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The estate cottage idea sounds like it would be perfect for us - as I mentioned we both work at home the majority of the time, we have great landlord/personal/work references, and we're not the partying type, so we really would be ideal for something like that. We've seen separate little cottage-like outbuildings on many properties as we've been driving around and wondered what they were (since they look like miniature houses, obviously) - so that must be what they are.
Trick is, I suppose, actually finding them - it's not like you can walk up to someone's private house and ask if they happen to be renting their cottage
I suppose we could try a second craigslist advert from a different angle - or any of you have any additional ideas on how one would locate something like that?
Thanks again to all of you who offered helpful info we really appreciated it.
We've lived in Madison for six months now, and while we LOVE the town of Madison, the place we're renting is... well, quite a bit less than what we were hoping for. While we're grateful for it as a stopgap measure, we really don't want to live long-term with $500 winter heating bills, black and pink mold in the bathroom that refuses to go away because the bathroom has zero ventilation/fans, terrible musty odors every time it starts getting a little warmer outside, kitchen appliances from the '80s (including a refrigerator that seems to be giving its last gasp of death every other week, and leaks water into the crisper drawer), and floors that are always cold and damp because there's no foundation to speak of. Sigh.
I have two *new* questions - one, do any of you know of any neighbourhoods close to Madison in which we'd be able to find a standalone cottage/carriage house/small house that's actually updated and insulated in the $800-1100 a month price range?
And two, can anyone offer advice on our possible relocating to north of Ridgefield/the Litchfield area, looking for the same? Would we have better odds finding a NICE, updated standalone place in that part of the state in that price range?
We do adore the Shoreline, and we absolutely need to be near Metro-North (we consider "near" even 20 minutes or so, as we sometimes use the Madison station, and sometimes use the New Haven or Milford stations if we're going to be in the City later at night) but we've been looking since we got into this place in anticipation of our lease expiring this upcoming June, and we're very discouraged, as all we're seeing is more of the same (in our price range): places that are really run down and old, have terrible heating bills/options, and/or are apartment buildings or duplexes (we both work at home as writers, so living in a multi-family place just doesn't work.)
Any help/suggestions/ideas are appreciated! It's going to be a year or two before we can upgrade our available rent budget, so we're hoping we don't have to live in such uncomfortable conditions until then...
And two, can anyone offer advice on our possible relocating to north of Ridgefield/the Litchfield area, looking for the same? Would we have better odds finding a NICE, updated standalone place in that part of the state in that price range?
Thank you
Sorry to hear about the conditions of your current place!
There isn't much available for detached housing around Litchfield in that price range. Anything that is available would likely be in similar condition, and since the temperatures are cooler inland, your heating bills would not improve. I see a couple of small homes on lakes at the high end of that price range on Craigslist, but I would be very wary of them since these sorts of places are often used seasonally and not insulated well.
You may be able to find something in Torrington or Winsted, which are both small cities and not as charming as Madison.
You may have better luck looking north of where you are now, in some of the smaller communities on the east side of the Connecticut River.
Thanks again to all of you who offered helpful info we really appreciated it.
We've lived in Madison for six months now, and while we LOVE the town of Madison, the place we're renting is... well, quite a bit less than what we were hoping for. While we're grateful for it as a stopgap measure, we really don't want to live long-term with $500 winter heating bills, black and pink mold in the bathroom that refuses to go away because the bathroom has zero ventilation/fans, terrible musty odors every time it starts getting a little warmer outside, kitchen appliances from the '80s (including a refrigerator that seems to be giving its last gasp of death every other week, and leaks water into the crisper drawer), and floors that are always cold and damp because there's no foundation to speak of. Sigh.
I have two *new* questions - one, do any of you know of any neighbourhoods close to Madison in which we'd be able to find a standalone cottage/carriage house/small house that's actually updated and insulated in the $800-1100 a month price range?
And two, can anyone offer advice on our possible relocating to north of Ridgefield/the Litchfield area, looking for the same? Would we have better odds finding a NICE, updated standalone place in that part of the state in that price range?
We do adore the Shoreline, and we absolutely need to be near Metro-North (we consider "near" even 20 minutes or so, as we sometimes use the Madison station, and sometimes use the New Haven or Milford stations if we're going to be in the City later at night) but we've been looking since we got into this place in anticipation of our lease expiring this upcoming June, and we're very discouraged, as all we're seeing is more of the same (in our price range): places that are really run down and old, have terrible heating bills/options, and/or are apartment buildings or duplexes (we both work at home as writers, so living in a multi-family place just doesn't work.)
Any help/suggestions/ideas are appreciated! It's going to be a year or two before we can upgrade our available rent budget, so we're hoping we don't have to live in such uncomfortable conditions until then...
Thank you
If you want an area like Madison north of Ridgefield, you're looking at Litchfield County. Rentals there will not be any easier to come by than Madison. You could try New Milford, which is cheap and will have rentals, but don't expect anywhere near the same level of character you have in Madison. At that point, you're at least a half hour from the Metro North in Southeast. The Danbury train is slow and runs very infrequently.
If you go to towns like Roxbury, Washington, Bridgewater, etc. finding an updated place is going to be tough. The housing stock is either old or large new colonials. Not many rentals at all.
Why not look into Branford? If you like the shoreline, it has much more rentals than Madison or Guilford - and it's closer to Metro North. It's a really nicely rounded town.
Other than that, your budget makes your wants very difficult. You can't have a charming town near Metro North with a nice updated apartment for your budget easily. You'd really be looking at places like Danbury and Stratford.
The problem is that you want a house, not an apartment. To get what you want in a house, in the area in which you're looking, you'd have to come up to maybe at least the $ 1500 per month range and expect to pay all your own utilities. House rents in your current price range are pretty similar to what you're living in now.
Keep checking Craigslist, that may be your best best to find something.
I was looking for a similar cottage/carriage house situation recently at more than 2x your max budget and could barely find anything because there's almost no stock, many of the beach-area cottages are only academic year rentals because they're seasonally used, and a lot of the "over the garage" situations are illegal.
You may have better luck in the Litchfield County area because there are some large estates there with gatehouses, caretaker's cottages, guest houses, etc. But I don't know if your budget is going to cut it, and I can't imagine most of those situations are well-insulated and updated (why would they be?).
I just think this is a needle-in-a-haystack situation for you, at the very best.
Nice to see you post again although I am sad you need to move . I think your best bet would be either Branford or Clinton. I am still keeping up with the postings for real estate in the area for when I retire. Madison & Guilford are more expensive than Branford & Clinton and Branford has a ton of condos that people rent out.
When my husband and I were up in Branford over the summer we were walking around the Town Hall green area. We saw a building that we thought were condos and we stopped to talk to some people there. They told us they were apartments. They seemed very nice and right near the green. They were near a pizza place and hardware (or woodworking) store. I can't remember the price but I do remember that I thought the price was very reasonable for apartments near the green.
I want to give you a little perspective and reality on what you are looking for in Fairfield/Litchfield counties. I know someone that lives in Fairfield (Greenfield Hills were the mansions are) and has a 1 bedroom apartment/carriage house above the garage. The apartment rents for $1750 and I don't think that includes utlities. I know someone in Weston/Wilton area and the property has a little cottage on it. I am pretty sure they get over $2000 for that little cottage without utilities. It is tough in Fairfield and Litchfield Counties. We are competing with all the wealth from Wall Street here.
Thank you, everyone - agreed that our budget is a problem.
But it's kind of a catch-22 at this point - we don't want to move away (or back to the Midwest - gah), because our careers are slowly but surely picking up, and we are both making a lot of "work contacts" in NYC and New Haven...
... but they're not picking up quickly enough yet to allow for much more than $1200 plus utilities a month at the absolute MAX, at least not this year, unless something drastic (good) happens soon. (Oh, and Willow Wind, just fyi, we are paying ALL of our utilities in our current rental - they're reasonable except for the heat.)
We did finally break down and look at some places that were "attached" (a couple of duplexes, and several apt/condo buildings) a few weeks ago, but even just in those short visits, we were both really uncomfortable. I'm a freelance writer, my boyfriend is a fiction writer, and we really do need quiet as opposed to hearing people around us (we've both tried headphones, but working 8-10 hours a day, every day, with headphones whether you feel like wearing them or not, is almost as stressful as hearing peoples' TVs, dogs, yelling, footsteps, etc.) The place we are renting now is good for peace and quiet - and it's within five minutes of Shoreline East and 25 minutes of a dedicated Metro-North station to Manhattan, which is more than good enough - but it fails on all other counts.
Hvexpatinct and Ctartist&musician, thank you for your sympathy and the info - Stylo, thank you for the Branford suggestion, we found Branford a little too "bustling," but we may have to take another look at it.
We really, really don't want to leave Connecticut, as we love it overall, the commute to NYC is reasonable (to us), we've met some great people, and the environment suits us really well - but our rental is so uncomfortable and potentially hazardous to our health (and we still have six months to go on this lease) so we're not sure what to do next. Essex? Further east to Mystic or RI? California? (ha.)
Maybe something like this? It's the kind of location you're looking for ( very quiet, very safe, sort of country ) but not isolated. It's perhaps half a mile north from the Ivoryton section of Essex and just a few minutes drive to Deep River center for local shopping.
You would have to go into Old Saybrook to get the Shoreline East train to get to Metro North or to pick up AmTrak. It's maybe a 15-20 minute ride to the Old Saybrook train station.
Yes, that definitely looks more like what we have been looking for - so it DOES exist I hadn't really looked outside of Essex proper, so it's good to know there are other "nice" neighbourhoods in that vicinity. The train isn't as good as Madison, but at this point it seems like driving an extra 10 minutes (if we wanted to use New Haven or Milford stations) would be worth it to get a less sketchy rental.
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. I think your best bet would be either Branford or Clinton. I am still keeping up with the postings for real estate in the area for when I retire. Madison & Guilford are more expensive than Branford & Clinton and Branford has a ton of condos that people rent out.
