Neighborhoods/ suburbs on east side of Madison (Milwaukee, Monroe: renting, houses)

[m_tregidga]

We moved from out of state a few months ago and have been renting in the willy st. neighborhood for a few months. Though a fun place to live, we don't see it as our "forever" neighborhood. We're now looking to buy and I'm having trouble finding the kind of neighborhood we're looking for. We need to be either on the East side of Madison or in one of the eastern suburbs, as my husband commutes to Milwaukee a couple of times a week. We're looking to pay $250-300K for a 4 bedroom house.

The problem is that I prefer everything we've seen on the West side of Madison more than the east. We want an established neighborhood (i.e., has full grown trees and not cookie-cutter houses) with good schools and good sized yards. I like the Marquette/atwood neighborhood, but the yards are small and I'm not crazy about the schools (I've heard not great things about East HS). Monona is a possibility, too. But are there other nearby towns/neighborhoods that would fit the bill? We would go as far East as Lake Mills, but really prefer to be closer to Madison. I'm curious about Cottage Grove, Deerfield, McFarland, etc.

Thanks!

[Megan1967]

When you say the Willy Street neighborhood, do you live anywhere near Orton Park? There are a lot of homes around there that remind me of the near west side (Monroe Street/Regent Street/ Edgewood College area).