Should we move from our current near perfect town for a nicer house?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She already said she was in CT.

I'm guessing Greenwich or Darien and she's thinking about moving to Ridgefield, Kent, Litchfield, Washington or somewhere like that.

I'm in a coastal CT town an hour outside of DC and the community, activities/sports, and efficiency are much more important to me than I realized they would be. We were looking at more rural locations as well, but I'm happy where we are. We drive to the above locations on a weekend day for a hike some times.

One thing to keep in mind is that private high school is about 50K a year and then 60K? with fundraising. That's 240K per child. That adds up!

Your home value will appreciate more in your current location I'm guessing. Maybe wait a year or two and think it over?

Another thing is proximity to airports. Being close to the major NYC airports and HPN is nice.

And if job situations change it's also nice to be closer to NYC

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. In our case, the inland town we are considering actually is pretty big on kids sports/activities and community as well. It also has easier access to a relatively big airport than we do now at the beach town. The private schools are expensive but the houses there are so much cheaper compared to our current town, financially it will be a wash even if we send 3 kids through the private high school route.

The big concern we have is that we are going to be much farther from NYC for an easy day trip with kids on top of losing beach access. Also home value appreciation difference will be a big factor if the difference is too huge.

Can you do math OP? It will not be a wash unless you are sending your kids to a religious private which in that area is literally dumb.

I am from there, moving inland from the beach is fine but it will not be much cheaper and if you do private you are losing out on a great education.

I'd move and to shorten your commute and be closer to the airport.

[Anonymous]

To me this is a no brainer -- the shorter daily commute for you with little kids is huge. This will change your entire life. Your DH only goes to the office once a month, you go daily!

Cash in on the appreciation you have in the beach town. Use it for larger and nicer house with a shorter commute. You aren't day tripping to NYC (be real) and if you do you take the train and it is fun but is isn't something you are doing all the time like commuting to work!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How often are you going into NYC for day trips currently? I grew up about 1.5 hrs from NYC and went in with my family rarely (but not never -- maybe a few times a year?). Doing an overnight would have been fine. But as I got older (HS) my friends and I went in more regularly, and for our peers who felt totally stifled by suburban life, the city was a huge, positive gateway to a more diverse community and activities.

Personally I'd stay in the beach town, but it's hard to tell from your posts how many kids you have and what kind of space you're looking for.

Thanks for the information. We visit NYC on average once a month now. When you frequently visited NYC with friends in HS, did you have adults accompanying you?

We have 4 kids, often a living-in nanny, and frequent in-law visits, so a 6 bedroom house at minimum. We can afford such a house in the current town though, it would just be cheaper in the inland town.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To me this is a no brainer -- the shorter daily commute for you with little kids is huge. This will change your entire life. Your DH only goes to the office once a month, you go daily!

Cash in on the appreciation you have in the beach town. Use it for larger and nicer house with a shorter commute. You aren't day tripping to NYC (be real) and if you do you take the train and it is fun but is isn't something you are doing all the time like commuting to work!

I actually don’t mind the commute right now. I only need to do it twice a week and it is usually a very relaxing drive, plus DH takes care of kids duties on those two days so it’s almost like a break for me

Given this situation, do you still feel shorter commute is such a big benefit in my case?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are you moving to like West Hartford? You were never going to let your kids go alone to the NYC anyway, let's be real.

Yes we are considering general area around there like Avon, Glastonbury etc.

[Anonymous]

Is there a possibility you could lose your job or work from your office (or husband) more than 2x a week? Asking because I’ve had friends laid off or increased RTO while they bought a house further away from the office and they eventually had to move closer to town for another job or to shorten their commute. I’d consider which town has better job opportunities for you and your husband in case of layoffs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is there a possibility you could lose your job or work from your office (or husband) more than 2x a week? Asking because I’ve had friends laid off or increased RTO while they bought a house further away from the office and they eventually had to move closer to town for another job or to shorten their commute. I’d consider which town has better job opportunities for you and your husband in case of layoffs.

My job is very stable though there’s a chance I may need to go in 3 days a week instead of 2. DH is more likely to change jobs, but he will try to stay in NYC couple nights if that’s where his new job will be.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you moving to like West Hartford? You were never going to let your kids go alone to the NYC anyway, let's be real.

Yes we are considering general area around there like Avon, Glastonbury etc.

https://lamacchiarealty.com/50-most-expensive-towns-in-connecticut/

Avon is #38--Glastonbury is #45.

Has OP shared his/her current location ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you moving to like West Hartford? You were never going to let your kids go alone to the NYC anyway, let's be real.

Yes we are considering general area around there like Avon, Glastonbury etc.

https://lamacchiarealty.com/50-most-expensive-towns-in-connecticut/

Avon is #38--Glastonbury is #45.

Has OP shared his/her current location ?

It’s one of the top 4 on that list.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you moving to like West Hartford? You were never going to let your kids go alone to the NYC anyway, let's be real.

Yes we are considering general area around there like Avon, Glastonbury etc.

https://lamacchiarealty.com/50-most-expensive-towns-in-connecticut/

Avon is #38--Glastonbury is #45.

Has OP shared his/her current location ?

It’s one of the top 4 on that list.

My best guess is that you will meet less money conscious/more-down-to-earth type folks in Glastonbury/Avon than in Westport, Darien, Greenwich, or New Canaan. In short, there is more to this move than just money/cost of homes. Either you want the social change or you don't. Are you craving more social interactions with your neighbors ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You have to decide if beach is really important for you and if you are going to miss it. It will be a huge change if you are a beach person and easy access to the beach was the part of living there that you liked. Obviously, people move from areas they loved, but it's not like you are relocating to another metro area or overseas. The feeling of loss might be stronger here given it was an option. I would look into maybe making an addition to your house?

We are not big beach person (don't play water sports or boating), but we do enjoy relaxing by the beach while watching kids playing for 1 our 2 hours. My biggest concern is actually the loss of easy access to NYC, if we do move, we will likely need to stay overnight at NYC if we visit it with kids. Not sure how much of that will matter.

We thought about doing an addition to the house. Our house was built in the 1980s with 4 bedrooms and we will need to add 2 additional rooms if we go that route. Not sure how that's going to affect the house value since houses in our town with that many rooms are usually newer.

If your house is considered a tear down in your city then it makes no sense to renovate/expand as you will not get your money back. It happens in many places where new $$$$ homes go up devaluing older homes to the price of land only. You should only do this work if you really want to stay in your house forever or at least for a very long time and QOL investment is worth it. Sounds like it isn't worth it since you aren't set on staying. Are there places closer to NYC that still provide you with cost savings? Or you really must stay in CT? Even closest CT towns are far from NYC IMO. Westchester, LI, Jersey may have more options. Or maybe you won't find going to NYC as important, only you know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you moving to like West Hartford? You were never going to let your kids go alone to the NYC anyway, let's be real.

Yes we are considering general area around there like Avon, Glastonbury etc.

https://lamacchiarealty.com/50-most-expensive-towns-in-connecticut/

Avon is #38--Glastonbury is #45.

Has OP shared his/her current location ?

Not OP, but I am really surprised how cheap houses in Avon and Glastonbury are in this list. For those who are unfamiliar with CT, these are considered premier towns in the state outside of the few super wealthy ones on the gold coast . The towns’ school districts are routinely ranked top 5 to 10 in CT.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you moving to like West Hartford? You were never going to let your kids go alone to the NYC anyway, let's be real.

Yes we are considering general area around there like Avon, Glastonbury etc.

https://lamacchiarealty.com/50-most-expensive-towns-in-connecticut/

Avon is #38--Glastonbury is #45.



Has OP shared his/her current location ?

It’s one of the top 4 on that list.

My best guess is that you will meet less money conscious/more-down-to-earth type folks in Glastonbury/Avon than in Westport, Darien, Greenwich, or New Canaan. In short, there is more to this move than just money/cost of homes. Either you want the social change or you don't. Are you craving more social interactions with your neighbors ?

Not OP, Glastonbury/Avon also have a reputation for being snooty as there are lots of wealthy people living there. I am sure they are better than Westport Darien etc, but OP may be surprised if she’s expecting a big social change.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you moving to like West Hartford? You were never going to let your kids go alone to the NYC anyway, let's be real.

Yes we are considering general area around there like Avon, Glastonbury etc.

https://lamacchiarealty.com/50-most-expensive-towns-in-connecticut/

Avon is #38--Glastonbury is #45.

Has OP shared his/her current location ?

It’s one of the top 4 on that list.

My best guess is that you will meet less money conscious/more-down-to-earth type folks in Glastonbury/Avon than in Westport, Darien, Greenwich, or New Canaan. In short, there is more to this move than just money/cost of homes. Either you want the social change or you don't. Are you craving more social interactions with your neighbors ?

Thank you for the suggestion, we never really thought about this angle. Now thinking about it, our current town is a mix of wealthy and UMC and we live in a neighborhood consisting mostly UMC closer to wealthy families. The inland town is mostly a UMC town, but the house we are going to buy is going to be in a wealthy or UMC closer to wealthy neighborhood. So it’s hard to say what we will experience socially.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You have to decide if beach is really important for you and if you are going to miss it. It will be a huge change if you are a beach person and easy access to the beach was the part of living there that you liked. Obviously, people move from areas they loved, but it's not like you are relocating to another metro area or overseas. The feeling of loss might be stronger here given it was an option. I would look into maybe making an addition to your house?

We are not big beach person (don't play water sports or boating), but we do enjoy relaxing by the beach while watching kids playing for 1 our 2 hours. My biggest concern is actually the loss of easy access to NYC, if we do move, we will likely need to stay overnight at NYC if we visit it with kids. Not sure how much of that will matter.

We thought about doing an addition to the house. Our house was built in the 1980s with 4 bedrooms and we will need to add 2 additional rooms if we go that route. Not sure how that's going to affect the house value since houses in our town with that many rooms are usually newer.

If your house is considered a tear down in your city then it makes no sense to renovate/expand as you will not get your money back. It happens in many places where new $$$$ homes go up devaluing older homes to the price of land only. You should only do this work if you really want to stay in your house forever or at least for a very long time and QOL investment is worth it. Sounds like it isn't worth it since you aren't set on staying. Are there places closer to NYC that still provide you with cost savings? Or you really must stay in CT? Even closest CT towns are far from NYC IMO. Westchester, LI, Jersey may have more options. Or maybe you won't find going to NYC as important, only you know.

Thank you for the feedback! I wouldn’t say our house is near tear down level in our town, more like slightly older than average. For 4 bed room houses there are many houses on sale similar to our age. The problem is for 6 bed room houses, they tend to be newer in our town. There are still some 1980s houses sold in that category but much fewer. Do you think your analysis still apply in this case?