In Appleton....but what neighborhood? (Milwaukee, Green Bay: for sale, real estate, rent)

[angeliquita]

My husband and I are currently living in Howard (suburb of Green Bay) and love it, but it's time to move. We have more house than we need and are looking for something a little more "quaint" but ample enough to raise our two daughters in (for a little while at least - they are 4 months and 18 months).

Because we have family in the Fox Valley (Appleton, Kaukauna, Menasha), we are looking at moving to Appleton. I realize the property taxes are higher there, but living in Howard, we are used to it. Even though we go there quite a bit for shopping, dining, etc. we are clueless on the neighborhoods and which ones to avoid/which ones are best to raise a family in. Any suggestions?

What I am hoping to find once we sell our place up here is a character home that isn't too much of a fixer upper (we have minimal handy-skills ), that is close to parks for our girls and we aren't right on top of our neighbors. It should be a very safe neighborhood with other young families, preferably.

We are considering other areas of Green Bay as well, but Appleton seems to provide a lot of amenities that we don't have here (Charter schools, better dining experience IMO, more specialty shops, etc.)

Also, if anyone has any experience with Appleton's Charter Schools, I'd love to hear about it. Rates/Experiences, anything.

Thanks so much!

[yo vanilla]

What's your price range? There's a great character house near Peabody park for sale right now, $175K

The Real Estate Group

I would buy this house if I could; we love the area and visit the park often. There's a woodsy walking trail from Peabody ending about 2 blocks from this place.

If you are looking for quaint and character, Peabody and Pierce park are my favorite neighborhoods. I live near Pierce. Peabody especially has some real character; it's about the oldest part of town so there's alot of great old places. Pierce has some nice old places too. Both neighborhoods are near the river and downtown. Two other options fitting the description are Erb park and City park areas, but City park is a bit hit or miss with either really really nice and big old homes or some that are small and just plain... old. I should say that in the Peabody neighborhood, some streets and yards are pretty tight.

If I were you, I'd get a map of town and tour these four neighborhoods. They are all fairly close to each other. Try Alecia Park too.

[yo vanilla]

Oh, also we checked into the charter school here. It has great reviews. I think the yearly tuition was around $6K but I don't recall. We opted to try for the public school's "open enrollment" where residents can apply to any public school which has room, regardless where in town you live. Janet Berry and Ferber were the two best elementary in our opinions and we got into JB this year.

[Angorlee]

Try Kimberly. Its so close to Appleton that its like being in Appleton yet it is its own community. Stay away from Grand Chute(crimes up) and I wouldn't rent or buy anywhere near downtown because crime problems are growing in that area. Stay away from south also for same reason. Stick with east side even though there are some signs of deterioration it isn't as bad as other areas.

[Wingfoot]

Doty Island is nicest "hood" in Fox Valley.

[yo vanilla]

Crime in downtown? Where? I live downtown, it's as quiet and mundane as it's always been

[jjacobeclark]

Originally Posted by yo vanilla

Crime in downtown? Where? I live downtown, it's as quiet and mundane as it's always been

Don't pay any attention to Angorlee, as she never has anything substantive to add to any discussion. I'm actually really surprised that she hasn't posted anything outlandishly racist yet. That's sort of her trademark. She used to only troll the Milwaukee forum, but apparently she's branched out into the general Wisconsin forum. Just ignore her and she'll go away.

[MidwestHiker]

I used to volunteer for the Appleton PD, stay away from the homes surrounding downtown... lots of drugs there. Go for the outer areas of town, north of 441 near North High School is nice.