[Lifeisbeautiful67]

Hello everybody ...

New to this forum, first time posting. Nice to meet everybody out there!
There is a chance of a job with Yale Hospital, submitted application, spoke with recruiter and will be having two interviews soon. So far so good. If all goes well and I end up getting it, I would be moving from Charlottesville, VA, to New Haven.
Would really appreciate some wise advice on housing. Family is very small: one human (me) and three felines (amazing guys, have been raised with much love and are better behaved than a lot of children. Don't get me wrong, I love children, all I'm saying is my guys are very, very good.)
Are there safe and affordable neighborhoods near the hospital? I have always lived near my work place and that is important to me, especially in the morning when you are rushing to get to the hospital parking lot, find a spot, park, get out of your car and jump in the shuttle that will take you to the hospital. Even if you leave your house early, the drive can sometimes turn into a race against the clock!
Can you buy a nice townhouse with a budget of $200-220K? I don't need/want anything big but I don't want a tiny place either. The townhouse where I live is around 1200 sq. ft. and I would like something about the same size, maybe a tad smaller but not much.
Anyone reading this post has ever lived in Charlottesville, VA, and now lives in NH? Maybe you could give me an idea on the cost of living and main differences between both cities. I moved to VA from ABQ, NM, and I must say that even though I did some research, when I got here I was shocked with the housing prices, well ... with prices in general. Everything is so incredibly expensive in C'ville!
Wise advice would be really appreciated. Finding affordable housing is a key point, even if I get the job but the cost of living is too high and I could not afford a nice mid size townhouse in a safe neighborhood, I would not move to NH.
Thanks a bunch!
Angie

[Stylo]

There are certainly safe areas near YNH.

In New Haven, for buying a townhouse you’re going to be limited. There’s just not a lot of that type of housing. Maybe Westville. A lot of the nicer residential areas in New Haven are a mix of new construction rentals, and older single family homes (Westville, East Rock, Wooster Square, Morris Cove). There are also condos and apartments for sale in a more urban setting. It is generally best suited to renters as the taxes can be high but it’s certainly an option.

West Haven would be another option that’s very close and affordable. Most of West Haven is pretty safe. It’s affordable but property taxes are a bit high.

Milford and Branford are both 15 minutes away and are excellent towns. You could definitely afford a condo in that budget, but you won’t find any nice new construction townhouses unless you spent more, and they’re just not super common in this area like in VA.

Another very affordable town is Derby, which is an easy commute via Route 34. Townhomes are very cheap but not super common. If you’d consider a house, you could probably find a nice one for your budget. I like the area on the east side of Derby.

Some examples of options in that budget:

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/5...ource=txtshare

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/5...ource=txtshare

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/9...ource=txtshare

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/5...ource=txtshare

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1...ource=txtshare

[Tetto]

This is a good indicator Of New Havens crime in 2020 and proximity to hospital.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nhr...0-15413091.php

[kidyankee764]

I would start your search in North Haven, East Haven, and Branford. You may find what you’re looking for in Wallingford, too.

In your price range, you can probably snag a single family house in East Haven.

[CTartist]

Originally Posted by kidyankee764

I would start your search in North Haven, East Haven, and Branford. You may find what you’re looking for in Wallingford, too.

In your price range, you can probably snag a single family house in East Haven.

There are a ton of condos in East Haven and Branford in your price range. Both towns are a lot safer than New Haven itself. Wallingford and North Haven are more oriented for families with more single family housing. They are really nice towns too.

Trulia does crime maps on their site. Just so you can visually see the difference in crime between New Haven and East Haven/Branford look at this below. On the top is New Haven and on the bottom is the East Haven/Branford area.


PS: I like your City-Data name....it's very hopeful and optimistic.

[Stylo]

Originally Posted by CTartist

There are a ton of condos in East Haven and Branford in your price range. Both towns are a lot safer than New Haven itself. Wallingford and North Haven are more oriented for families with more single family housing. They are really nice towns too.

Trulia does crime maps on their site. Just so you can visually see the difference in crime between New Haven and East Haven/Branford look at this below. On the top is New Haven and on the bottom is the East Haven/Branford area.
Attachment 226916

That map does not look right at all.

Downtown is not the most dangerous neighborhood in New Haven. And areas that are the most dangerous like Dixwell, Newhallville, parts of The Hill are not reflected.

Something is amiss.

Edit: Looks like maybe it's TOTAL crimes not per capita. Since hundreds of thousands of people pass through downtown constantly, there's going to be more petty crimes reported. You need to look at per capita. This paints a picture of the area that isn't realistic.

[CTartist]

Originally Posted by Stylo

That map does not look right at all.

It is what it is.

Originally Posted by Stylo

Downtown is not the most dangerous neighborhood in New Haven. And areas that are the most dangerous like Dixwell, Newhallville, parts of The Hill are not reflected.

I took a square print screen of the area near the hospital.
Here is the link.
https://www.trulia.com/p/ct/new-have...6#lil-crimeTab

If you go onto the link you can zoom in and out of New Haven. The bigger picture is still not that great but the East Rock area where my cousin had a house in New Haven looks good. There are really no condos in that area...I don't remember them anyway.

[Lifeisbeautiful67]

Hello again and thank you so much to all of you...
- Stylo
- Tetto
- Kidyankee764
- CTartist

... for all the good info you, guys, provided! I looked at all the links you sent me, Stylo, and there are some really nice townhouses there. My dream would be a small single family home but not sure if I can afford it. As you indicated, property taxes can be high and that is not good

"PS: I like your City-Data name....it's very hopeful and optimistic." Thanks for your words, CTartist. Even in these challenging times we are living I say to myself everyday that life is beautiful and has much to offer. It's a matter of taking a minute to look around and appreciate everything that surround us. But people need to learn to look with the heart, not with the eyes ... "it is only with the heart that you can see fully; what is essential is invisible to the eye." From The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery, one of my favorite books.

Thanks for the homicides map, Tetto. I've always been very fortunate to live in very safe areas, both in ABQ, NM, where crime rate went up a lot in the past two or three years before I moved to VA (2018) and in Manchester, NH, where I lived from 98 to 2008. So I keep those statistics in mind but having said that, I take that info with a grain of salt and try not to interpret it literally.

Does anyone know by any chance how many parking lots the hospital has and how far they are from the hospital (approx.)? I'm asking because of 1) morning traffic is always bad, with or without school and 2) when you work in a hospital you are pretty much at the mercy of the shuttle that takes you there. So even if you leave your house early enough but you run into a school bus (or two) and then you miss the shuttle because it was full and must wait for the next one, you are barely going to make it to work on time. I live 10 minutes from the parking lot where I park every morning and the hospital is 6-7 minutes from there. So, 17-18 minutes total, give or take. However, there are times when it has taken me over 1/2 hour to get to the hospital due to traffic plus waiting for the shuttle.

Milford, Branford and Derby sound like nice places to live (thanks Stylo!) and so do North and East Haven and Wallingford (thanks kidyankee764!). I will look at them more in detail over the weekend.
One other reason why distance is important to me is that I am on an on-call list at the hospital and you can be called on weekends and/or after hours during the week. And when you get called in the middle of the night you don't want to drive 30-40 minutes or longer to get to the hospital, you need to get there asap.

Thanks again to everybody!
Angie

[CTartist]

Originally Posted by Stylo

That map does not look right at all.

I was thinking about that New Haven map and it does have more crime than normal but I found this. There is an uptick in crime from Covid so that does make sense now. New Haven let prisoners out of jail.
https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2020/...are-decreasing

"Last month, Mayor Justin Elicker told the News that he partly attributed the recent uptick in violent crime in the city to the severe economic hardship caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, illegal guns on the streets and prison releases due to pandemic health concerns. Cities across the nation have seen a similar surge in recent months."

[Stylo]

Originally Posted by CTartist

I was thinking about that New Haven map and it does have more crime than normal but I found this. There is an uptick in crime from Covid so that does make sense now. New Haven let prisoners out of jail.
https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2020/...are-decreasing

"Last month, Mayor Justin Elicker told the News that he partly attributed the recent uptick in violent crime in the city to the severe economic hardship caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, illegal guns on the streets and prison releases due to pandemic health concerns. Cities across the nation have seen a similar surge in recent months."

Yes it has, there was an uptick in violence in almost every city in 2020, again that map is showing total crimes so a lot of minor crimes are driving up downtown since it's more populated/busy. The most dangerous neighborhoods are Newhallville/Dixwell, The Hill, and Fair Haven.

The area around the hospital is fine. Don't want the OP to think they're working in a warzone.