Moving to Madison in Nov Need your help (Milwaukee, Waukesha: apartment, rental)

[shareinfo]

Hello - My family (me, my wife and our 4 year old daughter) will be relocating to Madison as I got a new job in the month of Nov and it would be great if you guys can help me with some info it will really calm my never and help me plan better.

We are an Indian family (Age early 30s) and currently living in San Antonio.
I have traveled early this month to Madison and although it was just for a day I really liked the small town feeling and cleanliness of the city.

With respect to weather I think I am fine as I have lived for 4 years in Boston in the past and used to the cold weather and plenty of snow (I know it may be little more harsher than east but I think I am fine on that front).

Now I need help on finding the apartment, I don't have any reservation or inclination towards any ethnic community but my priorities are safety and good school district.
I am fine driving 30-40 Min one way to work (My workplace is near (2-3 miles) to capitol building).
I am looking for a good 2bedroom apartment with $1000-$1200 budget.

One more thing I want to consider if possible , if there is a good town/community between Madison and Milwaukee? I am asking this because I believe IT job opportunities are more in Milwaukee and with this my wife can search job in Madison and Milwaukee and it open-up lot more options, do let me know if this defeat the purpose of staying in a beautiful city and / or does not make sense.

Any other things which I am missing and should consider while moving to Madison

Thank you and any input would be of great help.

[bler144]

If your wife is on the development side of IT I'd strongly recommend looking at Epic https://careers.epic.com/

Very popular employer if you can get in, and an easy commute from Middleton or south Madison (and presumably with dual employment you'd have more $$ to spend on housing). If she's more on the support side, I'd probably look at the UW or Hospital as primary possible employers.

I'd be a bit hesitant of splitting a Milw-Madison commute if you aren't used to winter driving. Though if you were set on it, I suppose in your shoes I'd look at Fort Atkinson. Oconomowoc or Waukesha could be viable if you didn't mind taking on a longer commute to get back west to Madison.

[ranger17]

i would have added for living in a location between Madison/Milwaukee; just to keep in mind that any 30-45 min commute in summer/dry conditions can easily double when the snow flies. Mild winters it's not too bad, other winters it can get excessive.
Oh, i'll also note on road construction, as in WI it can be a yearly thing from spring thru fall. So i always plan on worst case scenarios when looking at transit time, then be happy when i get there quicker then first thought.

[shareinfo]

thank you bler144 and ranger17 for the advice, so I believe I should drop the midway path of Madison/Milwaukee
And I am fine to go upto 1500 for housing, based on this do you have some good residential complex to suggest?

My wife is on development side of IT and will check on EPIC career, do you know by any chance if they transfer/sponsor H1B?

thanks for all the help and info.

[ranger17]

OP, while i havent rented in Madison in decades, i'd think the budget suggested should get a decent/good apt.
I know there have been other threads for those looking to rent in Madison (and where to avoid), perhaps while waiting for others to pop on here try searching this forum and you may see some locations or management companies to try or to avoid.

hope that helps.

[bler144]

$1500 would be ample imo. Even $1100 could work (even nearer in), if you don't mind an older complex. The nice thing about a $1500 budget is it opens up SFH as a potential option.

There are a number of new complexes south of the beltline between Fitchburg and Middleton. In that stretch I hear Province Hill Apts (~7500 Midtown Road) are nice, and attract a lot of Epic employees as well. I'd wager the same is true for the other complexes around since they're pretty much from the most recent wave of city growth/development. Here's a posting for one of the complexes a few blocks west: WOW! Super High Condo Quality 2bdrm/2bath

You said your job will be 2-3 miles from the capitol - I'm curious which direction. The reason being that if you're working east/NE of the capitol, this is probably the wrong direction for your commute and you'd likely be happier either nearer-in west side, or probably better over in the Willy St. area, where it's at least viable $1500 could put you into a decent house rental rather than an apt.

The area I'm pointing you to now is...probably about a 45 minute commute to the capital during peak commute periods. It will be faster over summer and during breaks just because fewer students/faculty taking the same route in to campus. If you're working west/SW of the capital, this area would be fine.

You probably also do want to look around Hilldale, and if you are east/NE of the capitol I would look east side as well, though I'll be less help east of the capitol since I rarely get over there other than generically saying "Willy Street".

[AminWi]

My experience has been that there are far more opportunities in IT on the west side of Madison than the east, and the commute from east to west can be long. Unless you found something on the Isthmus (like the Williamson ("Willy") Street area, which one poster mentioned), your commute will be long at rush hour. Some of the IT companies are quite flexible on start/end times, which helps, but trying to get home from the Verona/Middleton areas to the east side any time around 5PM is not fun.

[Megan1967]

I would look into getting an apartment in Middleton as it has one of the best school districts. There are TONS of nice apartment communities there, you really can't go wrong. If you decided to live in Madison, which I think is a good idea too, I would pick an area where the school feeds into West High School as that is probably the best public high school in the state, more of a prep school than a private school

[Rynldsbr]

You have many choices in your search. There are good answers above, including Middleton, Verona, and Fitchburg. You may also want to look at the Hilldale neighborhood along University Ave as it is very nice and also diverse. Lots of grad students like that area.

The idea of living in between Madison/Milwaukee is also easily done in your price range. Lake Mills is a great little commuter town and has excellent school system, parks, Rock Lake, and a pretty downtown area. Jefferson, and Fort Atkinson offer similar options as well. They open up Madison, Milwaukee, and Janesville as relatively equidistant employment centers.

Just noticed this thread is aging - have you made your move?

[Megan1967]

I didn't see how old it was when I replied. I don't like it when I get caught in that trap. The OP is probably long gone, not even checking this forum anymore.