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And here are two to be built houses by the very same builder, that are nearly identical in size, one in Avon for $785k and one in Southington for $611k:
Individual listings never tell as accurate a story as aggregate data. If home prices are the same, how do you explain that Avon's median income is more than 50% higher than Southington's? Is everyone in Southington struggling to pay the mortgage on their mysteriously expensive homes? It's absurd.
I think that some in this community are more dedicated to proving themselves right even in the face of contrary data than they are in providing helpful and frank information to the people who post here with questions.
If it makes it easier, we can all plug our ears and whistle Dixie and pretend that Avon and Southington are equal in price. If so, OP, go with Avon since it (magically) has superior schools to another town that it is (supposedly) equally expensive as.
To the OP, yes, Avon, Farmington, Canton and Glastonbury might be better (but not by a huge stretch) in terms of schools, but Southingtons location is second to none.
Personally, I know VP's (of very large companies) whose chose Southington to live (when being transferred from the Mid West) based on location and school. I also know janitors who live in Southington who take pride in this (my) town. It's not about housing cost or who has the biggest house. Southington has a lot to offer with great schools and many opportunities for everyone.
Plus, unlike the other towns listed, Southington offers a variety of people, culture and backgrounds. Not just "well-off" white kids where everyone dresses, talks and acts the same. How boring. Growing up in a "city" in CT and having friends who grew up very wealthy (I'm talking private plane wealthy) I think I learned a lot more by having that diversity in my life than they did by going to AOF or Avon Public Schools. And when I have kids I want that diversity along with great schools. I think Southington offers the best of both worlds. JMHO.
And here are two to be built houses by the very same builder, that are nearly identical in size, one in Avon for $785k and one in Southington for $611k:
Individual listings never tell as accurate a story as aggregate data. If home prices are the same, how do you explain that Avon's median income is more than 50% higher than Southington's? Is everyone in Southington struggling to pay the mortgage on their mysteriously expensive homes? It's absurd.
I think that some in this community are more dedicated to proving themselves right even in the face of contrary data than they are in providing helpful and frank information to the people who post here with questions.
If it makes it easier, we can all plug our ears and whistle Dixie and pretend that Avon and Southington are equal in price. If so, OP, go with Avon since it (magically) has superior schools to another town that it is (supposedly) equally expensive as.
Yes, but you can easily come up with why there is a price difference on those two homes, unlike the two homes I gave links to that were both in neighborhood subdivisions. Disregarding the town, the Toll Brothers home in Avon is in an exclusive subdivision where homes typically run from $1 million to $4 million. Most of the homes there are already built. The home in Southington is off of a less desirable through street and most of the subdivision is still to be built. The subdivision in Avon is also very large (Toll Brothers is not the only builder), whereas the Southington subdivision seems to be fairly small - only one cul-de-sac street. The homes in Avon are also on 1 acre+ lots, the homes in Southington are 1/2 to 3/4 of an acre, except for two rear lots that have about one acre.
I was just showing you before that you can find similar homes in Southington as you can find in Avon and there is not always your automatic $205,000 surcharge just because it has the 06001 zip code of Avon. The median home price in Avon is higher because of all those homes on Northington Drive and a few other similar areas. And, the median income is higher because people that can afford those homes are buying those homes and living in them.
And here are two to be built houses by the very same builder, that are nearly identical in size, one in Avon for $785k and one in Southington for $611k:
Individual listings never tell as accurate a story as aggregate data. If home prices are the same, how do you explain that Avon's median income is more than 50% higher than Southington's? Is everyone in Southington struggling to pay the mortgage on their mysteriously expensive homes? It's absurd.
I think that some in this community are more dedicated to proving themselves right even in the face of contrary data than they are in providing helpful and frank information to the people who post here with questions.
If it makes it easier, we can all plug our ears and whistle Dixie and pretend that Avon and Southington are equal in price. If so, OP, go with Avon since it (magically) has superior schools to another town that it is (supposedly) equally expensive as.
Actually these two developments are not comparable. The prices listed are base prices but may not include the same features. At a minimum, the Avon development has minimum of 1 acre lots while Southington lots are as small as a half acre. Also I believe many of the lots in Avon have views since that development is on a mountain and if you go to the Toll Brothers website you will see that the home in Avon is smaller. Again, you really need to compare apples to apples. Jay
If it makes it easier, we can all plug our ears and whistle Dixie and pretend that Avon and Southington are equal in price. If so, OP, go with Avon since it (magically) has superior schools to another town that it is (supposedly) equally expensive as.
It's really not worth having the same disagreement over and over again. Let's all agree on the fiction that Southington and Avon are equally expensive, despite all data and anecdotal evidence to the contrary, and have a productive, if inaccurate, conversation. I'm unwilling to try to reason with people who only accept facts that are in their favor and who lack a grasp of basic mathematical concepts.
It's really not worth having the same disagreement over and over again. Let's all agree on the fiction that Southington and Avon are equally expensive, despite all data and anecdotal evidence to the contrary, and have a productive, if inaccurate, conversation. I'm unwilling to try to reason with people who only accept facts that are in their favor and who lack a grasp of basic mathematical concepts.
So, you're saying you don't believe you can get a similar home in Avon and Southington for nearly the same cost, despite evidence otherwise? You're also saying that the plethora of $1 million plus homes on the market in Avon (28 vs 0 in Southington) has no affect on median and average home prices in Avon, be they sale prices or just a zillow valuation?
The OP's budget was around $500,000 and I showed two similar homes that were a little over that price, one in Avon and one in Southington. Your response was to link to two more expensive homes in both towns - well over the OP's budget - as evidence otherwise, despite the fact the home in Avon had larger lots, and were in a larger, nearly completed, subdivision and was 200 square feet bigger.
I don't like Southington, personally. I find it to be a large, generic suburb with very congested roads and a lack of charm. It's worse than any of the other towns you listed in the title of this thread. To it's advantage however, it is very convenient in regard to shopping.
It's really not worth having the same disagreement over and over again. Let's all agree on the fiction that Southington and Avon are equally expensive, despite all data and anecdotal evidence to the contrary, and have a productive, if inaccurate, conversation. I'm unwilling to try to reason with people who only accept facts that are in their favor and who lack a grasp of basic mathematical concepts.
I do not think anyone has questioned that Avon is more expensive than Southington but we did question by how much. The statement was made that it was significant when looking at annual costs adding $12,000 to $25,000 per year to a buyers cost. That was based on a comparison of median home values which as was pointed out was not an accurate way to compare this. In casually looking at the prices, I see comparable homes in Avon would be about 20% higher than in Southington. Argue it anyway you like, it still does not equate to $12,000 to $25,000 per year. Jay
Jay, even assuming your 20% estimate is more accurate than data: at $500K, 20% more expensive = $100k, which at 5% = $600 additional mortgage costs per month, which = $7200 additional mortgage costs per year, plus additional taxes of about $3k for Avon. Using your estimate, Avon costs over $10,000 per year more than Southington for OP.
Maybe the extra cost is worth it! I assume most Avon residents think so. I just think it's important to be accurate.
A cluster of high-end homes wouldn't affect the median unless more than half of the houses in a given town are super-high-end. You calculate the median by looking at all the homes sold, lining them up from least expensive to most expensive--the median is the one in the middle. If you have 20 houses and 11 of them sold for $200k and 9 of them sold for $2mm, the median sale price is still $200k, while the average sale price would be $1mm.
Considering less than 7% of the houses currently on the market in Avon are listed for >$1mm, there's no way that the high-end is affecting the median.
An average price would be swayed by high-end sales (that is part of the reason why Avon's average list price is nearly $700k, almost double its mediansale price). But no one is citing average price figures.
Jay, even assuming your 20% estimate is more accurate than data: at $500K, 20% more expensive = $100k, which at 5% = $600 additional mortgage costs per month, which = $7200 additional mortgage costs per year, plus additional taxes of about $3k for Avon. Using your estimate, Avon costs over $10,000 per year more than Southington for OP.
Maybe the extra cost is worth it! I assume most Avon residents think so. I just think it's important to be accurate.
A cluster of high-end homes wouldn't affect the median unless more than half of the houses in a given town are super-high-end. You calculate the median by looking at all the homes sold, lining them up from least expensive to most expensive--the median is the one in the middle. If you have 20 houses and 11 of them sold for $200k and 9 of them sold for $2mm, the median sale price is still $200k, while the average sale price would be $1mm.
Considering less than 7% of the houses currently on the market in Avon are listed for >$1mm, there's no way that the high-end is affecting the median.
An average price would be swayed by high-end sales (that is part of the reason why Avon's average list price is nearly $700k, almost double its mediansale price). But no one is citing average price figures.
I guess we can just keep arguing over this. $100,000 at current interest rates of 4.5% for 30 years is more like $510 per month not $600. And the tax differences I see online between a $500,000 home in Southington and a $600,000 home in Avon appears to be anywhere from a few hundred dollars to $2,100. Still this is a lot less than the $12,000 to $25,000 originally claimed. And again the median price is not a reasonable comparison since Avon has a lot more higher end homes which raises the median price of homes in that town. Jay
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