West Side Affordable Rental Options? (Detroit, Livonia: apartments, crime, safe area)

[Golfman530]

Hi everyone,

My wife and I are looking into renting in the nice western areas (Canton, Plymouth, Northville, Novi, Livonia, Farmington) and cannot believe the prices just to rent an apartment!

It's only just the two of us with no pets or kids and we are totally fine with living in something very small to save money however there are no options to speak of! In all of these western cities, there are almost zero studios and for a nice area a 1 bed is going for $700 and up!

I just don't understand it because other US cities have ample studios and lower priced rental options in safe areas but here it just doesn't seem to be the case.

Any tips or advice? We are hoping to be around the $600 per month mark. Once again, it could be a tiny little place for all we care but at least nice. I know there are some places in northern Novi up by Wixom that are cheap but we've driven through some of them and they are rough and have much higher crime than the rest of Novi.

It's just hard to justify paying $700-$800 for a 1 bed apartment that isn't even very nice!

Thanks

[jonnynonos]

$700 is pretty lean for a 1BR, but I would think you could find something in the $600 range in Livonia, at least.

Part of the problem might be supply... there are not that many apartments in some of those cities to begin with, and probably almost zero have been built since the recession.

In Plymouth and Northville, I doubt you'll find anything at that range except for one of the handful of SRO-type places that are in those cities.

[gameguy56]

What about Garden City or Westland?

[jonnynonos]

^ I think that is good advice. I took a quick look on-line.

There are a multitude of apartments in Detroit proper for $500, $600, etc.--not downtown, more on the western border--which, as a rule of thumb, means all of the nicer suburban places are going to be priced significantly higher.

I saw some in GC/Westland in that price range, and that is probably where the OP should be looking.