[East of the River]

Originally Posted by WouldLoveTo

One person has their house listed (and just dropped the price) but already bought in their new state.

Anther still has their CT house as it's paid for and they still have business in state, but will put it on the market in the next 1-2 years.

I agree there are a lot of foreclosures around, yes, even in Glastonbury.

VCA vets are stupid expensive. Would love to know who you ended up with as I think I have to make a change after 30 years. I can't afford to keep dropping half a mortgage payment each time I walk in the door.

We changed from a VCA to Bolton Vet dropped our costs by about 40%.

[East of the River]

Originally Posted by RunD1987

True this is
In a major City down South for the most part can rent a 2 bedroom place for about $1200 in CT outside the Gold Coast and Gentrified areas in CT that's a 1 bdrm. In the areas mentioned that's a Studio.

Yea I say no tolls unfair to CT residents unless they do away with Sales or Income Tax.

Rent is an issue in CT right now. For years we had kind of a glut and rentals were not bad in the last 10-15 years rents have gone up a lot more then mortgages. I was talking with someone I know who just moved back to CT from SC. He is having a heck of a time finding a 2 bedroom rental in a decent spot for under $1500. He has actually started looking in spots he'd rather not. CT could ease some of that by relaxing some of the zoning laws but no one seems to really want to do it.

Some one else mentioned foreclosures. Yep still a problem. we are down to only a couple in my neighborhood one looks like they are going to try and flip the other one I gather the Bank still owns and has not tried to sell yet for some reason.

[JimG2]

Originally Posted by MrGompers

You live in New Britain right ? That is a tough city to sell a house. You'll only get the new immigrants or the uninformed looking to buy. Same thing goes for other cities in CT though.

Yup.... My dad has been in this house since 1959.... Blows my mind about the 5 new builds going up on Slater Road. First was listed at I think $255k (sold and the cars had NY plates)....the others (none sold that I can tell) went up to $265k... some of the most expensive housing in town except in the Shuttle Meadow area.


My dad's house will be a flip. My sisters will think it's worth way more than it is, then we sell it to a contractor who will gut and renovate, put $40-$50k into it, then end up taking about $125k for it. I've been watching the sales since I moved in to take care of dad.

[jane_sm1th73]

Originally Posted by RunD1987

CT isn't a bad State. Though it does have things going for it that really does hinder the State. Some things out of its control, Winter. Though things it can control and issues facing the State are: Under developed Cities; high property cost; limited & high tuition cost of public universities; high rental cost; high income tax burden; high sales tax; high property tax burden; jobs are limited to areas of high cost of living; aging infrastructure; lack of public transportation.

Rund, the attributes you cite actually define the "bad state".

I appreciated the fact that for once you did not suggest yet another litany of taxes to throw at your desired subsidies, handouts and welfare programs.

[jane_sm1th73]

Originally Posted by Siberiaboy

For the positives, it’s some of its traditional towns are still topping the “best places for families” list.

I definitely have to put at #1 for this state it’s the atmosphere for families with kids. Lots of lineage ties and very good emphasis on things for kids in West Hartford, Glastonbury, Newington, Somers, Vernon/Manchester

Can easily take this for granted but most the country isn’t the same vibe of kid block parties, fairs, children’s museums, many other localities are missing that “it takes a village to raise a child” mentality and quality of life growing up in CT as a kid remains decent.

Also I’ve heard stories of kids who moved out of this state because their parents relocated who missed their environment up here. Though this could happen with any move, I can see certain special places and venues that are valued more up here. The Montessori’s and JCCs, My Gym classes, Music Together, Arts and crafts things, the park play areas, the toy chest store, the play area in Middletown, Green Tamborine, West Hartford children’s museum, Four Town Fair, Kloters ice cream, johnny appleseeds, petting zoos

With little intrastate transportation infrastucture, it's great for kids because they are - in effect - imprisoned inside the two square mile radius of their houses. Likewise, the stay-at-home parent is imprisoned by the $40K/yr jobs in these little towns. Depending on your viewpoint, it's great to have total control over the whereabouts of the dependents. Just another way to look at it, from somebody who did the commute and made the big bucks so that I COULD escape.

[Lincolnian]

Connecticut is a fine place to live. Contrary to what one may think reading responses here there are numerous opportunities for people with marketable skills to do very well. The vast majority of professionals would not find better employment opportunities fleeing to Florida, the Carolinas or Texas.

The state has a confidence problem as is quite evident reading 1000+ pages of opinions. The solutions have been discussed at length and requires a longterm plan to restructure pensions, improve transportation infrastructure and reduce the tax burden. In order for this plan to be successful it would need to have bipartisan support. This would require taking personal politics out of it which is the challenge because the state's woes are excellent material to be exploited by politicians to fire up their bases with outrageous proposals in order to get elected.

[kidyankee764]

Originally Posted by Lincolnian

Connecticut is a fine place to live. Contrary to what one may think reading responses here there are numerous opportunities for people with marketable skills to do very well. The vast majority of professionals would not find better employment opportunities fleeing to Florida, the Carolinas or Texas.

Do you have actual statistics to back up your last claim, because the numbers re: jobs show other states are not only producing many decent income jobs, but the income is growing at a much faster rate than Connecticut.

Lack of confidence may be assisting in slow growth, but it’s there, and it’s very real. Numbers do not lie.

[GeoffD]

Originally Posted by kidyankee764

Do you have actual statistics to back up your last claim, because the numbers re: jobs show other states are not only producing many decent income jobs, but the income is growing at a much faster rate than Connecticut.

Lack of confidence may be assisting in slow growth, but it’s there, and it’s very real. Numbers do not lie.

Middle class income isn't growing anywhere in the country. It's why a big chunk of the middle class pulled the Trump lever a couple of years ago.


What we've seen is corporations shifting lower skill jobs to lower COL parts of the country. It cuts your labor cost for cubicle trolls 30%. Several giant banks have big operations in Charlotte, for example. As they moved jobs, the actual pay went down but those were relatively high paying jobs in a low wage place like Charlotte. Viewed nationally, it's not income growth. Viewed locally in Charlotte, it's income growth. No different than when the textile industry bailed out of New England for the Carolinas years ago. It allowed them to slash labor costs. Every dollar you don't pay in wages goes right to the bottom line as profit. $17.00/hour at a manufacturing plant in the south is good wages. It's starvation wages in the higher COL places.


Connecticut is similar to Massachusetts. Inward migration of high income people with strong 21st century job skills. The outward migration is centered on the $40k to $70k bracket where the math works better to move out to a place where housing is far cheaper even though the pay scales are lower.

[JayCT]

Originally Posted by jane_sm1th73

With little intrastate transportation infrastucture, it's great for kids because they are - in effect - imprisoned inside the two square mile radius of their houses. Likewise, the stay-at-home parent is imprisoned by the $40K/yr jobs in these little towns. Depending on your viewpoint, it's great to have total control over the whereabouts of the dependents. Just another way to look at it, from somebody who did the commute and made the big bucks so that I COULD escape.

You are incorrect about our states mass transit use. As you know there is a large network of mass transit in Fairfield and New Haven Counties including the busiest commuter rail line in the country. Also Hartford has the 13th highest mass transit use in the country. You don’t get that if the population is as isolated as you claim. Jay

https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/...ridership.html

[JayCT]

[quote=GeoffD;53191125]Middle class income isn't growing anywhere in the country. It's why a big chunk of the middle class pulled the Trump lever a couple of years ago.


What we've seen is corporations shifting lower skill jobs to lower COL parts of the country. It cuts your labor cost for cubicle trolls 30%. Several giant banks have big operations in Charlotte, for example. As they moved jobs, the actual pay went down but those were relatively high paying jobs in a low wage place like Charlotte. Viewed nationally, it's not income growth. Viewed locally in Charlotte, it's income growth. No different than when the textile industry bailed out of New England for the Carolinas years ago. It allowed them to slash labor costs. Every dollar you don't pay in wages goes right to the bottom line as profit. $17.00/hour at a manufacturing plant in the south is good wages. It's starvation wages in the higher COL places.


Connecticut is similar to Massachusetts. Inward migration of high income people with strong 21st century job skills. The outward migration is centered on the $40k to $70k bracket where the math works better to move out to a place where housing is far cheaper even though the pay scales are lower.[quote]

That is correct. People making more than $100,000 or more is growing here. That is significant given we are one of the wealthiest states. Jay