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Old 12-11-2007, 08:09 AM
 
Location: Pittsburgh, the Iron City!!!
803 posts, read 2,970,477 times
Reputation: 241

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Okay, so I'm sure many of you may have seen this situation before, but I'm still hoping to find some help here.

My gal & I are looking to stop paying the exhorbitant $1500 per month rents here in NYC and move to either NJ or CT to BUY a small, starter house or older house we can rehab WHILE we live in it.

Our budget for the mortgage is only about $140K, as my past credit / bankruptcy hurts our chances, so she's the only one who will be on the note.

She currently has a great job in Lower Manhattan / Wall Street area, and would ideally need to be able to commute from home to work each day, in under 2 hours commute time. Her parents also are elderly, and live in Queens, so we'd be driving there on some weekends, and thus, need to stay fairly close to NYC.

We've already looked at bridgeport and was not terribly impressed with the amount of house for the money or the particular neighborhoods that were "affordable". A realtor there told us that New Haven & Waterbury might be more to our liking, and we're planning on driving up to scour around.

My questions:

* In the New Haven area, are there affordable (under $140K) detached, single-family houses available in decent neighborhoods where we don't have to constantly fear errant gunfire?

* In Waterbury, is there good opportunities nearby for work for me (as I will be working locally) as well as good affordable housing stock?

* Also inre Waterbury, how long is the train commute from there to Manhattan?

* Are there a good amount of foreclosures in either City?


Your help is sincerely appreciated.

Thanks, in advance!
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Old 12-11-2007, 08:29 AM
 
Location: Cheshire, Conn.
2,102 posts, read 7,758,917 times
Reputation: 539
Quote:
Originally Posted by By~Tor View Post
* In the New Haven area, are there affordable (under $140K) detached, single-family houses available in decent neighborhoods where we don't have to constantly fear errant gunfire?
No, not really. A quick scan of the Statewide MLS shows Waterbury (111 out of 536) to be better than New Haven (37 out of 269) in meeting your criteria. These numbers represent total inventory per city without regard to neighborhood. Things change drastically with prices in the suburbs: West Haven (4 out of 262), East Haven (1 out of 156), Hamden (3 out of 314), and Naugatuck (4 out of 207) are perfect examples. NOTE: these are numbers for single-family residences (excluding condos and/or co-ops).

Quote:
Originally Posted by By~Tor View Post
* In Waterbury, are there good opportunities nearby for work for me (as I will be working locally) as well as good affordable housing stock?
For what type of work are you looking?

Quote:
Originally Posted by By~Tor View Post
* Also in Waterbury, how long is the train commute from there to Manhattan?
I live in Cheshire, the town east of Waterbury, and it takes me 75 - 90 minutes to drive to Manhattan (on weekends, off-hours). I would image that the train is easily two hours.

Quote:
Originally Posted by By~Tor View Post
* Are there a good amount of foreclosures in either City?


Quote:
Originally Posted by By~Tor View Post
Your help is sincerely appreciated.

Thanks, in advance!
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Old 12-11-2007, 08:39 AM
 
Location: Pittsburgh, the Iron City!!!
803 posts, read 2,970,477 times
Reputation: 241
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rich Lee View Post
No, not really. A quick scan of the Statewide MLS shows Waterbury (111 out of 536) to be better than New Haven (37 out of 269) in meeting your criteria. These numbers represent total inventory per city without regard to neighborhood. Things change drastically with prices in the suburbs: West Haven (4 out of 262), East Haven (1 out of 156), Hamden (3 out of 314), and Naugatuck (4 out of 207) are perfect examples. NOTE: these are numbers for single-family residences (excluding condos and/or co-ops).

For what type of work are you looking?


I live in Cheshire, the town east of Waterbury, and it takes me 75 - 90 minutes to drive to Manhattan (on weekends, off-hours). I would image that the train is easily two hours.

I am currently the C.O.O. of a (very) small janitorial maintenance firm, with over 15 years' building maintenance experience. My transferable skills would suit me to almost any managerial position, depending on the industry, so I'm not limiting myself to just my industry, of course.

Waterbury, so far, seems like the better bet as far as housing stock goes, and I think they do have trains there, correct?...


Also, if your Saturday looks somewhat open, do you think we might be able to meet up to view any houses in the area?
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Old 12-11-2007, 08:52 AM
 
Location: Austin
4,105 posts, read 8,290,293 times
Reputation: 2134
Yes, there are trains that run between Waterbury and NYC, and they take upwards of 2.5 hours each way. Maybe you should consider Mount Vernon, NY.
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Old 12-11-2007, 08:55 AM
 
Location: Pittsburgh, the Iron City!!!
803 posts, read 2,970,477 times
Reputation: 241
Quote:
Originally Posted by brattpowered View Post
Yes, there are trains that run between Waterbury and NYC, and they take upwards of 2.5 hours each way. Maybe you should consider Mount Vernon, NY.
Nice try, and the locale's good, but the housing, once again, is so far out of reach as to be impossible...
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Old 12-11-2007, 08:56 AM
 
Location: Austin
4,105 posts, read 8,290,293 times
Reputation: 2134
Quote:
Originally Posted by By~Tor View Post
Nice try, and the locale's good, but the housing, once again, is so far out of reach as to be impossible...
How about the Poughkeepsie area? Lots of cheap housing there and it's 1.5 hours to Manhattan.
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Old 12-11-2007, 08:57 AM
 
271 posts, read 1,278,629 times
Reputation: 113
Quote:
Originally Posted by By~Tor View Post
My questions:

* In the New Haven area, are there affordable (under $140K) detached, single-family houses available in decent neighborhoods where we don't have to constantly fear errant gunfire?

* In Waterbury, is there good opportunities nearby for work for me (as I will be working locally) as well as good affordable housing stock?

* Also inre Waterbury, how long is the train commute from there to Manhattan?

* Are there a good amount of foreclosures in either City?


Your help is sincerely appreciated.

Thanks, in advance!

The major employment centers in CT are Stamford and Hartford. Bristol has ESPN which is close to Waterbury. You could probably find something in Waterbury too.

There are a few people that commute from Waterbury to NYC but the problem is the schedule isn't very good. If she has a car she is much better off driving to Bridgeport and then taking the train from there simply because there aren't very many trains that run to Waterbury. I think the rush hour train from Bport to NYC is about 70 minutes. It takes me about 20 minutes to drive from Wbury to Bport on the weekend, I don't know what it is like during rush hour.

Between wbury and bport along route 8 is the Connecticut valley, you might find some housing deals in Ansonia or Naugatuck. I would also suggest checking out two small towns next to Wbury, Wolcott and Thomaston.

My Father currently lives a little bit northwest of Waterbury and we have driven to visit family in the East Elmhurst section of Queens many times in about 90 minutes. We always go 84 to 684 to the Hutch.

The next time you visit CT try to pick up the Waterbury Republican and the Connecticut Post on Sunday to check out their real estate sections.
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Old 12-11-2007, 09:45 AM
 
6 posts, read 42,561 times
Reputation: 13
Just a thought but if your girlfriend works in lower manhattan it might make more sense for you to look in Jersey simply because it's probably an additional 20-30 minutes to travel from Grand Central to Wall Street via the subway? Also I wouldn't recommend living in Waterbury and taking the train from there because, as a previous post mentioned, the train schedule is sparse.

The train ride from New Haven is anywhere from 1.5 - 2 hours depending on whether you take an express train or not. Also, would you consider a condo? I'm sure you could find a great condo in that price range.

Good Luck!
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Old 12-11-2007, 09:51 AM
 
Location: Pittsburgh, the Iron City!!!
803 posts, read 2,970,477 times
Reputation: 241
Quote:
Originally Posted by jells1026 View Post
Just a thought but if your girlfriend works in lower manhattan it might make more sense for you to look in Jersey simply because it's probably an additional 20-30 minutes to travel from Grand Central to Wall Street via the subway? Also I wouldn't recommend living in Waterbury and taking the train from there because, as a previous post mentioned, the train schedule is sparse.

The train ride from New Haven is anywhere from 1.5 - 2 hours depending on whether you take an express train or not. Also, would you consider a condo? I'm sure you could find a great condo in that price range.

Good Luck!
Well, we're already searching Jersey, but the housing prices are higher and we'd have to live farther out, making the commute times about equal out to CT, anyway...
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Old 12-11-2007, 10:02 AM
 
53 posts, read 257,572 times
Reputation: 16
Default Look into West Haven or Milford

You may want to look at West Haven- i think you can get a starter home in that price range...your SO will have to go to milford train station or new haven and then travel to NYC. Or look in Milford, very hard to find a place under 200000 $ in range..but go check out realtor.com...Milford is a very good alternative for ppl who dont mind commuting time to Grand centeral..its not as expensive as fairfield county and has a vibe going on of it...poughkeepsie, NY is also very good, but i think its the same time farther up on NY side as Milford...or comparable...so those were couple of options...Good luck,CoolStrom
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