moving to wisconsin (Madison, Racine, Appleton: for sale, real estate, renting)

[srae0214]

My husband and I were thinking of moving to the Oshkosh, Neenah, Appleton, area. I was looking at real estate up there and it doesnt seem too bad. We live near Rockford, IL right now and it seems you get a little more for your money up there. Am I just looking at a bad part of town?? Any advice??

[wildwolves23]

i live in appleton right now and i really like it. i used to live in oshkosh for a few years and it was alright, but houses are up for sale left and right. its not that great of living. i'm origionally from the fond du lac area and i really liked it there, but for major shopping, its in appleton. i've noticed tho houses aren't very cheap to buy anymore. i'm renting myself and its not too expensive but not cheap either. i'm actually in the process of making a move out west. more money. but appleton is very quiet and i really like living here.

[srae0214]

Thank you. That helps.

[B'Goshboy]

Originally Posted by srae0214

My husband and I were thinking of moving to the Oshkosh, Neenah, Appleton, area. I was looking at real estate up there and it doesnt seem too bad. We live near Rockford, IL right now and it seems you get a little more for your money up there. Am I just looking at a bad part of town?? Any advice??

Do you have jobs already?

Housing costs are all relative. They are increasing in Appleton as well as Oshkosh. In Oshkosh, you can find homes for $70,000 as well as $2,000,000. Do you have any specific ?'s.?

[srae0214]

well, we arent planning on moving for awhile, I just wanted to do some research before we made a move. So, no we don't have jobs there. And the more research I do the more I am leaning towards appleton or neenah and away from oshkosh. The thing I have noticed about the houses is there are some really old ones (the victorian type, etc.) that around my area go for 200000 and up are there for 150000 and down. So I didn't know if maybe they were just in bad areas or if the prices are typically around that. Or maybe they are just in really bad condition.

[WIer]

Originally Posted by srae0214

My husband and I were thinking of moving to the Oshkosh, Neenah, Appleton, area. I was looking at real estate up there and it doesnt seem too bad. We live near Rockford, IL right now and it seems you get a little more for your money up there. Am I just looking at a bad part of town?? Any advice??

You live quite close to those areas. Why not find a few properties you like either online or in real estate publications and drive up and check out the areas? You'll be able to answer your own question then a lot better than anyone else can.

In general, though, WI is cheaper than Illinois urban areas, although as more and more of you move up here, property costs do keep going up and up.

[srae0214]

I thought about that (driving up and checking it out). I probably will at some point. I just wanted opinions on the areas because sometimes what may look good and safe during the day or to an outsider is actually the exact opposite. Thanks for the help!!

[luclarie]

Hello - I've recently moved to Fond du Lac from Racine for many reasons, the main one being there is a large difference in values here verses values in much larger areas...

There is a "city" quality in this area, such as shopping and assesibility of getting from point A to point B (for example, going to Oshkosh/Appleton/Madison is very simple, you just hop on the interstates that run very close to the cities and you're there within a short time) but there is also that "Mayberry feel" in this area and my daughter and I really like it here because of it.

Moderator cut: TOS Violation

Luclarie

[susancruzs]

I recently moved to Wisconsin from Northeast Illinois. Originally I was going to stay in Illinois and began looking in Rockford/Freeport, then Dixon, Sterling, Rock Falls after that Ottawa and LaSalle/Peru. I would search online for several areas/houses then on the weekend drive around and look. I did this Fall 2006 and Spring '07.

I've always lived near Lake Michigan so I started thinking maybe Wisconsin wouldn't be so expensive after all (everyone scared and steered me away from Wisc. at first). I came to the Two Rivers/Manitowoc area and absolutely love it.

My thought is do your homework, research and then drive around the areas you are interested in, go to the library, buy the local papers, talk to local people, get a feel for the community. I came to Two Rivers and stayed overnight alot as I was seriously looking. I looked at alot of houses then one came on the market and I knew it was the one as I had a certain neighborhood in mind.

Good luck!

[KateDaum]

We had built a home near Lake Superior, a few years ago, that we used for vacations and we were going to retire to. We couldn't wait that long and 2 of my kids and I are now here for good and my husband and oldest daughter will be here in January. We love it.
We loved upstate NY for the 4 seasons too. We love cold and snow and this suits us just fine.
My older daughter was looking at St. Lawrence in Appleton and we enjoyed the area. Good luck!