Not if you work in midtown.
Westport is a 60-65 minute train ride. So, if you live within 5 miles of the train station and your office is in midtown, it's not a terrible commute. A LOT of people do that commute.
But as a previous poster mentioned, a lot of people also work in the area. There's a lot of the finance industry in the region, even in Westport itself. Stamford and Greenwich have a ton.
Also, FWIW, Westport was affluent in the late 90's. It has been for a while.
I'd say midtown is a 80-90min door to door commute but once you have to take/change subway its easily 2 hours.
It was affluent in the 90s yes, but I didn't expect them to experience the same margin of price appreciation as Darien. In fact, I feel that Darien prices while still higher than Westport, have recently plateaued while Westport looked like it has much more room to appreciate after this recovery phase. I think Westport has an edge in the depth and variety of its amenities in town that helps close the gap to Darien despite its relatively further distance to Stamford and NYC. To me only, there is a very easy way of gauging if your town's amenities will appeal to a broad base of buyers and create a liquid transactional market even in downtime but Im not sure I wanna say it as towns without this indicator will probably me flame me to oblivion.
Last edited by Konig1985; 04-03-2011 at 10:54 PM..
A lot of people associate Westport and it's wealth with Manhattan but a lot of your are forgetting that there are a lot of high paying jobs right here in Connecticut. Stamford, Norwalk, even Bridgeport has large law firms and physicians at top-rated hospitals.
While most of the money in Fairfield County is centered around NYC, there are many people who make their money right here in the state.
In fact many people I've heard about in Westport make it in areas such as Norwalk, Bridgeport and Stamford and less so in Manhattan. That's just what I've seen though.
So true.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MetsNY
Oxfordites are obsessed with Monroe? That's odd. Considering I feel a half of Monroe is obsessed with Bridgeport.
My point was that once you get south of Waterbury, people start associating themselves with whatever town is to the southwest of them. I'm sure it has something to do with where they work, but in the case of Oxford (and Shelton), they will do anything to distance themselves from the Valley.
Last edited by kidyankee764; 04-04-2011 at 05:59 AM..
Now that I think of it, when did Westport actually took off? In the late 90s I find it hard to imagine that a sleepy like Westport can become such an affluent town when its further to NYC than Norwalk. I used to think that Darien will be the final cut off point but how wrong I was!
Westport has been a desirable town for years. Remember Lucy and Ricky moved there in the 1950's on I Love Lucy. The movie "The Man in the Gray Flannel Coat" was filmed there too. Westport served as a suburb to Bridgeport, Norwalk and Stamford too, not just New York so it was well established as a desirable suburb long before it was discovered by New Yorker. Jay
One thing I have noticed about Westport is that the "bottom end" of the housing market seems to have come down. (This is just my impression... no stats backing this up). I am seeing the occasional livable condo in the mid 300's, which I have not seen in a long time.
One thing I have noticed about Westport is that the "bottom end" of the housing market seems to have come down. (This is just my impression... no stats backing this up). I am seeing the occasional livable condo in the mid 300's, which I have not seen in a long time.
Absolutely, but not for SFHs. Condos are cheap all across the country right now. They currently aren't viewed as a good investment.
I'm seeing some amazing deals in Fairfield right now. We said we'd never move back to FFC, but the location and specs of one specific home we're looking at in FFLD is very appealing. The deals are going FAST though.
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