Finding a Madison suburb to live with kids (Sun Prairie, Middleton: property taxes, apartment)

[WisconsinMommy]

Hi. I am a wife and mother of three children (4, 9, 12). My husband just recently took a job in Madison (N.E. side) we are planning a move since we live in SW Wisconsin in a small town, and have lived there our whole lives. It is so scary to us, and shouldn't be, since we are just moving a couple hours north. Our number one priority is moving to a suburb that is kid-friendly, good school districts, but not too big or city like. We have driving through several, but it is such a hard decision to make since it is such an important one. My husband rents an apartment in Sun Prairie, and while I think it seems like a nice town, to be honest, its just too close to Madison for me. We are much more rural people. Would anyone have suggestions for a suburb that is friendly, smaller, but still has enough to do for a young family? Does anyone know anything about Waunakee, Cross Plains, Stoughton, or Poynette? Thank yoU!

[L.K.]

I think Cross Plains is a nice little town.I believe it would not be too expensive,is very family friendly,and it is in the very good Middleton-Cross Plains school district.Personally,I always look into school districts first and work from there.That is a very good school district.We used to live in Middleton and it was great.

[Drover]

Stoughton is a nice little town but I've heard less than flattering things about the schools. It also might be a bit of a commute up to the northeast section of town... southeast, sure, northeast maybe a bit far? Cross Plains too might prove to be a bit of a commute to the northeast part of town.

Waunakee is growing like a weed, and if Sun Prairie is too close for comfort to Madison, I don't know that Waunakee is going to provide much refuge either. Housing development is now almost contiguous from Waunakee all the way to Madison via Mendota and Westport.

A couple of other towns to consider are Columbus and Marshall.

[rpaulson]

Madison is a great place to live if you don't mind $1000 a month in property taxes. People don't realize how high they are. We looked at a $500,000 home in
the Highlands and the taxes were over $12,000 a year! Even a $3 or $400,000 home in Middleton will typically be $7000 or more a year in property taxes. So, when you're looking for a home, keep that in mind. People think coming to WI, the midwest, you can get more house for the money, that is simply not true. Dane county is very expensive compared to others in the midwest.

[Drover]

And therein lies one of the potential benefits of Columbus as suggested above: it's not in Dane County.

[anniebleu]

Hi all,

The property taxes sound discouraging! We've been thinking of the Madison area, and are attracted to Middleton, where I think we may be able to afford one of the less luxurious houses, but the property taxes may keep us in the mid-Atlantic states! (I am not speaking of NJ, by the way.)

Any opinions or suggestions?

Annie

[Drover]

Yeah, my suggestion is come out and see what your taxes buy you. Listening to some folks in certain Mid-Atlantic states, they feel like they might as well take whatever taxes they send off to the state and throw it in a furnace instead for all the good it does them. At least in the Madison area your taxes buy you very good schools, clean parks, good roads and well-maintained infrastructure, effective policing and government services, etc. There's a reason why the population of both the region and Madison Proper continues to climb despite the taxes.

[anniebleu]

Drover, thanks. I think we must make the trip you recommend. Next, I guess I'll be asking where to stay for a couple weeks, because I think we're going to need to do a lot of exploring, and that's likely to take more than a few days.

[UW_sportfan]

Cross Plains is a wonderful small community that's only 7 minutes drive (I timed it) to Middleton. I've haven't lived there but I have worked in that area for awhile. It was high on our list of places to live but housing is a bit limited. There are new developments going up but they tend to appeal to those with large bank accounts. The schooly system mixes with Middleton at the high school level. Give growth patterns, I don't know if that will hold up. One problem is traffic - rush hour can really bottleneck Hwy 14. Over all I would rate it very high, especially if you like the accessibility to a premier trout stream...

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by Drover

Stoughton is a nice little town but I've heard less than flattering things about the schools. It also might be a bit of a commute up to the northeast section of town... southeast, sure, northeast maybe a bit far? Cross Plains too might prove to be a bit of a commute to the northeast part of town.

Waunakee is growing like a weed, and if Sun Prairie is too close for comfort to Madison, I don't know that Waunakee is going to provide much refuge either. Housing development is now almost contiguous from Waunakee all the way to Madison via Mendota and Westport.

A couple of other towns to consider are Columbus and Marshall.

As a partial product of the Stoughton Schools, I have to wonder what negative things you've heard? I think the schools are quite good there, actually!