[jjbradleynyc]

Originally Posted by cjaudreybelle

We are probably looking for no more than $450k. right now we are looking at danbury, bethel, new fairfield, do you suggest those areas?? right now we own a home in orange county and we are hoping to stay in the same footage, but anywhere from 2,000- 2,500 would work. My husband will be commuting to nyc so there will definetly be a distance factor too. It is getting difficult with our expectations and the cost factor- looks like we will have to do something about that.
Do you know anything about areas in westchester, ny?? what towns are any good? I've done some research, but the homes I saw looked kind of ghetto, I was expecting more suburbia.

I'm not familiar with New Fairfield or Bethel. But I do know that Danbury is probably your best bet. You can actually get a house in Stamford, CT for $450k, but you'll probably only have around 1500-1800 sq ft, at the most. Prices have dropped here and the commute is 45 minutes by train into Grand Central. Have you even considered Stamford? It's a great city to invest in--tons of new high rises, retail, and corporations are moving to the city. It's a good time to buy here.
Check out this house I found, for example:
http://www.raveis.com/propdetail.asp...ASTKEY=2107842

[lookingintrumbull]

You may find something in Trumbull,CT

[pminct]

With the way the market is going now, you may just find something in Fairfield or Trumbull for around $450K.

But to commute to NY, if in Fairfield, you either want to be walking distance to train station, or have someone who will drop you off every day, as it takes a long time to get a train station parking permit.

With kids, I would advise to not look at Bridgeport or Stratford---stick with Fairfield or Trumbull, based on school systems.

I don't know about the NW corner (Danbury, Ridgefield, New Ffld area) - but there I think you have to take a commuter train into Norwalk, then hop a new train to NY, which can be a real pain - it may have changed since 20 years ago, when I last took a train out of New Haven, CT, via Norwalk, CT, to Brewster, NY, which is near Danbury.

Good luck!

Patty in Fairfield

[Niemaq]

Can anyone help with some information on New Haven, Ct? Relocating from AL and I really don't know where to start for housing, good school district, ect. Is it more feasible to live in Milton and commute to New Haven or live in New Haven?

[Lalalally]

Originally Posted by pminct

I don't know about the NW corner (Danbury, Ridgefield, New Ffld area) - but there I think you have to take a commuter train into Norwalk, then hop a new train to NY, which can be a real pain - it may have changed since 20 years ago, when I last took a train out of New Haven, CT, via Norwalk, CT, to Brewster, NY, which is near Danbury.

Ridgefield, Danbury and New Fairfield each have commuter shuttle busses which will take you to the Harlem Line of Metro North -- the Katonah, Brewster, and Southeast stations respectively. It is not an easy commute though, at all. Ridgefield is out of the OP's budget. Danbury definitely would work, and you'll be able to find a very nice home in New Fairfield too. The west side of Danbury will offer an easier commute, as you'll be that much closer to NY border. Shuttle from the Exit 1/Exit 2 park & ride in Danbury to the Brewster train station is 10 minutes; train ride from Brewster to GCT is about 1 hour 10 minutes; factor in waiting time and getting to your office (unless you work right next to GCT, you'll have yet another subway commute) and then you start getting into the 1 3/4 - 2 hour commute EACH way. You'll need to tack on another 5-10 minutes or so for a commute from New Fairfield (again west side of New Fairfield - other parts of town would take longer). So unless you have such a fantastic job, it's really hard to justify doing that twice a day, 5 days a week. I live in New Fairfield and occasionally work at my company's NY office. My home in NF and my office in NY are in the best possible locations (house = west side of New Fairfield; office = literally across the street from GCT), and it takes me 1 hour 40 minutes door-to-door. I dread the days I have to work in the City...

[JayCT]

Originally Posted by Niemaq

Can anyone help with some information on New Haven, Ct? Relocating from AL and I really don't know where to start for housing, good school district, ect. Is it more feasible to live in Milton and commute to New Haven or live in New Haven?

Welcome to Connecticut. You should know that the cities in Connecticut are small in size and make up the core of a metropolitan area. Each city is surrounded by completely separate and fiercely independent towns that serve as the city's suburbs. Generally schools in our sities tend to struggle and do not perform well on our state's standardized tests (Connecticut Mastery Test for primary schools, Connecticut Academic Performance Tests for high schools). It is generally better to live in one of the suburban towns if you want good schools. Cities do offer magnet and charter schools but getting into them can be highly competitive and they are not necessarily located near where you will live.

The link below will give you information on schools here in Connecticut. I would look for a town that scores at or above the state averages on the Mastery and CAPT tests.

State Department of Education - CEDaR

There are many suburban towns near New Haven to consider. A lot will depend on the type of community you want, your budget and what you expect for that budget. I believe that when you ask about "Milton", you are actually referring to Milford which is a town near New Haven. It is a good place to consider. The schools are good (but not great) and it offers a wide range of housing options. Other towns I would consider as well would be Branford, Guilford, Madison, ORange, Woodbridge Bethany, North Haven and Wallingford. These are all very different in character so we really need more information to guide you better. Jay

[Niemaq]

Originally Posted by JayCT

Welcome to Connecticut. You should know that the cities in Connecticut are small in size and make up the core of a metropolitan area. Each city is surrounded by completely separate and fiercely independent towns that serve as the city's suburbs. Generally schools in our sities tend to struggle and do not perform well on our state's standardized tests (Connecticut Mastery Test for primary schools, Connecticut Academic Performance Tests for high schools). It is generally better to live in one of the suburban towns if you want good schools. Cities do offer magnet and charter schools but getting into them can be highly competitive and they are not necessarily located near where you will live.

The link below will give you information on schools here in Connecticut. I would look for a town that scores at or above the state averages on the Mastery and CAPT tests.

State Department of Education - CEDaR

There are many suburban towns near New Haven to consider. A lot will depend on the type of community you want, your budget and what you expect for that budget. I believe that when you ask about "Milton", you are actually referring to Milford which is a town near New Haven. It is a good place to consider. The schools are good (but not great) and it offers a wide range of housing options. Other towns I would consider as well would be Branford, Guilford, Madison, ORange, Woodbridge Bethany, North Haven and Wallingford. These are all very different in character so we really need more information to guide you better. Jay

Salary offered was 75K. I have no idea how that computes to cost of living in New Haven. Position is with the VA Hospital there so I really want to get in that system if the move won't be too harsh. I realize that I will have a major culture shock moving from the south to the north, however I'm prepared for that. My major concern will be the sports culture for myself, and my children who are active in baseball, softball, football, and volleyball. Also, my main priority is the school system. I don't mind a 30-45 minute commute to work as I am used to that here in AL. I would prefer to find some type of apartment community as opposed to these restructured old victorian homes that are serving as apartments in New Haven. I'm really not too sure far a $75k salary will stretch so I really need to stay under $1500 per month on a rental. Honestly, any kind of information would be helpful. Specifically, I would like to know if you would consider Milford a better area than Stratford. And also, do you think I can reasonably live comfortably in New Haven with the salary above. Thank you.

[Stylo]

Milford schools do perform better than Stratford. There are a lot of housing options, so you should be able to find something with your salary. You could also consider Orange, which has less inexpensive real estate options - but very highly rated schools. I would not go east of New Haven personally as the commute will be tough to West Haven.

[Niemaq]

Originally Posted by Stylo

Milford schools do perform better than Stratford. There are a lot of housing options, so you should be able to find something with your salary. You could also consider Orange, which has less inexpensive real estate options - but very highly rated schools. I would not go east of New Haven personally as the commute will be tough to West Haven.

Sorry for the confusion, but the job is actually located in West Haven, not New Haven. Ok, so Orange is a better option than Milford. How is the commute to West Haven, if you have an idea of that? Also, how is the sports community for little league baseball and travel softball?

[Stylo]

I'd struggle to definitively say Orange is a better option than Milford. It's more complicated than that.

Milford has lower taxes and more diverse housing options for your budget. You get more services for your taxes, like garbage. It has more parks, beaches, and a great town center with tons of family friendly events. It's more of a community. The schools are good, performing above average for the state, especially the elementary schools and Foran High School (the eastern part of town's high school).

BUT Orange schools perform among the best in the state. That said, I don't think you can go wrong with either school system, but everyone has their opinions about how much test scores matter. But no offense, Milford schools are probably a lot better than the average school where you are coming from. You have to consider that it's above average for a state that already has well above average schools for the country.

But again, you'll find a lot more inventory in Milford for your budget. I'd stick to the eastern part of town - both for commute purposes and to get the best schools.