Bike commute to Carthage College in Kenosha, WI (Racine, Somers: condos, crime)

[rulefollowing]

Hi,

This fall my wife and I will start working at Carthage College in Kenosha,WI, moving there from the East Coast.

We want to buy an older house, not much more than 10-15 miles from the College. (I like to bike-commute. Yes, I know about the winter!)

We were thinking about either something on that big lake you got there, if possible for less (much!) than $300K, or a farmhouse in the country.

Is it realistic to think about buying a farmhouse, or something, out in the country nearby? If so, where should we look?

What about the historic district of Racine? We saw some older houses there that looked nice-- from the outside, anyway. Does anyone have any insight into this neighborhood?

(Is it terribly crime ridden? Note: we are coming from Baltimore, so we are practically required to BE criminals ourselves, just to live in our neighborhood now. But we'd like to retire from our lives of crime and act like decent folk, instead.)

In light of all the above, where should we look when we parachute into the region next week to try to learn about real-estate?

Thanks in advance!
Rulefollowing
ps-- we are not really criminals. we are professors! On bicycles!

[Catey]

Originally Posted by rulefollowing

Hi,

We were thinking about either something on that big lake you got there, if possible for less (much!) than $300K, or a farmhouse in the country.

Is it realistic to think about buying a farmhouse, or something, out in the country nearby? If so, where should we look?

I'm going to try and be as helpful as possible, but I haven't lived in the Kenosha area since I left for college however many years ago that was (more than ten!) but my parents still live in the area, so we're down there a bit.

I'm not that familiar with the Kenosha market, but on the lake is tough. To Carthage's south you get into downtown Kenosha, and there are mostly businesses there (though I think condos now too, if that's an option). Downtown Kenosha isn't really that happening, but it seems to be improving, at certainly if you ended up in condo down there you could walk to see the Kenosha Symphony (a very decent community orchestra) and the best restaurant in Kenosha, IMO (Mangia).

Possibly to Carthage's north; I'm thinking Sheridan Road north of campus, there are some regular Joe houses (i.e. <$300k), even on the lake, but I have no idea what the costs are. Who knows; maybe they're a fortune too.

Farmhouses... maybe in Somers? I'm not quite sure what the exact distance is from carthage, but that definitly might be bikeable, and though Somers isn't all completely rural, it's definitely small town and I would think it has some houses with land available.

What about the historic district of Racine? We saw some older houses there that looked nice-- from the outside, anyway. Does anyone have any insight into this neighborhood?

From what I remember and, remember, this was years ago, the actual historic district was nice, but it was so, SO close to some questionable areas with no real buffer (i.e. a river, main thoroughfare, etc.). It could be much better now, though.

Were I moving back to the area, my top choice would be the neighborhood near the Kemper Center. You won't get on the lake for $300k there (or even a view of it, probably, LOL) but it's the nicest neighborhood in Kenosha, IMO (in regards to houses with character). It might even be bikeable to Carthage, though I'm not certain about that.