Moving Back to Madison in December/January

[MidwesternBookWorm]

Originally Posted by Indi9

God, I love Madison. I wonder if you guys know how lucky you are.

I sure do; relocated here with spouse and kids in 1999 very intentionally, because after a couple of decades living in a place we hated for the sake of caring for aging parents (now deceased), we were more than ready to make our next move for us, for what we wanted. Madison is not perfect by any means, and I'll freely admit to its many warts, but it's got more of what we want in a home than any other place my spouse and I have found in the past three-plus decades.

Specific questions: moving in mid-winter is a challenge, no doubt about it, but if you've lived in northern latitudes, as it sounds like you have, you shouldn't have any real problem. Of course, if you have the kind of luck that we did, the day you choose to move will feature The One And Only Major Snowstorm of the entire winter.... but hey, that's what makes the challenge fun, right? Or at least it gives you good stories to tell afterward.

If you are willing to consider spending your first 8 months or so in a student area, even a student building, you should have no problem at all in finding a sub-lease to start in December or January. You probably remember all the August 15 to August 14 leases in student areas; that hasn't changed a bit. But of course, a lot of college kids graduate, transfer, spend a semester abroad, or just drop out, and there are usually plentiful pickings at that time of year. The drawback, of course, is living in a student area when you are no longer of an age to appreciate all-night loud parties, drunks passed out on your lawn and the other assorted side-effects of being 21 and on your own for the first time. But you sound like you're resilient enough to handle that for at least a short period of time.

For the longer term, the Willy Street area is just about my favorite of the whole city. Caveat: I am a semi-reformed hippie in my 50's who still wears tie-dye and Birks on the weekends, so take my recommendation with a LARGE grain of salt! But you are right that it has a great vibe and a wonderful sense of community.

Unfortunately for pricing, a whole lot of other people like living there, too, and apartments in that area can be spendy. One-bedrooms are likely to be as high as the $700-$800/month range, unless they're pretty dumpy. That said, if you're coming from NYC, that's probably about what you'd spend to park a car each month, so perhaps it doesn't seem so bad.

I could live easily, if frugally, on $30-$40K per year in the Willy Street area. If you have really expensive tastes, it might be more of a challenge, but it would certainly be do-able. You might check out Start Renting - Search for your Madison, Wisconsin Apartment to at least get an idea of the kind of pricing you can expect.

Do also be sure to check MG&E's average utility cost website, which you will find here: Average Energy Use and Cost for Residential Addresses before signing a lease or sublease that requires you to pay for gas and/or electricity. You can really get walloped in the pocketbook if we have a bitterly cold January and you rent a place with no insulation in the walls. A little homework can save you big time.

Mass transit here, well, it kind of depends on what you're used to and what you expect. We moved here from a community with NO mass transit (despite the fact that it was in the poorest per-capita county in the US and close to a third of the residents didn't have vehicles), so moving here from there meant that anything at all was better than what we had. Moving from NYC, where you can rely on subways, trains and buses, you might find yourself less impressed.

There are a couple of major issues with transit in Madison. The first is just the geography of the place; to get across town, you either have to go through a very narrow isthmus between two lakes where the state Capitol, downtown area and university are all cheek-by-jowl, or you have to drive way the heck around one of said lakes. My spouse describes driving through downtown as trying to get through two funnels with the ends pointed together; it frequently takes both time and patience. Nothing like rush hour in Manhattan, of course! But frustrating at times.

As a result of the geography, nearly ALL bus routes (and there are dozens and dozens of them) wind up funneling through the isthmus. It is used as a major transfer point between routes, not surprisingly. There are also four additional transfer points scattered around in more outlying areas.

And between the geography and those transfer stations, it can take as long as two hours, multiple transfers and a half-mile walk to make a trip that you could do in a car in about 25 minutes.

If you're going to rely on Metro Transit to get around, if at all possible, try to find an apartment that is either on or very near one of the main bus routes. You'll still be frustrated at times, but at least one end of the trip won't be quite so burdensome.

If you are a licensed driver, also check into the Community Cars program, through which you can get access to a vehicle for planned trips when you need to make them. It makes those grocery trips a little less drudgerous not to have to haul all the bags back with you on the bus.

Your planned career path should offer plentiful opportunities here, even with the recent economic downturn that has taken a toll on the arts everywhere. One place that you may also wish to check out is the Goodman/Atwood Community Center (see Goodman Atwood Community Center - Home Page (http://www.goodmancenter.org/index.html - broken link)), which is currently in the process of moving into a beautifully renovated historic factory building, funded by a combination of community support and the generosity of a couple of local philanthropist brothers named Goodman. They are a very strong and positive influence in the Atwood/Williamson neighborhood, and might well be looking for someone with your credentials as their mission expands in their new home.

Long post - sorry! You asked good questions and deserve good answers. The very best of luck to you in your move! It isn't easy to uproot and move halfway across the country, even if you dearly want to do so, but from the vantage point of nine years after our own move, I count it as being one of the very best decisions we've ever made. I hope it is for you, too!

[Indi9]

Thank you MidwesternBookWorm, for such a thorough response. All very helpful. Kudos. I have told many people that I love Madison, warts and all. . This is still so true, thanks to people like you.