Maybe moving to Madison as a professor ... (Milwaukee, Franklin: houses, neighborhoods)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 1.5 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
My husband is starting the interview process at the University of Wisconsin and I am wondering about where faculty usually live. I have searched the forums, but am not really finding anything.
Info about us:
We live in St Louis currently and love all the things to do here, but have had a hard time getting to know people. We have also lived in Ann Arbor for about 5 years (as graduate students) and liked it (esp. the cute downtown, farmer's market, all the parks, University Musical Society, etc.), but would love a city with slightly more to do. We also lived in Boston for 5 years (as undergraduates) and loved loved the city. So, we are used to the cold. We have three little boys all under 5 and I am currently a SAHM, but would love to adjunct or something like that if we move. Ideally, we'd like a place close to campus (so my husband could go in and do something in the lab for 15 minutes and it wouldn't take forever to get there and back) and it'd be great if there was public transportation for my husband to get to the university. However, I do not want to be surrounded by undergraduates and want a family-friendly area with good schools and friends nearby for my boys to play with. We also want a probably 4 bedroom house with a small yard and possibly a basement (do most homes have basements in WI?). Close to school, library, park, grocery store would be great. Any ideas?
Look at some of the neighborhoods West/Southwest of Campus. Zip 53705 or 53711. Monroe Street or Kendall Ave. areas would probably work great for you, but be prepared to spend $250-300k on up for a home in these areas. You'll get the small yard in these areas by default. Most houses in Madison have basements. Based on your other comments and requirements, Madison should be a good fit for you. You may wish to check out Edgewood College for part-time adjunct positions. It's located in the Monroe Street neighborhood.
Ragnar is on the right track. I'd look at Shorewood Hills and go south into Madison from there. Neighborhoods in Madison to look for may be Sunset Village, Hill Farms, Westmoreland, Nakoma, maybe Dudgeon - Monroe. Vilas and University Heights may be too close to campus with too many students for you. If you go on wisconsinhomes.com (the MLS for the area), check the boxes for Shorewood Hills (W2) and W10 through W16 in Madison.
It would help if you had a price range in mind. There's sub-$300K 4-bedrooms and then $450K+ 4-bedrooms. With the kids, I'm assuming you want more than 1.5 baths. Nakoma and Shorewood Hills are going to be the higher-priced areas.
Bus service should be fine in any of those areas, and especially good if you are close to Monroe St or University Ave. Traffic isn't that bad here, so you could get further west in the City or (Middleton) and still have a relatively short commute, which would open up a wide assortment of larger housing choices (add W3 through W7 to your checkboxes on the MLS site).
You are very similar to my wife and I. We moved to Madison from Ann Arbor a year and a half ago. I am on faculty at UW. We don't have kids but are planning and have 2 dogs, so we had to find a place with a yard, like you want. I think you should probably limit yourself to West Side and Middleton, as it will be most convenient, but there are other nice areas.
The areas we looked at were Nakoma, Monroe Dudgeon, Vilas, and Shorewood Hills.
I can tell you the issues I had with all of them. Shorewood Hills: Not enough housing inventory for what we were looking for. It was a super nice neighborhood but it was expensive. We thought we could get a little more for the money. In terms of proximity to the university, it's to notch, especially if you are going to be at the Hospital.
I really liked Nakoma, houses had yards, nice area. The places we looked at didn't have the downtown feel with the shops and walking, but it was really nice. The houses were more reasonable, but still pricey
Vilas and Monroe, were closer to shops and restaurants. We like both areas quite a bit. We also found some houses that we would have been comfortable with price-wise. The problem was this. My wife and I work in different directions so we need two cars. Anything less than a 2 car garage was a deal-breaker. Unfortunately, these were hard to come by in all of the previous 3 neighborhoods.
I had initially nixed Middleton, because I thought it would be too subruban, but we looked at it again. We looked at Middleton Hills. It's a new urbanism community. The houses are Frank Lloyd wright prairie style. Super cute. It was also built around a square with some shops and a couple of restaurants and a grocery store. We found the houses to be a bit spendy and the lots were small and very close together. I also thought the new urbanism was a little forced. The commercial area isn't really where you would walk to hang out. That being said. It was nice and we found a couple of houses we like and could have lived with.
We ended up living in downtown Middleton. It has a real town center with some really good restaurants and shops which we regularly walk to. It's close to the beltline and is about a 10-15 minute drive to the UW hospital.
We love it. We interact with our neighbors and just love the active neighborhood.
I;m happy to answer any other questions you might have. We love Madison. It's very similar to Ann Arbor. THere is more stuff to do here however, as it's a little bigger and you have the lakes. They only thing I really miss is UM football and the proximity to Detroit for professional sports. Milwaukee and Chicago or close, but a little to far away to make a quick visit for a game or other activity. Ann Arbor, was not too close and not too far.
Thanks everyone. This is great information for me to go off of. We will have to see how the interview goes and then later salary and I might have more questions. Thanks.
Check out the "far west" side too, zip cod 53717 (Wexford Village, Walnut Grove). It takes 15 minutes to get to campus and you get more house and yard for your money, without giving up convenience. The bus line also goes out there and the neighborhoods are great for little kids. Also close to West Towne Mall, the beltline, and downtown Middleton.
You are very similar to my wife and I. We moved to Madison from Ann Arbor a year and a half ago. I am on faculty at UW. We don't have kids but are planning and have 2 dogs, so we had to find a place with a yard, like you want. I think you should probably limit yourself to West Side and Middleton, as it will be most convenient, but there are other nice areas.
The areas we looked at were Nakoma, Monroe Dudgeon, Vilas, and Shorewood Hills.
I can tell you the issues I had with all of them. Shorewood Hills: Not enough housing inventory for what we were looking for. It was a super nice neighborhood but it was expensive. We thought we could get a little more for the money. In terms of proximity to the university, it's to notch, especially if you are going to be at the Hospital.
I really liked Nakoma, houses had yards, nice area. The places we looked at didn't have the downtown feel with the shops and walking, but it was really nice. The houses were more reasonable, but still pricey
Vilas and Monroe, were closer to shops and restaurants. We like both areas quite a bit. We also found some houses that we would have been comfortable with price-wise. The problem was this. My wife and I work in different directions so we need two cars. Anything less than a 2 car garage was a deal-breaker. Unfortunately, these were hard to come by in all of the previous 3 neighborhoods.
I had initially nixed Middleton, because I thought it would be too subruban, but we looked at it again. We looked at Middleton Hills. It's a new urbanism community. The houses are Frank Lloyd wright prairie style. Super cute. It was also built around a square with some shops and a couple of restaurants and a grocery store. We found the houses to be a bit spendy and the lots were small and very close together. I also thought the new urbanism was a little forced. The commercial area isn't really where you would walk to hang out. That being said. It was nice and we found a couple of houses we like and could have lived with.
We ended up living in downtown Middleton. It has a real town center with some really good restaurants and shops which we regularly walk to. It's close to the beltline and is about a 10-15 minute drive to the UW hospital.
We love it. We interact with our neighbors and just love the active neighborhood.
I;m happy to answer any other questions you might have. We love Madison. It's very similar to Ann Arbor. THere is more stuff to do here however, as it's a little bigger and you have the lakes. They only thing I really miss is UM football and the proximity to Detroit for professional sports. Milwaukee and Chicago or close, but a little to far away to make a quick visit for a game or other activity. Ann Arbor, was not too close and not too far.
What neighborhood did you end up choosing?
__________________
Moderator of Milwaukee, WI forum
You want your kids going to the Franklin-Randall schools which are very very good. Thoreau is a 3rd-5th grade school which is not anywhere close to as good as Randall, so if you choose the Monroe-Dudgeon neighborhood (which is a nice, safe, kid friendly neighborhood) make sure you know which zone you are in. The zones for each school run right through that neighborhood. While many Professors do live on the Randall side of Monroe-Dudgeon, more Professors live in the Regent Street Neighborhood, which is also an excellent neighborhood for kids and safe and is zoned for Randall. Both neighborhoods are zoned for West High School which is the best academic High School in Madison and one of the top 5 High Schools in Wisconsin
Madison is a lot like Ann Arbor in many ways. I wouldn't say there is more to do in Madison. People in Madison can be a little less friendly and standoffish than in Ann Arbor, too. The proximity to Chicago & Milwaukee is a nice plus for Madison.
The University of Wisconsin can be a fantastic place to teach and the environment around the University is top-notch
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $53,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 1.5 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
