OT - Buying a House | Page 3 | The Boneyard

OT - Buying a House

CTBasketball said:
I’m from Southington. Southington residents tend to think this town is amazing. Everyone’s cousin and brother and grandpa lives here - it’s incessed no one ever leaves. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, the town is nice. I like it. But we tend to talk down on neighboring towns. See what I did here?

So everyone I’ve talked to back home says Meriden, PVille, Bristol, and Wolcott are all dumps and not to buy there. That’s why I asked I wanted an outsider opinion.
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Southington did a nice job on its downtown with a good mix of bars and restaurants. Still, anyone in Southington with money would rather be in Cheshire.
 
Dream Jobbed 2.0 said:
I think the Rocky Hill-Cromwell-Newington-Berlin run of CT is one of my least favorite places on earth. The Berlin Tpke spooks the hell out of me and feels like New Jersey.
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Excalibur said:
Southington did a nice job on its downtown with a good mix of bars and restaurants. Still, anyone in Southington with money would rather be in Cheshire.
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My starter home was in Cheshire. Kuhn ranch bought when interest rates were hovering between 18 and 21% Week of closing they did a dramatic dip and felt lucky to get a 13% mortgage.
 
CL82 said:
I remember Meridan as being a nice middle class suburb but that was 40 years ago and from a very small sample. What changed or was I just not paying attention back then.
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As was posted earlier, there are still a couple good areas toward Wallingford, Durham, Middlefield but it's a town with a rotting core- a lot of blight, failing school system, and taxed through the roof. And then there's this from neighborhoodscout dot com:

Relative to Connecticut, Meriden has a crime rate that is higher than 92% of the state's cities and towns of all sizes.

You couldn't pay me to live there.
 
Going through the process now and my wife and I had our hearts set on Southington. Finding the same things you are, everything is incredibly overpriced. Have started looking into plainville & prospect as well as Wolcott.

Currently living in Wolcott, and I agree that it depends on which side of town you’re on. But I’ve enjoyed my time here, very quiet, close knit community in my experience.
 
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I live in Wallingford. Taxes are good, electric is really low. Good schools and easy access to the highways.
 
Dream Jobbed 2.0 said:
View attachment 30956 Here’s what you get for $220 in Rocky Hill. A 2 bedroom storage unit.
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At $250 there isn’t going to be much to pick from on the 91 corridor south of Hartford.

The neighborhoods where Hartford is creeping into Wethersfield by Nott Ln would be about it.

I gave up looking in Wethersfield/Rocky Hill immediately because the inventory was so small and expensive.

Much more comfortable living up Rt 2. East Hampton, Marlborough, Hebron, Colchester.
 
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Dream Jobbed 2.0 said:
I think the Rocky Hill-Cromwell-Newington-Berlin run of CT is one of my least favorite places on earth. The Berlin Tpke spooks the hell out of me and feels like New Jersey.
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Don't live there but I'd much rather live in that area than the valley (derby, ansonia, Seymour, beacon falls, etc)
 
whaler11 said:
At $250 there isn’t going to be much to pick from on the 91 corridor south of Hartford.

The neighborhoods where Hartford is creeping into Wethersfield by Nott Ln would be about it.

I gave up looking in Wethersfield/Rocky Hill immediately because the inventory was so and expensive.

Much more comfortable living up Rt 2. East Hampton, Marlborough, Hebron, Colchester.
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That’s a really nice area. Rt2 keeps you close to everything but you get a lot of bang for your buck.
 
whaler11 said:
Much more comfortable living up Rt 2. East Hampton, Marlborough, Hebron, Colchester.
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LOL East of the River.
methodology said:
Don't live there but I'd much rather live in that area than the valley (derby, ansonia, Seymour, beacon falls, etc)
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smart man. dont forget Naugatuck and Shelton too.
 
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MattMang23 said:
As was posted earlier, there are still a couple good areas toward Wallingford, Durham, Middlefield but it's a town with a rotting core- a lot of blight, failing school system, and taxed through the roof. And then there's this from neighborhoodscout dot com:

Relative to Connecticut, Meriden has a crime rate that is higher than 92% of the state's cities and towns of all sizes.

You couldn't pay me to live there.
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Wow. Not sure if I used to go to a good area or if the whole thing just sheet the bed.
 
whaler11 said:
I too was once a fool who looked at East of the River with scorn. Now I hope we build a wall.
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Yeah but don't expect us to pay for it.
 
CTBasketball said:
Don’t wanna think about kids right now lol
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If you don’t have kids why be tied down to a house? You want to start buying stuff like Scott’s turf builder? Houses are made to pour money into. The tax benefits are gone and in most cases the appreciation too. With kids though I can see the appeal.
 
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whaler11 said:
I too was once a fool who looked at East of the River with scorn. Now I hope we build a wall.
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I mean simply through attrition the sticks look inviting in certain spots. But I cant live among all the reds. Cant do it.
 
I'm in the process of buying my first house too. Similar age (I'm 26) and budget ( < $250k). I live and work in New Haven though, so I'm looking in a completely different area.

Looking like I'm gonna end up in North Haven, which I'm happy enough about. This whole process has been a real pain though.
 
whaler11 said:
I too was once a fool who looked at East of the River with scorn. Now I hope we build a wall.
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East of the River is great as long as you're not too far east. I absolutely loved growing up in Hebron...didn't find it to be backwards or anything, but super quiet. Really an idyllic place to live and raise a family.
 
Not sure why no one else has mentioned this, but why not Manchester? I dunno if that's too far out of the way for you, but it's got a good downtown and houses there are pretty affordable. If you can find something small in the area near Highland Park Market, it could definitely be around 250k while also giving you a bit of a yard as opposed to being on the Silas Dean. If value is gonna appreciate anywhere, it'll be towns like Manchester--that's where people will be able to reasonably afford in the next 10 yrs as millennials look for homes
 
whaler11 said:
Owning a house is the most overrated concept on the planet.
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Yeah for someone like me (no clue about home repair) it seems like a real money pit.

My rental is obviously high given the proximity to NYC, but same token, me and my fiance pay $89/month each for the PATH (pre-tax dollars) and are at work in 25 mins door to desk.

Go out to NJ, LI, Westchester? $300/month easily on the trains a person. Not to mention 5 figure property tax.

I guess I'm just torn. Eventually with kids, I think the idea of a home is nice. You can rent a 1 br and be fine, but once you get up to 2br, or 3br, prices then become really expensive.
 
August_West said:
I mean simply through attrition the sticks look inviting in certain spots. But I cant live among all the reds. Cant do it.
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Where are you going after you get rid of you place? Is the wife on board with that move?
 
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ConnHuskBask said:
I guess I'm just torn. Eventually with kids, I think the idea of a home is nice. You can rent a 1 br and be fine, but once you get up to 2br, or 3br, prices then become really expensive.
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Yeah economics of renting revolves around the idea of roommates splitting equal high cost of multiple bedrooms. The market essentially assumes an income per bedroom. Kids do the opposite of earning an income.

Including all costs and maintenance and assuming 3% housing growth (which is what Zillow predicts for my zip even though it grew 8% last year), the NYT calculator I linked said my house is equivalent to a 2BR rental for $1400, which is not findable where I live. So we bought. Plus I get to have a grill.
 
CL82 said:
Where are you going after you get rid of you place? Is the wife on board with that move?
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yup.

Shes on board with moving. Shes not on board with some of my destinations.
 
After reading through all of these posts, it makes me glad that I moved to Indiana back in 05. Granted I'm from Waterbury and that is a crap fest in terms of taxes, but seeing how much a house costs back in CT through this thread is ridiculous. I don't know how you all can afford those prices along with taxes and upkeep and everything else that goes a long with owning a home. My home is 3200sq ft 4 bed, 2.5 bath on an acre and bought for $130. Glad I don't live there anymore.
 
On a different note an acquaintance of mine who's an estate lawyer for super wealthy people told me to expect property values to rise in this area (new England) as wealthy Asian are going to start investing in the area as they view it as the new silicon valley because of all the top universities, wealth, and nyc/ Boston dynamic
 
Minicoop69 said:
After reading through all of these posts, it makes me glad that I moved to Indiana back in 05. Granted I'm from Waterbury and that is a crap fest in terms of taxes, but seeing how much a house costs back in CT through this thread is ridiculous. I don't know how you all can afford those prices along with taxes and upkeep and everything else that goes a long with owning a home. My home is 3200sq ft 4 bed, 2.5 bath on an acre and bought for $130. Glad I don't live there anymore.
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But you live in Indiana.
 
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