[stronji217]

Is Danbury, CT a good place to purchase a home and is it close to everything?

[kidyankee764]

Originally Posted by stronji217

Is Danbury, CT a good place to purchase a home and is it close to everything?

Danbury is a decent city to call home - I lived there for a couple of years when I was in college. Most areas in the city are very nice and middle class (some working class and others with multimillion dollar homes) - just be weary of the area between lower Franklin near Main Street and Spring/Beaver Streets. Near the train station (in the middle of Liberty, Main, Sheridan and South St) can get sketchy in areas as well. There are a lot of illegal immigrants living in 2-3 family homes in that square, and crime is not as much of an issue as cleanliness and the look of the neighborhood are. Other than those two small sections, Danbury is great.

You have the mall on Backus Ave, Padanarum road for plenty of shopping, as well as Federal, Mill Plain and Newtown roads with plenty of shopping. Danbury is close to everything, including one hour from New York City (without traffic). Cost of living is fairly high but reasonable for Fairfield County.

Be sure to spend a nice day picnicing at Tarrywile Park. Beautiful surroundings and you can tour the old mansion on the property.

[jdhall1]

You have pretty much everything here. One of the largest malls in New England,tons of shopping and dining throughout the town, 2 state parks, beaches on 2 different lakes, a city park which is larger then Central Park, 2 golf courses (1 public, 1 private), a state university with 2 campuses in town, a few local museums, a couple of private schools. Only 10-15 minutes to train to Grand Central, 1 hour by car to Hartford & New Haven. There's a wide variety of neighborhoods ranging from intown homes on about .1 acre to parts on town where homes are on 2-3 acres. There's everything from multi family homes, new construction, townhomes, large neighborhoods of homes built in the 1960s and almost everything in between.

[JayCT]

Danbury is a small city with some of the issues you would expect in an urban area. That said it is a small city so the issues are not as bad as you would find in larger cities. Overall, it is a very nice small city with a lot to do and see.

You do not indicate if schools are important or not but if that is important, the links below will provide you with information on them. Generally the schools in Danbury perform under the state averages on the Connecticut Mastery and Connecticut Academic Performance tests. Also note that Danbury High School is one of the largest in the state with over 2800 students. I hope this helps. Jay

Strategic School Profiles by District

Strategic School Profiles by School

[7 Wishes]

One nice thing about Danbury is by the overpriced standards of the area, the housing is relatively inexpensive (yet not a "bad" area). The commute to White Plains and environs down I-684 is pretty reasonable, it's a little tougher to go down to Norwalk or Stamford down route 7 (not distance, but traffic-wise). You could also commute to Waterbury on I-84 and theoretically (though a bit far) to Hartford. There's also Metro North service to NYC, but it's a separate branch of the New Haven Line so it takes awhile and is pricey; I know a couple of people who actually drive into northern Westchester to take a faster Harlem Line train from Brewster.

[stronji217]

Thank you all for your responses. I will consider all your comments.

[markhunt]

I lived in Danbury from 1988 to 1996. I think in 1988 it was named the #1 city in America to live in. I lived in the "Candlewood Lake\Stadley Rough Area". It was a very nice area at the time and the schools were solid then as well.

I'm sure that area of Danbury is still a nice area to live in, however I hear from Friends in town that things have changed for the worse with the public schools there.

I never had a problem getting anything I needed while living there (as far as convenience was concerned). I frequently took bike rides from Stadley Rough through the Germantown\Great Plain area into downtown. I would even walk occasionally to the train station to take trips to NYC.

Minutes to both I-84 and Danbury Hospital. Overall I remember it as a decent town.

[CTbroker203]

mark hunt im sorry to say but now in danbury no where your just going to cruise downtown in danbury on a bike.. the st.gregs area where you lived is surbubria in danbury, danbury's downtown area differs from its suburbia part..