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We are family of three (son - 4 years ) and looking for a town in CT to buy a condo/townhouse in (up to 200-220K, 1200-1400 sqrt). I will be working mostly remotely but sometimes need to commute to Southbury ('d like to stay within 30-45 min).
For sure we are looking for family friendly town with nice neighborhood, downtown, shopping and good elementary schools.
We are looking smth in the square (from top left : Kent - W.Hartford - Guilford - Fairfield - seems like 30-45 mins square).
Fairfield is about 45 minutes, but it's an expensive town and there won't be much in that price range. It's possible, but you're not going to get a very nice place. Kent is also 45 minutes, but there are very few condos in town. It's a beautiful town though, just isolated if you don't mind that. There isn't much for shopping, etc. except for a couple quaint shops in town. More for tourists than residents.
Guilford is not even close to 45 minutes so take it off your list.
West Hartford is a wonderful small city with great schools, shopping, restaurants and one of CT's best downtowns. It's stretching your distance though, and may be over 45 minutes with traffic.
There are a lot of nice rural-feeling towns in the area that don't necessarily have a defined downtown: Southbury, Newtown, Monroe, Oxford, Brookfield, Middlebury. But they are near shopping with good schools and have a decent number of condo complexes. Woodbury, Roxbury, Washington, Bethany and Bridgewater are also very nice, but don't have much in the way of condos and more on the rural side.
New Milford is affordable, has lots of convenient shopping, decent schools, a nice town center and is affordable. Lots of condos in town.
Seymour is on par with New Milford in some ways in that it's affordable, plenty of condos, decent schools and downtown, convenient to many things.
Lastly, it's just under 45 minutes, but all backroads with little traffic: Orange. Excellent schools, tons of shopping nearby, easy access to New Haven shopping/restaurants/entertainment and easy access to Milford's excellent downtown and beaches.
Honestly, you may have to sacrifice, say, a downtown in-town in this area and maybe settle for a downtown nearby to visit. The immediate radius of Southbury is a bit more rural than other parts of the state like the southwest and Hartford area.
Have you looked at Southbury itself? It has plenty of condos, but I'm not too sure on prices.
There are two older complexes.. one on Old Waterbury Rd and one on Rt. 67 (Far View Commons). I'm guessing these are in your price range.
(For the sake of completeness: There are two newer complexes, one on Old Field Hill Rd and one on Church Rd, however while very nice, I believe they are much more expensive than your budget. There is also Traditions which is more detached homes but with an HOA. It is very overpriced and I don't think there are any models in that price range. There is also a non-age-restricted complex near the Dolce Heritage hotel around the Heritage Village area. I'm not sure of the prices - I suspect it's pricy though. Note that if you do a condo search and the address actually says 'Heritage Village', these are age-restricted so I assume you can take them off your list.)
The town has enough shopping for most needs, but maybe not the downtown you're thinking of. Plenty of nice neighborhoods and good schools.
Going further south and west is likely to get more expensive - however as Stylo said, New Milford seems like a great bet to find what you're looking for. It's well-located - you'd probably be going against traffic more than with it, for a morning commute to Southbury, etc. I'm not sure on the schools.
Woodbury has several condo complexes, but I suspect anything affordable is probably quite old. Definitely check around on realtor.com though. It would be your closest commute outside living in Southbury itself, and you wouldn't even get on the highway.
Last edited by basehead617; 02-11-2012 at 02:25 AM..
Than you all for quick reaction.
New piece of info - we are young family so we'd like to have more life than in New Milford (renting here for 1 year - shopping in Danbury/mall is good though).
Concerning NE from Southbury - Bristol, New Britain, Chesire, Middle-town, -field, Litchfield ?
For SW we are with Seymour, Monroe, Orange, prob Milford, Trumbull.
Than you all for quick reaction.
New piece of info - we are young family so we'd like to have more life than in New Milford (renting here for 1 year - shopping in Danbury/mall is good though).
Concerning NE from Southbury - Bristol, New Britain, Chesire, Middle-town, -field, Litchfield ?
For SW we are with Seymour, Monroe, Orange, prob Milford, Trumbull.
OK, if you're bored with the New Milford area, then that scratches off a lot of the surrounding towns. I lived in that area and was also frustrated with the lack of things to do and activity, moved to Milford and am loving it - especially with easy access to other shoreline towns like Westport, Fairfield, New Haven, Branford, etc.
Not a whole lot going on in Litchfield or surrounding towns, though it is gorgeous. Cheshire is lovely but same thing. Bristol, a bit dull. New Britain puts you close to West Hartford and Hartford, but schools are not great and neither are parts of the town frankly. You'd get a lot of condo though.
You'd probably love West Hartford but it's really stretching your commute.
Middletown is not a bad option. Affordable, nice downtown, stuff to do, close to New Haven. I'm not sure about schools though. A bit far though, but doable in your range.
Seymour/Monroe/Orange are good as they put you near all the things to do in Fairfield, Milford, New Haven. That might be your best bet if the New Milford area isn't cutting it for you. Still a very easy commute, much easier than from West Hartford. Trumbull is good, but expensive and pushing it for your budget. Milford would be an excellent option, but pushing it a little for your commute much like Middletown. At least there would be no traffic. I also like the Wallingford suggestion, but that's even further than Milford - though it has a good downtown and is near New Haven.
Thanx for advices. Next week will check all considering towns. Today was in Fairfield - very attractive, but was frustrated with very close Bridgeport neighborhood. Couldn't make it to Milford - next time.
Thanx for advices. Next week will check all considering towns. Today was in Fairfield - very attractive, but was frustrated with very close Bridgeport neighborhood. Couldn't make it to Milford - next time.
Fairfield is very nice and very little of it even feels like it borders Bridgeport. But I would honestly focus my search otherwise as it's a bit beyond your budget IMO and far from Southbury. Definitely the most expensive town of all you've mentioned.
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