[user2020]

Hello experts,

Iam currently working in Greenwich/CT and live in Stamford. Planning to buy single family house range 350K-400K (1999 & up construction). We are Indian family with 2 kids (elementary school). So Iam cinsidering on..

1. Good school district (if not great)

2. Safe areas

3. preferably any detached house in community with some place around

4. reasonable commute to NYC (incase if any job issues and need to commute to NYC)

5. preferably in/near to indian coomunity (and reasonable distance to islamic centers).

6. Due to nature of my current job, I might need to drive few days in a month to work.

Did some research online and based on my requirements -Milford, Danbury & Bethel seems recomended. Of the all, Bethel seems to be the winner (Milford mainly I-95 traffic to work and long waiting list for train parking. Danbury- schools).

Any suggestions/recomendations from the experts are appreciated.

Thank you
MS

[Stylo]

You're right on those 3 towns for price range, safety, and decent schools. Danbury probably has the worst schools of all 3, but they really aren't that bad. I know several people that went through them and they turned out to be successful.

Bethel is a decent town. Slightly above average schools. OK town center, it looks nice but limited things to do. I grew up in the area and became bored out of my mind. But hey, there are definitely good qualities too, so I guess it depends on what you like. It's a good area for kids to grow up, but you may find them becoming bored during high school.

Bethel/Danbury to Greenwich would be a tough commute by car. There's no easy way to get there. Unfortunately, you're not saving much time in traffic going through CT vs. Milford since most of the traffic happens in Norwalk and Stamford, and you'd have to drive through those towns to get to Greenwich. You could take 684, but the entrance to 684 in Danbury can get really backed up, and you might get traffic coming into Armonk approaching White Plains. Also, even without traffic that's over an hour commute. Lastly, you could take backroads, but again - over an hour commute.

Anyway you slice it, you're going to have a tough commute, but I would strongly recommend going somewhere where you can take the train.

Train from Bethel/Danbury to Greenwich doesn't run too often and the shortest is over 70 minutes. Some over 90 minutes.

Yes, the wait is long in Milford - but there's plenty of paid parking. About $5 a day. You could also have your wife drop you off if she can as many people do, or find a house that's within walking distance. There's some really nice neighborhoods within walking distance of the train station. Train from Milford at rush hour is around 50 minutes. If you don't mind a longer commute, you could even live in Orange and take advantage of their excellent schools - you'd just be adding 15 minutes or so to your commute having to drive to Milford train station. Still a quicker commute than Bethel.

Having lived in both areas, I can tell you that they are very different places. Milford is a more bustling area with a walkable downtown and excellent restaurants and variety of shopping, but also more dense and not as quiet/bucolic. Danbury has the nicer mall, but otherwise doesn't have quite the volume of shopping options. You're also within earshot of New Haven and the rest of the coast for activities in Milford, as well as lots of shoreline and beaches. If you like a more woodsy setting, I'd recommend Bethel, if you like coastal/suburban, I'd recommend Milford.

Another town to consider is Trumbull. It might be pushing your budget, but it's a really nice town. You could drive to the Fairfield station, but again - paid parking.

All the aforementioned towns are safe. I might suggest avoiding certain areas of Chestnut/Maple in Bethel, areas near downtown Danbury and north of Lake Ave Ext., and certain pockets of the Devon section of Milford. With the exception of a select few neighborhoods in Danbury, none of these places are necessarily unsafe - but are less desirable in general.

I would honestly plan this move around train stations, as your price range makes a commute to Greenwich by car very difficult.

[user2020]

Hi,

Thank you for provding great insight into those areas. Initially I thought of Trumbull, but the price for decent houses are out of my budget :-). My personal reference is to quite locations but this case, depends on multiple things. I visited Bethel couple of weeks and looks great. We will also check Milford and then decide on the location. Thank you once again for the info.

MS

[Stylo]

No problem. Again, I'd strongly recommend commuting by train as it's a rough commute from Danbury or Milford area by car. I know a few people that commute to Stamford and Greenwich from the Danbury area and their commutes are often over 90 minutes. They don't even bother with the train up there because it's so slow.

When you check out Milford, be sure to head downtown (Broad and River Streets) around the green, duck ponds and harbor, then drive along Gulf Street by the coast to get a good feel of the town. Most people don't look beyond Route 1. Also check out the northern area, West River Rd, Wolf Harbor, the area around Great River Golf Club. These areas will give you a good idea of the different nice areas of town: historic dowtown, coastal, and the woodsier north that feels more like Bethel.

[JayCT]

It is going to be hard to find newer construction at the price you are willing to pay. There just is not much of it because this is a mature area. Bethel and Milford are great towns but I would lean a little more toward Milford since there is the option of commuting by train from there. Then again there is the Danbury branch train but service is somewhat limited. The problem with Danbury is that it is a small city and while the lower schools are okay, the high school is huge (one of the largest in the state). If schools are a priority, I would stick with Milford or Bethel. Jay

[Stylo]

I totally missed the part that you might have to commute to NYC. Forget about Bethel, that would be a hellish commute. It's not great from Milford, but doable. There is an 80 minute express train.

Btw, Milford has a great little Indian grocery store (I bought all ingredients needed for a great Chicken Tikka Masala and Vindaloo), a big general ethnic grocery store and some great Indian restaurants nearby (Coromandel in Orange and Southport, Thali, Tandoor, India Palace and Kamal in New Haven).

[user2020]

Thank you both again. I may have to commute to NY only incase if any issues with job and able to find one in NY only. I will check on Milford as well. I was looking online and How is the Lexington Green west condos in Milford (acorn lane milford ct). Also, I see 2 zipcodes (06460&06461) for Milford. What area is good?

Thanks in advance
MS

[Stylo]

Originally Posted by user2020

Thank you both again. I may have to commute to NY only incase if any issues with job and able to find one in NY only. I will check on Milford as well. I was looking online and How is the Lexington Green west condos in Milford (acorn lane milford ct). Also, I see 2 zipcodes (06460&06461) for Milford. What area is good?

Thanks in advance
MS

Still, commuting to NYC from Bethel is a 2 hour+ ordeal, just on the train alone. Being on a good train line ensures you that you'll have more commuting options should your job change. You're also in striking distance of more job centers when on the coast.

Lexington Green area in Milford is very nice, quiet. More woodsy than near the coast. Will probably remind you a lot of Bethel. I believe it's actually detached single family homes, not condos. But you pay a common fee like a condo. At your price range, you might as well get a single family house in Milford.

06460 is approx. south of 95/Merritt and 06461 is above 95/Merritt. It really has no bearing on better/worse areas of town though.

The nicest areas IMO are:
- Parts of north Milford - Wolf Harbor, north Wheelers Farm/Great River, W River Street
- Downtown/Milford Center Historical District
- Gulf Street/Bayside
- Morningside/Woodmont area

There are nice areas throughout town. The area around Lexington Green is fine.

The least desirable part of town is Devon (western Milford). It's not terrible, and is safe, but a bit more run-down than the rest of the town. It does have some nice areas too like Laurel Beach.

[Stylo]

Sent you a private message...

[Rich Cabeza]

To bad you live too far from Lordship. I just heard of a house going for $260k that would have easily been $500k a few years ago.