OK, here's a challenge for you. Well, it's actually my challenge that I'm hoping you can help me out with. I dream of moving from the west coast to the east coast. Preferably the New England area. Does Connecticut count as part of New England, by the way??! I long for nature, culture, seasons and being able to walk to cute little coffee and antique places. As much as my husband does not want to move and he probably never will. He did tell me to go ahead and find him a job on the east coast and we'll see. I did find him the job he has now so he shouldn't provoke me.....But it'll be harder finding a matching one. So I'm wondering if anyone can help me some web sites where I can look for work in any of the areas in New England? Thanks!

www.monster.com www.hotjobs.com www.careerbuilder.com

Also the newspapers in the area usually have online classifieds, the Boston Globe, the Harford Current.

What kind of job are you looking for?

At the same time you are job hunting, check out housing prices that are within a reasonable commute of more desirable cities in New England. If you are from some parts of the west coast, they should not shock you - but fromothers, they will. Make sure you can afford to live here, since it is an area of the country losing population (or at least Massachusetts is), partly due to cost of living.

And yes, Connecticut is part of New England.

Jobs that you could get immediately in many desirable places: carpenter (frame or finish), brick or stone mason, plumber, electrician, nurse, appliance repair, marine engine repair (inboard and outboard), auto mechanic, diesel mechanic, etc.

Since there are so many colleges in NE, we have a very well educated workforce of waitpersons and landscapers, but we are very short of people who can actually do anything.

If you are an electrician, I can give you a day or two of nice indoor work any time you have free!

LoL, couldn't we all, Ackislander!

schnookies-
I dont know what your income level/budget for housing is. But, if you have some money to spend - there is endless work on the coast of connecticut (nicknamed the "gold coast"). the house prices are ridiculous, but there are some really beautiful towns, and plenty of jobs.

Thank you all for your responses. Well, I'm just dreaming so far....But I thought I'd at least look into it. Does anyone know what the average house would go for?? My husband is a civil engineer. I wonder what the salary is there....What kind of area is "Fairfield (Fairfiled?) County by the way?? Do you get the four seasons and how cold does it get? Thanks for all your help!!

No offense but are you serious with these questions? Does CT get the 4 seasons? Also, the average price of homes in CT and New England is all over the map. Maybe you should do some more preliminary research on the area. For a general guideline you can try salary.com for cost of living, pay, etc.

New England is a fairly varied area - you can find everything from gritty red brick mill cities, to expensive seacoast towns, to sleepy rural hamlets, to shopping mall lined suburbia. The 3 southern New England states are more urbanized, but have some beautiful areas, and have high pay scales and real estate prices. Many of the cities experience the same problems as cities anywhere else. The 3 northern states are more rural, have cheaper real estate, and high paying jobs are a little harder to come by. As you head futher north and into the mountains, the winters can be very long and brutal, but even places like Boston and Hartford can have some pretty nasty weather. New England can be a great place to live, but it's not for everyone. If you are looking at Connecticut, it has some of everything from beautiful hill towns, to super expensive suburbs and coastline, to tough inner city neighborhoods.

Fairfield County is one of the most expensive counties in the country, just to give you some perspective. Look on weather.com to get some idea on the temperatures. I also find it hard to believe that you are serious with these questions.

If you read some of her other posts you will realize that she is serious.

Welcome back from Europe! I will definitely be looking forward to your trip report.

These are questions that could only come from a native of So. Cal. or possibly Phoenix or Tucson.

If you have never been to New England then I'd suggest that you visit a couble of times...once in July and again in early February.

See how much you enjoy those walks "to cute little coffee and antique places" then before you move to an unfamiliar place based on a fantasy of what it is like.

Civil engineer- Cool! My dad's a ce (hydrology). What's your husband's area? Does he work for the gov?

If he does work for the gov, or could- look at the US Army Corps of Engineers National website- they list national jobs, and quite a few in NE, or at least on east coast.

Warning: You'll probably have to seriously compromise on size of house, buying/renting, neighborhood, and how far your husband will have to ccommute, unless you're coming from an expensive urban area in the West- Dad looked into moving back east a few years ago- we live in WA....and it would've been too much of a compromise.... Would you be willing to live in a cheaper part of the east? So you could go to NE every other weekend?
What kind of job do you have? Do you have to work?

Anyway, best of luck!

Rent first. The winters here are romantic until you have to sit in traffic for 3 hours trying to get home during an ice storm.

Cute little coffee shops still exist, but Dunkin Donuts chain rules the area.

I have no idea of your age or family situation (other than mentioned spouse), but find a job and go for it if you can afford it. My one big regret is that I did less of that before I became far less mobile with kids, job connections, etc.
If I had, I would not be cursing the cost, traffic and cold of New England every winter.

As stated above, house prices vary wildly - but in many parts of New England you can not find anything for under $400,000 and that is a very basic and small house.

Don;t know where you'll be able to walk to cute little cofee and antique sops. You'll need to be driving to them - the kind of upscale towns you're talking about don;t usually have much in the way of housing (except perhaps some condos) in downtown areas.

Agree that before you make such a move spend some time in the winter in CT. (I love winter and the colder the better is fine with me - but if you're not used to it th ecold and the snow - do you like shoveling? - it can be a shock.)

I live in an upscale town (which I will not name) in Massachusetts. Median house price is now over $600,000. There are a couple of cute coffee shops with bad coffee. I don't have time for these since I am racing thru the drive-thru on way to work. (I would have time if I did not spend so much time on this damn travel board). No antique shops.

If you want housing within walking distance, pay a lot more. Taxes keep going up because people move here and want to get a good education for their kids. It is a very nice place to live but if we had not bought here 15 years ago we never could afford it today.

It can take 90 minutes to drive to Boston during rush hour (or 30 minutes off-peak). Parking at public transportation lots fills by 7 AM. It costs $25 on weekends to park at a beach that takes an hour to drive to.

I would still do it, but with your eyes wide open. And for me, visiting a region doesn't do much, because I tend to fall in love with wherever I visit - living there is very different.

Connecticut is my least favorite New England state. I love Vermont, Massachusetts and New Hampshire (in that order of preference). But CT is probably your best bet for finding a high paying job (along with high housing costs). Fairfield County, is simply not very New-England-y imo more a bedroom community of NYC.

And yes I have lived in all 4 states.

Thank you all for your responses! I was going to just ignore the sarcastic ones but I think even those deserve a response. Maybe you need to move to Europe and we'll see how much YOU know about your new surroundings when you're not originally from there.
Isn't that what this board is for?!
If you get so offended by any questions maybe you shouldn't reply?
Thank you, I had a WONDERFUL time in Europe and just came back a couple of days ago. Yes, you can look forward to my report anytime soon.
You have given me a lot of good information and I thank you again!

contrary to other posts, i have to tell you that newburyport, ma is a "walking" town chock full of eclectic coffee shops, cafes, restaurants, antique shops, galleries, and plain ol' boutique shopping.

when we get a nor'easter that dumps two or three feet of snow on us, we just strap on our snow shoes or our cross-country skis and hit the streets to get to the coffee shops or the newstands. shovelling is made easy with a snowblower, and downtown, driveways are very short, with houses all close to the road.

a ce position that is stable will be the challenge. however, with interest rates rising, the real estate market on the slowest yet side of a year long slowing trend, there is lots on the market in all price ranges and sizes, including surrounding towns like newbury.

i agree that connecticut is not very new englandy, that is is more outskirts of NYC, but, that has it's advantages also. it has four ripe and full beautiful seasons, and towns like cornwall are still rural and full of cute coffee and antique shops.

you won't have to chose the most popular areas to have what you like about new england. follow the job opportunities at websites for the major new england newspaper's want ads, like bostonworks.com which is the globes online want ads. if DH gets an interview, you can both fly out and check the area out.....job interview first, then nose around the area, then decide....