Rental Agent Recommendation for Madison, WI
April 8, 2016 5:57 PM Subscribe
My partner and I are getting ready to move to Madison in June. We are thinking that we might need some help locating a rental. Does anyone know a good real estate agent who works as a rental agent or apartment locator? We would love to find a flat, duplex, or small house, but failing that an apartment would be fine too. Snowflake details inside.
We are moving to Madison from Austin on June 6. My partner is going to be starting a medical residency based out of St. Mary's Hospital and I'll be working at home. We are looking at areas around St. Vilas, Monroe St., and the Isthmus--trying for something close to the hospital but not filled with undergrads or right downtown. I'm pretty interested in a place where I can walk to a coffee shop, corner store, and a bar or two.
I figured we would be able to find a place that would fit the bill, but I was unprepared for how many places are on the August 15th rental cycle.
We are going to spend the weekend of April 22nd in Madison, with the goal of coming away with a rental application submitted somewhere.
I'm thinking that we will do better if we use some sort of rental agent or apartment locator service. I used a service like this in Austin once and it worked pretty well. I did some light googling, and didn't see a similar service in Madison. Does anyone have recommendations? Ideally, I'd like to use an agent who would put some effort into locating duplex units, flats, and houses in addition to apartments. However, in my prior experience, rental agents tend to steer folks toward large apartment buildings, for pretty understandable reasons, so if that is the situation, that's fine too.
Anyway, any assistance (or housing leads or other advice) would be greatly appreciated!
We are moving to Madison from Austin on June 6. My partner is going to be starting a medical residency based out of St. Mary's Hospital and I'll be working at home. We are looking at areas around St. Vilas, Monroe St., and the Isthmus--trying for something close to the hospital but not filled with undergrads or right downtown. I'm pretty interested in a place where I can walk to a coffee shop, corner store, and a bar or two.
I figured we would be able to find a place that would fit the bill, but I was unprepared for how many places are on the August 15th rental cycle.
We are going to spend the weekend of April 22nd in Madison, with the goal of coming away with a rental application submitted somewhere.
I'm thinking that we will do better if we use some sort of rental agent or apartment locator service. I used a service like this in Austin once and it worked pretty well. I did some light googling, and didn't see a similar service in Madison. Does anyone have recommendations? Ideally, I'd like to use an agent who would put some effort into locating duplex units, flats, and houses in addition to apartments. However, in my prior experience, rental agents tend to steer folks toward large apartment buildings, for pretty understandable reasons, so if that is the situation, that's fine too.
Anyway, any assistance (or housing leads or other advice) would be greatly appreciated!
I'm sorry I don't know of any apartment locator services in Madison. I can recommend foundry apartments: foundryapts.com as a great property management company.
Location tips: Avoid the Badger Road area. You may look into properties on Olin Ave and in the Bay Creek neighborhood. Historically, Park Street was a relatively high crime area, but the Olin area has been gentrified and Park Street has some great restaurants and bars now. Within walking distance of the hospital, less expensive as Vilas and Monroe. If you didn't need to be close to St.Mary's, I would recommend the Atwood neighborhood as the most fun and walkable.
One more thing: This is the UW Madison student rental board. Check here and craigslist and you may find a sublet that you can sign on to rent for another year.
Welcome!
posted by areaperson at 6:45 PM on April 8, 2016
Location tips: Avoid the Badger Road area. You may look into properties on Olin Ave and in the Bay Creek neighborhood. Historically, Park Street was a relatively high crime area, but the Olin area has been gentrified and Park Street has some great restaurants and bars now. Within walking distance of the hospital, less expensive as Vilas and Monroe. If you didn't need to be close to St.Mary's, I would recommend the Atwood neighborhood as the most fun and walkable.
One more thing: This is the UW Madison student rental board. Check here and craigslist and you may find a sublet that you can sign on to rent for another year.
Welcome!
posted by areaperson at 6:45 PM on April 8, 2016
Welcome to Madison! I've lived in Madison for more than 10 years, and I'm not familiar with real estate agents for rentals or apartment brokers here the way they exist in other cities. You are right, a lot of stuff in the areas close to Meriter hospital are going to be on August to August leases. Consider looking on the sublet section of craigslist, a lot of people people affiliated with UW want to sublet the last few months of their lease and a lot of times you can sign a "new" lease for August in the same apartment.
If you need any "boots on the ground" help on your hunt while you are here (or before or after) let me know, I'm happy to help!
posted by mjcon at 7:00 PM on April 8, 2016 [1 favorite]
If you need any "boots on the ground" help on your hunt while you are here (or before or after) let me know, I'm happy to help!
posted by mjcon at 7:00 PM on April 8, 2016 [1 favorite]
Not a recommendation for an agent, per se, but for someone who may be able to help you out.
I lived in Madison for 7 years, for the last 4 of which I rented a great place from The McBride Companies. I really liked the landlord, Phil, who was very attentive and considerate, and who maintained his properties extremely well. Seems like the company has grown since I left town about 10 years ago, and good for them, since they're good at what they do.
posted by Dr. Wu at 6:05 AM on April 9, 2016
I lived in Madison for 7 years, for the last 4 of which I rented a great place from The McBride Companies. I really liked the landlord, Phil, who was very attentive and considerate, and who maintained his properties extremely well. Seems like the company has grown since I left town about 10 years ago, and good for them, since they're good at what they do.
posted by Dr. Wu at 6:05 AM on April 9, 2016
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posted by rachelpapers at 6:28 PM on April 8, 2016