[jjbradleynyc]

Originally Posted by usmcfamily

Fairfield is more suburban than Trumbull. A lot more stores and shopping with a larger population than Trumbull. JayCt can provide test scores. My guess would be Fairfields are slightly higher.

I can't tell you what town is best for you but I like Trumbull over Fairfield because I like small towns where you easily know most of the families. And I prefer my town to be mainly residential. I love Trumbull although it is larger than the town I live in but it still has that small town feeling.

I disagree with your statement that Fairfield is more suburban than Trumbull. Fairfield has a lot more chain stores, (albeit a lot of higher end) typical suburban tracks of housing, and is spread out, but it has a wonderful and quaint downtown that echos towns of early 20th century, not typically found in "cookie-cutter" style suburbs. Fairfield IS a suburb for sure, but Trumbull more closely resembles most I've seen. I'd really classify Trumbull as a typical suburb--due to its real lack of a typical downtown center, and its numerous suburban style neighborhoods.
Both are wonderful towns, but I certainly think Fairfield is less "suburban" in feel than Trumbull overall.

[kiwi1209]

We are moving from overseas for work in Trumbull. I like rural with land and we are a family of five so we need a four bedroom house. The commute to work should be less than one hour. We love horses and are considering horse property.

What kind of automobile would you most recommend for a large kiwi family?

[MetsNY]

Newtown, Monroe, Oxford and Orange all have rural areas, but are also surburban in nature.

Seeing as you want a four bedroom house and horse property I would suggest Oxford because you get more for your money. However look into Newtown and Monroe they are great, great towns, some would even consider them more than desirable to live in. I think both towns would fit your needs perfectly. For 500,000 you should be able to get a house with 4 bedrooms, but I'm not a realator so I don't know. I would say these towns are more upper-middle class and I know that people in both towns have horse properties.

As for an automobile for a large family. I have no idea it's all preference. I would say you can't go wrong with an SUV. GMC Suburban, Tahoe. Ford Explorer or Expedition. Jeeps. Then you can always buy luxary SUVs such as Mercedes, Lexus, BMW. All depends what you like.

[andthentherewere3]

Fairfield to me is more of a small city with all it's shopping and amenities, and much larger population, but both Trumbull and Fairfield are definitely suburban. Editing to say that the more I think about it, Fairfield is more urban than Trumbull, if that makes sense. But still suburban. To me Fairfield's "downtown" is rather busy, too. But I guess the definition of suburban varies from one person to another.

Originally Posted by kiwi1209

We are moving from overseas for work in Trumbull. I like rural with land and we are a family of five so we need a four bedroom house. The commute to work should be less than one hour. We love horses and are considering horse property.

What kind of automobile would you most recommend for a large kiwi family?

Definitely look into Oxford, and Newtown has a lot of horse properties, too. Also Monroe, Orange, Bethany, and Woodbridge. And what is a "kiwi" family? I apologize if I am missing the obvious, I just haven't heard that term before. If you need to haul a horse trailer, you should definitely look into a larger SUV.

[MetsNY]

I believe Kiwi has to do with New Zealand. I can be totally wrong by that, but I'm just guessing.

[JayCT]

When you say suburban, I think of subdivision type neighborhoods with less density. that is more Trumbull than Fairfield. Much of Fairfield is more mature and was built before or right after World War II so it was built without the car in mind. Trumbull was mostly built in the 1960's to 1970's when the car was king and its neighborhoods reflect that thought.

Actually Fairfield is the size of a small city. It is one of the largest 20 towns in the state. But I should warn you though, do not call it a city in front of anyone from there. People in Fairfield are very protective of the ideal that Fairfield is a town, not a city.

Kiwi - I resonded to your other post but from what you say here, I agree that you should look at towns like Oxford, Monroe and Newtown for a more rural feel. Jay

[kiwi1209]

We are New Zealanders coming from Auckland. In current we live in a character house in the suburb of Point Chevalier. We have been to Connecticut once before and felt it was lush and pretty, so we want to stray from built up suburbs.

I read often about Weston and the forested land. Is there a less expensive town similar to?

Any other Kiwis in Connecticut? The perception we have of Connecticut is that it is not a typical American state in the sense that it is dense, authentic and historical. We have only seen New Haven and the freeway to New York. Will it be difficult to adapt to Connecticut?

[kidyankee764]

Originally Posted by kiwi1209

We are New Zealanders coming from Auckland. In current we live in a character house in the suburb of Point Chevalier. We have been to Connecticut once before and felt it was lush and pretty, so we want to stray from built up suburbs.

I read often about Weston and the forested land. Is there a less expensive town similar to?

Any other Kiwis in Connecticut? The perception we have of Connecticut is that it is not a typical American state in the sense that it is dense, authentic and historical. We have only seen New Haven and the freeway to New York. Will it be difficult to adapt to Connecticut?

I have never been to NZ but I have been to Australia. If NZ is anything like AUS, the lifestyle is different but still similar to the states. I'd compare AUS to California or Florida (depending on the area) weatherwise, and the population in AUS is very car-centric, suburban-loving, mall-a-holics, like us here. I'd say it is probably the most similar country to the USA, and I've heard NZ is similar to AUS.

People here are not as outgoing as those down under - they tend to keep to themselves and are not as reckless as Australians (put a beer in an Aussie and they're like a Tennessee teenager drunk off of Jack Daniels). You shouldn't have a problem adapting, other than the winters here.

The towns recommended to you are all very nice, but you might have a problem finding horse property for $500k. Also, I believe Oxford's median home price is a tad higher than Monroe. Both are great towns. I would actually suggest looking a little northeast in Bethany since you don't mind a longer commute. It is an excellent town with many horses and not too far from Trumbull. The Amity schools serving Bethany are top notch.

[Rich Lee]

Originally Posted by kidyankee764

The towns recommended to you are all very nice, but you might have a problem finding horse property for $500k. Also, I believe Oxford's median home price is a tad higher than Monroe. Both are great towns. I would actually suggest looking a little northeast in Bethany since you don't mind a longer commute. It is an excellent town with many horses and not too far from Trumbull. The Amity schools serving Bethany are top notch.

They're close...
$435,000 - Monroe (below the county median)
$400,000 - Oxford (above the county median)

Oxford is definitely on the rise as of the last few years.

Source:
http://www.cerc.com/TownProfiles/Cus...monroe2009.pdf
http://www.cerc.com/TownProfiles/Cus...oxford2009.pdf

[jjbradleynyc]

Originally Posted by JayCT

When you say suburban, I think of subdivision type neighborhoods with less density. that is more Trumbull than Fairfield. Much of Fairfield is more mature and was built before or right after World War II so it was built without the car in mind. Trumbull was mostly built in the 1960's to 1970's when the car was king and its neighborhoods reflect that thought.

Actually Fairfield is the size of a small city. It is one of the largest 20 towns in the state. But I should warn you though, do not call it a city in front of anyone from there. People in Fairfield are very protective of the ideal that Fairfield is a town, not a city.

Kiwi - I resonded to your other post but from what you say here, I agree that you should look at towns like Oxford, Monroe and Newtown for a more rural feel. Jay

Yeah, Jay--I think you are spot-on. Fairfield was a town pretty much prior to typical suburbs came to be--in the 1950s and later. Trumbull rose up as you mentioned, during the car age, allowing it to be built around the car--a typical suburb.