[CTGirlNoMore]

Originally Posted by kidyankee764

Not everyone is as lucky as you are. Lots of people have student loans and other debts through no fault of their own. The higher than average cost of living in CT makes it that much more difficult to live a comfortable lifestyle with these extra bills. I'm not saying you have to be rich to live here, because obviously you don't, but to live in a nice, low crime town you have to be pulling in a pretty damn good income. Do you have to make $150k a year? No, most don't, but in our situation, we need at least 80k or we'll start to fall behind.

It must be nice to be able to pay cash for your cars. For most people, it would take them many months or years of saving to be able to do that. Many months or years in CT without an automobile is next to impossible.

I'd also be interested to see a nice house in CT on a decent plot of land that doesn't need much work for $175k.

Thank you!!!

And ditto on the house thing. I see houses that need work in good towns and they are STILL around $200K or so.

I would never say someone must be rich or make $200K/year or whatever, to live in CT. However, I know what I make and I struggle. I would think $60K could have you living nicely and still doing things. Heck, if my income had another $10K added on, I would be okay.

I was just never able to start off on the right foot (through no fault of my own), and I have struggled everyday since.

[markhunt]

Originally Posted by kidyankee764

Not everyone is as lucky as you are. Lots of people have student loans and other debts through no fault of their own. The higher than average cost of living in CT makes it that much more difficult to live a comfortable lifestyle with these extra bills. I'm not saying you have to be rich to live here, because obviously you don't, but to live in a nice, low crime town you have to be pulling in a pretty damn good income. Do you have to make $150k a year? No, most don't, but in our situation, we need at least 80k or we'll start to fall behind.

It must be nice to be able to pay cash for your cars. For most people, it would take them many months or years of saving to be able to do that. Many months or years in CT without an automobile is next to impossible.

I'd also be interested to see a nice house in CT on a decent plot of land that doesn't need much work for $175k.

...Not to mention when it's not just a married couple, and you have a child or children to support as well, it can be much more difficult for an entire household to live a "comfortable lifestyle", in CT under 100K/year.

How one defines a comfortable lifestyle will probably differ from person to person though.

For me with a family of 4 to support on my 1 income, we are doing OK. I don't make 100K per year, but I got a great deal on a rental, so that helps a lot. I wouldn't be able to buy the home I am renting now and still maintain the same type of lifestyle for my family we currently have though.

[Appias]

There are some cute starter homes in the Bethel/Brookfield/New Fairfield area for under $175,000. And Manchester has some really nice looking homes in that range. I have to wonder where people's money goes. Anyone feeling brave enough to post their monthly budgets?

[JViello]

Originally Posted by Appias

There are some cute starter homes in the Bethel/Brookfield/New Fairfield area for under $175,000. And Manchester has some really nice looking homes in that range. I have to wonder where people's money goes. Anyone feeling brave enough to post their monthly budgets?

Do a search, I have an excel sheet on here practically. It's not pretty.

Oh and you are right...there are some nice homes in very nice neighborhoods with a nice yards in Manchester for $175-200K. Are they colonials or on 2 acres? No, but they are nice 1200-1400sf capes or ranches with nice landscaping, clean streets, decent neighbors. What else do you need really?

[Appias]

JViello,
Do you remember which thread it might be in? I did a search under your name and budget but I couldn't find it. If I do find it can I copy and paste it here?

[kidyankee764]

Originally Posted by Appias

There are some cute starter homes in the Bethel/Brookfield/New Fairfield area for under $175,000. And Manchester has some really nice looking homes in that range. I have to wonder where people's money goes. Anyone feeling brave enough to post their monthly budgets?

I'd be willing to bet the houses in Bethel/Brookfield/NF need some serious work for 175k.

[Appias]

Here's an example from each of the towns. I've only seen the New Fairfield one in person, but it was in great shape and recently renovated.

334 Route 39, New Fairfield, CT, 06812 - MLS #98452728 - Single Family Home real estate - REALTOR.com® (http://tinyurl.com/2ba7k5p - broken link)

107 Stony Hill Rd, Brookfield, CT, 06804 - MLS #98445651 - Single Family Home real estate - REALTOR.com® (http://tinyurl.com/2bzvok6 - broken link)

6 Huntington Ct, Bethel, CT, 06801 - MLS #98410808 - Condo/Townhome/Row Home/Co-Op real estate - REALTOR.com® (http://tinyurl.com/27bpx7s - broken link)

[kidyankee764]

Originally Posted by Appias

Here's an example from each of the towns. I've only seen the New Fairfield one in person, but it was in great shape and recently renovated.

334 Route 39, New Fairfield, CT, 06812 - MLS #98452728 - Single Family Home real estate - REALTOR.com® (http://tinyurl.com/2ba7k5p - broken link)

107 Stony Hill Rd, Brookfield, CT, 06804 - MLS #98445651 - Single Family Home real estate - REALTOR.com® (http://tinyurl.com/2bzvok6 - broken link)

6 Huntington Ct, Bethel, CT, 06801 - MLS #98410808 - Condo/Townhome/Row Home/Co-Op real estate - REALTOR.com® (http://tinyurl.com/27bpx7s - broken link)

Now I know why they're so cheap! LOL, the ones in Brookfield and New Fairfield are on very busy roads, not really the best place to raise kids. The NF one is a cute house, but is only 900 square feet!

The one in Bethel is an old, outdated condo. It would need a lot of updating.

Now I'm not a fan of Charlotte, but just to compare:

http://www.realtor.com/realestateand...278_1117555836

[Appias]

Originally Posted by kidyankee764

Now I know why they're so cheap! LOL, the ones in Brookfield and New Fairfield are on very busy roads, not really the best place to raise kids. The NF one is a cute house, but is only 900 square feet!

The one in Bethel is an old, outdated condo. It would need a lot of updating.

That's why I said starter homes. Small and/or outdated? Yeah, but liveable and a first home to start building equity. There's nothing wrong with starting in a small ranch or cape. If people are worried about kid, put up a fence. Nice, safe towns with good schools and we're talking under $175k in Fairfield county. If you don't need to be in FF county that budget goes a lot further.

[AnonChick]

Hamden:
11 Edgecomb St, Hamden, CT, 06517 - MLS #M9116669 - Single Family Home real estate - REALTOR.com®

That's in the same neighborhood that I grew up in, and I recognize the house and know who used to live there when I was a kid. No idea who lives there now. This is a strictly middle-middle-class neighborhood from top to bottom. It's a couple of doors away from the neighborhood's public park (Edgecomb Park). It's a couple blocks from State Street (a main thoroughfare, which runs from New Haven past Wallingford. On the opposite edge of the neighborhood is Hartford Turnpike, which expands to upper-middle-class on the north side, and mansions one street beyond on Ridge Road.

The neighborhood was was built pretty much around me; the first house was built in the late 1950's. Our house was new when we moved in, we didn't even have a garage yet.

This is the kind of neighborhood where you could leave your back door unlocked, walk around at 3 in the morning, raise kids. It's a neighborhood where people recognize each other. Edgecomb is technically on the outer edge of the neighborhood - the "inside" streets have sidewalks and Edgecomb doesn't (with I think 3 houses worth of exceptions).

I wouldn't know about the current condition of the house but I did drive down that street a few weeks ago and other than one house on the corner of a side street that clearly had a busted waterpipe, and a second house near that one being built by Habitat for Humanity (construction stopped, no idea why), all the houses on the street appear liveable, and lived in.

While I was searching the county, I found another 2 dozen homes in "liveable" suburban neighborhoods that I'm familiar with, each under $180,000. That was the max I used in my search. I only checked 5 zip codes. Hamden (the town of this listing) has 4 different zip codes. This ONE zip had 12 listings under 180k; the most expensive was 171k. The least were crap on Goodrich. So assume half of them were in liveable areas. That's six, in a single zip code of the suburbs, under $180k.

Again - if you're not finding it, it's because you're not looking very hard.