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Condo fees vary widely from place to place because of the ammenities. If the association has a pool or clubhouse you are going to pay $250-$350 a month for condo fees. If the association just takes care of snow removal/lawn care and a reserve fund you'll be paying $90-$150 a month.
If you are looking for a new house you are going to limit yourself greatly and most likely end up in a Veridian neighborhood with no yard.
You may want to consider an older home. It's still going to be hard to find something under $200k but you will most like have better resale value than you would with a Veridian home (all though you can find some Veridian forclosures occasionally for under $200k but they are going to be in really rough shape).
Look in the Chavez elementary school neighborhoods. You might be able to find something there that fits into your price range. Huegel Elementary is also a well regarded elementary. If you can do an older home the West side schools like Stephens, Midvale-Lincoln, Crestwood, etc. generally have good reputations.
It wouldn't hurt to look in Cross Plains either. Some of the older homes in Cross Plains sell for around $200k and Cross-Plains and Middleton share a school district...
I would avoid a condo unless you are planning on staying in the condo for at least five years. If you can find a home in your price range (as long as it isn't in a questionable neighborhood) it's going to hold it's value much better than a condo.
Find yourself a good Realtor that knows the area and can give you tons of information and show you various neighborhoods. Having a buyer's agent in your situation is essential.
You'll also want to look into various loan programs. Madison has a ton of them and can be found at www.cityofmadison.com. Talk to at least three bankers. You want to interview bankers just as you interview Realtors!
If you have questions about schools a good place to start is www.greatschools.org.
Good luck and welcome to the Madison area.
The City of Madison has started to send out 2012 property assessments to residents. Ours dropped $10k from last year, and it seems so did all of my neighbors. This brings our home's assessed value back to approximately the 2003 level. Not sure if it's due to forclosure activity in my area, crime/school reports or other market factors. We just refinanced 5 months ago and the the comps made that assessment significantly higher than the city's assessment. Hopefully we'll at least get to pay lower property taxes as a result of the latest city assessment, but I'll bet the city will just increase the mill rate again.
The good news, OP, is that you may have more options than you think if the trend in Madison home prices is downward.
I recently bought a house on the east side worth under 200k and also got a lower assessment for this year. My house is in excellent condition. When an assessment goes down the property tax should go down. If the property tax goes up next year I probably won't buy a house again in Madison. I'm glad Wisconsin has a homestead credit for property taxes.
Based on some posts here, we need to remind people that your property assessment only helps determine what share of the various municipal or district property tax levy you have to pay. If the value of your property changes at a different rate than other property owners, then your share will change. As a simple example, if your assessment goes down 10%, but so does everyone else's, then your share of the tax levy will not change. If the other property values stay the same or don't go down as much as yours, then your share will decrease. If the other property values go down 20%, then your share will actually increase. The taxing authority sets the levy based on its budget, and then everyone's property tax is based on their share of the total value. Let's just say that everyone's property values either stayed the same, or all went up (or down) the same percentage. If the taxing authority increases their budget and the tax levy, everyone's property taxes will go up. If they decrease the levy, everyone's property taxes will go down.
A friend who just recently sold her house said that she read that only two areas in Madison *didn't* depreciate this last year. One was Nakoma, the other University Heights. My house assessment went down 10% this year. The current housing market really sucks for existing home owners. I just put 20K in new windows in my house 2-3 years ago. I'm never getting my money out of this house.
A friend who just recently sold her house said that she read that only two areas in Madison *didn't* depreciate this last year. One was Nakoma, the other University Heights. My house assessment went down 10% this year. The current housing market really sucks for existing home owners. I just put 20K in new windows in my house 2-3 years ago. I'm never getting my money out of this house.
i think part of the problem was the market there (esp in certain towns or subdivision areas) probably was over-inflated in the 2000's. That seemed great at the time when one sold, but if one bought at the height they could be hurting now. Ours had "paper value" increases like 10% each year and when we sold in '09 it was early enough in the downturn that it didnt hurt us much. But we have friends still up there that really saw their values take a hit.
Frankly i've noticed very similar issues down here, and compare it to a 401k plan---they took a hit recently but if you can stay in it for the longer haul it should turn around and head back up...
Based on some posts here, we need to remind people that your property assessment only helps determine what share of the various municipal or district property tax levy you have to pay. If the value of your property changes at a different rate than other property owners, then your share will change. As a simple example, if your assessment goes down 10%, but so does everyone else's, then your share of the tax levy will not change. If the other property values stay the same or don't go down as much as yours, then your share will decrease. If the other property values go down 20%, then your share will actually increase. The taxing authority sets the levy based on its budget, and then everyone's property tax is based on their share of the total value. Let's just say that everyone's property values either stayed the same, or all went up (or down) the same percentage. If the taxing authority increases their budget and the tax levy, everyone's property taxes will go up. If they decrease the levy, everyone's property taxes will go down.
its like the "games" played at times I saw up there; the mill rate could have been sky high but the prop values were low (due to length of time between township re-assessments); then the town goes thru each home and raises the values noticeably...... but then the mill rate drops. We saw both ends while in the Deforest area, and our actual out of pocket didnt seem to vary too much from year to year. but the #'s games can really trick ya
haha yeah i've been looking on zillow too - not looking very affordable. My husband applied for a job in Verona (yes, there) but due to food allergies, most of our shopping is done at whole foods, and i have kids in school .. .so the places I want to live are limited. definitely will have to downsize if we move there. Luckily my oldest is staying here for college . . . tho thats a whole nother expense.
It's not that far from Verona to Whole Foods. Verona Road/Midvale/University Avenue. Not bad.
AND I hear Hy-Vee is building a second location across from the new Target on McKee Road. GREAT choice for organic/gluten-free etc. groceries.
I would totally suggest you look in Middleton. The schools are great and Middleton Rec. has the best and most affordable classes (for residents) during the summer. It also has a really nice community in general. You will be close to Whole Foods, Trader Joe's and Woodmans (they have a great natural foods/gluten free section). I would also suggest that you reconsider your criteria for a home that is 5-10 years old. Quite frankly, you are more likely to get a better home at a more realistic price if you readjust that expectation.
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