[Stratford, Ct. Resident]

Originally Posted by kidyankee764

Me too.

Imagine a place where the already "reasonable" taxes go DOWN:Budget approved: Taxes will go down

I think we need more "crooks" like Lauretti. LOL.

[Stylo]

Originally Posted by kidyankee764

Me too.

Shelton's fine, but I don't see any overwhelming reason to go with it over Stratford or Milford. I think the schools are pretty close, and it's really about finding the right home in that area.

Good link for OP: GreatSchools - Public and Private School Ratings, Reviews and Parent Community

[MelWA]

So much excellent information in one spot. I have to say again, tired of hearing it yet?, thank you!

Buying a house blindly was a dumb idea but one that was out of an animal lovers eye. After working at our independant family pet store for over 13 years I guess its hard for me to part with any animal. My husbands parents have a farm so that is our choice to see if they want to babysit the dogs for a few months till we have everything sorted out. Its hard to find a rental for one dog little lone 3 as Jay said. So that being out of the way we're open to rentals. Its hard renting after owning your home but as was said on here it would be not too smart to coming there blindly. We're already blindly going to be renting so I'm not quite sure how thats going to work either but...

Petco and Petsmart are really not my choices but having to move and leave my wonderful job at our store is pretty difficult. I got out of computer tech support/repairing to come back home and help run the store. Its something that I figured I'd be at for the rest of my life. I will return one day but for now I need something that I still love to do. My reasoning behind those two is that they don't sell puppies. For my own reasons I can't. I will have to wait till we get to where we are going to see if their is independent stores that I can work part time even at.

Schools while being so far away is pretty difficult. Luckily we will be getting there in the middle of summer instead of the middle of school year. If you pull up Yakima school districts they aren't the hottest either but I do know most that are on the West side are pretty good. We are in the West Valley School District which is a pretty decent school district. They just built a brand new highschool (My senior this year says it reminds her of jail tho since it blocks out most cell phone signals lol). My youngest will be in elementary school this year according to most schools I see are pre k to atleast 5 grade. That makes me very happy since he was headed to middle school next year here. So much to consider. I'm happy to have this forum tho and get some mixed ideas to throw around. D-day is right around the corner and coming up fast.

[kidyankee764]

Originally Posted by mkiv808

Shelton's fine, but I don't see any overwhelming reason to go with it over Stratford or Milford. I think the schools are pretty close, and it's really about finding the right home in that area.

Good link for OP: GreatSchools - Public and Private School Ratings, Reviews and Parent Community

I meant aside from the schools (which are similar in all 3 towns - though Shelton's have the edge I think). Taxes in Shelton are very low when compared to Stratford and Milford. That's why I'd choose it.

Plus, sorry Milfordites, but the Route 1 strip is very, very unappealing. It ruins the town, IMO. Orange too.

[Stylo]

Originally Posted by kidyankee764

I meant aside from the schools (which are similar in all 3 towns - though Shelton's have the edge I think). Taxes in Shelton are very low when compared to Stratford and Milford. That's why I'd choose it.

Plus, sorry Milfordites, but the Route 1 strip is very, very unappealing. It ruins the town, IMO. Orange too.

Yes, Shelton taxes are lower than Milford, which is lower than Stratford. Stratford's are a bit high, but the property values are lower generally than Shelton too, so it's more about the whole picture financially.

Route 1 might ruin Milford for outsiders, but as a resident that lives near the water and the green/downtown - I only go up there when I need to do shopping, in which case it's very convenient. Route 1 is worse in Norwalk IMO, where it gets really dumpy looking. The strip by the Mall and Whole Foods in Milford is not bad at all, and they made a lot of improvements to the Devon section with new sidewalks and street lights.

But again, for me, downtown is the heart of Milford, not Route 1. Most people that pass through to shop don't even see downtown.

Also - Orange is a really nice town and Route 1 is only a small part of it. Again, it's quiet and beautiful for residents, and they have Route 1 to shop in when they need it. Convenience. Coming from the Danbury area where there's lame nightlife, limited quality restaurants and shopping is scattered - I welcome the amount of commerce nearby.

[JayCT]

Originally Posted by Stratford, Ct. Resident

Imagine a place where the already "reasonable" taxes go DOWN:Budget approved: Taxes will go down

I think we need more "crooks" like Lauretti. LOL.

The Feds have been circling Lauretti for a long time now. I know city employees are waiting for the day when the Feds pull up to City Hall and drag him away.

Lauretti was handed a city that was in pretty good shape when he was elected. There was a massive amount of new development being built along Route 8 and the town had not spent any money on their facilities in years. For a long time Shelton was known as the poor part of Fairfield county because they had old schools and public buildings and never spent money on infrastructure. That started to change about 30 years ago when Fairfield county discovered that vast amounts of vacant land and cheap housing in Shelton. More upscale people moved in and demanded change but they also brought more tax dollars with their large homes, new shopping centers and massive office parks. Kind of hard to screw up a situation like that. Jay

[Stylo]

Also, consider that CT has above average schools compared to many states, so "average" here can be "above average" in many states. I can't speak for WA.

[kidyankee764]

Originally Posted by mkiv808

Yes, Shelton taxes are lower than Milford, which is lower than Stratford. Stratford's are a bit high, but the property values are lower generally than Shelton too, so it's more about the whole picture financially.

Route 1 might ruin Milford for outsiders, but as a resident that lives near the water and the green/downtown - I only go up there when I need to do shopping, in which case it's very convenient. Route 1 is worse in Norwalk IMO, where it gets really dumpy looking. The strip by the Mall and Whole Foods in Milford is not bad at all, and they made a lot of improvements to the Devon section with new sidewalks and street lights.

But again, for me, downtown is the heart of Milford, not Route 1. Most people that pass through to shop don't even see downtown.

Also - Orange is a really nice town and Route 1 is only a small part of it. Again, it's quiet and beautiful for residents, and they have Route 1 to shop in when they need it. Convenience. Coming from the Danbury area where there's lame nightlife, limited quality restaurants and shopping is scattered - I welcome the amount of commerce nearby.

I know both Milford and Orange well. Just because downtown exists doesn't eliminate the ugly, congested, mismanaged Post Road. Don't get me wrong, I know Milford is a very nice community away from it all, but you can't ignore it - it's there.

To be honest with you, I prefer Devon over the rest of Milford. It has more of a quaint feel to it.

[Stylo]

Originally Posted by kidyankee764

To be honest with you, I prefer Devon over the rest of Milford. It has more of a quaint feel to it.

Really? Not to go off topic, I personally don't care for Devon at all compared to a lot of other areas in Milford. It's "dumpier". Woodmont is the definition of quaint to me. I also really like the area north of downtown, Morningside and the Gulf Street/Bayview area. But I disgress.

[MelWA]

It looks like that we have narrowed our choices down to Trumbull and shelton population and affordability wise for rent till we can sell this house and get back there and see how we like it before we will buy. We did find out that his office is in shelton so a few of the houses would be about 8 miles for him to work. Anything under 2k is not the greatest places for us seeming as I'm not too sure how we would deal with apartments or townhouses after owning our own home for so long. Im not thrilled at renting but it's just one step in taking a job that has a great opportunity for us. Are we safe to look anywhere in shelton or Trumbull and not worry for safety? Both towns look prettynice and quietbut I'm also going off the links that you gave and google map. We now have a rental truck ready to go June 23 but still looking for that perfect house. I'm positive that we'll find it. Thank you for all your inputs. You've helped me ease my mind a bit and find exactly the right links to research from 3000 miles away.