Job in Madison, inexpensive area for small kids (Janesville, Fitchburg: houses, rent)

[sdz9521]

My family and I moved here in August 2007 from New Port Richey, FL and currently live in Lake Mills, WI. We moved here for better schools for our children. My husband works in downtown Madison and we're looking to move closer to Madison. We have a 4 1/2 year old and a 9 month old baby. My oldest will start kindergarten in the fall. We are looking to find an area that is relatively inexpensive, with good schools and daycare. We thought about Sun Prairie or Cottage Grove? Maybe closer to Janesville since it's cheaper, but i just don't know. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

[jrhuh]

We don't live there as of yet, but are hoping to make the move this summer. I have 5 children, ranging in ages 17 yrs to 19 months. My 17 year old will have graduated by then, but I still will have one in high school, one in middle school, and one starting kindergarten. So the schools in the area we choose are a big factor. I have been looking at a lot of the schools on the Great Schools web site. Great Schools rates these schools on their own, and there is also a parent rating, if anyone has posted reviews. I find this pretty useful when you don't have anything else to go on. Sun Prairie schools, in general, are rated well. So are some of the Oregon schools, which is one of the areas we have considered. Check it out for yourself. It's greatschools.com, and all you do is choose a state and type in the city or town. All the schools for that district will come up. Good luck!

[McCallister]

You could also try Lodi. It may not be a lot closer to Madison than Lake Mills, but it is outside of Dane county(which has higher taxes), just to the north in Columbia County. I have a friend that lives there and commutes to the North side of Madison every day. About a 20-25 min drive. Not sure where in Madison your Husband works so the time may depend. It is a nice small town from what I can tell. I'm sure the schools are good and likely daycare there too in Lodi. Maybe try McFarland too. If you can find a house soon, now is the time with the market.

Aside from that, how have you been liking all this snow & cold we've had this winter. Not quite FL, huh?!?! I love it though!

[Chelito23]

The closer to Madison you get, the more expensive it gets. I would say stay outside of Dane County if you want cheap...but since you want to move closer I think you are just looking for the cheapest area in Madison Metro with good schools. If this is the case, look into Monona, they are part of the Monona and Cottage Grove school District (good), the homes are smaller, older and cheaper...but you are right in Madison not too far from anything.

[sdz9521]

Originally Posted by McCallister

You could also try Lodi. It may not be a lot closer to Madison than Lake Mills, but it is outside of Dane county(which has higher taxes), just to the north in Columbia County. I have a friend that lives there and commutes to the North side of Madison every day. About a 20-25 min drive. Not sure where in Madison your Husband works so the time may depend. It is a nice small town from what I can tell. I'm sure the schools are good and likely daycare there too in Lodi. Maybe try McFarland too. If you can find a house soon, now is the time with the market.

Aside from that, how have you been liking all this snow & cold we've had this winter. Not quite FL, huh?!?! I love it though!

Well, we left FL because it was too hot and humid all the time! It's a nice change. Thanks for all the input.

[Megan1967]

I worked at Lodi HS for one school year and couldn't stand how poorly run the school was. I would never send my child to Lodi Schools.

I hate to spread unfounded rumors, but I've also heard second hand, that SP schools aren't that hot either.

[sbro99]

We moved to the Madison area 2 years ago. When we were looking at houses, I did a lot of research on schools/test scores/teachers. I found that the McFarland was the top school on the east side of Madison...Cottage Grove coming in near, but they were having issues with Monona school district at the time and didn't want to mess with it. Now that my daughter is in kindergarten, I have been able to test out the school. IT IS WONDERFUL. The kindergarten has options of Just-5, 1/2 day, transitional day (1/2 day 1st semester, full day second) and full day year round. The district has a building for pre-k and k, another for 1 and 2, another for 3-5, another for 6-8 and then the HS. They really do a good job with caring for each child and keeping fun in education!
Oh yeah, in my research, Waunakee was the top school district. But, that was too far of a commute...the beltline can be horrible for no apparent reason.

[rpaulson]

We just moved here too and are renting in Fitchburg. I thought we would want to live near downtown - like Nakoma or something similar, but living out here has convinced me to start looking for a house.

I don't know if Fitchburg is considered inexpensive, but in seminole and other fitchburg areas it's pretty good pricing. You can get a very large home for $400,000 or less. Better than where I come from!
Also, we're close to everything which I really like.

[Megan1967]

For this area, Fitchburg is expensive.

[Chelito23]

I don't know that I would call Fitchburg expensive. It has many affordable communites (cheap) by local standards along Verona Road and Fish Hatchery Rd. My sister also build a house in a development by Cheryl Parkway because it was affordable by local standards.

Now, there are expensive deveolpments within Fitchburg, but I wouldn't label Fitchburg as pricey. Most of the Madison suburbs are similar-geared toward the middle and upper middle class. Since FB is larger space wise, I guess it just has more variety.