[advisor]

I am likely going to take a new job in Greenwich which means a significant jump in compensation. It does, however, mean uprooting my family from Massachusetts where we are very happy to somewhere along the SE connecticut coast area. I will be in the market for a home with FMV approx. 1 to 1.25 million. I am interested if anyone has suggestions where to look within a 30 minute commute of Greenwich for "value" in that price range. Prices in Massachusetts are high, but Greenwich is ridiculously expensive based upon what I've seen on Realtor.com. I would also be willing to commute further if the right situation presents itself. Family friendly is very important. Any feedback would sincerely be welcomed. THANKS!

[cchiang12]

try stamford or danbury also.

[jdhall1]

Greenwich is a very expensive place to live, but the property tax amount is very pretty. Stamford and Danbury are both viable options, but you can get a lot more house for your dollar in Danbury. The commute to Greenwich from Danbury would be about 50 minutes, and in your price range you can get almost anything you want.

By the way, this area is Southwestern CT. Southeastern CT is out where the casinos are and are near the Rhode Island border.

Moderator cut: realtor soliciting

[advisor]

Any idea how the school systems are in Danbury & Stamford?

[gomet]

Try Ridgefield, Wilton or Redding. Those towns have great school districts. The commute might be a little bit more than 30 minutes, but they are certainly worth it. Those three towns are much better than Danbury or Stamford when you talk about quality of life. You might also take the train from those towns to Greenwich if interested. For that kind of money, you should be able to find something real nice.

[jdhall1]

Originally Posted by advisor

Any idea how the school systems are in Danbury & Stamford?

The Danbury school system does a great job in educating its large and diverse student population. There is a total of 14 public elemantary schools (k-5), including a regional. magnet international studies school that opened for this school year. The King Street and Mill ridge elemantary school districts each have their own seperate primary (k-2) and intermediate (3-5) schools on their own campuses. Those schools educated students houses families live on the western side of town, close to the New York State border. There are two middle schools, both have been expanded in the last few years (6-8th grade). Generally, the people on the west side of town go to Rogers Park and the rest of the students would go to Broadview, but it also depends on the districting of the schools. Sometimes kids that go to King Street for elemantary would either go to Broadview or Rogers Park, depending on what the city decides since schooling is set up by # on street. One time, I was showing clients 2 homes on the same street and they would have gone to different elemantary and middle schools.

Danbury High School is really special. Although it is the largest high school in the state, it does offer tons of programs that the other more suburban towns of Wilton and Ridgefield do not offer. To help make the school seem more personal, the incoming 9th grades get divided into 4 different clusters and then more different academic groups based on testing, each group then is about 25 students. Students then have their 4 basic classes (math, science, english and history) together and the teachers plan their activities together. There are several AP programs that score well well on the tests, most notably the AP Psychology and AP European History programs. Because of it's size, the high school does offer class selections that can match or exceed the offers of a small college. There are tons of class selections for electives in studies of Business, Computers, Culinary Arts, Industrial/Engineering, Theatre among others. They prepare students to do well in college (they always have lots kids that go on to NYU, Yale, etc listed in the local newspaper every June around graduation time) and provide skills that employers look for for those that choose not to go onto to college.

There are other schooling options if you can afford there. There are a number of private elementary and middle school options that serve the Northern Fairfield county region as well as a private Catholic high school and a prep school. There is a small alternative high school for the region as well as a regional techinical high school.