Live Midtown/Downtown (Detroit, Milford: real estate, apartments, rental)

[newyorkdolls]

Has anybody on here taken advantage of Live Midtown/Live Downtown to purchase or rent in one of the eligible neighborhoods? I grew up in the Detroit area and my soon-to-be wife and I live in Madison, WI. We're looking to move back to be near our families (her parents relocated to Detroit metro from Malaysia) and so we've been scoping out jobs.

She is pretty far along into the interview process for an analyst position with Quicken, and since we might be eligible it's got me looking at these programs to purchase a home. We aren't planning on having kids for a few years so the mountain of issues with DPS don't concern me as far as this decision goes. Does anyone on here have experience with these programs that they'd be willing to share? 20k seems to go a long way in eligible neighborhoods, and I'd like to contribute to the city's rebound rather than being just another suburbanite. I had my share of that growing up in Milford...

Thanks!

[ChargerMatt]

If you are looking to only buy a house, your options are going to be few and far between unless you want to live in the wild west.

Most of the nice areas for real estate are in historic districs, which carry shocking prices.

Midtown you're going to be in a big college area, so it's going to be quite a few small rental places. Downtown the sky is the limit for apartments/lofts. You can get a 1br place in a decent area for 600-700 and as high as 3000.



I'm not sure of your age or family situation (other than the wifey), but I (a 24 year old) wouldn't move to Detroit unless I had a downtown apartment or a prime location apartment in midtown.

[detroit's own]

Originally Posted by ChargerMatt

If you are looking to only buy a house, your options are going to be few and far between unless you want to live in the wild west.

Most of the nice areas for real estate are in historic districs, which carry shocking prices.

Midtown you're going to be in a big college area, so it's going to be quite a few small rental places. Downtown the sky is the limit for apartments/lofts. You can get a 1br place in a decent area for 600-700 and as high as 3000.



I'm not sure of your age or family situation (other than the wifey), but I (a 24 year old) wouldn't move to Detroit unless I had a downtown apartment or a prime location apartment in midtown.

bold: explain? wild west? think not.
red: uh no you can't. stay away from the $600-700 range apartments in midtown. or downtown for that matter. Also midtown has more rental options than downtown. most of the cheaper apts downtown/midtown are either for students or not so nice and thats why they are cheap. Good apts run $900-3000 in most cases (esp in midtown)
italic: that's the whole purpose of the program to live in the greater downtown area

to OP, if you want a single family home check with the programs to see if they include corktown and woodbridge or even the villages area. but I can't really you advice on the programs because I haven't participated (I wish I could though lol)

[Geologic]

How walkable and safe is the area you plan to live in?

[animatedmartian]

Originally Posted by ChargerMatt

If you are looking to only buy a house, your options are going to be few and far between unless you want to live in the wild west.

Most of the nice areas for real estate are in historic districs, which carry shocking prices.

Midtown you're going to be in a big college area, so it's going to be quite a few small rental places. Downtown the sky is the limit for apartments/lofts. You can get a 1br place in a decent area for 600-700 and as high as 3000.



I'm not sure of your age or family situation (other than the wifey), but I (a 24 year old) wouldn't move to Detroit unless I had a downtown apartment or a prime location apartment in midtown.

The eligible area includes New Center which is pretty good for single family housing or a floor in a two family flat. There's also a few townhouses right off the freeway across from Henry Ford so I think they might be able to find what they're looking for. It's not really in the 'center of the action' like Midtown but the options are there. Otherwise, I'd agree it's pretty limited.

[newyorkdolls]

We're both working professionals, she's 25 and I am thirty. I have lived in some very borderline Chicago neighborhoods and the wife spent a good chunk of high school in post Soviet Europe, so we're not particularly frightened of a less than 100% gentrified urban environment. conservatively we could spend two hundred thousand plus incentive on a house. Perhaps my concept of these neighborhoods and zillow abilities are lacking but it seemed to me that there were quite a few decent looking places in eligible neighborhoods at prices that would be considered an insane steal in Madison or Chicago. Hard to gauge how stabby the area is from a ten second zillow search though.

So does 220k get you less in Midtown than 200k gets you in royal oak? Is there simply not enough decent housing stock outside of condos and lofts? For reference our rent in Madison is 1200 for a modest sized two bedroom in fairly poor condition.

Thanks for all the Opinions!

[detroit's own]

Originally Posted by newyorkdolls

We're both working professionals, she's 25 and I am thirty. I have lived in some very borderline Chicago neighborhoods and the wife spent a good chunk of high school in post Soviet Europe, so we're not particularly frightened of a less than 100% gentrified urban environment. conservatively we could spend two hundred thousand plus incentive on a house. Perhaps my concept of these neighborhoods and zillow abilities are lacking but it seemed to me that there were quite a few decent looking places in eligible neighborhoods at prices that would be considered an insane steal in Madison or Chicago. Hard to gauge how stabby the area is from a ten second zillow search though.

So does 220k get you less in Midtown than 200k gets you in royal oak? Is there simply not enough decent housing stock outside of condos and lofts? For reference our rent in Madison is 1200 for a modest sized two bedroom in fairly poor condition.

Thanks for all the Opinions!

200k goes a long way no matter where you are in Metro Detroit. Midtown, while more expensive than a lot of areas in the Metro, is still really cheap compared to most other cities. 200k could get you 2 homes in Woodbridge (which is an up & coming neighborhood just west of midtown...still kind of considered midtown though because its mostly students and people who work at WSU). 200k could get you less in Corktown than midtown but still a nice home compared to what you would be able to get in Chicago. Honestly if you have that much to spend I would say try hard as you can to get into Corktown. You'd have to move quick because if there is anything available (usually not since the residency rate is like 99%). Its probably the best area to invest in within the city limits.