[groar]

yeah, i saw a couple of places in watertown but not enough to note it in my list. i don't think i've looked in the slightly higher price bracket either. i've been to watertown a bit (although i don't know neighborhood names ) and it does seem nice. we'd definitely consider living there. thanks!

[JayCT]

Originally Posted by groar

oh and to narrow things down, these are the towns that seem to have a lot of places in our price range:

meriden
waterbury
torrington
thomaston
winsted
bristol
middletown
plainville
new britain (but my husband says he won't live there!)
beacon falls
naugatuck
plymouth (not terryville though)
new haven (a little far from torrington and the areas where houses are in our range are probably terrible, but we like the city.)

If your husband won't live in New Britain then he likely would not want to live in Meriden, Waterbury or New Haven. He also may not like Torrington, Winsted, Bristol, Middletown or Naugatuck. That does not leave you much to choose from sadly. Jay

[groar]

my husband grew up in meriden and lived in waterbury for years and would love to move back to the right neighborhood in either of them - i'm actually the one with reservations about those cities because of schools. i think he also lived in middletown for a while and i know he likes it there. he is actually pushing for that area because his family all lives in meriden. his dislike of new britain is more of a personal thing; he spent a lot of time there during a bad time in his life. still, he said since i started this thread that he'd be ok with the right place in new britain.

keep in mind, we live in wilkinsburg pa, an inner suburb of pittsburgh that many people would not set foot in. do a search for wilkinsburg on the pittsburgh board and you will realize that we are not people who shy away from rough areas. torrington, bristol and winsted are idyllic communities compared to the place we live, and we love it here (although the schools are atrocious - we would absolutely have to find alternatives if we had school age kids here).

[ctlocal]

stay away from bristol i would never associate it with bristol, bristol is getting worse and worse coming from a 18 year old i can say bristol is in the same range as new britian and worse then waterbury and most those other towns you named even though its a small city

[KH02]

Originally Posted by ctlocal

stay away from bristol i would never associate it with bristol, bristol is getting worse and worse coming from a 18 year old i can say bristol is in the same range as new britian and worse then waterbury and most those other towns you named even though its a small city

There is no way that Bristol is worse then Waterbury.

[groar]

bristol seems kind of boring/empty more than anything. i used to go to shows at the skate park there when i was a teenager and i've been through it a million times since i moved, going from terryville to meriden, so i have an idea of what it's like these days.

i have a new question - are there any good public markets in ct? either really big weekly farmer's markets or, even better, a permanent thing like reading terminal in philly or essex market in nyc.

also, are there any locally owned radio stations with real live djs who pick the music they play? not community stations, but commercial stations. weird question, i know, but we ran into one while we were out in the sticks of western pa yesterday and we both agreed it would be really cool to have something like that around. i know ct is really good for radio in general, there are just a lot of stations and classic rock stations don't play quite as much skynyrd as they do in pittsburgh.

the more we look around the more we remember what a teensy state ct is, so we're expanding our search area a bit. i did just get an interview for a job in new haven that pays significantly more than what i could make if i transferred (and we've decided that if i do get a job before we can sell our place here i will move up there and stay with parents then rent while he stays down here) so our budget might go up by the time we're ready to buy.

[RogerAnthony]

WCCC has live, local DJ's most of the time and they do take requests.

[Diadado]

About the only thing you can normally find in that price range in Beacon Falls is a trailer. I think right now there is a tiny house next to the highway in that price range and you may be able to get a 2 bedroom condo on the Naugatuck line for that.

[parentologist]

I have acquaintances who live in Middletown and are pleased with the schools there. I think they're a bit better than Meriden and New Britain schools. Also, Wesleyan gives Middletown a college vibe, which helps in a lot of ways. Of all the places on the list above, maybe Middletown could work.

[parentologist]

Plainville, too, is a bit better than New Britain and Meriden.