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Old 04-21-2015, 03:39 PM
 
16 posts, read 27,207 times
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Hello,

I recently relocated from abroad and have been here for almost two months, I'm now staying in Milford in a really nice hotel and eventually I need to move out to a permanent place of residence. My budget is up to 1500-1600+utilities (the lower the better though) and I have a pet (small cat). I'm working with an agent provided by the company but I still have to look for the property on my own as good places come and go quickly and a perfect one we found in downtown New Haven was rented to another applicant for whatever reason (probly owner thinks that I will breed bears in the apartment due to the country of origin).
One of my colleagues rents a really nice 1br apartment which I enjoyed very much as it's near the water (I love staying near the water as all my life lived near the water too), has a deck and price is 1150 per month (which seems reasonable for me), however, even though it looked to be in a nice area from the first glance - crossing of Front street and 2nd street - I now found out that everything behind that location is considered to be "hood" and crime rates are high there. I'm not really concerned with myself as I've been to shady areas in my country of origin, not to mention Rio de Janerio and Sao Paulo, but I have a wife and I don't want this cutie to get into trouble while she's jogging near the shore.

Any comments please? Is current situation that bad? I recently went to bridgeport and it was obvious for me that there are places where white people are not invited as everybody was staring at us all the time just like in same areas in queens. I don't want to live in that area for next year.

Thanks.
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Old 04-21-2015, 03:59 PM
 
Location: Connecticut
34,633 posts, read 56,360,262 times
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Front Street is part of the Fair Haven neighborhood. Despite efforts to try and improve it, that section of the city is still considered rough. It is too bad since there are some nice old homes there and there is a nice long waterfront. You do not want to take a chance there. Stick to places like downtown, East Rock, Wooster Square and Westville for safety. You might even look at the Annex and East Shore. Again though, you may need to be careful since you could go a block or two and find yourself in a problem area.

If you are considering Bridgeport, I would say look in Black Rock (west of Ellsworth Street), Downtown, the North End (west of Main Street and north of North Avenue) and Beardsley Park (east of Route8/25, west of East Main Street and north of Boston Avenue). Good luck, Jay
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Old 04-21-2015, 04:16 PM
 
16 posts, read 27,207 times
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Hello. Thanks for info. That's what I thought based on my investigations, probably that's one of the reasons why that apartment is cheaper than others too.
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Old 04-21-2015, 06:50 PM
 
Location: Coastal Connecticut
21,473 posts, read 27,712,350 times
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Tough question.

Front Street itself, with the exception of the housing project on the northern side, is rather nice. Beautiful historic homes and buildings, river waterfront, a nice park, etc.

It is improving. It's probably a good real estate investment long-term. For renting though, there's a few issues:

1. It's far from downtown. If you want the true urban New Haven experience, you're still going to have to use your car to get to downtown - and drive through some marginal neighborhoods to get there. There's no way you'd want to walk that, from both a distance and safety perspective.
2. It's near a really bad area. While Front Street itself is benign and rather nice, a few blocks in you'll find some more run-down neighborhoods with poverty issues. While I wouldn't call Front Street "dangerous", spillover crime is always a possibility. I wouldn't recommend a single female to go running there at night, for instance.

I actually think that area will bounce back in the next 5-10 years and steadily improve, but I would think twice about renting there.

Without knowing your job location and motivation for living in New Haven, it's tough to make recommendations.
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Old 04-21-2015, 07:03 PM
 
16 posts, read 27,207 times
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Hello Stylo,

Thanks for your input, moving to USA and living in a fairly dangerous area wasn't something I expected honestly. I work in Naugatuck and currently commuting from Milford which takes me round 30 minutes, that's perfectly fine for me and I can survive 30-40 mins commute one way daily considering there is no traffic (and there is no traffic between Naugatuck and Milford). I like Milford very much, however, currently rentals in my budget which allow pets are very limited in my area as far as I can see, as well as in the areas nearby. I've been looking for around a months and have seen only three places where I'd love to live and all of them are gone now for different reasons, I'm not sure if it's the market real tough or my agent is lazy, but it is what it is. Seems like I will have to skip this one too as don't want to worry about my wife too much.
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Old 04-21-2015, 07:07 PM
 
Location: Coastal Connecticut
21,473 posts, read 27,712,350 times
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Given you will be working in Naugatuck, Front Street is a lousy choice anyway. There's no easy way to get to Naugatuck from there.

Honestly, I think you need a new real estate agent, as they should have never recommended that area in the first place. It's a very inconvenient commute.

You should also not have any issues finding an apartment in Milford or surrounding areas that will take a small pet like a cat. Not every place does, but they're far more common than places that will take medium/large dogs. Milford, Shelton, Seymour, Stratford are all good places to look at for a Naugatuck commute. You could also look at the Waterbury area, though you may be disappointed if you're comparing Milford to that.

If you want to be in New Haven for the city life and access to nightlife, dining, culture, and other urban amenities - stick to Westville or Downtown for a Naugatuck commute.

Otherwise, I would look closer to where you are now.
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Old 04-21-2015, 07:18 PM
 
16 posts, read 27,207 times
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Well..as said, I had an option on wooster st. which was a perfect fit but it's gone now. Maybe you can recommend a place to look? My agent is using MLS which I can't access and his options are pretty limited, I use zillow.com and hotpads.com and looking at hotpads now (link to my search under the spoiler as too long IMO):

Spoiler
http://hotpads.com/rentals/100-Lansdale-Avenue-Milford-CT-06460--e5b442q6sc7d#limit=5&lat=41.222305811360556&lon=-73.03970575332642&zoom=21&previewId=e5b442q6sc7d&p reviewType=listing&detailsOpen=true&minLat=41.1812 3386007445&maxLat=41.2633519840184&minLon=-73.13291788101196&maxLon=-72.94649362564087&lowPrice=1000&highPrice=1600&bed rooms=1,2&bathrooms=1,2&listingTypes=rental,corpor ate&propertyTypes=house,divided,condo,large,garden ,&pets=cats,&dupeGrouping=buildi%2%200ng


I see very limited options available, while if I remove CAT from filters I have a lot. That's weird, considering that mostly apartments are unfurnished I'm surprised how few of them allow cats as they are neither agressive nor noisy normally (at least mine).
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Old 04-21-2015, 09:04 PM
 
Location: Coastal Connecticut
21,473 posts, read 27,712,350 times
Reputation: 6659
Even Wooster St. is not a great commute to Naugatuck.

Spinnaker allows cats, I believe. Try them: Spinnaker Apartments in Milford, CT | Pet friendly, Spinnaker Apartments in Milford feature luxury studio, one and two bedroom waterfront apartments close to downtown and the Metro North station.

Metro Star too: Pet Policy

I don't think it has anything to do with furnished/unfurnished. Ever try getting cat pee smell out of carpet?
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Old 04-21-2015, 09:59 PM
 
16 posts, read 27,207 times
Reputation: 14
Yeah, will try them too, thanks, probably give them a call tomorrow, hopefully their policy is not like avalon where basic 1495+ ended in 2k because two parkings means + 100, cat means + 60, amenities + another 100 + utilities and all that for 1bd, not a nice deal honestly.
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Old 04-22-2015, 08:36 AM
 
Location: Middletown, CT
627 posts, read 1,050,815 times
Reputation: 190
Westville seems like a better side of New Haven if you are commuting to Naugatuck.
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