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I grew up in CT, but have spent the last few years in TX. My wife and I are moving back and looking for a suitable town in Fairfield County. We want to spend less than 500k, so that eliminates many of the towns along the shore and closer to the city (New Canaan, Darien, etc.). Does anybody have any suggestions? These are the things we're looking for:
-Good Schools
-A Town center (I used to love going to West Hartford Center)
-Metro North stop... or the closer to NYC the better
-Decent sized house (2000 sq ft)
Finding a home in lower Fairfield County in your price range will be difficult. $500k will not buy much in towns like Greenwich, Darien, New Canaan, Wilton or Westport. You could find someting in Stamford or Norwalk, but those are really cities and are known to have some issues you would find in urban areas.
I would recommend Fairfield. Many people like you turn to it for more affordable homes that are within commuting distance to New York. Fairfield is a beautiful town with a great downtown area, lots of shops and restaurants, excellent schools and a wide range of housing. There are a lot of family activities with nice parks and beaches. I know people that moved there because it was more affordable and then stayed in town after their fortunes improved because they liked it so much. I hope this helps. Jay
Thanks for your response, that cetainly helps! We were also looking at towns like Ridgefield, Redding, Easton, and Trumbull. It seems like this is as close to NYC as possible in our price range. Same criteria applies: looks like they all have good schools, but which have the best 'town centers' and access to the city? Neither my wife and I will be working there, but I figure we might as well be close considering that is most of why it's so expensive.
On a somewhat tangential note, what is the deal with the house prices anyway? My wife and I are by no means destitute... we made 175k last year. How many 'average' jobs in Fairfield county could possibly pay the money to afford the 'average' house at 1m. Sorry... just seems out of wack.
Anyways... thoughts on the above town would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks for your response, that cetainly helps! We were also looking at towns like Ridgefield, Redding, Easton, and Trumbull. It seems like this is as close to NYC as possible in our price range. Same criteria applies: looks like they all have good schools, but which have the best 'town centers' and access to the city? Neither my wife and I will be working there, but I figure we might as well be close considering that is most of why it's so expensive.
On a somewhat tangential note, what is the deal with the house prices anyway? My wife and I are by no means destitute... we made 175k last year. How many 'average' jobs in Fairfield county could possibly pay the money to afford the 'average' house at 1m. Sorry... just seems out of wack.
Anyways... thoughts on the above town would be greatly appreciated!
Ridgefield has a great town center - very New Englandy and quaint. Easton and Redding are rural without a town center, and Fairfield is more built up but still with an attractive center of town.
Fairfield County is wealthy for a few reasons. First reason being hedge funds. Many of the county's wealthiest work in suburban office parks in Greenwich/Stamford/Trumbull/Shelton for Fortune 500 companies/hedge funds. Many also commute to Manhattan. There are also quite a few people in Fairfield County with family money passed down from generations. This is becoming less common but still holds true for towns like Greenwich, Darien and New Canaan, and these people are the most down to earth.
CT is soooooo expensive! That's why I left! I worked in Bridgeport, lived in Meriden, and spent a lot of time in Norwalk and NYC. At one point I thought about moving to Norwalk, but even there got out of hand (a studio for $1000/month?!).
That much space at that price will be hard, but I'd search the foreclosures. Maybe you would be intersested in going a little further north? Parts of Bridgeport and Stratford are getting cleaned up, Middleton, and I've heard that Naugatuck is getting to be a lot nicer, too. I know the townhouse in Meriden, CT is worth about $50,000 more than when I left 4 years ago, and that's in the downturn of the market.
Fairfield County is wealthy for a few reasons. First reason being hedge funds. Many of the county's wealthiest work in suburban office parks in Greenwich/Stamford/Trumbull/Shelton for Fortune 500 companies/hedge funds. Many also commute to Manhattan. There are also quite a few people in Fairfield County with family money passed down from generations. This is becoming less common but still holds true for towns like Greenwich, Darien and New Canaan, and these people are the most down to earth.
I think you are talking about a small percentages of Greenwich/Darien/New Cannan/Westport's super wealthy. Even with 23% of Greenwich's males working in finance, that doesn't mean they all work for hedge funds. Hedge funds, despite the media attention are not a large segment of the financial industry. So with maybe 10-20% of the 23% in the financial industry in Greenwich working in hedge funds, I'm not sure where you come up with this. It really equates to the approximation that less than 5% of Greenwich's population work in hedge funds.
More bias against wealthy people, I guess, trying to indicate that they didn't necessarily earn there money, but obtained it by taking advantage of others.
My dad worked in finance (venture capital- not hedge funds) and we did ok. But he earned that money. He commuted to Manhattan from Westport for years-- leaving the house at 6 AM returning after 7 PM. He traveled frequently and worked at home on weekends and evenings. My dad was a city college graduate who grew up in lower middle class Brooklyn and got a little lucky and worked VERY hard. I think you will find that this is a much MORE common story than inheritance or getting lucky in hedge funds.
Now as an adult, I could never afford Fairfield County and as I do my search am looking in the valley and other areas of CT. But I don't begrudge the people who can afford it...
Last edited by mlassoff; 02-07-2009 at 11:11 AM..
Reason: clarity
I think you are talking about a small percentages of Greenwich/Darien/New Cannan/Westport's super wealthy. Even with 23% of Greenwich's males working in finance, that doesn't mean they all work for hedge funds. Hedge funds, despite the media attention are not a large segment of the financial industry. So with maybe 10-20% of the 23% in the financial industry in Greenwich working in hedge funds, I'm not sure where you come up with this. It really equates to the approximation that less than 5% of Greenwich's population work in hedge funds.
More bias against wealthy people, I guess, trying to indicate that they didn't necessarily earn there money, but obtained it by taking advantage of others.
My dad worked in finance (venture capital- not hedge funds) and we did ok. But he earned that money. He commuted to Manhattan from Westport for years-- leaving the house at 6 AM returning after 7 PM. He traveled frequently and worked at home on weekends and evenings. My dad was a city college graduate who grew up in lower middle class Brooklyn and got a little lucky and worked VERY hard. I think you will find that this is a much MORE common story than inheritance or getting lucky in hedge funds.
Now as an adult, I could never afford Fairfield County and as I do my search am looking in the valley and other areas of CT. But I don't begrudge the people who can afford it...
You misunderstood my post. The small number of people making very high incomes raises the area's average income significantly. That said, there are many middle-upper level management employees in FFC, and I rarely come across true blue collar workers except for some areas of Stamford, Norwalk, Bridgeport and Danbury. They just simply couldn't afford to live in most parts of the county. I lived in New Canaan for years. You'd be surprised at how many kids rely on inheritance to get them by.
Who said anything about the wealthy taking advantage?
Last edited by kidyankee764; 02-07-2009 at 11:27 AM..
I think where kid was headed was that CT has a large percentage of employees in the financial sector. He didn't give a number, just said ''many'' which is true, and undeserving of that borderline rude post.
I think where kid was headed was that CT has a large percentage of employees in the financial sector. He didn't give a number, just said ''many'' which is true, and undeserving of that borderline rude post.
Exactly. When I lived in NC the parents of kids in my HS commuted to Wall St, worked in Greenwich/Stamford for a hedge fund or they had family money. Of course there are a ton of other occupations but for mid-sized suburban towns, these areas have a high concentration of jobs in the financial industry. There were a handful of families who inherited their homes and could never afford to buy in NC present time - we were one of those families.
About 6 months ago when the Wall St crisis began, Darien and Greenwich were at the top of the "suburbs that will be hardest hit" I believe released by the NY Times (I think?). The reason being, mlassoff, is because of those jobs. I think with Obama's cap, we'll see the income of these towns decline just a bit. So far though, I don't see any drastic spike in home foreclosures in that area.
Good grief. Please don't lump everyone in the towns being discussed with the few who are committing highway robbery and taking millions in bonuses after their companies have been provided with tax payer assistance. However, these towns were wealthy well before the idea of hedge funds and will remain among the wealthiest in the country even after the income cap at companies receiving tax payer assistance.
The idea that these towns are wealthy because of hedge funds is incorrect. These towns are wealthy for many, many reasons and hedge funds is probably a small part of that mix.
There is way too much uninformed, borderline jealous Fairfield county bashing that goes on here. So please realize that if I am oversensitive on this topic, there is a reason.
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Many work for hedge funds?
