So, I'm currently browsing all the easy listing engines, zillow, realtor, the rest, trying to get a feel for what's available, what things are priced at etc... and simultaneously bouncing that off an interesting recent experience of my own.

I guess I can start by giving a quick blip of our experience over this summer. My wife owns our family home in the River West neighborhood here in Milwaukee. We are just behind Colectivo and one block from the river itself for those that know the area well enough. The home was purchased at the height of the bubble with all signs indicating River West and Brewers Hill were about to boom, or boom even more I guess.

Long story a bit shorter, here we are in the house all these years later thinking we can do a cash out refi as a move to use the cash, improve the property, and sell possibly moving up into the north shore area.

Being that my wife has done REO analysis for MGIC she has tons of experience valuing homes, looking at comparables, estimating value of repairs etc... She was convinced we would get an appraisal in a certain range. We did not. The appraiser used a comp on Buffum St. (again anyone that truly knows this niche market should understand that red flag. Yes, same zip, same signs on the street poles saying "River West", worlds apart. The difference five ten blocks can make.) We still refied for other reasons but weren't able to cash out. We literally had offers sitting for our needed price but just weren't ready to move making it impossible to accept them.

Here we are at the end of a summer that saw very little listings in the neighborhood and tons of buyers. We recently checked one of the comps used and saw it sold for almost 100,000 more than the original asking price after a bidding war!

Needless to say we are still a little upset the appraisal came without any understanding of the current market. $500 bucks and lessons learned.

Well if you've stuck it out through that boring story till now, I'll get to my point. It seems to me knowing the specific market, which way a neighborhood is going, etc... is all extremely important in this thing. That being said I'd like to strike up a conversation on speculation of specific Milwaukee neighborhoods. Brewers Hill and River West finally pulling themselves out of the crisis and seeing values on the rise again. How much does the new bucks arena effect Brewers Hill? How long before River Westers brave the Holton St. divide in a critical mass changing that neighborhood significantly? Every year one more house on Holton has a fresh coat of paint, a new porch, roof, landscaping etc... Harambe the next hipster haven? Bay view? How much growth is left specifically? Do people push into Lincoln Village eventually? I know a few artist types who are there now for its proximity to BV, cheap rents, and great tacos. That's how it always starts isn't it? The whole south side? Foxcon creates a similar situation to the mission district of San Francisco? Walkers Point is clearly really taking big steps towards that future. I'd go as far as to say so is Silver City with the changes we are seeing in the valley. Layton blvd/27th and it's beautiful big homes (Frank Loyd ring a bell?). Sherman park and it's big beautiful homes on Sherman/43rd. Back to Bay View, what about the rest of the south shore? St Francis, Cudahay, and the rest? There's only so much shore line. What's growth look like in those areas?

What's the scoop? Tell me what you think? Where's the next big neighborhood in Milwaukee. Where can you get in now, fight the storm, and come out in the next big neighborhood. Is it worth thinking about or do we all stick to nothing but Brady and Farwell /east side, renting around the college, River West, bay view, brewers Hill, Walkers point, and follow the herd? What does Milwaukees future look like? We can even go as far as the rest of the south eastern WI area. Do hipsters invade downtown Waukesha in droves driving prices unexpectedly sky high?

I think this conversation could prove useful to out of state investors as well. Like I said above, in Milwaukee the difference a few blocks can make are, or can be pretty significant.

Anyway, love to hear what you all think.

Milwaukee, Wisconsin

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