Many of the buyers I work with are hell bent on living in West Hartford. Well, at least they start out that way. West Hartford is attractive as a town for many reasons. It provides fairly good highway and major road access for commuting to Hartford and other towns. There are several shopping areas sprinkled throughout town that offer just about any store or restaurant cuisine you could want. There are lots of parks. The neighborhoods are walkable. Many buyers like the school system and just the feel that the town offers.
Then we start looking at houses in their price range, whatever that may be. We look at house after house and they determine that they can’t get one or two of the major things that they want in their price range. A family room. Or a larger yard. Or two and a half bathrooms. Or an updated kitchen. Or a 2-car garage. Or air conditioning. They start to feel like they can’t get what they want for the money they can spend. What to do? Typically they ratchet down their house expectations or give up on West Hartford and try to find a similar town where they can get more for their money.
And the town I find that competes the most with West Hartford when folks are in this situation? Glastonbury. Over the past few years I’ve seen this occur time and time again. My buyers pound their fists on the table that they’re so excited to buy in West Hartford. They eventually get depressed when they can’t find a house that meets their expectations and their budget. A colleague tells them that they live in Glastonbury and they should look there. So we do. And they end up buying in Glastonbury.
Glastonbury is similar to West Hartford in many respects; good road access for commuting, shopping and restaurants in town, walkable neighborhoods, nice parks. It is geographically larger than West Hartford (51 square miles versus 22 square miles) so more driving here and there is usually necessary. But typically it seems you can get more house (and a larger lot) for the money in Glastonbury. The average price per square foot for 2009 in Glastonbury was $163, compared to $167 in West Hartford. Property taxes are generally lower for houses of a similar size with similar amenities.
I’ve found this interesting over the years and am still seeing it today. Has anyone out there had similar experiences during their search?