SE Wisconsin info anyone? (Milwaukee, Kenosha: real estate, renting, low crime)

[grifgraysmom]

Hi all,

My husband just accepted a job in the Waukesha/Milwaukee area and we are relocating. I'm desperately looking for any advice on the best/worst towns in that area. Husband doesnt mind driving about an hr one way commute. We have 2 elementary age children to consider so a good school system is a must and are looking for reasonably priced real estate. (small home with acreage if we could have our pick , but at this point we are open to all possibilities) We've been considering Racine, Kenosha, Fond U Lac, and then found reasons to possibly mark them off our list. What about Ft. Atkinson? Any ideas/suggestions from anyone who is familiar with the area? It would really be appreciated.

Thanks a bunch!

[springfield]

Wow, it really depends on the size of town (city) you would prefer. I'm in a small town (Lake Geneva-45 minutes from Milw.)and love it. We have many small towns such as this, all with good school systems and fairly crime free.
You probably could find a home with some acreage in the small town community. there are many--get a map and look around the Milwaukee area.You'll be quite surprised. From the choice you will see, you can't go wrong.

[Drover]

What price range are you looking in? There are several nice, upscalish towns in Waukesha County itself...

[grifgraysmom]

We dont want to spend more than 150K (I know that severely limits us, but thats all we can afford at this time). I just want to make sure we are in a safe, low crime area. We dont mind driving to shop. I guess you could say our priorities are good schools, safe environment, and affordability. Thanks a bunch for the feedback, it is greatly appreciated and desperately needed!

[Drover]

I think the place where you're going to get the most bang for your buck, and where you might be able to get a bit of space even in your price range, would be Burlington and the surrounding area. It's a smallish town (10,000 or so) southwest of Milwaukee, less than an hour from Waukesha but still in a rural setting. The area is growing rapidly so it would be a good time to get a piece of property and experience some value appreciation. It's very clean, extremely safe, has a nice downtown area, has all your basic shopping needs, et cetera. The Burlington Area School District schools score very well on proficiency tests: 85% of students are rated proficient in reading and 75% are rated proficient in math. That's above the county and state averages.

[grifgraysmom]

Thank you so much for the Burlington recommendation. We are very interested in what we've seen so far about it online. Anyone else out there have an opinion about Burlington or Ft. Atkinson?

[lovemaine]

Another consideration may be Elkhorn, a town of about 8500 in Walworth county. We lived there for 3 years and really liked it (we actually lived just outisde of town in Sugar Creek, but we had a Elkhorn address). Housing is still fairly reasonable and the schools are terrific. It used to take me about 30 minutes to get to Waukesha. Check out their website: www.elkhorn-wi.org/

Good luck!

[leepoffaith]

150k? Not to be negative, but good luck! Milwaukee area is not cheap and property taxes will kill you. You may want to think about renting for a while to save for something better because it's fairly hard to find anything under 200k anywhere around Milwaukee that is worth while.

[Drover]

Elkhorn and Burlington are out in the sticks. Literally surrounded by corn. They are well beyond the contiguous suburban area so they are not as expensive as you claim.

I just did a quick search of property listings in both areas. She should have no trouble finding a house within her price range in either place.

[DaBears]

i dont know about the housing prices anymore but try new berlin...this was 25years ago but when I first moved back to WI our house was around $88,000...schools are decent but you do have several choices though...went to a catholic grade school (holy apostles aka H A) but puclic high school (eisenhower)