Possible move to Madison, WI (Franklin, Middleton: sale, assessor, how much)

[Ashca]

Hi everyone!

My husband recently had an interview with a company in Madison, WI and I'd love to get an idea of the area and surrounding suburbs. Also- we've been looking at Maple Grove, MN as a potential, so a comparison between the two would be great.

What suburbs around Madison would be the nicest place to raise a family? What school district's are the best (elementary age)? We would like to keep the commute to around 30 mins and under, pending we find the right neighborhood. We're looking for a safe community with a house in the $400,000 range.

How much annual snow do you have? We live in Seattle, but are originally from Canada. One of the main reasons for the move is our hate for the constant grey/rain, and our love for snow (very little in Seattle).

Thanks so much!!

[Megan1967]

You can live just about anywhere you want for $400,000 in Madison.

I would suggest Middleton. It is a nice little town, has excellent schools and is convenient to everything you'd want to have access to in Madison.

Verona is also considered very nice and has a good school district. It is just a bit far out for my taste, but really not that bad. About 10-15 minutes from the Madison border with good roads in between. Verona Road/ Midvale does get a bit congested during rush hour, however.

[Megan1967]

In Madison, the Regent Street Neighborhood and Monroe Street/ Dugeon neighborhoods are nice, too and have good schools - Franklin/Randall for grade school, Hamilton for Middle School and West High School. West High School is more like a prep school than a public high school. The graduates of West can pretty much pick their college/university and there are always some that go on to be Rhodes Scholars Their students always score really high on the ACTs and SATs. I think they have several valedictorians because so many kids are high achievers. Great extracurriculars, too. Sending your kids to these schools would be even better than the suburbs and you can afford a house in that area with your budget.

[Megan1967]

I would double check on the mill rate (property taxes) before you buy as many people are shocked by the taxes here. My friend who moved to Seattle 3 years ago pays less taxes on her house out there and it is valued at twice as much as her former home in Madison. So that is a factor in how much you want to spend on your house.

[gmdm]

If your budget is in the $400k range, that opens up a huge number of options, both within Madison itself, and in nearly all of its suburbs. There's really a number of excellent options, and to filter the list down, you'd need to think through and provide some more details on the following:

1) Where in the Madison is the job? That will affect which suburbs fall in your <30 minute commute.
2) Do you prefer a more urban, suburban, or rural setting?
3) What else is important to you, beside schools? (Access to airport, public transit, parks, etc).

As others have alluded to, you'll find a bigger bang for your buck in terms of house and lot size further out from Madison, with the drawback that you'll have a longer commute into town.

As far as snow goes... according to the internets, we average about 4 ft per season. That's really not a lot compared to other midwestern cities (we are spared the so-called "lake effect" snow.) So in my experience we get 2 or 3 real winter storms per season that will dump 6 or 8 inches all at once, and then a bunch of days with flurries that gradually make up the rest of the accumulation. So yes, we get enough snow here to go sledding and skiing and maybe even cancel school a day or two, but its definitely not Buffalo or Cleveland in that sense.

That said, it does get COLD here! I really notice the cold much more than the snow. Last winter was kind of an outlier with the "polar vortex" that kept things well below zero for days/weeks at a time... but even a normal winter will be much colder, for much longer, than what you're probably used to in Seattle.

[Megan1967]

Actually, the last two years we had 5 and 6 feet of snow. We did have 4' three years ago, but 4 years ago we had a little over 6' of snow. That averages out to 5.25' of snow each winter. I got these stats from the Wisconsin State Climatology (UW Madison) website. I hope this doesn't count as a "competitors" site and get deleted. If it does, I'm pretty much done with this group and I'm not working for free for a commercial enterprise.

[Rynldsbr]

Agree with gmdm regarding the availability of homes in the $400k range being excellent. Only some of the high end or lakeshore communities will be an obstacle in that price range, as long as you watch the tax rates.

The bigger issue is what type of neighborhood do you want to live in. This is not just about a suburb versus downtown thing. This can sometimes become more of a eco-nazi versus soccer-mom type of question. Madison is a great city and offers a wide variety of lifestyles and world views for a small metro area. You may want to spend a little time researching the neighborhoods and where the various viewpoints are in each. It can be quite an interesting observation.

Also, traffic in Madison is much worse than many (any that I know of) cities of similar size. This is largely due to the forefathers putting the Capital in the most beautiful spot imaginable - right between two lakes. The isthmus makes navigating across town a challenge when it is commuting hour. You will save your significant other some considerable frustration by choosing a community on the same side of the city in which employment is located. Now, having said that, I commuted from Johnson Creek, WI to west side Madison (Hilldale Mall area) and was usually 40 minutes door to door. Bad days could be an hour and a half though.

Overall the education system will be excellent in most areas around Madison. Wisconsin schools in general are competitive at all grade levels when compared nationally. A few of the school districts are growing significantly and are adding resources to make up for shortcomings that have been noted over time.

You will see plenty of snow compared to the Seattle area. The good news is it is usually cleared well and roads remain easily passable except in the very worst of storms.

[ranger17]

yeah i don't put much into published averages anymore. One of the last winters before we migrated south, was the "once in a lifetime" over 100" of snow..... then it seemed to duplicate itself the following year lol. Other years can be mild for snow but harsh for temps. But of course i'm typing this while back up in WI hoping those harsh winters are only a memory.


OP, as others have stated, on paper $400k can buy a nice home in many areas here, but make sure you calculate the taxes into what your total housing budget is to be. Taxes on the homes in the 200's that we looked at in a couple Madison 'burbs this summer, ranged from $4k-6k (yep, 6k in taxes on a 230k home). That home would have had a $500 per month hit just for the taxes which can greatly affect one's plans, was an immediate reason for us to walk away from it.

Most home sale sites should show the previous year's taxes on their listings, to get you an idea on what specific homes could run. And most utility companies once you have an actual address, can give you a history of costs so you can see what they can run in winter here (again for reference).

[JoshB]

I live in Middleton and have to recommend it. My wife and I have just hit our 3 year anniversary of being Middleton residents. We don't have any children but our neighbors praise the Middleton School District. You can get a very nice home in the city or in the outlying areas for that kind of money.

Downtown Middleton is nice and has some nice restaurants for different tastes. The library is also very nice is constantly holding different events. Middleton has easy access to Madison's west side and downtown via University Avenue.

As Ranger17 mentioned, you'll want to check property taxes on potential residences.

This link will provide property tax information to any property within Dane County. You can search by address or name.
https://accessdane.countyofdane.com/


This link will provide additional details about properties within the City of Madison. It also includes square footage, bedrooms, bathrooms, year built etc. You can search by address or name.
City Assessor - City of Madison, Wisconsin

[KileyK]

Rynsldbr, how do you determine what a neighborhood is like? When you describe Eco-nazi vs soccer mom? Is it an east side vs west side or more specific to individual neighborhoods? We still haven't found a house there and really couldn't tell from just driving around. Won't a house fairly close to the University have a mixture of people in it? Alittle of both?