Moving from Orange County, CA to Madison ? (Monroe, Mineral Point: to rent, houses)

[mommyntheoc]

Great info, thanks - we will focus on that area (the house we wanted to check out just accepted an offer, darn)! The high school is West High School, I was told that was the best one in the city. Any scoop on the elementary? Everything here to there is apples and oranges so who knows, the worst school in your city may be the best here. Our oldest will begin elementary (kindergarten) in 2 years so it is of concern actually :-) We want to move somewhere where we can either stay long term...we want to plant our roots already. If we could find our dream house, we would buy it and live there til we died...we're just ol'fashioned like that. So ANY info on the Nakoma and Westmorland neighborhoods would be much appreciated - those are the houses we are focusing on as of yet.

[Megan1967]

I've heard Thoreau isn't so hot as well. Madison has a choice program though where you can sign your child up to go to a school out of your home district if there are spaces available after the children who are assigned to that school are accounted for. Not sure how it works. I went to the Madison Metro SD web site and it might be called an "internal transfer" but I'm not certain. Something to check out while you are here.

[ajo]

I think saying which elementary school is "best" in Madison is tough. West and Memorial are usually considered the "best" high schools, and so the elementary associated with them are generally better. That said, there are differences between the schools. We are in the Memorial district, and have had kids at both Crestwood and Stephens. Both are just fine; Crestwood is perhaps marginally better, but these are pretty close matches. I think a lot of people right now might worry more about the middle schools--but I'm not sure how seriously you should consider that given that your kids aren't even kindergarden age yet.

If I could really choose any school in Madison, I'd probably go to Van Hise. The only one we avoided was Midvale-Lincoln; that is the one associated with Westmoreland. We have lots on friends in Nakoma, and they are generally happy with Thoreau, but it does have a bad reputation of late. I'm not sure how the very recent redistricting will affect them--they lost a lot of their low income kids, so have to wait and see.

[mommyntheoc]

Yes, Midvale/Lincoln is the elementary and West is the high school for Westmorland. The middle school is unlisted. What neighborhood would you have to live in to have your kids go to Van Hise (w/o the internal transfer)?

My question is, and please be blunt - it doesn't matter how it comes off - but what is the bad reputation of these schools? Do you mean bad kids? Crime? No supplies? Bad teachers? Poor testing scores? Newer construction? Surrounding neighborhoods? Low income families? What exactly is the basis between what you consider a school you'd like your kids to go to and the "bad" ones?

Anyone feel free to chime in! I'm interested to see what reps the different schools have...and what exactly makes people think of them the way they do.

[mommyntheoc]

In case anyone is curious, this is the house we were looking at: 580 Park Ln, Madison Property Listing: MLS# 1541426

Nothing special really, but tons of potential - I think it would make a wonderful canvas to paint our family on! Perhaps nothing special to look at now, but I can imagine so many possibilities.

If we cannot find a place to buy off the bat, we're looking at rentals in Eagle Heights, Blackhawk, Hill Farms Univeristy, and Sunset Village. Outside of town, maybe a 15 minute drive to UW...are there any communities that can be recommended for us?

[wharf]

Middleton

[Megan1967]

Wow. I'm stunned you found a house in that neighborhood for $214K I think this says a lot about the real estate market in general right now. I own a small, cookie cutter house on the far, far, east side that is assessed at $197K and always assumed I could get at least $214K for *it*. Glad I don't have to move right now because, based on what you're finding I'd be lucky to get $185K for my place.

I think people don't like Midvale/Lincoln because it is what is called a "paired" school. They take a school with a disproportionate number of low income families and match it with a school with a disproportionate number of high income families. One school will house grades K-2, the other grades 3-5. Frankly, I think Midvale/Lincoln is one of the best school combos you can get your children into because they get TONS of extra funding and children's services organizations, such as the public library and children's museum, always choose them to be participants in special enrichment programs. This is because they can get grants to fund programs that serve low income children.

[mommyntheoc]

That listing was an original owner, so in 1950, who knows how much they paid but this home has long been paid off, never updated, etc. in Westmorland. We are finding $199k-230k increasingly in those areas. We don't want new construction due to chemicals usage, offgassing, construction materials. I'd rather do damage control on older houses (my only real concerns would be mold, lead (pipes, paint, solder), & asbestos (tile, ceiling, countertops when remodeled or removed)

I looked at foreclosures last night, gov't owned (not bank owned). Some of the houses are 1/3 of the value as the neighboring houses. We were thinking it might be good to buy one, move in for a few years while fixing it up, and then sell it or keep it as a rental property. Near maple bluffs country club? Is this a good area? It looked fine just glancing around, but I wouldn't know if looks are deceiving there.

Or we could just buy a permanant house right off the bat. I'm just not sure which is a better option, because there is much more reward potential with the 1st option. The problem is, we would really like to take advantage of FHA loan for the first purchase, but if we do the 1st option, then we would have to sell or save a lot in the bank to put down 20% for the 2nd house in a few years.

Lenders have really tightened down on debt-to-income ratio. In CA, all rent here is 75-90% of your income, you learn to live on VERY little - but we manage to pay our bills and credit cards off in full each month even with this high of a ratio. It is kinda funny to see that we need so little to live on and the safety net surrounding these mortgages is so high and yet people are still foreclosing. But when we go to the lenders, some are only allowing 20% and some are allowing 40% ratio. It's strange to see that $56k salary will only approve you for $120k-240k houses...our lender here said we qualify for $250-300k. Hmmm...this could get tricky across country and state lines. Does anyone have a mortgage company that they recommend? I had used First Horizon previously, but they are VERY cautious and are on the lower approval end of ratios. We can definitely go up to 60% and still be fine, I am considering artificially raising our income (not by much though) by working for a few months part-time so we can afford more house. Even $1000 more a month can up the house affordability price range $20k.

On another note, have you had your properties reassessed by the county, values are lower and you are still being taxes at the higher assessment.

Interesting, I have not heard of paired schools previously. Our districts draw lines here and entire areas are low income, they don't get mixed up with the rest.

Any thoughts on these topics?

[beetpapp]

Just read through this thread.. mommy, looks like we've both been searching for similar rentals in Madison at the same time. I actually found one earlier this month (for move in June) in Sunset Village on craigslist. 3bed/2bath, large yard, across from neighborhood park. Not short-term though (1 yr).

I'm finding this thread interesting for several reasons; I'm a So CA native (currently live in CO), relocating to Madison for academic position at UW, and looking at rentals. I decided on neighborhoods specifically in the Near West, as it was in between for commute to the Research Park & UW. Also, we live on 9 acres in CO, and felt that moving to the eastside (where the neighborhoods are really interesting, but harder to find rentals with garages and/or yards) might be a bit of a shock to our systems. Would people consider Sunset Village to be "the burbs" ?... it seemed to me like anything west of the beltline was more 'burbish, but I'm not that familiar with Madison. Sunset Village seems very residential, but biking distance to campus, downtown, etc. What do people think?

Anyhow, I'm an LA native - and for the poster earlier about Madison versus LA = Madison anyday! I moved out of LA at age 18, lived in San Diego for 10 yrs, and Colorado for 5 years. I am not a fan of SoCA, and I think unless you've lived there, long-term, and you're not in the entertainment industry, then making a comparison is ill informed. There are some redeeming qualities, but you have to search hard to find them. Also depends on what type of lifestyle you want.

But trust me, 90 degree smoggy days with hot santa ana winds in OCTOBER, when you've been sweating for 7 mos already is not much better than 5 degree days in Jan in WI. Difference is nicer people, and better quality of life in the midwest. At least, that's my 2cents.

Oh, and you may have figured this out, but in google maps if you type in the full street address and then a space and then "grocery stores" you will get pinpoints of the nearest ones. (Our new house is 1.5 miles from Trader Joes

[beetpapp]

Oh, and I'm sorry, but I loathe "the OC". Uck. No thank you.