advice on towns near Stamford, CT

Parent Cafe
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<p>Thanks again for all the feedback.</p>

<p>CBBBlinker, ideally my H would walk from our home to the station. We would love to find a place right in town. I have read about the waiting for station parking permits and figure we would not get one. I would also be willing to drive him to the train station each morning if we find a place that has everything I want but is not walking distance to the train. I am an early riser anyway and could just start my day that way. But I would want to at least be in a community with the train access and want it to be a quick drive.</p>

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<p>^^^ Makes sense to me. Rowayton is a cute, quaint village on the water. BC (Before children) we kept our sailboat at a marina there. Rowayton Seafood Restaurant is quite good, as I recall.</p>

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<p>When you come to Fairfield, drive around the beach area - many commuters walk from there. I work at a school very near the train station and the kids from the beach area walk to my school. Most homes are on smaller lots. The wave of tear-downs is now over and there are many charming capes on the market. Be wary of Fairfiled Beach Road however. Although right on the beach, there is a significant problem with Fairfield U students renting homes and partying the year away.</p>

<p>Re: Rowayton:We just took our boat down there last weekend for lunch! So pretty and quaint.
Re: parking at the train station. We got our permit 20+ years ago! Even when my H commuted to Florida for 2 years, we never got rid of the pass! Day parking is readily available in the same lot but it is $$.
I better stop, I’m beginning to sound like the head of the Chamber of Commerce!!</p>

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<p>Tonight we ate at one of the Stamford restaurants I recommended, a smallish one that is normally pretty quiet, and found ourselves sitting next to Bobby Valentine, whose name will mean a lot to you if you’re a baseball fan. He’s a Stamford native and still lives there (his current gig on ESPN is a looongg commute). He was celebrating a friend’s birthday, and they’d made quite a lot of progress through their wine, so their table was quite loud to start with, and then on top of that everyone who left the place, plus the entire kitchen staff, stopped by to slap him on the back and chat about baseball. The couple on the other side of us was visiting from out of town, first time in Stamford (for a brief moment I thought it might be the OP), and when the wife mentioned it was her husband’s birthday, too, they got pulled into the midst of the festivities and plied with free drinks by the manager. I’m sure they thought Stamford was the friendliest and most baseball-obsessed (and loudest) town ever!</p>

<p>On the subject of accommodations, there are a couple of inns in New Canaan that might be of interest.</p>

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<p>For a restaurant in Westport, try Positano’s – it’s down by the beach, not in downtown, and is very very good. Reservations required.</p>

<p>Tell us when you’re ready for the welcome wagon to greet you. </p>

<p>What an exciting new chapter!!</p>

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<p>MommaJ – Bobby V wasn’t at his own place? Used to go there a lot when I first started working in Stamford after grad school. Healthy food? Probably not so much, but this was more than a couple years ago and I wasn’t as concerned about stuff like that …</p>

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<p>The Roger Sherman Inn in New Canaan is a nice place. I’ve never been to The Maples–I think that’s the name–but I would assume it is pleasant also. And located actually in the town center.</p>

<p>The Merritt 7 area hotels are in a location completely lacking in charm, but conveniently located for zipping amongst the towns of interest.</p>

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<p>Woody: Do you really find it necessary to slam Norwalk? As a native, I take great exception to your comment. Norwalk may not be for everyone (I tend to think people in Fairfield County tend to get scared by its diversity). I for one, love it here. I could have moved to Greenwich, New Canaan, Westport but my husband and I chose to raise our family here. While I find all of those towns quite wonderful, I felt that I got more bang for my buck here and I wanted to offer my children the opportunity to meet kids from different socio-economic and cultural backgrounds. I have raised two great kids who have flourished from their experiences living here. Every town and city in Fairfield County offers its residents something wonderful and unique. I just hate when people love to spread their dislike to others who have no preconceived notions about our area. Don’t be a hater, come to Norwalk and drive around our amazingly diverse city. We have beautiful homes in Silvermine, Cranbury and West Norwalk. Wonderful beach front communities in East Norwalk and Rowayton and for those who want a city vibe, SoNo can’t be beat.</p>

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<p>jyber209: I would highly recommend looking at the town of Wilton. It has a nice little center within walking distance to several lovely condominium complexes. Wilton has a great family feel to it although I know of several empty nesters who settle there when they sell their larger homes and downsize to a very nice townhouse. It doesn’t have a traditional main street like Westport, New Canaan and Greenwich, however. But from a price point you will not pay as much as you would in those towns for similiar square footage (can you tell I sold real estate in ffld county for years). Most of the single family homes are quite large on 1+acres. I would also recommend looking at Ridgefield although the commute to Stamford is more back road. If you don’t mind a commute, Trumbull has some nice townhouses, cheaper asking prices and a local mall. I also think that you can find alot to look at in Fairfield. Lovely beach and university areas and if you want to buy a house with some land Greenfield Hill is beautiful. Towns like Darien, New Canaan, Westport and Greenwich are very expensive and many people relocating to the area will have sticker shock. If your stay is short term (less than 3-5years) you may consider renting as the economy has hit this area’s real estate market quite hard. As I mentioned in my previous post, I think that Norwalk has alot to offer. There are some nice townhouses (many with boat docks)near Calf Pasture Beach but the asking price for those can range between 600,000-1,000,000+ dollars. As with everything here, usually the closer you are to the water, the more expensive the asking price. The Marvin Beach area in East Norwalk has some cute homes, many are quite small but some have been heavily remodeled. Higher prices since some have water views and it is walking distance to the beach, but many out of towners find this beach community quite charming. Norwalk and Stamford have many condo complexes to choose from also. Enjoy the search, Fairfield County offers something for everyone.</p>

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<p>Huh?? I don’t see anyone slamming any town here. Just providing their own personal experiences and observations. </p>

<p>Regarding costs, the OP has pretty much made it clear (by not rejecting the suggestions to look at New Canaan, Fairfield, etc.) that costs may not be the factor that some posters have warned them about.</p>

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<p>See post #33:
“How’d you come up with Rowayton?? Beautiful little village within not so nice Norwalk.”</p>

<p>Listen, my busting Woody on that was half kidding. I could care less what people think about Norwalk, plenty of out of towners come here is droves to take all the tables at the restaurants in SoNo. I just think comments like that are unnecessary. That is all, no big deal.<br>
Thanks for the note about the OP being unconcerned about price as I didn’t read word for word through the posts but I mentioned it because it has been my experience from selling real estate that people from outside CT think price is no object and then they see what they get for their money and suddenly price is very much an object.</p>

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<p>OP also mentioned she lived in Rye, NY when she first got married, so she is probably very aware of what real estate prices are. If not, she lived under a shell.</p>

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<p>What if she’d said “Rowayton is a beautiful little seaside village within the grittier city of Norwalk.” Perhaps just as accurate, but a little less harsh?</p>

<p>Norwalk, as a whole. has some nice suburban areas and it also has some run down city sections that I won’t drive into at night. There’s a lot of shopping along Route 1, some waterfront, some north-of-the-Merritt back country, and some very good value for the region. And we can’t forget the happenin’ area of SoNo and Washington Street, the Maritime Center Museum and Veteran’s Park, home of next weekend’s Oyster Fest. At least I think it’s next weekend …</p>

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<p>Consolation, I think the Maples Inn is right next to the Roger Sherman Inn (years ago my rehearsal dinner was at the Roger Sherman, and most of our wedding party stayed at the Maples).</p>

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<p>Busy week. H received the formal offer on Monday (same day he had knee surgery), had five days to respond, and then 30 days to start. Faxed his acceptance and handed in his resignation letter yesterday. </p>

<p>Thanks again for all the responses. </p>

<p>We made a quick (under 24 hours) trip up to the area last weekend. We looked at numerous towns – Stamford, New Canaan, Westport, Norwalk, Wilton, Southport, Rowayton, Fairfield. We did not look at Darien because prices there seem really out of our range. We both got burnt out from all the mapping and constant driving. The beaches and water views were lovely, though. We can see why it is a desirable area.</p>

<p>Reactions:</p>

<p>Westport is of course very nice, but it seems that you can’t be both in town (walk to all) and within walking distance of a train station. The condo developments were largely off Rt. 1, rather strip commercial settings. </p>

<p>Rowayton is very special and charming but crowded in the little business district on the weekend and not much in the way of sidewalks. Also my guess is that many people there are into sailing and since we are not, we may not fit in so easily.</p>

<p>**Southport **was beautiful and we loved the beaches and water views. </p>

<p>New Canaan is a highly walkable town – with train station in center of town! Downside – very high prices, even for very modest places.</p>

<p>Fairfield had an appealing business district and prices are much more reasonable. We drove into the Oaks condo development and it is a lovely place and close to a branch library, but not to a train station. Those Oaks townhouses are also bigger (about 3,000 square feet) than what we need, although we really did like the architecture there.</p>

<p>Wilton was somewhat too rural for my taste, but it was neat to be there again. We passed the former house of an aunt of mine where I had spent many Thanksgivings when young. (Aging aunt relocated long ago.)</p>

<p>There seems to be a lively and appealing downtown area of **Norwalk **developing (perhaps we were in SoNo?), but we did not see what we wanted in housing in that neighborhood.</p>

<p>We were rushed and did not have the time to fully explore **Stamford<a href=“our%20last%20stop”>/B</a> well. Lots of what we saw there was drab and not appealing, but perhaps we need to get suggestions on appealing neighborhoods near train stations. Need to make another trip there and explore it more. </p>

<p>Coming back to suburban Philly (where we really like our home, area and conveniences, etc.) we rethought our plan. We are reluctant to spend big for a home in such a pricey area so close to retirement. This would be no more than a five-year job at longest, we figure. </p>

<p>Now we are considering a new plan – keeping our main residence in PA and buying or renting a very small (but nice - want him to feel good about what he comes home to at the end of a day) apartment for my husband to crash in during the week. I would join him part-time. (I am a substitute teacher at this point so have total freedom.) We would want a nice (attractive, in good area) studio or one-bedroom that is appealing and in a very safe area (able to walk alone late at night, etc.). </p>

<p>Husband will be working at 200 1st Stamford Place (not a bad walk from the Amtrak station – is that also where the Metro-North trains arrive? But it does not seem to be an appealing residential area.) Would want either a fully walking or train commute that would involve no car transport. (H has been commuting by car over an hour each way and can’t wait to either walk or read the paper on the train.) If we go this route, I would give up walking access to a library to focus on what would work best for him. H says he would probably prefer to be closer to the office than Fairfield if I would not be there full-time. He may be able to spend some days in Philly. </p>

<p>We are willing to pay up somewhat for quality, graciousness and a convenient commute. (NO switching of trains, going train to bus, etc.)</p>

<p>We will be making another trip up once a start date is established. </p>

<p>THANKS again for reading and for all feedback!</p>

<p>P.S. Tried to go to dinner at Positano’s and called from the road, but they would not be able to seat us until quite late. (We had not wanted to lock ourselves in to a time in advance because we were trying to cover so much ground.) Hope to get there another time. Ended up dining in a very nice steakhouse in Norwalk. Saw signs for the Lobster Fest but had no time to indulge.</p>

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<p>Yes, the Metronorth commuter line and Amtrak share the Stamford train station. The station is indeed walkable to your husband’s office, plus 1st Stamford Place runs a shuttle to the station, especially useful in bad weather. So that end of the trip is easy-peasy. On the residence end, however, your desire that the place be walkable to a train station is extremely limiting.</p>

<p>There are some intriguing condos in SONO (I assume that’s where you were in Norwalk if it was interesting and near the Aquarium), older buildings that were renovated, but the area nightlife would be too noisy for me. Plus the walk from the South Norwalk train station after dark can be sketchy.</p>

<p>Stamford has a huge variety of neighborhoods, population and housing, from urban to country to waterfront, from low income to blue collar to white collar to very rich, but you are correct that the areas walkable to the three train stations are not especially appealing. There may be possibilities in the Glenbrook and Springdale neighborhoods–a realtor should be able to sort that out for you quickly. </p>

<p>New Canaan sounds like an ideal choice, given the location of the train station. A lot of people who can’t sell their property are trying to rent these days–you might find a deal on an in-town rental condo there. I actually can’t even think of any other towns that have nice residential offerings that are walkable to the train. The only issue I see with your Plan B is that it will be hard for either of you to feel part of the community in whatever town your husband rents (and some of these towns are pretty insular, I’ve had neighbors who have moved to Fairfield County from other parts of the country tell me that we are a chilly bunch). But that may not matter to you.</p>

<p>Good luck with the search and with the knee.</p>

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<p>Thanks, MommaJ, that is VERY helpful feedback. Yes, I think we are narrowing things down to New Canaan. Not sure how important it will be for us to be part of the community, as H will be very busy with work and may well spend most of his weekends in PA. I will go back and forth spending some time in each place. I may join a book group at the local library to entertain myself and connect with some people. I know that is a challenge, especially at this empty nest stage. Perhaps living in a condo will at least help us know our neighbors.</p>

<p>Am currently reading a fascinating book, “In the Neighborhood: A Search for Community on an American Street.” Really thought-provoking as we consider a new living situation.</p>

<p>We plan to meet with a financial advisor before making the buy or rent decision. Our PA home is paid off so without a mortgage income taxes will really hit us, but the AMT would as well I suppose, especially if we have two sets of property taxes. The relo package gives us some incentive to buy as well. I don’t mind paying up for New Canaan for a small property as long as we could be able to recover when we sell. (For a big property we might not be comfortable taking that extent of a risk for such a short term.)</p>

<p>Thanks again for the valuable input!</p>

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<p>I think New Canaan is exactly what you want … but Wilton Center is not that different from …walk to train, walk to library, walk to shopping. And possibly better priced. There’s some fairly new housing that’s walkable to the train … or a short drive for drop off in bad weather …</p>

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<p>There is a bunch of condos right near the Westport train station (yes, walking distance). See this listing: </p>

<p>[230</a> SAUGATUCK AVE 19 #19, Westport, CT 06880 (MLS# 98444139) - Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage - ColdwellBankerMoves.com](<a href=“Request Rejected”>Request Rejected)</p>

<p>Don’t know if it otherwise suits your needs, but it is definitely walking distance to the train in Westport, which has frequent trains to Stamford. From a convenience standpoint, it would be perfect.</p>

<p>And keep trying for Positano’s!!</p>

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<p>^ Thanks, I had not come upon that community, and we will be sure to check it out when we next visit (and same for Positano’s!)</p>