Are there areas around the metro of young families, with kids?

[NOLA101]

Originally Posted by Arthur Digby Sellers

Northville also has a ton of young families.

I live in Novi and, I swear, more than half the parents I meet from my son's school all bought their first home in Royal Oak or Berkeley and then moved to Novi once they had kids.

Yeah, Northville and Novi have tons of kids too.

People tend to move to the newer areas once they have school-age kids. Bigger, newer homes and better schools. Yeah, maybe not quite as charming, and not as many bars/restaurants, but overall easier living with kids.

[Geo-Aggie]

I like Novi and Northville, it's just a longer commute for me. I've been so spoiled with my commute living here that when I think about driving 30-40 minutes each way, I just cringe, but I do love Maybury Park. Do Northville or Novi have areas where ... non-wealthy people can afford to live and not be house-poor? I feel like anything in my price range there is a townhome or condo and that all the homes start at about 350. I've even seen apartments there go for about the price an updated bungalow in RO would sell for.

Also, though I don't NEED to live 5 blocks from downtown, I do value being able to walk to an urban feeling area. Even now we take our kids out to Downtown Royal Oak almost every weekend (not all young families avoid taking them out). One draw to Rochester Hills is that Downtown Rochester is reasonably accessible to most of the area. Do the western suburbs have something similar to this? Or is it all strip-malls and sprawl like I'd get in Macomb or Shelby Townships?

[snoopygirlmi]

Most of my friends with kids live in Madison Heights because the housing stock is cheaper.

A lot depends on what school district the house is zoned to in the Novi/Northville area.

We ended up in Lyon Twp because a lot of the houses in Novi/Northville were overpriced for what they were offering.

If the house is zoned to Walled Lake, South Lyon or Plymouth public schools, then you have a better chance of finding something in your price range.

(Parts of Novi/Northville are zoned to the South Lyon school district. Part of Novi is zoned to Walled Lake. The southern part of Northville is zoned to Plymouth-Canton)

Downtown Northville would be a good fit for what you are looking for. It's not all strip malls.

[NOLA101]

Originally Posted by Geo-Aggie

Do Northville or Novi have areas where ... non-wealthy people can afford to live and not be house-poor?

Of course. Much of SE Novi is older ranches, indistinguishable from nearby parts of Farmington Hills and Livonia. There are cheap(er) homes all over Novi. Heck, there's even a trailer park on the far west end, right next to Island Lake, which has lots of 700k homes immediately adjacent.

Novi, overall, is very nice and desirable, but I would not consider it "wealthy". Bloomfield/Birmingham, yeah. Novi, no. Novi is generally Upper Middle Class.

[usroute10]

Originally Posted by Geo-Aggie

I like Novi and Northville, it's just a longer commute for me. I've been so spoiled with my commute living here that when I think about driving 30-40 minutes each way, I just cringe, but I do love Maybury Park. Do Northville or Novi have areas where ... non-wealthy people can afford to live and not be house-poor? I feel like anything in my price range there is a townhome or condo and that all the homes start at about 350. I've even seen apartments there go for about the price an updated bungalow in RO would sell for.

Also, though I don't NEED to live 5 blocks from downtown, I do value being able to walk to an urban feeling area. Even now we take our kids out to Downtown Royal Oak almost every weekend (not all young families avoid taking them out). One draw to Rochester Hills is that Downtown Rochester is reasonably accessible to most of the area. Do the western suburbs have something similar to this? Or is it all strip-malls and sprawl like I'd get in Macomb or Shelby Townships?

Yes, Plymouth and Plymouth Township.

Also, I would consider Farmington/Farmington Hills. The luster is somewhat off the Farmingtons, they were the Northville/Novi of 15-20 years ago. However, they are still fine communities with good schools. The city of Farmington has a small but quaint downtown centered at Farmington Road and Grand River, and that downtown is surrounded by charming Victorian houses and well-kept neighborhoods. There is a regular poster here named "mgkeith" who is very knowledgeable of Farmington.

It is too bad west Dearborn has seen an exodus of young professional families according to the poster Arthur Digby Sellers. It has nice sized downtown with some charming neighborhoods to the north and has some nice cultural amenities such as Greenfield Village/Henry Ford Museum and Hines Drive.

Have you considered the Grosse Pointes? They have oozing with charm, they seem to have a good amount of young families, there are 3 small but quaint business districts, and the schools that feed into Grosse Pointe South High School compete with the best in the metro area.

[jenn342]

We live in Royal Oak with our 4 kids and are very happy. We considered moving not long ago and looked at several other places - including most mentioned here - but decided to stay. There are plenty of families. Most individual streets are probably more of a mix but once your kids start school you'll find there are kids all over. I'm sure the new construction will add to that, too. There also seems to be the idea that the schools aren't great but I would look at the state rankings (and tour schools, talk to parents etc.) and decide for yourself. We found that RO ranks higher than several of the districts we were considering. And we love the neighborhood parks, downtown area (though we are ready for a downtown park), tree-lined streets, charming old houses, central location to everything, etc.

As for places with lots of kids- seems like anywhere you can find new/newer construction (Clarkston, Lake Orion, Oxford, Macomb, South Lyon, Milford). We strongly considered all of those areas but the drive (to work, family and even the distance to the local schools in some cases) was too much. You can get an amazing house in these places though for the same price as a smaller house here.

Places with the top districts - Birmingham, Bloomfield, Troy, Novi etc. - probably have more kids too, but judging from the friends we have in those areas I don't think the streets are 'crawling' with kids as much as the new construction areas. They're more of a mix too, though I'm sure it varies by subdivision. I agree that Birmingham is pretty ideal except for the price (and maybe the snob factor, if it exists - I'm not sure if it does).