Thinking of moving to Green Bay. Pros and cons? (Washington: renting, home)

[katharsis]

Thanks, Damba!

Btw, our thinking about buying a small and inexpensive home is that we have a Lab mix and a cat, so we would not want to live in a motel, plus at even $100/nt. (and probably more with a the pet fees), a year's stay would be $36,500. (Even if we got a great long-term rate of $2,000 a month, that would still be $24,000.) So, if we bought a home for, say, $125,000 and even reduced it by $25,000 a year later for a quick sale and even allowing for the Realtor commission, we think that we would still come out just about even -- plus we would have the advantage of a permanent address, storage space for our furniture and other belongings, etc. -- and,, something that is very important, our dog would not be cooped up in a small space.

Also, although we will be on our first scouting trip to Wisconsin during the first week in June, that IS just a scouting trip, as another possibility is northern Pennsylvania. We found Door County by accident, btw, after deciding that finding or building a home in New Hampshire (our first choice) would probably be too expensive for us.

Any input on ANY of the above would be appreciated, and thanks again!

[damba]

Originally Posted by katharsis

Thanks, Damba!

Btw, our thinking about buying a small and inexpensive home is that we have a Lab mix and a cat, so we would not want to live in a motel, plus at even $100/nt. (and probably more with a the pet fees), a year's stay would be $36,500. (Even if we got a great long-term rate of $2,000 a month, that would still be $24,000.) So, if we bought a home for, say, $125,000 and even reduced it by $25,000 a year later for a quick sale and even allowing for the Realtor commission, we think that we would still come out just about even -- plus we would have the advantage of a permanent address, storage space for our furniture and other belongings, etc. -- and,, something that is very important, our dog would not be cooped up in a small space.

Also, although we will be on our first scouting trip to Wisconsin during the first week in June, that IS just a scouting trip, as another possibility is northern Pennsylvania. We found Door County by accident, btw, after deciding that finding or building a home in New Hampshire (our first choice) would probably be too expensive for us.

Any input on ANY of the above would be appreciated, and thanks again!

You would be looking for an apt/condo/townhome/duplex/home rental and storage unit for a year. *Always* less than buying/selling/paying Re taxes on a home. Remember, GB is cheap vs Denver metro.

Example: rent half of an entire house near downtown GB for < $1K/mo. https://greenbay.craigslist.org/apa/...538419352.html
Plenty of space for the dog(!)

(A massive storage unit would probably rent for <$1k for the year. Likely a bit less. YMMV.)

[katharsis]

Originally Posted by damba

You would be looking for an apt/condo/townhome/duplex rental and cheap storage unit for a year. Always less than buying/selling a home. Remember, GB is cheap vs Denver metro.

Yes, but the main point I was making is that for about the same price, we would rather live in a small and inexpensive single family home. Just btw, in doing just a random search on realtor.com,, there are now 60 single family homes in the $100k to $125k range in Green Bay, and in just taking a casual glance, we would probably at least consider about 25% of them. Again, we are not very fussy.

https://www.realtor.com/realestatean...,-87.651009,11

Oh, and also I noticed that most of the above houses DO have garages -- so maybe it was just more of the under-$100k that didn't have them. (Which makes sense, of course.)

Thanks again!

P.S. On Edit -- Sorry, I didn't see the last part of your post above until just now. Great info!!! THANKS!

[andslat]

Originally Posted by katharsis

I didn't want to start a new thread, but my situation is a bit different from the OP's. We are a soon-to-be-retired couple who would like to have our dream home built in Door County. However, as we currently live in the Denver area, we are thinking about possibly buying a small and inexpensive home in Green Bay to live in while we look for a suitable lot and while the home is being built (and then selling the GB home afterward); and so we would like to know which areas you would recommend and which you would advise us to avoid. As we will probably be there for only about a year (to give us time to look for a suitable lot and then continue to live in it while the home is being built), we won't be very choosy -- our main criteria is just that the home be in a quiet and mostly well-kept neighborhood, with most homes in the low 100's. (I already checked on Realtor.com, and that doesn't seem like this price range would be do-able for a smaller and older home, but let me know if I am wrong.)

I also would like to know why so many homes don't seem to have garages. (???) Do people just park on the street, and is that a problem during the winter?

Thanks in advance for any input!

I grew up in Southern Door County and currently live in Green Bay. Why don’t you look for a home in Sturgeon Bay? And then you could probably rent in out after you move into your new house.

[LaughMadden]

Well for beginners Green Bay is a pretty safe city. There’s some crime but not much shootings. There is no partying in Green Bay and by partying I mean clubs. There’s a few but not many. There is no nightlife. Usually Green Bay is “shut down” by 9:30 PM on pretty much all nights of the year except for 4th of July and a few others. There is no traffic or not much. The suburbs are very nice and friendly places. A coffee shop would probably be pretty successful in Green Bay but also in the suburbs around. It’s a very nice city except for some of the weather we get.

[Rtrich]

Born & raised there. It's a nice city. Population count in most articles you'll read are a little deceiving, as there are many outlying areas that border GB proper like Ashwaubenon, Allouez, DePere, Howard, Suamico, Belleview. These are not 'tiny burgs' and they add to the population of the Green Bay area substantially.

Of course If you like football, you'll love it here. The city evolves around the Packers. Season tickets are very hard to come by, but if you keep your eyes & ears open, one can usually get tickets for individual games via friends, place of employment or some other means to get into at least 1 game per season.

Crime is fairly low, however, things have been changing for the worse in the area lately. Many more shootings around the city in the last 8 months than usual. 3 years ago you never heard of one. Lately it's been 1 per week. Local Law Enf states it's a rivalry between 2 families (or gangs) who's doing them all. This appears to be the case. Nevertheless they're happening.

Cost of living is reasonable. Unemployment is also fairly low here due to ample industry - Fort Howard Paper, P&G, Farming (dairy & crop) are also huge and Wisconsin cheese is the best!

A recent post states there's no night life here. Not sure how he/she defines 'nightlife', but there's bars & nightclubs galore around GB! Wisconsin is a drinking state and GB is a drinking town. There IS a nightlife here, if you want that.

Essentially the city has been good to me in my 65 years of life, EXCEPT -- The winters are BRUTAL and LONG! Expect plenty of below zero temps throughout the winter, sometimes dipping down to -50! Common to see below zero temps throughout Jan & Feb. If you like that, you'll love GB. If you like ice fishing or snowmobiling or snow skiing you'll probably like it.

But for me, after many years of cold winters and several cases of frostbite, I'm looking to the south to migrate. 2 years from now I'll be gone.

However, it was for the most part a good run. Had a good childhood here. Still is a good place to raise a family. The winters just got to be too much.

[GraniteStater]

^
With Wind Chill perhaps, but there no actual air temperatures of -50F in Green Bay. Green Bay is mild compared to areas Up North. I've seen air temperatures close to -40F in Vilas County without wind chill, and I've spent lots of time there in the middle of winter unlike the city tourists who are only there in the summer.

[WK91]

Originally Posted by Trump_Fan1

I'm surprised there isn't a recent thread for Green Bay. In fact, this entire forum is quiet for a state.

About me: work from home, would like to start a business (coffee shop).

Interested in small town feel, good people, community, but city large enough to support activities and lifestyle.

Did you ever start a coffee shop somewhere? Always interesting to try and follow up on old posts and see what happened.

But in Phoenix, people are crazy about Dutch Brothers in a way I have never seen before. Even when it’s like 110 degrees out, they are lined up to buy. It’s ridiculous, it’s just coffee, right?

Anyway, if Green Bay doesn’t have a Dutch Brothers Coffee, they should probably open one. I’d be shocked if it didn’t do well there.

[mrkool]

Originally Posted by WK91

Did you ever start a coffee shop somewhere? Always interesting to try and follow up on old posts and see what happened.

But in Phoenix, people are crazy about Dutch Brothers in a way I have never seen before. Even when it’s like 110 degrees out, they are lined up to buy. It’s ridiculous, it’s just coffee, right?

Anyway, if Green Bay doesn’t have a Dutch Brothers Coffee, they should probably open one. I’d be shocked if it didn’t do well there.

This thread has been a disaster. First, katharsis hijacked the thread. Then of course, the OP never responded back, and even better yet, it appears that shortly after starting this post, they relocated to Colorado!

[katharsis]

Originally Posted by mrkool

This thread has been a disaster. First, katharsis hijacked the thread. Then of course, the OP never responded back, and even better yet, it appears that shortly after starting this post, they relocated to Colorado!

That was not my intention. However, in checking back, it should be noted the the first post was made in April 2017, and the last addition to the thread before I wrote my post was in May 2017, which was almost ten months before my post (in March 2018, almost three years ago). If a person starts a thread and then doesn't make another post for almost a year, I really don't think anyone should be chastised for adding to it, even if it was not directly in response to the OP. (This happens often in other threads, too, btw.)

Sorry if you disagree and think that you were correct to criticize both me and the thread in general -- but why do you care so much?