Moved to Dearborn in 2012, looking for a more urban-feeling community for 2013 (Detroit: rental, loft)

[Locutus of Board]

(Most of) Oakland County to Dearborn is a crappy commute. Southfield FWY is cutoff at 9 Mile, and it's a hassle to get from there to 696 E. The 696/75 stack interchange, is horribly congested, as is the entirety of 75 from 14 Mile to 7 Mile during most business hours. You'd be better off sticking to the Western suburbs. Dearborn itself is a good place to live.

[Locutus of Board]

Originally Posted by highlanderfil

Looks like it's Dearborn for me. Mailed in my application to Lincoln Fairlane.

Just saw this post. That's a sweet townhouse development, and in fact one of suburban Detroit's best apartment communities. It's right at the mall. You've got great retail within one mile including Walmart, Target, Office Max, Best Buy. The trendy downtown Dearborn (which is like a mini-Royal Oak) is a mile away. And it's of course right next to Ford WHQ (thought not really within walking distance due to the expressway).

[Mkrajenke]

Good luck Enjoy Dearborn and welcome to the area :-)

[highlanderfil]

Originally Posted by usroute10

Why did you choose Dearborn? What do you like about Dearborn? Proximity to your job? Thanks

Yep, the proximity to Ford did it for me.

[NYC-MI]

Stay as far away from Hamtramck as possible

[PosterExtraordinaire]

Originally Posted by NYC-MI

Stay as far away from Hamtramack as possible

hamtramck is a great place If you're going to offer such a strong opinion back it up. Why is hamtramck to be stayed away from

[highlanderfil]

I am actually going to side with NYC-MI even if my opinion isn't as strong. I'll definitely be coming to Hamtramck for some Polish food but as far as living there - far too gritty for my tastes.

[highlanderfil]

No longer useful for me (although I did make an inquiry), but I found West Dearborn Lofts (by Panera/Westborn) on Craigslist, so looks like loft living is available in Dearborn as well. While the cost is similar ($1,200/month for a one-bedroom), the lack of a dedicated indoor parking space and a few other things meant that I'll be sticking to Lincoln at Fairlane...but still, an interesting proposition that I might consider a year from now.

[highlanderfil]

Time to dust off the ol' gem. Six months in and I am starting to realize that while Dearborn was great for my first living situation due to its proximity to work, etc, it's time for a change. My lease is up in late July, so I figured I'd start my new search earlier rather than later. Right now the default choice is Urbane on Washington for its location within walking distance from Downtown Royal Oak. But let me start off with things I like and don't like (so far) about my Dearborn experience (both the apartment community Lincoln at Fairlane and the neighborhood).

Like:

Apartment complex
- New building
- Washer/dryer in unit
- Friendly maintenance and office personnel
- Occasional events such as holiday parties, potlucks, etc
- A semblance of a gym
- Great garage
- Huge master bedroom and bathroom
- Weather maintenance - crews with shovels are routinely present late at night to clean up driveways
- Walking distance to the mall
- Very safe
- Pets (I have a cat) are accepted

Dearborn
- Proximity to work
- A couple of fantastic Middle Eastern grocery stores (best place to get cheap fruit, cheeses, etc)
- A few restaurants I like (just discovered the sushi place across from Burlington on Mercury Drive yesterday)
- Convenience of the Allen Park shopping center (Meijer, Target, etc)

Dislike:

Apartment complex
- That gym was promised renovation when I moved in - still nothing
- I never anticipated that I would be walking around this place shocking myself on static electricity every freakin' second in the winter. Not wearing socks at home helps, I guess, but my cat literally sparkles in the dark every time I touch him. I wonder if berber carpeting would solve that problem or if I'm better off looking for a place with hardwood floors (or buying a gigantic humidifier).
- Water pressure is absolute crap and the bathtub fills about halfway until it starts draining
- Heating/cooling this place costs way too much money - it's simply too large for one person (the nicety of having a garage offset by having two flights of stairs and a lot of area to clean up)
- Not cheap (around $1,200 a month to live in Dearborn); can pay with a credit card but have to cover the fee for the management company which I don't think is right
- Appliances are not what you would call refined - (and, as result, are quite likely not very energy-efficient, evidenced by my bills)
- Not walking distance to anything BUT the mall
- Not much of a neighborly feel - I haven't even met my next-door neighbors

Dearborn
- Coldjensens is going to jump down my throat in a second here, but to me Dearborn does not seem like a place that encourages going out and exploring: simply put, there isn't much for me to do here and the necessity to get into my car discourages even a trip to Bailey's (though I do like that place)
- Can't really walk anywhere
- Might sound silly, but having had something like this before where I used to live, it's been something I miss: there is no park nearby that offers the decent ability to play basketball (there are hoops at a school on Michigan/Mercury but they aren't great)
- The Arabic stores are the ONLY good grocery options here as Westborn is too expensive for the majority of things and I am just not a huge fan of Kroger/Meijer, so the lack of one of the Joe's (Trader or Papa) or a Whole Foods (or at least a Hiller's/Busch's) invites trips to West Bloomfield/Royal Oak on a weekly basis
- Car insurance is horrifyingly expensive as Dearborn seems to be zoned to the city of Detroit by insurance companies
- Comcast (which, by all accounts, my own included, is horrible) holds a monopoly on this area of the city - no U-verse, no FiOS and, get this, trees block the DirecTV signal from my apartment according to someone who had an interest in installing the dish for me, so no reason not to believe him

Obviously this has been a bit of an exercise in self-awareness and I've come to the realization that you can take the boy out of the big city (Moscow where I was born and raised), but...you know how the rest of this goes. I realize that this kind of experience won't happen for me here and I love my job, so I am not going anywhere, so how can I replicate the experience to the best of my ability? I am a little gun-shy about giving Midtown a look, as the last time I did that, I found acceptable options to be even more expensive than what I'm paying right now. Royal Oak seems to be the hip choice and chances are good I will end up there as Downtown Ann Arbor is far too expensive and a bit too much of a drive for me anyways. I guess a walkable Downtown area is quickly becoming a requirement for me not to be stuck indoors all the time. However, obviously never having lived anywhere but Dearborn, I am unaware of any pitfalls that may await me in communities that seem appealing (such as R.O.). And yes, I will check out the Downriver communities just as soon as the weather gets a bit nicer.

Also, I would like to at least try to investigate the little things that end up causing real problems. Like, take poor water pressure as an example - it was far too granular of a concept for me to pay attention to, but I should have, just the same, as it's been rather annoying to take showers that use gravity for pressure.

[gameguy56]

Originally Posted by highlanderfil

However, obviously never having lived anywhere but Dearborn, I am unaware of any pitfalls that may await me in communities that seem appealing (such as R.O.). And yes, I will check out the Downriver communities just as soon as the weather gets a bit nicer.

Wyandotte's downtown, imho, is the only one in downriver worth mentioning. Personally I'd think you should take a look at the Grosse Pointe communities too (specifically Grosse Pointe Park) for a walkable neighborly feel.