move to detroit (Harper Woods, Grosse Pointe: appointed, foreclosures, best school)

[From glasgow]

Hi Poshranger do you say Grosse pointe schools are better than Bloomfield hills ?
School is my 1st priority as my kid has Down's syndrome.

[dkeskitalo]

Northville or Novi, Best schools, safest area. 30+ minute commute. You will find other UK living people in Northville, Novi

[Dexterguy]

Originally Posted by From glasgow

Hi Poshranger do you say Grosse pointe schools are better than Bloomfield hills ?
School is my 1st priority as my kid has Down's syndrome.

I would say that Grosse Pointe South Schools and Bloomfield Hills schools are probably tied in ranking. Different surveys will give you different results, but they are both very good school districts.

You will probably be able to find a better deal on a house in GP Park, GP City, or GP Farms than you will in Bloomfield Hills without a doubt.

Don't get me wrong, the Grosse Pointes have some very wealthy people, but there have always been affordable options in the Grosse Pointes. Whereas in Bloomfield Hills and Bloomfield Township, unless your "Upper Class", and I don't mean "Upper-Middle Class", but really "Upper Class" you are going to have a very hard time trying to find something affordable. In Bloomfield Hills you could have an average looking house, but the property taxes on the house are natorius (10,000 + a year).

Grosse Pointers pay high taxes as well on moderate houses, but nothing that ridiculous. You will probably find that property taxes in Wayne County, where the Grosse Pointes are located, are much cheaper overall than the northern suburbs of Oakland County (Bloomfield Hills, Bloomfield Township, Birmingham, etc).

I'm not trying to pursade you to absolutely buy in the Grosse Pointes, but when you compare apples to apples you will probably find that the Pointes are a better deal than the Oakland County suburbs. I live in Oakland County (north-western suburbs), and can tell you that Oakland's property taxes are out of control. I really hope Oakland County smartens up in the 2012 election and finally votes Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson out of office.

[detshen]

I understand how important schools are, but different areas of metro Detroit have different cultural ideas. You could pick an area for the best school and find you have nothing in common with any of your neighbors, you could be in for tremendous culture shock. I would put some thought into what type of life the adults want as well, plus I'm not sure if the best school necessarily means they are the best for special needs like Down's. Metro Detroit is a huge spread out area with many different types of people, I would do a lot more research before deciding where to live so the whole family can be as happy as possible.

[brandytab]

Originally Posted by detshen

I understand how important schools are, but different areas of metro Detroit have different cultural ideas. You could pick an area for the best school and find you have nothing in common with any of your neighbors, you could be in for tremendous culture shock. I would put some thought into what type of life the adults want as well, plus I'm not sure if the best school necessarily means they are the best for special needs like Down's. Metro Detroit is a huge spread out area with many different types of people, I would do a lot more research before deciding where to live so the whole family can be as happy as possible.

While this isn't "my" thread, I'd love to learn more about this. You made me think of something that the Realtor that I'm working with said ... "In this area, things are divided by east side/west side....and, as the saying goes, never the twain shall meet. Woodward really is the dividing line, culturally. The GP's are the Birmingham of the East Side."

Is that accurate? Is that what you mean regarding different cultural ideas?

[detshen]

Originally Posted by brandytab

While this isn't "my" thread, I'd love to learn more about this. You made me think of something that the Realtor that I'm working with said ... "In this area, things are divided by east side/west side....and, as the saying goes, never the twain shall meet. Woodward really is the dividing line, culturally. The GP's are the Birmingham of the East Side."

Is that accurate? Is that what you mean regarding different cultural ideas?

Yeah, that's the type of thing I am talking about. Two different cities in metro Detroit could be like two different planets as far as the people who live there are concerned. I would recommend people think about whether they are very liberal, conservative, like diversity, don't like diversity, feel comfortable with one particular social class or a mix etc.. before deciding where to live.

[us66]

I think Dequindre is more of the dividing line than Woodward.

[brandytab]

So what side is the liberal/conservative side? Is that what that "dividing line" is?

[detshen]

I'm not sure about that dividing line, but the Oakland county suburbs are thought of as more liberal/progressive, and the GPs more traditional/conservative. That is a huge generalization though, I have seen other threads go into more detail about this.

[brandytab]

I'll have to look around. I thought I read every single thread in this forum from the last three years (at least) LOL.