Where to Live between Madison and Janesville (Stoughton, Fort Atkinson: real estate, houses)

[pjpjpjlee]

Hey all, my wife and I are looking to move from Madison to somewhere in between Madison and Janesville. I'll be commuting to Janesville; she to Madison. We have two kids, 3 and 1 y/o, and are looking to buy a 4+ BR house on several acres of land. If anything we'd like to be a bit closer to Madison than Janesville. Schools are a consideration for us, although we might be going the Montessori / Waldorf? / home schooling route.

Suggestions?

We've peaked looked at Oregon, Brooklyn, McFarland, and Stoughton. Ideally we'd find country living while still being close to some small town conveniences and then 20-30 minutes from Madison.

Thanks!

[Megan1967]

What price range are you looking in? You will find the closer you are to Madison the more pricey housing becomes. Houses that big with acreage within 15-20 miles of Madison starting in the low 400K +.

Oregon and Stoughton are the best deals around for some reason, at least that has always been the case in the past. McFarland tends to be more expensive because it is convenient to Madison.

[7G9C4J2]

Stoughton is a great little community; if I didn't live in Madison, I'd very likely want to settle there. Great sense of community, strong local culture, plenty of activities, and a beautiful place besides. The schools there are quite good, though of course they fight the funding battle like most school districts do.

We've got several friends who live in Oregon, and they all seem very happy. There's an historic district with wonderful old homes near the downtown area, and a lot of big new development in the outskirts of town. No idea what housing prices are like there, though I'd suspect that the newer developments may be increasing in cost as Oregon is perceived as a more desirable community.

McFarland isn't bad, but it just doesn't seem to have much of its own sense of identity. It's as if the community has decided it's just going to be a suburb and no more. I've never heard about anything going on there that makes me think "oh, wow, how cool, I'd really like to check that out." Despite that (or maybe because of it?), Megan is correct in describing property values there as higher than other nearby areas.

If you're willing to look just a bit farther away from Madison, you can get a whole lot of bang for your buck in Evansville. Housing prices there are probably about 2/3 what a comparable house would set you back in Madison, and it's a really nice little community with a surprising amount going for it. A colleague of mine lives there and commutes to downtown Madison; she's a very conservative (i.e. slow) driver, and her daily commute is around 35 minutes unless the weather is really awful.

[JoshB]

My wife and I have friends in both Oregon and Evansville. Oregon doesn't seem to have the same "cool" small town identity that Evansville carry's. Evansville does have a farm community feel to it. I've always enjoyed visiting real estate websites and using the mapping tools to search for homes. You can send me a direct message if you'd like the link to one site in particular.

[Ragnar]

As mentioned above, Evansville or Oregon would be good options for you to explore. If you can stay outside of Dane County, property taxes likely will be lower.

[pjpjpjlee]

Thanks for all the info and advice guys. We'll be checking out Evansville, Stougton, Oregon ....

[atler8]

Ragnar hit on the taxes factor which they suggested might be lower outside of Dane County. As a result, I would suggest that Fort Atkinson, just to the east in Jefferson County, be given consideration by you.
It's a decent-sized town of about 12,000 population & U.S. 12 has been nicely improved between it & Madison which gives a great comuting route on into Madison.
Additionally, state 26 is a good route for the somewhat shorter commute into Janesville from Fort.

[Milwaukee City]

A nomination for Edgerton/Newville area, right on Lake Koshkonong and great freeway access and cheap land and home prices.