Is that you Ray Epps?

I currently live in Charlottesville, but am originally from CT and will be moving back relatively soon. What part of town do you live in? Towns in CT are basically the equivalent to the different ‘sides of town’ or neighborhoods here (Ivy, Downtown,Pantops, etc).

Madison, Guilford, Cheshire, Woodbridge, Orange/Milford, and Fairfield are all within 25/30 minutes of everything you mentioned. Milford is more commercial and not as quaint. All towns offer excellent public school systems, especially compared to Charlottesville/Albemarle. These places are essentially the equivalent to Ivy.

What I miss most about CT/New England is the ability to take weekend trips to all different types of destinations (mountains, ocean, cities). Being in central Virginia, I feel rather isolated and miss that freedom.

What would constitute as the ‘real’ America? Is Belgium not a ‘real’ country because it’s small? What an ignorant statement.

I was thinking $80 for both of them, but I still might be on the high end. Rather overstate than under.

My pleasure! Where’s home for you?

One way to get an answer is to crunch the numbers and come up with a budget. I’m sure everyone on this thread will give their two cents on the numbers I’ve used below, but take them with a grain of salt and play with the figures yourself.

-Rent ($1,400) -Utilities( water, electric/natural gas) ($300) -Cell phones/Internet ($200) -Groceries ($600) -Gas ($200) -Car Insurance ($100) -Retirement ( if applicable, not sure benefits from your home country) -Gym membership ($80) -Miscellaneous cash on hand ($800)

Leaving ~$1,000 without retirement contributions that can be put aside for savings/emergency fund (~20% of take home pay).

Hope this helps

Don’t worry, the New Haven FBI field office is all over it.

People that want more government perplex me.

To each his own. I wish you the best of luck!

Sorry, hope my bias doesn’t dissuade you.

-It’s urban sprawl on steroids. One “ life style center” after another keeps going up. Build it as fast as you can and as cheap as you can. -No character or charm. New England is rich in history and culture. Northern Virginia was mainly vacant farmland up until 30-40 years ago. Now it’s just cookie cutter developments with no sense of identity. -Although comparable to much of New England, rents in northern Virginia are amongst the highest in the nation. -Traffic. Beltway traffic is just as bad, if not worse than metro NYC depending on where you’re going. -DC is not a real city and is both literally and figuratively a swamp. It’s just one big monument.

Yes, before down voting, I’m a New England snob through and through.

I moved to NoVA from the New Haven area and can’t wait to make it back too. It sucks down here.

What’s the commonality?

Ah, so the insane property taxes NC and Darien residents pay should go to people that don’t contribute to nor live in the same community. How about improving Norwalk schools?

The argument that wealthier towns don’t pay for infrastructure is just as crazy. The overwhelming majority of power production, besides some independent municipalities, are privately owned in which consumers pay for the service, not residents of where the plant sits. Hospitals? Privately run as well and tend to gravitate to urban areas due to population density and are subsidized by the State with everyone’s tax dollars.

Class warfare is abhorrent and counter productive.

I know you mentioned staying out of FFC. I’m originally from there too, and recently just moved back to CT from Northern Virginia. I settled in Ridgefield, and had the same concerns of FFC being too crowded as well. Ridgefield has one of the most picturesque main streets, excellent schools, and is “ off the beaten path” compared to my hometown of NC and its neighbors of Darien, Stamford, and the rest of the coast. I’m 20 minutes from shopping in Danbury, 20 from Norwalk, and can catch MetroNorth either in Katonah, NY or Norwalk as I occasionally have to go into the city for work.

FV has always had a strange feel to me, but couldn’t quite put my finger on it. I think part of it is being isolated from major hubs of NY or Boston, the coast, and the ghost town Hartford becomes after 5pm, but that might just be what you’re looking for. Both Madison and Guilford are beautiful towns as well with New Haven offering so much more than Hartford. Of course, just my two cents. Happy hunting.