Moving to Connecticut!

djmcmath · 08-08-2005, 11:45 AM

The Navy has finally given me my next set of orders -- Groton, CT, for 6 months (or maybe more, we're not sure yet, check back in 6 months). I report the end of October.

The great question: Buy or rent? What's the CT housing market like?

The follow-on great question: Where? Every base has a "best kept secret," a location that you can live at which is far enough away from the base to have normal civilians, but is close enough that the commute doesn't take a substantial portion of my life. Can any of you local CT Pelicans make any recommendations for decent places to live?

Thanks in advance,

Dan

Neilk · 08-08-2005, 11:48 AM

You can live across the river in New London.

I hear that there is a great new development being built there.

ken_xman · 08-08-2005, 12:43 PM

Better hold your butt. Prices in CT are not cheap. I am not sure of Groton, but surrounding areas are coin. $650k buys a dump.

Shaun @ Tru6 · 08-08-2005, 01:04 PM

you can live with my grandfather in Haddam.

CT is beautiful!

david.avery · david.avery's Garage

New London and Groton have some nice "old money" charm areas, but they can have a rough urban feel to them IMO.

Shoreline CT isn't cheap IMO, but there are some good compromises. I'm about a half hour north of the base, and $300K still buys a unique home.

I agree with Shaun, some of the outlying areas have a nice country feel to them, are close to I95, and can be some of the friendliest and quietest areas.

BlueSkyJaunte · 08-08-2005, 02:37 PM

Connecticut? Isn't that just a suburb of NYC?

Dixie · Dixie's Garage

Don't buy if you're only going to be there six months.

Dantilla · 08-08-2005, 06:19 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Capt. Carrera
Don't buy if you're only going to be there six months.

Ditto.

M.D. Holloway · 08-08-2005, 09:13 PM

Haddem is a bit out from Groton. I grew up in Waterford. Both my Dad and eldest brother live in Waterford and my Twin lives in Old Lyme and works in New London. My sister rents out one of her houses - located right on Pleasure Beach in waterford. The aera is really nice but parts of New London and Groton are rough. The surrounding subs are very quaint and Groton Long Point is very nice as well. If you are going there for your 6 month round, there is plenty of Navy apts that always come available. Don't buy if you are not going to plant roots.

Look into small towns such as Niantic CT, East Lyme CT, Waterford CT, Mystic CT, Stonington CT, Westerly RI, even Hope Valley RI. You can go inland but the towns get a bit hick - believe it or not.

I have many many friends still there. If you PM me I can put you in touch with some great people and they can hook you up. My ol man spent 36yrs with Navy Underwater Warfare (WASC - NUSC). If you play softball, I can get you on a great team with serious beer drinking perks! I have known those guys for 20 years and you won't find a friendlier bunch. I'll ask my sister if her house is available.

yellowline · 08-08-2005, 09:33 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by LubeMaster77
Look into small towns such as Niantic CT, East Lyme CT, Waterford CT, Mystic CT, Stonington CT, Westerly RI, even Hope Valley RI. You can go inland but the towns get a bit hick - believe it or not.

Hey now. I live up in Windham County, and it isn't that hick. There's actually a lot of building going on up here. Farms are being bought out and houses being put in.

I-395 is a pretty good commute. You could actually drive 65-70 for most of the way down if you decided to get away from the congestion around Groton.

M.D. Holloway · 08-08-2005, 10:39 PM

Thats up by ECSU and Willirico I mean Willimantic isn't it? - bit of a hike but 395vis very pretty. I was thinking about towns like Taftville, Salem, Chesterfield, Moosup, Yantic and Putnam were a little hick. Heck even Montville is a little redneck-ish. Ledyard would be OK but the traffic for Foxwoods gets old.

djmcmath · 08-08-2005, 10:56 PM

Thanks for the pointers, all. Mike, I'll PM you momentarily, thanks.

395 could be the answer. Is I-90 unpleasant to commute on? It seems like living some distance towards either RI or NYC would give some potential for non-Navy civilization. What are the nearest population centers like? Is Hartford actually a viable city, or is it just big and sprawling like it looks on the map? Is Rhode Island good enough to pick a place on that side of the base, or should I bias towards NYC instead? Shoreline is obviously out of the question -- just because I'm a single nuclear-trained submarine officer doesn't mean I want to spend it all on a beach home in CT. But some of those quiet neighborhoods in the backwater areas -- civilized, not hickish -- sound real nice. Tell me more?

I know, I know -- it's only 6 months. But it could end up being 5 years, and I'd hate to pick someplace stupid because I didn't plan ahead. Thanks again, gents.

M.D. Holloway · 08-08-2005, 11:45 PM

I think you mean I-95. You really do not want to go too far out side of a 30 radius on 95. Even then it gets dicy. The traffic is tough an. You can find some very nice options in the towns I mentioned. If given the options, stick in and around the coast. That is where you will spend some free time anyway so why noy be close to it? Anything past Westerly RI is gong to be a headache for you and anything in the other direction (west) that is over the Connecticut river is also going to be a headache. Lyme/Old Lyme is nice as is Old Saybrook but that really is as far west as I would go.

trust me - I grew up in that neck of the woods and most every one I knew or know now that live there are Navy related somehow someway.

Shaun @ Tru6 · 08-09-2005, 04:45 AM

Dan, you really want to go to Essex. May be a bit pricey, but very nice and on the way to NYC. You don't want to go in any other direction out from Groton. Most of CT is pretty much dead economically (corrupt rep. governor just booted a few months ago) but anything close to NY is still surreally beautiful, and then of course NY is NY.

I hope we'll be able to get together while you are there. I regularly go to NYC just for dinner, so Groton is a short drive.

yellowline · 08-09-2005, 05:01 AM

Willirico, haha. That might be one town to cross off the list.

Around here, you see a couple of lifted trucks driven by kids, but it isn't stereotypical redneck-ville at all. There's just some people who are below average in terms of income, as the vast majority of mills are gone and there hasn't been too much replacing them. Given modern communication and technology, people around here really aren't backwards. Many who live in Worcester and Providence are moving here, since it's away from the city, but still relatively close.

I-90 is the Mass Pike and probably over an hour from the sub base, you don't want to be that far up there.

djmcmath · 08-09-2005, 06:46 AM

I'm sure Mike is right, I meant I-95, not I-90. I'm thinking "Big east/west freeway, top of the country, must be I-90." Except I-95 through CT runs east/west. Bizarre.

Shaun -- I plan on making an effort to be in NYC from time to time. I would like to meet over drinks, if we can coordinate our schedules.

Ok, I'll take those recommendations in hand when going hunting. I love this board.

M.D. Holloway · 08-09-2005, 11:18 AM

Shaun - Essex is very nice as is Lyme/Old Lyme and Old Saybrook. Deep River is very nice as well. There are parts of New London (down by Ocean beach) that are very nice and you can't go wrong in Waterford. The traffic on 95 on the weekends go to and coming from the beaches is bad.

Waterford has some of the nicest beaches on the sound. Check out Harkness State Park and if you are there is August, the Eugene O'Neil Theatre Centre has the National Playwrights Conference. It is one of the best experiences you will have at the theatre (unless your talk'n getting down in the cheap seats!).

Shaun @ Tru6 · 08-09-2005, 11:21 AM

There's a roadside place in Old Saybrook where you can get the best fried clams. mmmmmmm. train station also takes you into NY if you don't want the drive hassle.

M.D. Holloway · 08-09-2005, 11:34 AM

Shaun, I bet you mean Bills Seafood in Westbrook just over the Singing Bridge that crosses the Ct River. Serious great clams!

Also - Pizzawerks in Old Saybrook has a great menu with all sorts of various flavors (both traditional and exotic - my have is the buffalo chiken with gorganzola cheese!) Great place to take the kids, they have this wonderful model train layout that must have $$$thousand into it.

Captain Scotts in New London - next to the Croker Boat yard is a best bet for new londan fare.

Daves - one Rt 1, I don't even know the town its in (really small town) but it is on the way to Saybrook using the back roads heading west. The place has the absolute best whole bellies.

Dads in Niantic is also a great place for local seafood.

There ar a least 3 billion small pizza joints speckled through out southern Connecticut that have very good Zza. If I started listing them I would need to use three more threads to finish. My fav is Pizzarama in Waterford. The beer is always cold but the waitresses aren't. The Pizza is better than good but the grinders are top notch. Plus they have sponsored my brothers softball team for the past 25 years with almost every season finishing in 1st place.

djmcmath · 08-09-2005, 11:55 AM

That's one of the weird things about CT -- there's a lot of cool places, but you have to know where they are. There's really no centrally located _anything_. Everything is all spread all over everywhere. I seem to remember that from my previous brief stays there.

I'm loving the pointers -- I'll have to print this out and keep it as a handy Quick Reference Guide.