Moving to Milwaukee (Franklin, Oak Creek, Greendale: real estate, crime, house)

[irishjenn]

My husband and I are moving to Milwaukee. We want to be on the south side. What are some great areas to move to with semi modern homes? Is there any areas you would suggest to avoid? How far of a drive is it to Chicago? We don't have kids yet, BUT school districts are a factor also.... Any info you can give me about your city would be AWESOME! Thanks so much!

[northbound74]

For newer homes, I'd say look south of Oklahoma St. in general. Of course, a lot of the newer stuff is in the suburbs like Franklin and Oak Creek. My personal favorite is Greendale. It has a little of everything. Can't find much to complain about other than I wish there was a small grocery store on Broad St, and maybe a hardware store too... and there's no lake front property.

Chicago is about an hour and a half away. Northern Chicago suburbs are much closer than that.
Don't know enough about city schools to comment. The suburbs mentioned above all have good schools from what I gather.

[stackwalker]

I live in Franklin and the school district is hard to beat. Greendale is nice in that there is a lot more commerce nearby, and has a little more charm. Franklin is just a suburban sprawl. Oak Creek has Howell Ave which has become quite the development in the last 5 years and the schools are also very good.

[Snixy]

Originally Posted by irishjenn

My husband and I are moving to Milwaukee. We want to be on the south side. What are some great areas to move to with semi modern homes? Is there any areas you would suggest to avoid?

When you say modern do you mean newer or modern style?

If you mean newer I'm with Northbound all the way - Greendale is a fantastic little town, and the schools are very good.

If you mean modern in style well, that gets interesting. There are some fantastic modern homes on the South side of the city of Milwaukee, but they are almost entirely located in neighborhoods that are less than fantastic. I would have seriously considered living there just to have a Wright "American System-Built Home", but I wouldn't now that I have a little one. The crime is part of it, the other reason is that Milwaukee Public Schools are just not that good. If you're going to live in the city you'll probably want to factor private school tuition into your cost of living.

[Snixy]

Originally Posted by northbound74

Can't find much to complain about other than I wish there was a small grocery store on Broad St, and maybe a hardware store too... and there's no lake front property.
.

Do you/have you lived in Greendale long? Remember when there was the True Value Hardware on Broad St before Reiman bought everything? And of course, my mom always tells me about how she would walk from the family house on Municipal Sq. to pick things up at the grocery store in the village when she was a child.

I also had a chuckle when you said no lake front property - my cousin's real estate agent listed his home on Clover St as being a waterfront property because the yard sits along Dale Creek!