Market Trajectory For Southeastern Wisconsin

[Doolan Wesley]

Hey everyone, so I purchased my first duplex in Bay View, which is an insanely hot market at the moment. I want to hear from some experienced individuals. What's the consensus on purchasing properties in Saint Francis, Cudahy, and South Milwaukee. These cities border the lake and you would think that as Milwaukee, WI grows and develops, a you would see investors look to these neighborhoods. It seems like there is SO MUCH development in Oak Creek, WI by Howell Avenue, why is there relatively no economic development right by the lake in these cities?

I'm familiar with these neighborhoods, I grew up in South Milwaukee and I now live in Bay View. They are not bad neighborhoods. I want to see what the real estate experts around Milwaukee think. Additionally, I have $50k liquid for any cash deal, but I'm looking for experienced partners to help with my second real estate venture.

[Matt Maurice]

I'm far from an expert on development... but here is my 2 cents, for what it's worth.

Development is expensive, risky, capital intensive and takes a long time.  Developers aren't putting up 100's of millions with their own cash on speculation, they are raising money through various different avenues.  Those money investors are analyzing deals (often all over the country) and modeling out the risk/reward of the venture.  

When looking at the demographics of South Milwaukee, Cudahy and St Francis, they don't really pop on a spreadsheet, whereas Oak Creek, Milwaukee, Wauwatosa, Brookfield have the sexy numbers they look for (median income, population growth, job opportunities, disposal income, schools excl. mke).  Not to downplay the importance of geography, but it tends not to be the primary indicator when evaluating a development deal.  You can further dive into the municipality, not just in tif's or financial incentives but how easy it is to do business and push a project through their system.  

You can lump West Allis into the same category of the places you mentioned.   Although they are starting to see some development from players like Mandel, Cobalt and Ogden, the city was geographically poised for an economic boom 10 years ago and only now is it starting to attract real attention due to various challenges previously mentioned (demographics and ease of business being the top two, in my opinion).  

I'd suspect the areas south of Bay View will start to get some attention in the near future, but if the economy were to top out in the next year or two, I'd venture a guess it won't happen until the next upcycle, at the soonest.