[andthentherewere3]

Originally Posted by arielmina

I would suggest at least looking in Ridgefield...you're budget is going to be low, but I'm sure you can find a 3 bd 2 bath home in the mid 400s if you have any flexibility. It will be an older (1950-70s) ranch or raised ranch but likely on a decent sized lot and excellent schools, great downtown, tolerant easy going, unpretentious community.

The commute to NYC would be on Metro North's Harlem line, on NYS, to Katonah or Brewster, both stations are relatively close to Ridgefield and are an hour into Grand Central. In your budget you will have to look north and west in town as the south, east homes are going to cost higher due to the closer commute down county. Commuting to Stamford is a breeze on back roads, almost no traffic except for thru downtown Ridgefield (which has gotten better since the control the traffic lights in the am to allow south bound folks to cruise through faster). You will hit traffic in Stamford but it's nothing like sitting on 95 or the Merritt which is just a nightmare during rush hour. Just a thought....

Great info. I'd also recommend Ridgefield. It would save you the tremendous hassle and inconvenience of moving later, as some are suggesting. I've moved a few times and don't ever want to go through it again.

[kidyankee764]

Originally Posted by andthentherewere3

Great info. I'd also recommend Ridgefield. It would save you the tremendous hassle and inconvenience of moving later, as some are suggesting. I've moved a few times and don't ever want to go through it again.

I love Ridgefield, but see two problems for the OP:

1) Finding a decent house for $400k
2) The commute to NYC could be up to 2 hours door to door, depending on exact locations of home and job.

[arielmina]

Originally Posted by arielmina

I would suggest at least looking in Ridgefield...you're budget is going to be low, but I'm sure you can find a 3 bd 2 bath home in the mid 400s if you have any flexibility. It will be an older (1950-70s) ranch or raised ranch but likely on a decent sized lot and excellent schools, great downtown, tolerant easy going, unpretentious community.

The commute to NYC would be on Metro North's Harlem line, on NYS, to Katonah or Brewster, both stations are relatively close to Ridgefield and are an hour into Grand Central. In your budget you will have to look north and west in town as the south, east homes are going to cost higher due to the closer commute down county. Commuting to Stamford is a breeze on back roads, almost no traffic except for thru downtown Ridgefield (which has gotten better since the control the traffic lights in the am to allow south bound folks to cruise through faster). You will hit traffic in Stamford but it's nothing like sitting on 95 or the Merritt which is just a nightmare during rush hour. Just a thought....

oops sorry I meant you need to look north/east, south/west will be hard to come by in your price range. Sorry!

[arielmina]

Originally Posted by kidyankee764

I love Ridgefield, but see two problems for the OP:

1) Finding a decent house for $400k
2) The commute to NYC could be up to 2 hours door to door, depending on exact locations of home and job.

True, but if they are close to Grand Central, it is likely to be no more than 90 mins including all travel time. The budget is a problem, though you can find them. Here is an example of a 3 bed/2 bath home on 4 acres no less, west side of town. The commute would be to the Golden's Bridge or Brewster stations which are about 10-12 miles away along back roads with no traffic.

313 Old Sib Rd, Ridgefield, CT, 06877 - MLS #98470240 - Single Family Home real estate - REALTOR.com®

and another that is in town, so a very good commute both down county and into Katonah

213 Ramapoo Rd, Ridgefield, CT, 06877 - MLS #98472341 - Single Family Home real estate - REALTOR.com®

So it is possible to get a house on that budget in Ridgefield...these are two nice locations too.

[andthentherewere3]

Originally Posted by kidyankee764

I love Ridgefield, but see two problems for the OP:

1) Finding a decent house for $400k
2) The commute to NYC could be up to 2 hours door to door, depending on exact locations of home and job.

It will definitely not be easy, but sellers these days are generally a little more flexible with price. The OP might be able to find something in Ridgefield, I just checked and saw at least one in S. Ridgefield with an asking price of $419. Springdale doesn't have a large supply of homes in that price range, either. Either way, the OP will have a tough search with few homes in that price range, so it won't hurt to look into all options.

[Stratford, Ct. Resident]

^^^^^^^^^^^

I've been wondering for years why someone thought Ramapoo was a good name.

[arielmina]

Originally Posted by Stratford, Ct. Resident

^^^^^^^^^^^

I've been wondering for years why someone thought Ramapoo was a good name.

I'm sure in all seriousness that you know the name was taken from the Indians who lived in this area before us settlers came In all my years in Ridgefield, I have never thought of it in the way you did!

[Stratford, Ct. Resident]

Originally Posted by arielmina

I'm sure in all seriousness that you know the name was taken from the Indians who lived in this area before us settlers came In all my years in Ridgefield, I have never thought of it in the way you did!

Why the extra o though? I always thought they were Ramapo.

[arielmina]

Originally Posted by Stratford, Ct. Resident

Why the extra o though? I always thought they were Ramapo.

well you know us Americans, always bastardizing the language
Here is the actual origin of the name for those terribly curious:

RAMAPOO ROAD
Ramapoo Road is an old highway, probably the original route from town to West Mountain, that meanders from Gilbert Street westward to the intersection of West Mountain Road and Barry Avenue.
Evidence is that Gilbert Street was originally considered part of Ramapoo Road. Indeed, a 1900 map of the village labels Gilbert Street as "Ramapoo Road." And there are also indications that West Mountain Road was called the same thing; a 1907 property map in the town hall uses "Ramapo Road" for West Mountain Road in the vicinity of Old West Mountain Road. (Ramapo, incidentally, one of at least two valid spellings of the word, is used by the Rockland County, N.Y., town.)
In the mid-18th Century, someone who wanted to go from the village to Round Pond had to take a route that covered today's Gilbert Street, Ramapoo Road, Oscaleta Road, and Rippowam Road. Barry Avenue wasn't built until the mid-19th Century and most of West Mountain Road didn't exist until sometime after the Revolution.
The name "Ramapoo" recalls the reported name of one of the Indian groups that lived in Ridgefield. In his Ridgefield in Review, Silvio Bedini says that "the Indians who inhabited the Ridgefield area were members of the Ramapo and Titicus villages in the Tankiteke sachemdom of the Wappinger tribe."
Theories vary as to what Ramapo or Ramapoo meant. John C. Huden, an Indian place names expert, translates the word as "they are in route" or "temporary dwellers," but admits that "other sources give 'stream formed by round ponds' and 'river which empties into round ponds.' "
George R. Steward, in American Place Names, has a simpler, more basic translation: "round pond."
Is it possible that our "Round Pond," to which the old Ramapoo Road led, was originally called Ramapoo, and that our Indians took their name from it? Round Pond is never called Ramapoo in the early land records, but the fact that English and Indian names may mean the same thing and are connected geographically makes it seem a strong possibility.
It's possible that the application of the name stemmed from early Ridgefielders' knowledge that the word meant "round pond" and referred to an Indian village, Ramapoo, at our Round Pond. However, Ridgefielders had always known the word as a tribal name because it appears in the first Indian deed to the new settlers, which begins: "Know ye that I, Catoonah, sachem of Ramapoo Indians..."
Ridgefield's Indians were, incidentally, of a type that would match with Huden's translation of "temporary dwellers." They changed camps with the seasons.