I am trying to help my daughter and her husband find a new home in the Milwaukee area.  They have 3 small children (6 & under) and are leaving a large neighborhood of new homes with comparable families to move to Milwaukee.  The home/neighborhood they are leaving is new construction owned by young couples mostly in their late 20's and early 30's starting their families.

Can anyone steer me toward a part of town/neighborhood that has proximity to the Menomonee Falls area and fits the description above?  The price range the kids are looking at is in the high $2's to low $3's.  I believe they'd prefer a new home, possibly a spec home on the market.  They are ready to buy.

Thanks in advance.

Also, when traveling through Chicago by car, when is the best time to avoid the traffic?

In "The Falls" target:
Pilgrim road north of Good Hope,
Pilgrim road south of Silver Spring
Mill road east of Lilly road.

Germantown would be a nice area also.

Traveling through Chicago...............BaaaaaaaaaaaaHaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhHaaaaaaaaaah
Seriously though, from what direction would you be coming from?  During the late evening hours 10pm. > 1am.

Depends on where in the falls they need proximity too, but there are a lot of new developments and sitting spec homes to the north.  I'm in West bend and they are all over the place.  I know Jackson has quite a few, also grafton.  Jackson/west bend/slinger/grafton are all pretty close to a hwy, so it could be an option.

This weekend is actually the tour of homes up here:

http://www.westbendbuilders.com/tour.htm

I sent them an email letting them know that the scroll doesn't work on that page....but if you highlight the text and drag the cursor down, you can see the houses further down the page.  Hopefully they fix it.

The falls is nice but the father west the better, maybe even look into a suburb farther west. The hood is creeping up as the housing prices are going down. 107th is about the "edge" of the good part of town at this point (espeically if they have kids and want to stay there a while), as you go farther east it gets worse.

if they have kids, they should be looking as far west as possible.
do you want your grand kids speaking ebonics and being exposed to drugs at a very young age? not saying they wont be exposed to that at any school they go to, but it will be considered "less normal" in the better schools

Chicago would be between 10:30AM and 2PM and 7PM to 5AM (Friday the time table is out the window).  I often drove from Milwaukee to Indiana the last three years.  I would wait to leave Milwaukee until 6PM so I would be in Chicago at 7:30PM this would be the best for my traffic sanity.  As an aside, the drivers there tend to not practice common courtesy, ie. expect no one to ever let you in when changing lanes.

edit: Check out some construction plans, I know they are on a 500 year plan of redoing 294.

Travel through Chicago?  2AM.

Look at Germantown, Lannon, and Colgate/Hubertus first.  Colgate might be the most promising for the criteria your looking for (lots of newer subdivisions)

Erin, Hartland, and Hartford if they don't mind driving 15 minutes of backroads to get to work.  West Bend, Ritchfield, and Jackson are also possibilities.

With their budget, they shouldn't have an issue finding something that fits.

I live in Sullivan, and commute the 45 miles to the Falls/the NW side of MKE.  While my trip is a bit extreme,  it's pretty normal for lots of folks around here to commute 30+ minutes to work.

SAY WHAT???  We speak pretty good English in Ozaukee County and we're east of The Falls.  

We also have a couple of good shooting clubs which is a nice little bonus.

Do them a favor and have them commute, MKE county is a tax island, falling home prices, high taxes, etc, it makes it an undesirable place to live, and terrible place to ever sell a house when they want to leave.  The some of the worst school districts in the state reside in that county, although the addition of school choice makes things a bit better on that front.  Waukesha counties, Washington, Ozaukee are all much better options.  A home in the high 200's low 300's will have an ungodly high property tax in MKE, and you will not find many people willing to ever buy a house worth that much in MKE again with the tax burden, seriously avoid that county like the plague.

As long as they are conservative we would welcome them in Germantown.     Its a great place to raise a family.  I have 3 kids- 3, 6, and 8.

Yes, anywhere outside of Milwaukee county that's comutable to Milwaukee is good, Waukesha, north Racine, or south Ozaukee county is fine. Save for maybe the island mini-ghetto in downtown Waukesha city proper, or that section 8 development in New Berlin if the fed.gov wins the lawsuit forcing the city to let it be built.

 

Oh snap I'm in the area too... just moved away from 84th + Greenfield, now I'm on 53rd and Mitchell (West Milwaukee). I'm planning on buying a house next year and you are correct the taxes here are INSANE.

These are my parents.  They are no BS and will steer you in the right path.http://homesalerealty.com/Agents/AgentView.aspx?id=6084

You have 3 parents?  j/k not busting your balls but who needs a buyer realtor these days?  Wth MLS tools online these days your better off finding the house you want, then working with the realtor that has the house listed, you tell them "hey how about you cut your comminsion by 1-2% give me a kickback on the price of the house, and I dont go get a buyers realtor and cut your commison in half.  Its a win win for both involved parties.

What a small world.... Jackie is a friend of mine (but not my parent )

Oh shit... talk about from the frying pan to the fire in terms of the "creeping hood". Although living near the southwest corner of State Fair had to SUCK too.

Having recently moved here, the best advice we were given was to not live in Milwaukee county.  We would not have done it anyway, but like minded people we met here ALL said the same thing.  Wisconsin has a lot to offer and great people too, missing out on that would be a mistake.  They can always drive in to Milwaukee.

I drive through Chicago all the time, an I-Pass is your friend 24/7 but especially when the traffic is heavy.  The tolls back up and you drive on by.  If you plan to make more than one trip per year, get one.  Also, tolls are half price with the pass.
I-Pass

If you come from the Indiana direction, I always go 90 to 90/94 and take the toll roads.  You either go in well before rush hour or AFTER 9:30am but you will "fly" through.  It is all timing.  No reason to be in a rush to sit 2 hours in traffic.  Beat it or wait it out.  After 1pm on any summer Friday, either direction, it is partly luck.  If you can't stomach tolls, test your luck on 94 all the way or 294.

On your return trip, never, never take 80/94 outbound on the South side on any day.  It is a crap shoot on traffic.  Realize even if you drive 294 on the return trip it will put you on that death trap.  Go 94 to 90 and follow 90 out of town.

Last Saturday I went to Indy and back.  On my return trip to WI, I saw one of the largest traffic jams I have ever seen on 94 outbound.  It was a good reminder why for the last 20 years I never drive that stretch of road.  I say this and I have lived in LA and Atlanta.  I had detoured from my normal route to see a friend which is the only reason I was even on 94 going in to town on the South side instead of 90.

To all that shared their opinions, thank you.  The kids bought in Sussex which is close to my son in law's new employer.  They'll be making their permanent move in a week or two.

Sweveral homes in my neighborhood in Oak Creek for sale. High 2s low 3s. Most homes are only 5 years old. Lots of young kids, safe (numerous cops/current & former .mil), elementary school within walking distance. Send me a PM if you want some links to nearby,listings...

Suppose I should finish reading the thread before posting...  

I liked the area (we moved this spring for a new job).  Fairly quiet, easy to get to.  Have them go to Tony Maronni's for pizza - little pricier, but my wife and I got addicted (I'd suggest the Noah or Pesto Chicken).  Main Moon was our preferred Chinese take out spot.



ETA: If they are near the armory park, tell them to keep their eyes open mornings and evenings - we caught a good number of hot air balloons launching/landing there.