Which area I should look for apartments in Ann Arbor? (Detroit: renter, crime)

[Jack_Tauson_Sr]

Will be moving in a couple of months' time to the Ann Arbor area for work at the University of Michigan and wondering what areas are good for a family of 3 (including one toddler). Work is remote for now so I'm not worried about the closest distance to the university.

Thanks!

[craig11152]

If you ever have to go in would you buy a parking permit and drive or would you want to take a bus?
How far would you be willing to drive if you have to go in to an office occasionally?
If you had to go in occasionally would it be on campus or off campus?

My credentials for helping:
Lived in A2 since 1984
Drive a school bus for AAPS
Wife works for University, from home since Covid, but has to go in twice a month.

[scorpio516]

Which part of campus?
If you are down by the Athletic campus, there's a ton of cheap parking and you could live anywhere
If you are on North campus, there are a couple commuter lot on Glazier way or Hubbard which are harder to get to from the west or south side of town (BUT I did commute to North campus for a couple years from Dexter)
If you are on central campus, unless your on the periphery and paying a lot for parking, your going to take a bus. My wife work at LSA for a couple years and bought an expensive Blue tag to park right there while commuting from the west side, west of Stadium.

Really any place in Ann Arbor is great. All the schools are good. All the towns are great except for Ypsi. If you were buying, I'd suggest Dexter or Chelsea for schools.
The area between Stadium and Maple used to be where the most property crime would happen in town.

[Jack_Tauson_Sr]

Originally Posted by craig11152

If you ever have to go in would you buy a parking permit and drive or would you want to take a bus?
How far would you be willing to drive if you have to go in to an office occasionally?
If you had to go in occasionally would it be on campus or off campus?

My credentials for helping:
Lived in A2 since 1984
Drive a school bus for AAPS
Wife works for University, from home since Covid, but has to go in twice a month.

Thanks for your reply.

If you ever have to go in would you buy a parking permit and drive or would you want to take a bus?

Are there parking decks available at a flat rate? If I have to go 4-5 times a month then I would not buy a parking permit.

How far would you be willing to drive if you have to go into an office occasionally?

Max 15 or 20 miles

If you had to go in occasionally would it be on campus or off campus?

Isn't everything on campus? I'm still new and yet to move there so not sure to be honest.

[Jack_Tauson_Sr]

Originally Posted by scorpio516

Which part of campus?
If you are down by the Athletic campus, there's a ton of cheap parking and you could live anywhere
If you are on North campus, there are a couple commuter lot on Glazier way or Hubbard which are harder to get to from the west or south side of town (BUT I did commute to North campus for a couple years from Dexter)
If you are on central campus, unless your on the periphery and paying a lot for parking, your going to take a bus. My wife work at LSA for a couple years and bought an expensive Blue tag to park right there while commuting from the west side, west of Stadium.

Really any place in Ann Arbor is great. All the schools are good. All the towns are great except for Ypsi. If you were buying, I'd suggest Dexter or Chelsea for schools.
The area between Stadium and Maple used to be where the most property crime would happen in town.

Thanks for your answer. I'm not really sure about which part of campus. Can I figure it out by looking at a map based on my department name?

[personone]

My information will probably be pretty dated since it’s been a long while since I’ve been back in AA, but the newer apartments were near the briarwood mall area. Also I believe there were some newer ones near North Campus, and looking at some friends who are faculty on Facebook, there have been a good number of luxury apartments that have gone up right around central campus over the last few years.

The older apartments in and around campus were a little rundown for my taste, but there are a good variety of types to choose from. I would definitely stay away from central campus because you don’t want to be around students. I’d start with a basic web search from the main apartment sites to see what style you’re looking for and then go from there.

[craig11152]

Originally Posted by Jack_Tauson_Sr

Thanks for your reply.

Are there parking decks available at a flat rate? If I have to go 4-5 times a month then I would not buy a parking permit.

Max 15 or 20 miles

Isn't everything on campus? I'm still new and yet to move there so not sure to be honest.

UM is (or was) the largest renter in Washtenaw County. So everything is not on campus. Especially if you work in certain sectors.

To use my wife as an example, she is in billing for the school of Dentistry.
Before she began working remotely they worked out of a building the University rented out on Plymouth Road and Earhart. That is a fair distance from Central campus or North Campus. Out there they had a big FREE parking lot. Mainly because the University didn't own the property.

Now she goes to the School of Dentistry on campus twice a month. For that she has what's sometimes called called a Daily Blue parking pass. You buy a certain number of entries then refill when its empty. Sort of like a burner phone.
Below is a link
https://ltp.umich.edu/parking/permit...daily-parking/


Another question is how soon will your toddler be in preschool, young 5, or Kindergarten?
Do you care about the schools that toddler might go to this early in the move? Or do you plan another move before that happens?

As to your max 15 or 20 miles just so you know in Michigan we don't talk about miles we talk about time.
How far is it to the bridge*? About 4-5 hours.
How far is Grand Rapids? A little over 2 hours, maybe two and a half.

*The bridge generally refers to the Mackinac bridge to the upper peninsula. Different from "the bridge to Canada" which is about 45 minutes.
To be fair it's possible people in Detroit may think of "the bridge" as the one to Canada rather than the one 4-4.5 hours north.

[craig11152]

When it comes to schools you can't go wrong with Ann Arbor, Saline, Chelsea and Dexter which are all close by.
Chelsea schools are good but that is stretching your commute time/distance
If diversity (racial, ethnic, cultural) is important Ann Arbor rates more diverse than the others.