Madison Wi Active ( Early 60's) Retirement Neighborhoods in Madison Wi (home, area)

[7G9C4J2]

Start-Renting is a pretty good way to search the better-quality rental locations: StartRenting.com - Search for your apartment in Madison Wisconsin. The landlord I worked for in the late 90s and early aughts used to advertise there for their non-student buildings.

I would also strongly recommend that you spend a little time browsing here: Tenant Resource Center. The Tenant Resource Center is a Dane County organization dedicated to helping tenants maintain positive relationships with landlords. They are a fabulous source of information about local and state tenant/landlord statutes, and they also do dispute mediation. While hopefully you won't need their mediation services, they do get a sense for which landlords treat their tenants fairly and which are, ah, less than ethical businesspeople. Any time a newcomer to the city plans to rent first (an excellent idea, by the way), I always suggest that they check in with the TRC. Be aware that they are an entirely volunteer-run organization, so they may not reply as promptly as you might expect. It's often best to call them rather than emailing.

[cfbs2691]

I read on another thread that neighborhoods anywhere near the beltline are really bad.
Opinions?

[Megan1967]

Eh. They aren't the most desirable, but I wouldn't say they are all "really bad." If you get past Verona Road heading West, they are okay. Not the best, but okay. I would agree that anything from the interstate to Verona Road is "iffy" and I wouldn't want to live in those neighborhoods.

[Drewjdeg]

These neighborhoods can be "sketchy" but not dangerous. There not nearly as bad as other major metros, such as Milwaukee and Chicago accept for maybe the Allied Drive neighborhood. These neighborhoods represent wisconsin's most diverse zip code and some neighborhoods such as south park street have begun redeveloping. As far as I can tell these areas can only go up from here.

Anything past verona road is really nice but more suburban.

[JoshB]

As MWB and R_K state, the area around Hilldale is nice. I'd love to live down there as I'd be within walking distance of Target, Hilldale, Noodle's & Company, Copps Grocery Store, Metcalfe's. It does seem pretty reasonable to find a place down there. I know that some of the condo's that were built are currently being rented out due to poor market conditions. I've seen a few at I believe Capital West for around $800-$900 for a 1 bedroom. They looked pretty nice too.

I'm out in Middleton and I do like it here. When I originally wanted to move to the Madison area I looked all over. Sun Prairie, Cottage Grove, McFarland, Fitchburg, Verona, Waunakee, Windsor, and even Deforest (although Deforest is far enough out like Verona). I hadn't really looked at Middleton because well I didn't think I could afford it. I had been looking for 1 bedrooms for $800 and could only find properties that didn't sit right with me. Something made me pass all of them. Finally after looking at tons of properties I searched in Middleton and expanded the rent price range to $1000 a month to see what I could get. I found a beautiful place that I'm now living in on Greenway Blvd. It's called Deer Creek and is on par with what the other properties within a mile offer. It's quiet here, I mean really quiet. I don't feel like I'm this close to Madison but yet I can be at UW Hospital in 15 minutes via Old Sauk Road.

I love Middleton, it's clean, seems business friendly and you have the safe feeling when your walking in downtown Middleton at 1 AM. I love the other communities around Madison and every single one of them has there pros and cons. Good luck in your search here in the Madison area.

[luke12]

Thanks to all. One more question , we have noticed many home in the Hilldale/Midvale area, the Monroe Street neighborhood, and the City of Middleton area have basements. Our previous experiences with basements have not been good with water and flooding issues. What is the reputation or experiences with this issue in these neighborhoods ?

Thanks

[7G9C4J2]

Most homes in the Midwest have basements, in my experience. Where I grew up (southeastern Michigan), the soil was pretty sandy, and I never heard of anyone having issues with wet basements. Here in Madison, the soil is more loamy with a higher clay content, and water problems in basements are fairly common. A fair number of homes, particularly older (i.e. over 40 or 50 years), will experience at least a little "seepage" in heavy rainfalls.

That should be part of the disclosures, if you are looking to buy. And if you get a top-notch home inspector, he or she can spot any signs of dampness or moisture as well. Just when you're looking, you can get a sense for how much of a problem the sellers have by taking a good hard look at the basement. If it's a finished basement with carpeting and paneled walls, it's probably a pretty dry one. If you look around and see that everything in the basement is in plastic tubs that are up on pallets or shelving, you might want to go poking in the corners to see if you spot any dampness.

[mlb]

My sister lives in the house we grew up in in the Midvale/Hilldale area.

Never any basement flooding. Matter of fact - best place to be when the tornado sirens go off.

[Megan1967]

Monroe Street area is notorious For leaky basements. They generally only have one car garages and little to no off street parking.
Snowplows rarely ventured in there and after a storm like the one we had yesterday they could be unplowed for up to a week.

[luke12]

To continue the Madison downtown discussion , I have a opportunity in the Blair St. / Johnson St / James Madison park area. Seems OK. Anything I should know about as far as fairly safe, etc. ? What is the most popular active, safe , upscale, downtown area which has the best reputation ?
Thanks