Good Neighborhoods for young families? (Madison, Franklin: wood floors, for rent, appliances)

[Lee86lee]

I'm looking at moving to Madison with my husband and baby. We prefer to rent and then buy a house on a decent size piece of property outside of downtown but not further then 20-30 mins out of the city our budget for renting is round 1500 a month, and then $250,000 or less to buy, we will probably be commuting into the city for work. Any recommendations on whether we should look to the east or west side, and neighborhoods to look into?

[Megan1967]

Where you purchase a house really depends on the "personality" of your family (and, or course, economic restrictions). I would also look at schools.

It is hard to generalize about the type of people that live in an area, but here go some wild generalizations in the hopes that it may help you narrow the field.

The far west side is more suburban, the near west side is more yuppie/professional/college professor types, downtown is primarily students and young urban professionals, the near east side is heavily populated by people of a more liberal, earth friendly bent and the far east side is more middle class/blue collar. The isthmus is a very mixed bag and if there weren't so much traffic in this area, it would be one of my favorites. There are people of all ages, ethnic and socioeconomic groups living in this area. Housing is very dense on the Isthmus, however. No big yards like you were hoping for. Well, there are some, but they are prohibitively expensive.

Middleton is primarily upper middle class professionals.

Fitchburg is like a third world country in that the residents tend to be either super well off or very economically challenged. There are some upper middle class people, but more of the other two groups.

Monona is primarily middle class with some wealthy people living along the lake.

Maple Bluff is old money.

Shorewood is wealthy, but more university types and upper class professionals.

Sun Prairie is middle class/blue collar. I would not wish to live there, but a lot of people seem to like it and housing is very reasonable. I have heard from more than one source that their schools are not the best, however. It does have a shiny new Costco and a couple of wonderful restaurants - Market Street Diner, Buck and Honey's.

You get more bang for your buck on the far eastside of Madison, but that means that your resale will not be as high as in other areas, too. I hate it when people buy a home in an area because it is cheaper and then later complain that their house hasn't appreciated as much as they would like, so I'm putting this out there right away.

If I had kids I'd want to them to go to John Muir elementary and West High School. Unfortunately, Muir doesn't feed into West. Muir feeds into Memorial High School, which I've always thought was an okay school, but more than one person on this board has said I was wrong. Franklin/Randall (a paired set of elementary schools) feed into West. It is a cool concept in that the school district paired a school in an economically challenged area (Franklin K-2) with a school in an affluent area (Randall 3-5) in order to ensure that the over all school population is more diversified. I've heard people rave about the Franklin/Randall pair, but I don't think they are that much better than most of the other MMSD schools - all of which are of good quality.

Now the bad news.... You'll be challenged to find a house in the $250,000 range in the Muir or West attendance areas - I've looked. Now I say that as someone who can not do even the most basic home repairs on her own. If you are a full-fledged handy man/woman who can replace your own roof, install your own ac, do plumbing, electrical, etc., you might find something. The houses at the lower end of the price range which I've looked at needed all new windows, a new roof, a new furnace, a new (any) ac, new appliances (as in there were none there to start with), new carpet and any wood floors were in horrific condition and would have to be sanded and refinished... It goes on and on. People don't think of those "hidden" costs when looking at wisconsinhomes.com. Sure, you can get a home in Nakoma for $250,000, if you have another $150,000 to make it fit to live in.

Another option is this. Find a nice home you can afford and then apply to have your kids go to a school within MMSD that is not your assigned school. This is how it works.... The children who are assigned to your desired school get first dibs on the available spaces. After they are accounted for then "out of district" transfers can occur. I have a good friend who grew up on the N. side, but attended west. The catch is you have to get your kid to the school yourself. My friend took the bus from the North side to the near west side every school day for 3 years. She and her parents felt the quality of the education she received at West was worth the extra hassle. Here is a link explaining the process:
https://infosvcweb.madison.k12.wi.us/node/957

[jbear182]

Originally Posted by Megan1967

Where you purchase a house really depends on the "personality" of your family (and, or course, economic restrictions). I would also look at schools.

It is hard to generalize about the type of people that live in an area, but here go some wild generalizations in the hopes that it may help you narrow the field.

The far west side is more suburban, the near west side is more yuppie/professional/college professor types, downtown is primarily students and young urban professionals, the near east side is heavily populated by people of a more liberal, earth friendly bent and the far east side is more middle class/blue collar. The isthmus is a very mixed bag and if there weren't so much traffic in this area, it would be one of my favorites. There are people of all ages, ethnic and socioeconomic groups living in this area. Housing is very dense on the Isthmus, however. No big yards like you were hoping for. Well, there are some, but they are prohibitively expensive.

Middleton is primarily upper middle class professionals.

Fitchburg is like a third world country in that the residents tend to be either super well off or very economically challenged. There are some upper middle class people, but more of the other two groups.

Monona is primarily middle class with some wealthy people living along the lake.

Maple Bluff is old money.

Shorewood is wealthy, but more university types and upper class professionals.

Sun Prairie is middle class/blue collar. I would not wish to live there, but a lot of people seem to like it and housing is very reasonable. I have heard from more than one source that their schools are not the best, however. It does have a shiny new Costco and a couple of wonderful restaurants - Market Street Diner, Buck and Honey's.

You get more bang for your buck on the far eastside of Madison, but that means that your resale will not be as high as in other areas, too. I hate it when people buy a home in an area because it is cheaper and then later complain that their house hasn't appreciated as much as they would like, so I'm putting this out there right away.

If I had kids I'd want to them to go to John Muir elementary and West High School. Unfortunately, Muir doesn't feed into West. Muir feeds into Memorial High School, which I've always thought was an okay school, but more than one person on this board has said I was wrong. Franklin/Randall (a paired set of elementary schools) feed into West. It is a cool concept in that the school district paired a school in an economically challenged area (Franklin K-2) with a school in an affluent area (Randall 3-5) in order to ensure that the over all school population is more diversified. I've heard people rave about the Franklin/Randall pair, but I don't think they are that much better than most of the other MMSD schools - all of which are of good quality.

Now the bad news.... You'll be challenged to find a house in the $250,000 range in the Muir or West attendance areas - I've looked. Now I say that as someone who can not do even the most basic home repairs on her own. If you are a full-fledged handy man/woman who can replace your own roof, install your own ac, do plumbing, electrical, etc., you might find something. The houses at the lower end of the price range which I've looked at needed all new windows, a new roof, a new furnace, a new (any) ac, new appliances (as in there were none there to start with), new carpet and any wood floors were in horrific condition and would have to be sanded and refinished... It goes on and on. People don't think of those "hidden" costs when looking at wisconsinhomes.com. Sure, you can get a home in Nakoma for $250,000, if you have another $150,000 to make it fit to live in.

Another option is this. Find a nice home you can afford and then apply to have your kids go to a school within MMSD that is not your assigned school. This is how it works.... The children who are assigned to your desired school get first dibs on the available spaces. After they are accounted for then "out of district" transfers can occur. I have a good friend who grew up on the N. side, but attended west. The catch is you have to get your kid to the school yourself. My friend took the bus from the North side to the near west side every school day for 3 years. She and her parents felt the quality of the education she received at West was worth the extra hassle. Here is a link explaining the process:
https://infosvcweb.madison.k12.wi.us/node/957

Great post Megan. However, I disagree that Franklin is a economically challenged area. Baycreek is the neighborhood Franklin is located and many believe its Madison's best kept secret. Come check it ou sometime. While there my be one area (Brams Addition) that might be economically challenged and feeds into Franklin the rest Baycreek, Vilas, U Heights etc. are not.

[Megan1967]

I agree that Bay Creek is a neat little area that doesn't get much press. I think they like it that way. Plus, there are some pricey homes in that area.

I've never thought that the Franklin attendance area was in all that economically depressed, frankly, but that is the justification the district uses for the pairing.