Considering a move to Madison - Housing a Concern (Monroe: real estate, apartments)

[mugglesport]

I'm being flown up for a second interview in a few weeks. I don't know exactly what the offer will be (assuming I get one), but I believe it won't be quite enough to make finding housing that meets our criteria all that easy. Our budget will probably be $1200-1400/month (on one income).

Here's our situation: We have a toddler and a baby due this summer. The move would happen after the baby is born. My wife will more than likely stay home at least 6 months if not a year (partly to be home with the baby and party because she's a teacher and our experience is it's nearly impossible to find a teaching job in the middle of the school year). We also have two small dogs. We need a place that has a fenced in yard so my wife doesn't have to bundle up herself, the toddler, and the baby, then put two dogs on leashes every 2 hours just so they can go pee. We're currently homeowners, so we have plenty of furniture and junk. A house with storage (e.g., basement or garage) would be preferable, though we can pay for self-storage.

The other big criteria is that I don't entirely "need" this job. For it to be "worth it" for us to make this move, we'd have to be able to live in the walkable, vibrant areas that Madison is known for...not the suburbs. My metric is being able to bike to the capitol in 15-30 minutes. Atwood, Bay Creek, Eastmoreland, Starkweather, Worthington Park all seem to fit the criteria (mostly) if we were buying, but we don't want to buy immediately. We want activity and don't mind college students, but we don't want keggers down the street.

One other question...crime. We live in a fairly safe city, but our house was burglarized a year and a half ago and our neighbors a few doors down have been burglarized twice in the past year. People at my office (in the same city, not too far from our house) have had their cars stolen and/or broken into. I hear about Madison having relatively low crime, but SpotCrime.com and CrimeReports.com make it look much much more crime-prone than my current city (with a ton more assualts, which I imagine has to do with population density and university presence). Is this just a reporting difference?

EDIT: I realized I didn't ever get around to actually asking the question in this post. Is what I am looking for realistic and I'm just not looking in the right places? I've found one or two places that fit the bill but are a bit too small for all of us or are a bit out of our price range. Any suggestions for resources? I've been using padmapper, trulia, hotpads, and others. I know about startrenting.com, but good lord it's about as uninformative as it gets.

[ranger17]

a couple thoughts if they help any.

First, if you are heading up to Madison for an interview, try to add a couple days to walk/drive around and tour it a bit more in person. Nothing like seeing an area live compared to the internet to get a good feel if it's new to you (especially where housing is concerned).

Finding a home to rent can be a daunting task, there's another thread active with similar themes that may give you some insight as well. It can be done, but flex is always the key.
Where would the job be? In the city, or on one of the edges or in a burb? That may give you some additional direction on where potentially to look.

Near all homes in Wi have basements, so if you can find a place to rent "likely" that will be covered for you. I tend to recommend to anyone relocating to rent for a year to makes ure they are settled in the job/community and didnt make the wrong choice in housing as that's tough to correct. Try local property manager companies to get some insight. And you may find homes that have been on the market long enough for sellers to rent for now to get the cash flow rolling.

Crime. While i'd say there would be pockets to look for and avoid, that doesnt mean all other areas are 100% safe. For years we lived in what was a very low crime 'burb there, but on occasions garages and cars were broken into. But heck, that has happened down where i'm at now in a higher end area. Crooks go where they thing the mark is easy. But as most of my decades in the Madison area were living in the 'burbs, i'd rather defer to local residents to guide you better. Or once you find a neighborhood you like, it's easier to check it's history... better then generalizing an entire area as good or bad.

You mention biking to the capitol, if that's for work i'd at least consider your options come winter. If you have a car, not a problem (well, pending road conditions and parking). If you dont, then will you need to be on or near the bus routes? Just thought i'd mention that part, as normally a visit in May means decent weather (of course this year it may not lol) so you may not even think that far ahead.

If Madison is in your future, good luck!

[Ragnar]

My initial thought is that it may be tough to find an adequate rental home in your price range in the neighborhoods you have mentioned. Unless you don't need more than a 1-bedroom apartment, Madison is not an especially inexpensive city for housing. You will likely need to increase your rental budget, expand your search into the "burbs," or also consider apartments.

Living in biking proximity to the capital/downtown is a desirable thing and people pay for it. However, there are bike trails and lanes all over the city, so depending on where you live, you may still have decent biking access to downtown. The biggest difficulty you will find is accommodating your two dogs in a rental, although if they are small that will help.

Also, as and FYI, as you get closer to campus, you will find that most rentals turn over August 15 due to the student population. As you get further from campus area, this becomes less of a concern. The most desirable of these rentals get locked up long in advance of the August 15 move-in date, so the areas closer to campus will have less rental options for you this summer. This may not be a big deal because the neighborhoods you mentioned are far enough away from campus, but keep it in mind if you need to expand your search area.

A lot of Madison rentals can be found just by exploring neighborhoods and looking for "For Rent" signs in the front lawn. There are many individual landlords in Madison who do not use professional management companies. If the property is in a desirable area, they don't spend money on advertising because they don't need to. It will take you more time this way, but the suggestion above to visit and "hit the streets" is a very good one.

You may also wish to ask your potential future coworkers where they'd recommend you look for housing. However, expect to get a wide range of answers. Many people commute to Madison for employment from a many of the surrounding communities, some of which can be pretty nice, depending on what you are looking for. I personally dislike all the time and expense of commuting, especially in the winter, so I pay more to live closer to my place of employment. However, I get to have A LOT more time with my family that way. YMMV.

Hope your second interview goes well and that you find an adequate living situation in Madison!

[mugglesport]

Thanks for your thoughts and ideas! We're flying up on friday morning and leaving saturday evening, so we'll have a little time to look around. We want to be strategic about it though, since we'll have limited access to a car, and would like to narrow it down to a couple of neighborhoods to start. If I get the job, which would be on the capitol square by the way, I'll probably fly up again to scout for housing.

We do have two cars, but would prefer to get rid of one if we move up there. From what I gather, parking downtown is expensive (as it should be) and getting rid of a car would free up more income for renting. We're suburban now and would like to change that lifestyle.

Are mom's groups/play groups for infant/toddler age common in Madison? Where would they fall on a spectrum of "I've heard of them" to "I know of a few" to "every mom is in one and they're easy to join"?

[jlygrnmigt]

If you choose Atwood (which is awesome) avoid the parts of waubesa and marquette that are in the block around Kipp corp. It's the first block off Atwood ave and pretty polluted. Across the street is great, though, but rentals may be hard to find.

I think mom's groups are common. I've taken my 19 mo. Old to Play & Learn, which is free and hekd weekly all over town. There are toddler classes at Olbrich Botanical Gardens for ages 2-4 frequently, and the moms often seem to know each other. I live in the Willy St. Neighborhood, and it's crawling with kids.

[Newbern]

Originally Posted by ranger17

First, if you are heading up to Madison for an interview, try to add a couple days to walk/drive around and tour it a bit more in person. Nothing like seeing an area live compared to the internet to get a good feel if it's new to you (especially where housing is concerned).

And once you have targeted a few areas, go there and talk to the neighbors and tenants/owners. And it's important to do this at different times of the day/week because you'll get different people at different times/days. I saw this posted on another board and it looks useful:
http://spotcrime.com/wi/madison


If you take the job, come back and do the same, but get as short a term lease as you can as you don't know the area yet. Better to pay a little more and be slightly inconvenienced for a short period than wind up having to live in some place you're not happy living for a year.

[mugglesport]

Thanks for all the comments. We enjoyed our trip to Madison and will be moving there. After visiting, we really fell in love with Dudgeon Monroe. Finding a rental that meets our criteria might be even harder in that neighborhood. I would rather rent first, then buy later...but I think we might end up having to buy immediately in order to get housing that meets our criteria in the location we want.

I think it will still be a bit challenging to find what we want (a 3 bedroom in Dudgeon Monroe) for our budget (which we could probably stretch to about $250k), but looking at past home sales, it looks possible.

[Ragnar]

Originally Posted by mugglesport

Thanks for all the comments. We enjoyed our trip to Madison and will be moving there. After visiting, we really fell in love with Dudgeon Monroe. Finding a rental that meets our criteria might be even harder in that neighborhood. I would rather rent first, then buy later...but I think we might end up having to buy immediately in order to get housing that meets our criteria in the location we want.

I think it will still be a bit challenging to find what we want (a 3 bedroom in Dudgeon Monroe) for our budget (which we could probably stretch to about $250k), but looking at past home sales, it looks possible.

Congrats! Even with the Madison real estate prices creeping up, you should still be able to find something in the D-M neighborhood in your price range. It will probably be closer to the far end of Monroe St. from campus, have a 1-car garage and 1 bath, and need some updating, but it can be done. Remember that property taxes on that $250k house will run you $6k per year!

[mugglesport]

3/1/1 would be fine. Do houses in this area (or Madison in general) tend to sell for significantly less than their original list price? Looking at houses sold in the last year, which are much cheaper than what's currently on the market, it seems like this might be the case.

[ranger17]

Originally Posted by mugglesport

3/1/1 would be fine. Do houses in this area (or Madison in general) tend to sell for significantly less than their original list price? Looking at houses sold in the last year, which are much cheaper than what's currently on the market, it seems like this might be the case.

based on what our daughter and her hubby have been finding out up there, seems like the market took off recently so homes are turning quicker and prices being held a bit tighter. I cant say if that's how it is in general, or just the burbs they were looking at but it did make sense