people from Madison WI, check in

[troytime]

I'm potentially moving there.

Any advice on nice areas to live? Any awesome realtors to talk to?

I'll be there on Saturday to drive around looking at houses and neighborhoods.

 

[waffleironhead]

Depends on budget/ where you are working. How far you want to commute.

 

[knawlejj]

Personal experience: My business tours class last semester drove around Madison touring different places and we went out to a town called Verona (about 15 miles outside of Madison). Great small community and is home to Epic Systems (amazing place, try to take a tour if you can).

 

[tk149]

Beltway rush hour traffic sucks, but nowhere near as bad as big city rush hour traffic.

I live and work on the east side. Middleton is on the west side and ranks up in the top 10 places to live in the U.S.

I liked my realtor. If you want, I can give you her contact info.

Where will you be working? Do you prefer a more urban environment? How important are good schools to you? Buy or rent? Budget?

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Hi. I only have experience with student housing type budget places that are close to campus.

 

[miketheidiot]

i drove through there 2 weeks ago and it seemed like a decent place

 

[troytime]

I'll actually be driving to Rockford everyday, so southeast side would likely be best - although i'd be willing to add 10 or 15 minutes to the commute if its worth it.

We're homeschooling right now, but may put the kid back in a public school if the schools there are good.

I'd like to keep it under 500k and i might even rent instead of buy. if the place and price is right.

 

[dawp]

Originally posted by: troytime
I'll actually be driving to Rockford everyday, so southeast side would likely be best - although i'd be willing to add 10 or 15 minutes to the commute if its worth it.

We're homeschooling right now, but may put the kid back in a public school if the schools there are good.

I'd like to keep it under 500k and i might even rent instead of buy. if the place and price is right.

I would do this until I got to know the area. I moved from Dallas to KC and decided to rent first and buy latter. Still renting after a year and a half.

 

[tk149]

Originally posted by: troytime
I'll actually be driving to Rockford everyday, so southeast side would likely be best - although i'd be willing to add 10 or 15 minutes to the commute if its worth it.

We're homeschooling right now, but may put the kid back in a public school if the schools there are good.

I'd like to keep it under 500k and i might even rent instead of buy. if the place and price is right.

You're driving to Rockford everyday, and you're homeschooling which likely means your spouse is not working. That's a long commute. Why Madison and not Rockford, Beloit, Janesville, etc?

The farther out in the stix you get, the cheaper rent/homes gets.

 

[Homerboy]

Its just like any other city of large to medium size. It has great spots, good spots and horrible spots. Its pretty "spread out" too due to the (large) campus. The school is more or less a city within a city to be honest. If you're looking to "settle down" and have a family, wife kids etc, I'd say stay away from the university. If you are young and want to party, staying close to the school is going to be your dream come true.

As previous posted, there are several small outlying towns that are incredibly rural and just awesome IMO. Easily within driving distance to the city too.

 

[troytime]

Originally posted by: tk149

Originally posted by: troytime
I'll actually be driving to Rockford everyday, so southeast side would likely be best - although i'd be willing to add 10 or 15 minutes to the commute if its worth it.

We're homeschooling right now, but may put the kid back in a public school if the schools there are good.

I'd like to keep it under 500k and i might even rent instead of buy. if the place and price is right.

You're driving to Rockford everyday, and you're homeschooling which likely means your spouse is not working. That's a long commute. Why Madison and not Rockford, Beloit, Janesville, etc?

The farther out in the stix you get, the cheaper rent/homes gets.

Correct, spouse is currently not working - but if we decide to stop homeschooling (if there's a good school there) she will pursue her career.

We're currently in rockford and pretty much hate it
My wife is from an extreme urban environment, so rockford is a big let-down for her. I realize that madison isn't an extreme urban area, but it certainly feels better than rockford. Plus madison has culture, something rockford lacks.

The only thing that keeps me in the midwest is my job. Its not that i can't find another job, its attachment and potential

 

[SphinxnihpS]

You can probably find a nice home tucked away somewhere in Monona, which is an adjacent town southeast of Madison. You can't tell you're not in Madison. For under $500k I'm sure you could even get something on the lake. The only good schools around are in Middleton or Shorewood Hills, both of which would add 20 minutes or more to your commute.

 

[ra1nman]

Rockford.....ughhh. I had some time to kill while waiting for an Icehog's game one night and decided to cruise around. Eventually I ended up in some shady neighborhood. All of a sudden all of several blue lights swarmed behind me.....must have been drug raid on a house I just drove past?

Check out Janesville, I hear some automotive plant closed over there and houses are going for cheap

 

[tk149]

According to Wiki, Rockford has 320,204
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockford,_IL_MSA


Madison has 223,389.

Your wife is going to be very disappointed.

There are some nice property developments on the lake downtown, but I have no idea how much they cost. Madison schools (below university level), AFAIK, are not especially good.

Do you really want a 1.5 hour commute (one-way) everyday?

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Are you looking for good elementary or middle schools? I've student taught in a few so I'll have a little feedback for you on a handful of them.

 

[troytime]

Originally posted by: tk149
According to Wiki, Rockford has 320,204
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockford,_IL_MSA


Madison has 223,389.

Your wife is going to be very disappointed.

There are some nice property developments on the lake downtown, but I have no idea how much they cost. Madison schools (below university level), AFAIK, are not especially good.

Do you really want a 1.5 hour commute (one-way) everyday?

its not so much the tall buildings and public transport she's looking for, its more of a culture thing.
rockford is very small minded - its an ex-industrial city. There's like 5 walmarts within 10 minutes of my house. there's some great people here, but there's just too much small town mentality going on.

 

[troytime]

Originally posted by: troytime

Originally posted by: tk149
According to Wiki, Rockford has 320,204
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockford,_IL_MSA


Madison has 223,389.

Your wife is going to be very disappointed.

There are some nice property developments on the lake downtown, but I have no idea how much they cost. Madison schools (below university level), AFAIK, are not especially good.

Do you really want a 1.5 hour commute (one-way) everyday?

its not so much the tall buildings and public transport she's looking for, its more of a culture thing.
rockford is very small minded - its an ex-industrial city. There's like 5 walmarts within 10 minutes of my house. there's some great people here, but there's just too much small town mentality going on.

both. i have an 11yr old (6th grader) and 4 (who is actually learning at a 1st grade level right now, but she would be in kindergarten this fall)

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Of the three middle schools I know the most about, I would rank them as
1. O'Keeffe
2. Sennett
3. Toki

O'Keeffe is where I student taught and it was a pretty nice one. It actually has an elementary school attached to it as well (Marquette).

Sennett was a bit odd in the fact that classrooms were mixed grade levels (6th, 7th, and 8th grader together in one classroom... except for Math where students are grouped by grade).

I would avoid Toki if possible. I worked with some good teachers, but the atmosphere of the school overall was not as good as the other ones. I spoke with a couple college age students who went to Toki for their middle school and although both of these individuals turned out just fine, they described it as "rough" and "I knew I was at a crappy school when I was going there".

I observed a few elementary schools and had a practicum at Randall Elementary. I liked Randall... I believe its proximity to the UW Campus meant that a lot of the professor's children were enrolled there. It seemed like there was a pretty high number of students from foreign countries (I believe this was due to parents moving to the US to work at the university in this case).

 

[thecoolnessrune]

Originally posted by: knawlejj
Personal experience: My business tours class last semester drove around Madison touring different places and we went out to a town called Verona (about 15 miles outside of Madison). Great small community and is home to Epic Systems (amazing place, try to take a tour if you can).

I've been there and to Oregon. GF currently lives there. Quiet place and is still a stones throw from Madison.

 

[Seru Wolf]

I am that GF of tcr (thecoolnessrune) and I agree Oregon is a very quiet place to live save for the fact that there's one particular car that likes to drive around with loud sub woofers going. >_< (avoid main street) I also used to live in Madison when I was much younger. There are quiet places in Madison, sure, but for the most part it can get very confusing to navigate, since its just such a big place. Verona? well I suppose the community there isn't so bad but I just don't find Verona too convenient. That's just my opinion...

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Hey, anybody have a drill press?
http://forums.anandtech.com/me...=2294045&enterthread=y

 

[IEC]

I'm moving to the Madison, WI area in a little over a month's time. To be close to my workplace I was figuring Meadowood-area looks reasonably close, but have no clue about the housing/neighborhoods there. Any advice from ATOT Madisonians?