What about Cottage Grove WI (Madison, Fitchburg: middle-class, real estate, crime)

[jessicaplayful]

My family and I are looking to move to Madison area next year. I've been searching real estate and was wondering if anyone could tell me about Cottage Grove. I'm assuming it's conservative (I'm liberal but have been living amongst conservatives peacably for most of my life). Is the area attractive? It seems like a decent commute to Madison.

Any information will be greatly appreciated!
Thanks

[7G9C4J2]

Cottage Grove is a nice little bedroom community, and it is indeed quite close to Madison. The commute, even in the winter, wouldn't be a bad one at all.

There is a bit of a difference between the "old" Cottage Grove, which was mostly farming families and historical buildings, and the "new" Cottage Grove, which is comprised of various housing developments ranging from middle-class to McMansion sized spreads. My own preference is always for an older home, which I think has more character and is frequently sturdier than contemporary construction, but that's a very individual preference. You can certainly find beautiful homes in Cottage Grove.

[jessicaplayful]

Thank you so much for the info, it's really helpful.

[gold*dust1]

Originally Posted by jessicaplayful

My family and I are looking to move to Madison area next year. I've been searching real estate and was wondering if anyone could tell me about Cottage Grove. I'm assuming it's conservative (I'm liberal but have been living amongst conservatives peacably for most of my life). Is the area attractive? It seems like a decent commute to Madison.

Any information will be greatly appreciated!
Thanks

Cottage Grove is a very small with not much of a downtown flavor. It has several subdivisions in town and several more in the surrounding country side. No the actual town is not what I would describe as attractive. It has some nice housing but I was surprised to see one of the subdivisions in town looking a little run down after about 9 years of being built. Things like the yards and houses not being kept up.

[gladstar]

If you are looking to relocate to the Madison area with a family, take note that Cottage Grove does not have a library. There was a library commitee in th past but was dissolved. All they have is the bookmobile service a few times a week. Also the school system is split between Monona and Cottage Grove. Cottage Grove is dependent on Madison for almost all businesses.

[firefly119]

Cottage Grove does not have a really friendly atmosphere and as gold dust stated ..it is a pretty blah subdivision. Sun Prairie is a larger subdivision but you can do most things in SP that you can do im Madison. Just built a multi million dollar high school, there is a new Target, several different grocery stores and plenty of things to do for the kids. The bad...no bus for the kids to get to and from school and property taxes are outrageous. If I was going to move to a community outside of Madison I would look at McFarland or Sun Prairie.

[dlk33]

Then again, some would say Cottage Grove would be a better choice then Sun Praire. While Sun Praire does have more shopping options without going to Madison, crime is getting worse there. Both are an easy drive into Madison though. I believe I would find myself driving into Madison more often if I did live in Cottage Grove though. The newer Cottage Grove area is closer to Madison, almost like living in Madison. Really all that is there is newer subdivisions. The older Cottage Grove is about ten minutes further away from Madison, out of town. Other options could be DeForest, Waunakee, Middleton, Fitchburg, Monona. They are all a convenient drive into Madison. It really depends what you're looking for.