Advice Please!!! Moving to Milwaukee from Michigan

[EnjoyEP]

I think you'll like Franklin...in my opinion (and it is only an opinion), I would far prefer Franklin to Caledonia...it is more suburban and closer to Milwaukee, however, is still safe, relatively quiet, and nice. I would definitely live in Franklin...I think you'll like it there.

[trishr154]

Hey rsm951977,

just curious, what did you end paying for your house after all (ballpark)?
My husband and I just moved here and bought a home in Oak Creek that was definately not worth the asking price. We had the same problem you did and our offer was finally excepted. Our house was built in 93' and is very dated, so we are renovating our hearts out.

[mikki]

My brother and his family live near Drexel and 76th St. Franklin still has some nice, rural areas and it is very spread out. It is a nice suburb with good schools and excellent police, fire, and library services. However, as I'm sure you know from your home offer, you will be paying heavily for these services in taxes. Milwaukee County has the highest taxes in the state. As you know, Frankilin is very convenient to getting on I-94 and heading south as you and your family head back and forth to MI. Good luck with your move and enjoy WI!!!

[Turtle]

We lived in Franklin for 5 or 6 years and really liked it. We rented for a while and then built our house a couple miles from where we rented. We really liked that we were in a quiet neighborhood, but everything was just minutes away. We were directly under the final approach to the Milwaukee airport, but it really didn't bother us (we both worked for an airline there) We were really happy in Franklin, so if you end up there, hopefully you will be too. The high cost of taxes was our only negative, and it wasn't that bad, it was just expected, but taxes were higher than alot of other areas at that time.

Good luck.

[rsm951977]

During our home inspection we found out that the house in Franklin needs$4,000 in basement repairs that the seller was not willing to fix. So, needless to say, we are no longer buying that home. The house would have been in the $230 range which seems very high for a 1500 sq ft home that was over 25 years old. We now have an accepted bid in Greendale. We were looking in Oak Creek until we were warned about the massive expansion to the coal factory that is expected to lower property values. We were also told that Oak Creek schools are not the greatest. We really liked the houses there though. We actually bid on 2 houses in Oak Creek and were outbid on both. It's extremely difficult trying to figure out where you should live in an area that you know nothing about!!!

[kimberlykeno]

What part of Michigan did you live in? We moved from the Plymouth Canton area recently. We are now living in Madison, but relocating to the Milwaukee area.
Kim

[rsm951977]

We are from Macomb Township, MI. That is about 30 minutes north of Detroit. We are officially moving in to our home in Greendale tomorrow. It was a little disappointing when we were there over the weekend. We have been told by many people that the Milwaukee area is very friendly almost similar to southern hospitality. However, we were at the new house every day for the past 4 days and never saw a single person on our street. No one was outside (even with yesterday's beautiful weather) and we didn't see any children playing outside. I hope that isn't a sign of things to come. We had pretty rude and unfriendly neighbors in Michigan and were hoping to get away from that.

[EnjoyEP]

Originally Posted by rsm951977

We are officially moving in to our home in Greendale tomorrow. It was a little disappointing when we were there over the weekend. We have been told by many people that the Milwaukee area is very friendly almost similar to southern hospitality. However, we were at the new house every day for the past 4 days and never saw a single person on our street. No one was outside (even with yesterday's beautiful weather) and we didn't see any children playing outside. I hope that isn't a sign of things to come. We had pretty rude and unfriendly neighbors in Michigan and were hoping to get away from that.

Hi -

I lived in the greater Milwaukee metro area for 27+ years until moving away a little over three years ago. The great majority of my friends and family still live in the area, and I visit several times per year, and even am thinking of relocating back to the area.

First off, I do have to say that as much as I love MKE Metro and WI, I would heartily disagree with whomever told you that MKE is very friendly and is akin to southern hospitality - that just isn't the case (not that all people are not terribly friendly...I will get to that in a second)...

IN GENERAL, many folks in the MKE Metro area tend to be somewhat reserved and keep to their family, friends, and close circles. Many people in the area were born, raised, and have lived in the area their entire lives, and thus are not always terribly outgoing and receptive to newcomers.

That is NOT to say they do that because you are "unwelcome" or they "don't want you there"...that in general again is not true. They just - partially due to the culture of the area (large German-American influence which tends to be a reserved influence) and partially due to the comfort zone of people they've known for years - and partially due to the long, bitter indoor-oriented winters, can take quite awhile to get to know, and often the newcomer will have to make the "first move."

To state another more "negative" generalization, many folks in the Metro Milwaukee area tend to follow suit a bit more of their counterparts in Chicago (although not to quite that extreme). They often are a very intense, not-laid-back, almost gruff at times folk. This is probably much different in the smaller towns of WI, but in MKE Metro, it is somewhat of a Chicago or East Coast type of attitude (to a lesser degree).

Having said the "bad", there is some extreme good with the folks of Metro Milwaukee in general terms -

I will put it this way. I currently live in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and also had a friend who lived in the Southwest in Arizona for a number of years before returning to MKE. He and I agree that folks down here (I realize this is the SW and not the Deep South - eg: southern hospitality) in general are much more laid back, much easier to initially talk to, (especially the males) have much better manners than the Metro MKE males - again, this is generalities. An example of this is if I go with my wife to a work function and do not know any of the other males there and they all know one another, they will still go out of their way to say "hi" and make conversation. This isn't always the case in the much tighter-knitted Metro MKE social circles. HOWEVER...

We have also found that the friends / acquaintences you do make in Metro MKE will be your good, sincere friends / neighbors / acquaintences, etc., for life. They will literally - once you are familiar and friendly with them - be some of the most kind, generous, sharing folks that you'll ever meet.

That contrasts to the Southwest, where in general more people seem to be quite a bit more courteous and friendly, yet, stay more as casual acquaintences rather than die-hard good friends.

Frankly, my preference is what MKE Metro offers...sure, I might not know as many people, but those I do are sincere, great friends.

This is all generalizations of course. All areas of the nation offer friendly, non-friendly, nice, not-nice, etc.

However, I just think it is not realistic to equate Metro Milwaukee folks with southern hospitality - it is completely different.

However, if you give it a chance and make a bit more of an effort than you'd normally make in many other regions, you likely will find some of the nicest people you'll ever meet in your life.

[Girlmomma4]

Originally Posted by mikki

I have lived in Waukesha (about 25 min. west of Milwaukee) for over 10 years, and I have taught here for almost 20. The school system is excellent and if you have any questions regarding schools, please ask! Franklin is nice as well, but the community is very spread out with various subdivisions. You will be driving your children everywhere for activities. Waukesha is actually a small city unto itself with sidewlks connecting almost the entire city (with the exception of a few smaller areas). Kids can safely walk and ride their bikes to many places, even many of the elementary schools which were built with a "neighborhood" concept. We are leaving the area as a result of my husband's new job as well, so I know how you feel about leaving place you love!

Are there any apartments in Waukesha? I am having trouble finding any, and if there are, would you recommend living in them?

[autumnrain416]

hi I'm just 20mins from detroit north of that is and i'm moving to south Milwaukee myself what kind of info do you have about the area? heres what I have ,I travel to Milwaukee once a month and talk to alot of folks so heres some info...this is from someone who lives in the milwaukee area..I would really recommend being on the east side, river west or third ward/fith ward.

east side is a little privileged, very nice, mostly white, university is on the eastside, can find pretty much anything you need there, close to downtown etc.

I prefer riverwest, right by the east side, more diverse & liberal, strong arts community, gay community and more rootsy than the Eastside, but equally convenient. A little more risky, there are some "bad" pockets, but it's an awesome strong neighbourhood, with a good sense of community.

Third ward is downtown, lots of converted lofts space, condos, higher income. beautiful, somewhat privileged.

5th ward borders on third ward, lot of new development going on now, little less ritzy than the 3rd ward.

If you want to shoot me neighbourhoods you're looking in that would probably be the easiest, there are so many.