Originally Posted by Tanja87 (Post 12657495)

I did like the look of Fairfield as well (from what I can see on the internet lol) but hubby reckons it's a bit far out for his commute?! :huh: We are currently looking at sites like realtor.com or Zillow and checking their school ratings but we keep being told that the school ratings really only become relevant from high school so we shouldn't worry too much about it yet.... We do have quite a long wish list for the property (purely because we LOVE our house here in the UK so it'll have big shoes to fill lol) but we realise some compromise might be necessary as it'll depend purely on what properties are out there when we come to seriously look for a home....

It is a long way out, as others have suggested look at the timetable. A realtor will quote you the fastest train of the day, but if that is not the time that works for your needed arrival time it won’t help much. I mentioned Fairfield because you had said you are looking at Easton, which would use the Fairfield stations anyway. There is usually an express train to get people to a midtown desk around 9am that’s 1h15, I get in for 8 and mine takes 1h27. I calculate in FD2D, (front door to desk). Right now that’s 1h50 without stopping for coffee, and 1h55 if I get coffee. To do that I get up at 5:20am, if there is snow, I have to get up at around 4:30am to allow the extra time to snow blow the drive way and slower drive. That’s the reality of a NE Winter, my neighbourgh has his plowed, but it’s not done by the time I leave, for context we only had snow like that 3 or 4 times this season on a work day, plus a couple of weekend.

I have never renented in CT, but when I arrived in the NYC with no credit it was hard to rent what wanted, and that was with the company willing to be a guarantor, as most NYC landlords would not accept that, they want an additional individual US person who they can go after, most graduates use their parents. Luckily I was able to get my Green Card fast and was able to buy our dream apartment.

We also had a long wish list when buying out in CT,
with schools being the most important. It took about a year and a half and offers on 3 properties but we got most of what we wanted, although we did have dig up the yard to add Nat Gas, install all new heating, central AC and do a full gut on the kitchen before we moved in.

I have seen the opposite in terms of schooling, I know people who have rented let out their own property so they could rent another in the public school catchment they wanted, and that’s for elementary, not middle or high school.

, but for a rental it’s probably overthinking it, if you end up staying / buying that’s the time to focus on Schools more.

Originally Posted by Tanja87 (Post 12657537)

Wow! 4:30 is one heck of an early start! I honestly didn't make the connection that Easton was just as far out as Fairfield - it's just one of the towns my husband said he liked the look of when he visited last time... It's a bit tricky knowing where to look without even having been out there yet lol! I'm hoping it'll all become clear when we go for our reccie and we will find something that's at least close to what we're looking for in the right location, wherever that may be in the end :fingerscrossed:

Originally Posted by Nutmegger (Post 12657618)

I know it is all so overwhelming, but again, don't rule out Westchester County, New York -- it has towns that are just as pretty (and expensive!) as Fairfield County, Connecticut, with good schools, and a rather more rapid run into Grand Central on the Metro-North Railroad's Harlem Line.

I’d like to think folks are more attached to their dogs than their TVs! :unsure: