Maple Bluff

What it is actually like

A village of about thirteen hundred people on the Mendota north shore, with the deepest frontage lots in the county and a country club at the middle of it.

Maple Bluff is its own village with its own police department and public works, which is the first thing new buyers notice when the snow comes off the streets before Madison's. The housing stock runs from 1920s lakeside colonials to a small number of 2000s rebuilds, and lots are generous by Dane County standards.

Frontage here faces east and southeast, so the mornings are bright on the water and the afternoon wind comes over your shoulder rather than into the landing. Bluff lots on the north end sit high with stairs down to the pier, while the south end near the governor's residence is flatter and easier to walk.

The trade is price and inventory. Maple Bluff turns over perhaps twenty homes a year and frontage listings can be fewer than ten. Buyers who want this village usually wait for the right property rather than the right month.

Who tends to buy here

• Buyers who want deep east-facing frontage
• Short commute to downtown
• Established gardens and mature canopy