Moving to MI - Detroit suburbs, Ann Arbor area (park, traffic)

[ckhthankgod]

What about Farmington?

[Arthur Digby Sellers]

Originally Posted by mcb0322

Thanks for all the feedback thus far. I think I'm probably leaning towards the Plymouth/Canton area as of now, but I am curious about the Royal Oak area. From some of the posts I had read, it seemed like Royal Oak might be more along the frat party type night life, which I'm not too interested in. Is a little west of Ann Arbor, like Dexter or Chelsea nice? Or is it too rural and/or an insane drive to the Detroit area?

Dexter and Chelsea would be a pretty tough slog to Livonia/Novi during rush hour.

[DTWflyer]

As said Dexter, Chelsea, and even Saline are a varying degree of ex-urban, suburban sprawl from Ann Arbor, and rural. Family-oriented and good schools, but not necessarily the type of place young professionals gravitate toward. The commute from these places to the core of Metro Detroit is long and challenging at best. Really only reasonable if going to Ann Arbor or the I-275 corridor.

Ann Arbor, itself is a great place for young professionals (in the non-student neighborhoods). However, the housing stock is expensive in the more desirable parts. There is very little at or under $200k, except for some small houses in the southeast portion of the city, near I-94 & US-23. You could at least look around to see what you can get within your budget, but don't set your expectations high in that price range.

The Northville-Plymouth-Canton area along I-275/M-14 area is another good option. Plymouth has a nice downtown area with low-key restaurants and bars (think more of the grab dinner or drinks with friends crowd). They also have a number of community events, art shows, festivals, etc. Good biking/running opportunities too along Hines Drive and Maybury State Park. You are also reasonably close to Ann Arbor, so its easy to head over there for all of the happenings there. There is stuff around $200k in this area, but not a lot.

The other good option for housing in the $200k price range is going to be the Woodward Corridor communities.
Ferndale, Royal Oak, Berkley, or even Clawson. Pleasant Ridge, Huntington Woods, and Birmingham are all going to be over your budget.

[dburbs1975]

for 200K you can buy just about anywhere. Even Huntington Woods and Birmingham. You will be on the bottom of the market in those locales, but you may still be able to get in. Be aware that prices in those premium type towns are at or near historic highs and I do not recommend the towns where prices have topped out because the Detroit Metro area tends to fair very poorly when times are not great.

[DTWflyer]

$200K in Birmingham is going to get into the smallest, most dated housing stock in the city. Pretty much limited to 1000 sq ft single-story bungalows on a 6000 sq ft lots. The same exact house is going to be $30-40k less about a half mile away south of 14 Mile in Royal Oak.

Many of these homes are being bought for cash by out-of-state buyers who are flipping them and/or throwing them on the rental market.

[jonnynonos]

If you want to be Detroit and Ann Arbor, Plymouth is a no brainier. It's basically 15 minutes in either direction.

People on this forum used to say it took 40 minutes to get from Plymouth to Detroit. Not even close; try 10 to the city border, 20 to downtown.

[reppin_the_847]

Coming from the congested Chicago area, I'm always pleasantly surprised by how fast the drive is from a further out, charming town like Plymouth into the city of Detroit.

I think a lot of the Metro Detroit congestion happens to be more along highway 75 & highway 696 rather than highway 96.

Originally Posted by jonnynonos

If you want to be Detroit and Ann Arbor, Plymouth is a no brainier. It's basically 15 minutes in either direction.

People on this forum used to say it took 40 minutes to get from Plymouth to Detroit. Not even close; try 10 to the city border, 20 to downtown.

[MS313]

Originally Posted by reppin_the_847

Coming from the congested Chicago area, I'm always pleasantly surprised by how fast the drive is from a further out, charming town like Plymouth into the city of Detroit.

I think a lot of the Metro Detroit congestion happens to be more along highway 75 & highway 696 rather than highway 96.

Well Plymouth is about a half hour drive, 15 minutes to Telegraph unless your literally going 80+ mph the whole way even in the city when the freeway turns into 55 mph. It shouldn't take 45 minutes unless it's rush hour or your going to the eastside.

And yes I-96 is probably the least congested freeway in the entire area, very rarely had a problem there. Chicago just has way to many merging freeways, that causes alot of congestion. In Metro Detroit there are literally 2 freeways coming from every direction.

[jonnynonos]

Originally Posted by MS313

Well Plymouth is about a half hour drive, 15 minutes to Telegraph unless your literally going 80+ mph the whole way even in the city when the freeway turns into 55 mph. It shouldn't take 45 minutes unless it's rush hour or your going to the eastside.

And yes I-96 is probably the least congested freeway in the entire area, very rarely had a problem there. Chicago just has way to many merging freeways, that causes alot of congestion. In Metro Detroit there are literally 2 freeways coming from every direction.

Is it really unreasonable to assume people are going to go 70-75 down 96?

[MS313]

Originally Posted by jonnynonos

Is it really unreasonable to assume people are going to go 70-75 down 96?

Nope, I do it. My driving times are still pretty close to what google maps says.