Possibly relocating to CT from Detroit area, looking for good schools recommendations (New Haven: real estate, rental)
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East Hampton is way too far out for a commute to NYC and for your hubby to find decent job prospects. There is no highway access to get you down to the shoreline where you have to be to get a train to NYC. There is no train access in East Hampton.
To make your life convenient, try to stick with the options various posters have offered. If no one is suggesting East Hampton, it is because it's not viable. Good luck.
There is very little natural gas heating in much of CT. Oil is the most common form of heat. Most homes in CT, except for somewhat newer construction, were not built with central air. Thus, the greater prevalence of HWBB heat. My personal preference is for HWBB heat as it I find it less dusty and drying than FWA ( having lived with both). Of course, adding A/C to HWBB after the fact is an expensive PITA but can be done with a variety of systems.
Hopefully you can find a home with both natural gas and central A/C as natural gas is usually cheaper than oil.
You'll also find many homes with propane heat. This is also fine. This however, is not a municipal system, but solely a system for an individual home. You can order as needed or set up automatic delivery.
Last edited by willow wind; 01-02-2016 at 05:35 PM..
East Hampton is way too far out for a commute to NYC and for your hubby to find decent job prospects. There is no highway access to get you down to the shoreline where you have to be to get a train to NYC. There is no train access in East Hampton.
To make your life convenient, try to stick with the options various posters have offered. If no one is suggesting East Hampton, it is because it's not viable. Good luck.
There is very little natural gas heating in much of CT. Oil is the most common form of heat. Most homes in CT, except for somewhat newer construction, were not built with central air. Thus, the greater prevalence of HWBB heat. My personal preference is for HWBB heat as it I find it less dusty and drying than FWA ( having lived with both). Of course, adding A/C to HWBB after the fact is an expensive PITA but can be done with a variety of systems.
Hopefully you can find a home with both natural gas and central A/C as natural gas is usually cheaper than oil.
You'll also find many homes with propane heat. This is also fine. This however, is not a municipal system, but solely a system for an individual home. You can order as needed or set up automatic delivery.
Thank you! Do you find a big need for Central air? I think the climate is pretty similar to Michigan in the winter, in the summer we great pretty humid. Central Air is pretty necessary in August here. Do you find the same? Do most just use window units or something else?
Thanks also for the comments on East Hampton. My husband has found a few places he likes on that side, but I keep trying to tell him that might be too rural.
There's a couple of places you mentioned that I hadn't looked at yet. Thank you. On paper I really liked what I was finding in Glastonbury, bUT I think it's just too far. I prefer NOT to have new construction & a little bit of a fixer doesn't scare me. We are moving from a suburb of 90k+ ppl that has both a super quaint downtown & access to just about every store you could imagine within 5 miles in either direction currently. So, I'm not sure yet if we want to head more small town or suburbs.
Can anyone speak to the parks & rec, as well as library systems for these areas? We spend a lot of time in both. My son love football. My daughter is into Lax & robotics
I've run a park and rec department before and worked with various other towns either through collaboration or simply just stealing their program ideas . The strongest rec departments are in the affluent communities of Ffld Cty and the shoreline and large town/cities that would fall under the "depressed" label - think Stratford, Milford, Naugatuck, Waterbury. Many people don't want those towns, but their rec departments are superb. Glastonbury has a wonderful department too, but it's too far for what you need. Small town departments can struggle due to numbers and budget constraints though Newtown is very expansive (and expensive). The valley towns which fall more into your budget are decent but you won't find much lacrosse with the exception of Oxford and they are just getting their program off the ground. Amity has a good junior program (Bethany/Woodbridge/Orange) as does Milford. You will have no problem finding a youth football program anywhere in New Haven or Fairfield counties. Robotics is being picked up in local libraries and after school programs by the minute. You will likely find them throughout Fairfield County. The strongest high school robotics programs that I read about consistently succeeding in regional competitions have been Shelton High, Nonnewaug (Bethlehem and Woodbury), Kennedy HS (Waterbury), Watertown HS and Career Magnet in New Haven.
Most CT towns have good libraries. I've found that even the ones that are extremely small (i.e. Beacon Falls) have dynamic knowledgeable librarians that know how to stretch a budget and still manage to have recent technology and plenty of events for kids and adults. My favorite library is a tossup between Westport and Stratford (I'd probably give the edge to Stratford)....just thought I'd throw that in there.
To sum things up: Football - everywhere, Robotics - various places and growing, Lacrosse - anywhere except most cities and valley towns (excluding Shelton which has it), libraries - everywhere but size and resources vary.
I've run a park and rec department before and worked with various other towns either through collaboration or simply just stealing their program ideas . The strongest rec departments are in the affluent communities of Ffld Cty and the shoreline and large town/cities that would fall under the "depressed" label - think Stratford, Milford, Naugatuck, Waterbury. Many people don't want those towns, but their rec departments are superb. Glastonbury has a wonderful department too, but it's too far for what you need. Small town departments can struggle due to numbers and budget constraints though Newtown is very expansive (and expensive). The valley towns which fall more into your budget are decent but you won't find much lacrosse with the exception of Oxford and they are just getting their program off the ground. Amity has a good junior program (Bethany/Woodbridge/Orange) as does Milford. You will have no problem finding a youth football program anywhere in New Haven or Fairfield counties. Robotics is being picked up in local libraries and after school programs by the minute. You will likely find them throughout Fairfield County. The strongest high school robotics programs that I read about consistently succeeding in regional competitions have been Shelton High, Nonnewaug (Bethlehem and Woodbury), Kennedy HS (Waterbury), Watertown HS and Career Magnet in New Haven.
Most CT towns have good libraries. I've found that even the ones that are extremely small (i.e. Beacon Falls) have dynamic knowledgeable librarians that know how to stretch a budget and still manage to have recent technology and plenty of events for kids and adults. My favorite library is a tossup between Westport and Stratford (I'd probably give the edge to Stratford)....just thought I'd throw that in there.
To sum things up: Football - everywhere, Robotics - various places and growing, Lacrosse - anywhere except most cities and valley towns (excluding Shelton which has it), libraries - everywhere but size and resources vary.
I find out in 2 weeks if I am getting a promotion that would relocate myself & my family to CT. I will be working from home mainly but will need to got into NYC about once a week. My husband will be leaving 18 years as a Police officer, looking for Asset protection or Fraud/ Security work. We have two kids, 11 & 8 & a St. Bernard. My boss lives in Wallingford, but they don't seem to score well on great schools. Where are the good districts with strong high schools?
We currently live in the 3rd largest district in MI & one of the higher rated. I know it won't be the same. CT seems to spend significantly more with much smaller class sizes.
We currently have a 2100 Sq ft house 4bd 2.5bath & large yard, will sell for around 240k. Looking for similar up to $350k with a large lot, lots of trees.
So looking for good areas with some conviences, don't want to drive 30 mins for the grocery store, where there are job opportunities for my husband, but closeish (under 40 mins) to the train?
Because you have to go to New York once a week it would be best for you to live closer to the train that could take you into the city. Your budget and requirements however mean you have to live a bit further out. You might want to look at towns like North Haven, Branford, Guilford or Madison. Milford or Orange may also be good if you are willing to accept a smaller home.
Another option would be to look in the Danbury area. Towns like Bethel, Brookfield or New Fairfield may be good options as well. Jay
I second Monroe. Brookfield is a great place to look into as well my Uncle takes the train in from Brewster to NYC every weekday pretty much from Brewster, not too bad of a drive.
CT can be very humid from mid- June to mid September, especially inland. Not every day but there can be stretches of uncomfortable weather. You will appreciate some sort of air conditioning.
We have window units, but we don't often use them. Our house is surrounded by large trees which shades it from the sun.
Heating oil right now is very affordable. We used to have a house with natural gas heat, and it was very expensive at the time. The cost of oil and gas fluctuate, and I think heating with propane heat can be expensive. Plus the forced hot air gave us health issues. I personally wouldn't search specifically for a home with gas heat, your options will be limited, but people have different preferences.
I don't have central air... use window units. Eventually I'd like to get it, but it's not in the budget at the moment...
The central air is convenient, but once it goes on it seems to stay on throughout the summer. I feel very out of touch with outside when the air goes on. Some people are good with that, but I like to hear birds, rain, water flowing, sirens and far away trains...or maybe I'm simply nostalgic for something I'd get over real fast if I experienced it again. . Some of the window units are nice and not loud, so I don't see them as a bad thing. Of course, I haven't put one in or taken one out in years, so it's easy for me to say.
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. The strongest rec departments are in the affluent communities of Ffld Cty and the shoreline and large town/cities that would fall under the "depressed" label - think Stratford, Milford, Naugatuck, Waterbury. Many people don't want those towns, but their rec departments are superb. Glastonbury has a wonderful department too, but it's too far for what you need. Small town departments can struggle due to numbers and budget constraints though Newtown is very expansive (and expensive). The valley towns which fall more into your budget are decent but you won't find much lacrosse with the exception of Oxford and they are just getting their program off the ground. Amity has a good junior program (Bethany/Woodbridge/Orange) as does Milford. You will have no problem finding a youth football program anywhere in New Haven or Fairfield counties. Robotics is being picked up in local libraries and after school programs by the minute. You will likely find them throughout Fairfield County. The strongest high school robotics programs that I read about consistently succeeding in regional competitions have been Shelton High, Nonnewaug (Bethlehem and Woodbury), Kennedy HS (Waterbury), Watertown HS and Career Magnet in New Haven. 
