[ryanthegoldengod]

Originally Posted by in_newengland

I stayed at a friend's house in Burbank, CA one summer and didn't really notice the weather. You don't even think about it, which is a relief. One less worry. But I did hate the place for other reasons. I hated it because they lacked rain and everything was dry, brown, ugly. No flowers, few trees, plastic grass, backyards made of asphalt.

And the people truly were fake. They were superficial and if you couldn't get them an acting job, they didn't care about you. People seemed to be putting on an act all the time. The Hollywood Hills--driving there to attend a party, I can remember people standing in their driveways next to their expensive cars just glaring at us, probably because we didn't live there. It wasn't a place of nice, kind people, that's for sure.

This was a long time ago but I remember intensely disliking the place. There wasn't much to do there either and we were so tired of the brown, dried up landscape that we ended up spending most of our time at Griffith Park.

That's why San Diego is probably better. Maybe just as brown, but you don't have the show business wannabes. Green is nice but green comes from rain. So I'd learn to live with brown.

[CTartist]

Originally Posted by EastViaWest

A walkable downtown would be preferred but not a deal breaker. Restaurants aren’t important but grocery options are, we love Trader Joe’s so that nearly would be good. Coastal access - no, we are next to the beach now and go maybe 2-3x/year. Would love to be near a lake or stream for fishing. Love a good mixture of trees for fall colors and evergreens. Pretty worried about ticks since we don’t have any here- will need to brush up on info to deal with that. No need for train access (no desire to visit nyc for me; hated Boston train - just got off and walked instead). We can drive for cultural activities the same as restaurants, esp with highway access in winter which is when we would likely visit those places more. How about kids sports? Any towns known to have better facilities for sports? Little league fields? Basketball courts? Etc.

Your husband is lucky that his company is in the northern part of Norwalk and has an early commute.
Awseome.

Your main things: $350,000 budget....you are a artist (yes, photographers are artists).....you like lakes and the bike paths and don't need coastal......within an hour commute and would love a wooded area........We need middle and high schools rated above 7 on greatschools.

You have a lot going on so for a fellow artist I really wanted to think long and hard about this one. Just so you know $350,000 with great schools is hard but not impossible. Only you can decide how much house/land you are willing to give up for you kids educations. You will understand from my the lists below better schools will cost your more. (all data from this site)

Towns with excellent school systems ( I don't look on "greatschools" but I bet these towns meet your "7" criteria)
Trumbull: Median House Price $400,000.....Median Household Income $117,000
Monroe: Median House Price $407,000......Median HH Income $118,000
Newtown: Median House Price: $406,000.....Median HH Income $131,000
Orange: Median House: $383,000......Median HH Income $112,000

Between Excellent and Good (I think but not positive about the schools. You would need to look this up. It might need to be with the "excellent" towns above)
I hesitate to put this last town on as it will be the longest commute and terrible in the winter. But I will put it on because I know people from Stamford who moved up there and loved the rural feeling and the lake access.
Brookfield: Median House Price $388,000....Median Income $115,000


Towns with good solid schools (but I bet most schools won't be in the 7 or above category but you would have to look that up.)
Bethel: Median House Price $285,000.....Median HH Income $77,000
Shelton: Median House price $350,000.....Median HH Income $90,000
Milford: Median House Price $300,000......Median HH Income $90,000

You can see that more money in the town gets you better schools.

Digest this and tell me what towns you want or don't want when you look up the schools. Which towns you would strike off the list because of the schools. In the next post I will tell you about the community, lakes, lot sizes and zoning etc when you whittle down the list.


*One of my friends lived in Brookfield but she ended up moving to Monroe for the better commute. In the southern part of Monroe is the 25 connector that takes you to the Merritt Parkway/I-95. The state does an excellent job of keeping Route 111 (I live off 111 in Trumbull) and Route 25 clear and they both run through Monroe to the connector that gets you to the Merritt Parkway and I-95.

[Stylo]

I would not put a ton of faith in Great Schools, but yes, those 3 towns have 7+ high schools

Shelton: 7
Milford Foran: 8 (with CSA award, whatever that is)
Milford J Law: 7
Bethel: 8

[EastViaWest]

THANK YOU SO MUCH! We will check out these towns this month in person.

[SteveM85]

Originally Posted by in_newengland

The Hollywood Hills--driving there to attend a party, I can remember people standing in their driveways next to their expensive cars just glaring at us, probably because we didn't live there. .

Where was the party? That's sounds strange, I'm on the backside of the hill, down lower. I've never seen or partook in that type of behavior.

[Stylo]

Originally Posted by SteveM85

Where was the party? That's sounds strange, I'm on the backside of the hill, down lower. I've never seen or partook in that type of behavior.

It happened to me once driving though Bel Air in my rental Escape. Some massive Jay-Z sized party. The glares.

[SteveM85]

Originally Posted by Stylo

It happened to me once driving though Bel Air in my rental Escape. Some massive Jay-Z sized party. The glares.

YMMV
Thats out of my league and jursdiction but you mean to tell me folks attending a Jay-Z sized party were standing in the driveway of a home and glared at you as you drove by in a Ford Escape?
Lucky you I guess.

[Stylo]

Originally Posted by SteveM85

YMMV
Thats out of my league and jursdiction but you mean to tell me folks attending a Jay-Z sized party were standing in the driveway of a home and glared at you as you drove by in a Ford Escape?
Lucky you I guess.

They were on the side of the road talking amongst their Bentley’s. Either coming or going.

[WILWRadio]

When I was growing up in Simsbury during the 70's and 80's since it was and still is an international community in the sense that there are so many transplants from all over the world, people really didn't have issues with outsiders like cities and towns or regions that are more parochial. That being said, the least liked people while I was there were from the Midwest. Behavioral issues being the reason. Not everyone from the Midwest was viewed negatively but many were due to their questionable behavior. People from CA were fine for the most part. They didn't have issues adapting to our culture all that much. People from the South and other countries also seemed to adapt and were accepted as long as they could handle our winters.

[EastViaWest]

I wonder what behaviors midwesterners have?