Help! Moving to Milwaukee - Would you vouch for it? (Madison: for sale, crime)

[taco14]

Hello everyone,

I am moving to the Milwaukee area at the end of the year and I am totally lost on where I should live. To help, let me give some background info about myself.

- I grew up in small town WI, went to college in a town of 70,000 people, worked in Indianapolis (800,000) for 2 years, and have currently lived in Madison for 1 year. I have very much enjoyed living in all of those places except for Madison.

- I am 25 years old, engaged, like to be social but do not party or like to go to clubs.

- I work in commercial lending (banking) and will be working for the same company I currently am employed with in Madison.

My fiance and I are looking for an area within 20-25 mins of downtown that is safe and family friendly, but is not a total bore. We are looking to purchase a house, so living in an area that will maintain home values (see: crime will not invade the area in the next 15 years) is very important to us. We will send our children to a Christian school. In short, we are looking for a family friendly area that is close to the activities of downtown. One of my concerns about Milwaukee is that it is very hard to know what areas will be overridden with crime/poverty in the future. For reference, we would look to purchase a house in the $150,000 - $200,000 range.

Could you please offer some suggestions on where to live? And if possible, give a description of that area? We have never lived there, so it is very difficult to know the ins and outs of the city and surrounding area.

Thank you so much! I really do appreciate the wonderful resource all of you are.

[brrabbit]

I own a house in Fox Point (currently not for sale). That or Bayside (which is next to it to the North) are probably your best bet and some properties might be in your price range. Hopefully, those towns are far enough from the city and surrounded by good towns too. The commute to the north of Milwaukee on I-43 is much better than south of it (many people travel to Chicago, not so many go up North) or to the West on I-94.

[Vegas_Cabbie]

I was born and raised in West Allis... Not so great.
However, my wife and I owned a home in Greendale which is a fantastic suburb to the Southwest of downtown Milwaukee. About a 20-25 minute ride.
It has a park-like atmosphere and you can definitely find a nice house in that price range.
It is close to freeway access, close to tons of restaurants and shopping and it is definitely a safe neighborhood to live in. If I had to move back to Wisco, this is probably the only place I would go back to besides Appleton.

[fonitin]

Well there is no saying which areas will be safe 15 years from now. It sounds like any urban neighborhood might make your jittery but many suburban areas might be a bore for you. I would rethink sending kids to a christian school and just that whole thing in general.

[taco14]

I apologize, I forgot to include where I will be working in my opening paragraph. I will be working off of Hwy 94 on W Corporate Drive (technically Brookfield). Would you recommend Brookfield? Any areas between Brookfield and downtown Milwaukee? How's Wauwatosa?

[Jumpindogs]

Originally Posted by taco14

I apologize, I forgot to include where I will be working in my opening paragraph. I will be working off of Hwy 94 on W Corporate Drive (technically Brookfield). Would you recommend Brookfield? Any areas between Brookfield and downtown Milwaukee? How's Wauwatosa?

Interesting that as I was reading through this thread, Brookfield came to mind and here you are working there. Tosa is a great place for many reasons but that's out considering you want assurance that your property values will remain...there are areas in Tosa where that may be the case but others that have already dropped and some that are plain scary.

I grew up in Brookfield many, many years ago and property values have stayed the course. Although the commercial growth along Bluemound Road sure has skyrocketed.

Greendale is nice but Brookfield is nicer IMO and no reason to be south when I894 traffic can so suck.

I would stay clear of Bluemound Road just because it is so busy.

Brookfield has some great private schools. Here are a few links of interest for you:

Brookfield Christian School
Heritage Christian Schools | Brookfield Wisconsin (Milwaukee)
Brookfield, WI - Official Website - Private Schools

[cheese plate]

Brookfield is literally my least favorite suburb of Milwaukee, and that's saying something. I work in it, and can't wait to leave when I'm done every day. It's "safe" (if you're white and within 5 of the speed limit) and it has "amenities" (if you're talking endless blocks of national chains), but good luck finding anything at all unique or interesting within it.

[Jumpindogs]

Originally Posted by cheese plate

Brookfield is literally my least favorite suburb of Milwaukee, and that's saying something. I work in it, and can't wait to leave when I'm done every day. It's "safe" (if you're white and within 5 of the speed limit) and it has "amenities" (if you're talking endless blocks of national chains), but good luck finding anything at all unique or interesting within it.

<sigh> I did mention Bluemound Road in my post. There is much, much more to Brookfield than Bluemound Road. BTW, there are lots of unique local shops in the Brookfield area if that's what someone is looking for. But you won't find them on/near Bluemound Road.

Are you inferring that Brookfield is *not* safe if a person is non-white? If so, that is simply not true and shame on you for promoting an area-associated race intolerance that does not exist. I am not saying there is no racism in Brookfield but that there is no more than in any other comparable Milwaukee suburb.

Perhaps you disagree but personally I am fine with anyone driving more than 5 miles over the speed limit in a residential area like Brookfield being stopped and ticketed. Way safer for everyone else (kids, bicyclists, folks walking their dog) using that residential street. When you live in a family friendly area without sidewalks you need safe streets.

If you speed over 5 on residential streets please do not drive in my neighborhood! But you can safely speed at 10-15 mph over through Brookfield on I94 without being stopped. I do it every day. As does nearly everyone else.

[ALR4929]

Originally Posted by cheese plate

Brookfield is literally my least favorite suburb of Milwaukee, and that's saying something. I work in it, and can't wait to leave when I'm done every day. It's "safe" (if you're white and within 5 of the speed limit) and it has "amenities" (if you're talking endless blocks of national chains), but good luck finding anything at all unique or interesting within it.

So...what are you looking for that's unique and interesting in Brookfield? You work there but don't live there? Is the area you live in unique and interesting? Brookfield provides you with a job, is that unique and interesting? I'm just curious as to what more you need from Brookfield besides your job.

[Vegas_Cabbie]

Cheese hates anything to do with suburbs... That is very clear based on multiple threads.