The British are coming to Madison - but where should we live?

[td5757]

Originally Posted by thelittlebrit

Hello all,

I posted a while ago about relocating to the USA and whether we should choose Tampa or Madison. What we've found out in the last month overwhelmingly points us your way, and we've decided to make our new home in Madison. You were all very kind and replied in such detail that I wonder if you'd help a Brit and her American husband from CA to choose the right neighbourhood, and East or West?

We ideally do NOT want:

Anything that’s too far from central Madison (10 minute drive max)
Homes in the countryside or deep suburbia
Cookie-cutter or modern boxy design homes
Shabby neighbourhood

We would LIKE if possible:

Interesting, quirky architecture (Tudor, Victorian, Gothic)
Near lake?
A reasonable sized yard and a dog-friendly park or land as we have a dog
An upscale neighbourhood
Walking distance to local shops, restaurants etc.,and if possible the downtown area

We have a budget of UP TO about $300,000. We plan a fact-finding visit later this year but any advice, opinion or pointers will really help us to narrow down our search area when we look for homes.

Thanks sincerely

Claire and John in London

move to the east side its very blue coller and layed back and lots of local pubs

[Packrat]

300 K will NOT get you in an upscale area!

[toast12]

Originally Posted by Chelito23

One area that comes to mind, although the name escapes me now, is the neighborhood off of Park St on Monona Bay. The homes are nice, have character, are walking distance to downtown, have their respective yards...although I don't know if Park St. would be the shopping destination for pedestrians. Also the Monroe St. neighborhoods would be nice, but I am not sure of a house for under 300K in these areas. 300K would probably be a steal or a rare good buy...but possible if you look hard enough.

This neighborhood is the best in my opinion. It is in walking distance of downtown a bunch of and weird houses. There is a bunch of reasonably priced homes. It is right on Lake Monona, within walking distance of downtown and at the south end of the neighborhood there is a HUGE park that is specifically for dogs. I would look in to it for reference it is called the Bay Creek neighborhood.

(BTW no offense to you Monroe folks but Wingra isn't and never will be one of the 4 lakes.)

[why_so_much_racism]

the neighborhood that springs to mind - would the neighborhood around monroe street- its Near west side. pretty upscale i think, but walking to downtown woudl be like a half hour. driving, 5 minutes. its near edgewood college, the smaller college in our college town, and its got some students around, but not so many as to make trouble. it has little shops on monroe street that you can go to... and downtown is very close of course. its a quaint little neighborhood. you also might enjoy another near west side neighborhood between monroe street and university avenue... a friend of mine lives there and i'm so jealous1 she can walk to everything except the mall! the near east side, is... well perhaps a bit shabby in comparison, but as someone already said, madison doesnt really have shabby neighborhoods ( with the exception of simpson street and allied drive ) . the thing you get with the east side is friendly people though. west sideres are more snobbish. course most madisonians are nice people. really i woudlnt mind living on either side of town.

- life long madisonian

[houseinmadison]

Sounds like you will either like the Shorewood Hills area or perhaps downtown Middleton. For approximate rents, I would check out the classifieds online on Isthmus.com or perhaps Craigslist.com