[sheena12]

Originally Posted by JayCT

Finding a townhouse or condo for under $250,000 should not be a problem. It’s just a matter of what area will serve them best and their tolerance of urban areas. Meriden and New Britain are small cities with some urban issues. I’m not sure they have the nice walkable downtowns they seek. Also check property taxes in them to be sure they are what they expected.

Manchester and Newington are more suburban. They have nice downtowns and Manchester has one of the state’s largest regional shopping districts with a major mall and every big box store. That is nice to be near. Manchester however is not near Amtrak however. They’d have to go into Hartford for that.

Other towns they might want to consider are Wethersfield and Rocky Hill. They don’t have the traditional downtown but they have a lot of the condos and townhomes they are looking for. Check them out. Jay

How does Middletown compare? We have a son who is trying to get us to move back east because he is not a fan of OH. I visited Middletown twice. Once in college, while visiting a friend at Wesleyan. Another time, while taking my daughter to visit Wesleyan.

My only knowledge of the city has to do with Wesleyan. $250 is also our budget.

My husband had an aunt who retired in Meriden, His feeling is that although her restored house was very pretty and schools were not an issue for them, Merriden was a little rough.

Would Middletown be thought of as the same area?

[sheena12]

Originally Posted by masssachoicetts

I have been meaning to reply for a while now, but wanted to formulate a well updated, better research and formulated answer. I have also been enjoying the coversation flow.

However just a quick little update.
The most important factors are definietely Walkability, Proximity to good restaurants/shoppes in local style/town center layout (Not like Ruby Tuesdays, Chilis and Olive Garden in a sprawl setup). Rail would in fact be a bonus, but honestly, Boston is not too far of a drive away. Neither is NYC or family in CT. Boston would be visited 4-5x more than NYC, so thats why preference was prefered over NYC. Boston is by far their favorite city.

Hartford area seems to fit the bill. Really walkable core. We are looking at some of these areas i will show below:
1. 06114: https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/6...32171939_zpid/ (Not that particular nit, but that exact area) Looks like its on the brink of major redevelopment, great great prices, really walkable.
2. 06105: Looks like a ncie area just West of Hartford. Closer to West Hartford and Hartford's downtown amenities for sure.
3. Manchester, CT
4. Newington, CT
5. New Britian, CT

Other CT Cities that were of interest:
1. Branford, CT
2. Guilford, CT
3. Danbury, CT

And how IS Hartford these days? My main point of reference is the city that I drove thru in college from NYC to get to Worcester.

How is it now?

[Stylo]

Originally Posted by sheena12

How does Middletown compare? We have a son who is trying to get us to move back east because he is not a fan of OH. I visited Middletown twice. Once in college, while visiting a friend at Wesleyan. Another time, while taking my daughter to visit Wesleyan.

My only knowledge of the city has to do with Wesleyan. $250 is also our budget.

My husband had an aunt who retired in Meriden, His feeling is that although her restored house was very pretty and schools were not an issue for them, Merriden was a little rough.

Would Middletown be thought of as the same area?

Middletown is very much its own town. I wouldn’t associate it with Meriden and it’s a nicer place to live.

The OP should definitely consider Middletown.

[Genz]

Middletown does have a nice walkable downtown area with a lot of great restaurants and cool shops in that area. There is also Harbor Park. Middletown does have some sketchy neighborhoods like any town I guess. It also does not have a train station or is not near train station. They also have a separate bus line then the rest of of the state. Middletown bus lines are not run by Connecticut Transit and you'd have to take a few buses to get to a train station. Though I suppose you could just drive and park at one. The closest one to middletown is probably the Berlin train station about 20 minutes away.

[JayCT]

Originally Posted by sheena12

How does Middletown compare? We have a son who is trying to get us to move back east because he is not a fan of OH. I visited Middletown twice. Once in college, while visiting a friend at Wesleyan. Another time, while taking my daughter to visit Wesleyan.

My only knowledge of the city has to do with Wesleyan. $250 is also our budget.

My husband had an aunt who retired in Meriden, His feeling is that although her restored house was very pretty and schools were not an issue for them, Merriden was a little rough.

Would Middletown be thought of as the same area?

As others here have said, Middletown is a great town. I lived there for several years and really enjoyed it. It is literally in the middle of the state so it is very convenient to the shoreline, Hartford, New Haven, Waterbury and even Fairfield County.

It has a wonderful downtown with a lot of great stores and restaurants. There is a branch of one of the best bookstores in New England, RJ Julia. It has a wide range of housing options and is one of the more reasonably priced towns in the state.

It’s not quite as urban as nearby Meriden but it does have a few neighborhoods that are less desirable so you have to be a little careful but not anything like our urban centers. I will say though that schools in Middletown do struggle which is one of the reasons home prices are lower there. Still it would be a great town to consider. Jay

[masssachoicetts]

Update: The area selected includes the following areas:

Norwich, CT
Niantic, CT
Stonington, CT
New London, CT area

Five main reasons:
1) Cheap, but great, housing stock
2) Perfect location. Close to Boston for weekly/semi-monthly visits. Close to where I live around NYC and if they decide they really want to go back to NYC for whatever reason, its 2 hours away.
3) Proximity to great beaches, coastal communities and towns on the CT Coast. Also really close to world-class RI beaches.
4) Great food places. Bars, local places that are back in the New England Sports World realm (Unlike here in NC haha)
5) After a visit, it was a lot less congested and nicer than Fairfield-New Haven Countyies. Was a bit disappointed by West CT. But Eastern CT blew it out of the water imo. I never visited half of the cities and was let down by some of them, but others just were so appealing!

So a combination of being close to me around NYC, them being close to their favorite cities in the world (Boston, Newport, Providence) and being an absolutely stunning area in itself near the cost with moderate home prices... it fits the bill the best.

One last question for those in New London Area/Norwich Area. What airport od you use? lol

So excited to be directly linked to CT now. I hear a lot of people from MA are retiring in the SE part of CT (Per our relator)... do you think pirces will go up in the coming months?

[Stylo]

Eastern New Haven County is a lot like that area.

Guilford, Madison especially.

Also consider Old Saybrook, Essex, Lyme’s area.

[masssachoicetts]

Originally Posted by Stylo

Eastern New Haven County is a lot like that area.

Guilford, Madison especially.

Also consider Old Saybrook, Essex, Lyme’s area.

From what Im seeing, as soon as you ross into Middlesex County it becomes wicked expensive.

[Stylo]

Originally Posted by masssachoicetts

From what Im seeing, as soon as you ross into Middlesex County it becomes wicked expensive.

I wouldn’t consider Middlesex county expensive, except for homes on the water and Essex.

[brownedbits]

Originally Posted by masssachoicetts

One last question for those in New London Area/Norwich Area. What airport od you use? lol

Most people in the area shop flight prices between TF Green (PVD) and Bradley (BDL). Both are equally convenient.