Good Suburbs... your opinion please? (Detroit, Sterling Heights: how much, houses, safe neighborhoods)

[nycjefftrain]

Bayzing-

all of the info on this board is accurate but i'm sure your head may be spinning right now. One thing you can say about your future neighbors is that we're nice and informative It looks like you may have narrowed down your list to 3. All 3 of those communities are nice but I would pick Novi/Northville hands down from that list. Chesterfield is the epitome of suburban sprawl. IMO, it's very dull and boring. West Bloomfield is near water and its upscale though I've always labeled it in the "snobby" category. Novi/Northville is lovely...Northville has a cute downtown and Northville High School is quite a sight to see!! So...just take a drive and see where you "feel" at home....

[stock66]

Originally Posted by Bayzing

Of all the nice suburbs... what (in your opinion) might have the best combination of UPSCALE - SAFE - GOOD SCHOOLS and have the EASIEST COMMUTE? Is it at all possible to live within 20 minutes of downtown? If I wanted to sacrafice my triple combo (upscale, safe, good schools) in order to get closer in... where would you recommend?

Absolutely, I used to live in Grosse Pointe Park and worked at the RenCen. I believe it was 6 miles straight down Jefferson. I think it took me longer to walk to my car than it did to drive.
Also some of the best schools in the state, certainly upscale and safe. Very neighborhood oriented with many streets having block parties in the summer and lots of community activities and school involvement.
You sacrifice none of the three things you listed in that area.

[mrsjdaniels]

You can buy my house in Oak park...great quiet neighborhood...no houses on my block for sale (except mine :-)

[G.P. Steve]

The Grosse Pointe Woods/Harper Woods area would be ideal for your situation. Close commute, great schools, small town feel, great shopping, lots of parks. Harper Woods/Grosse Pointe both have excellent Little League programs & Grosse Pointe has The Neighborhood Club to keep the kids active year round.

The area is very family friendly & an all around great place to raise a family. Your budget will easily afford you a nice home on a tree lined street.

[sugarbeet]

I don't think any of the cities you mentioned fall into the "somewhat upscale" category.

If you have a $300k budget, you have lots of options in today's real estate market. I'd put Troy at the top of your list. Other good options with a decent commute to downtown (plus all of the other things you want): Beverly Hills, Grosse Pointe, Farmington Hills, Novi, Northville, Plymouth, Canton, Utica.

Start in these areas and if you really can't find the house you want for $300k, then look elsewhere. But I really think that you can get a nice home for that price in those areas now. These are also the well-established, highly-regarded areas that will be more likely to hold their value (no guarantees there, though!)

[sugarbeet]

Originally Posted by Bayzing

Does anyone know much about SOUTHFIELD? It seems like a nice suburb... not too horrible of a commute... and the homes in Southfield seem affordable... a nice 4 bedroom can be purchased for around $225,000.

Does anyone know of some particularly good or bad parts of the Southfield area? Do I want to stay North of 10 mile road... or perhaps 12 mile road? How are the neighborhoods near the confluence of the 696? What about the area near Lathrup village... or near the Holy Sepulchre cemetery... does anyone know about the schools in this area? Thanks.

There's a part of Southfield where students attend Birmingham schools (around the 12 to 13 Mile/Southfield Road area). Birmingham schools are among the most highly-regarded in the state. If you can do that combination - B'ham schools without B'ham home prices - there's nothing better, IMO!!

If I recall, there's a development right in that area - used to be an ugly trailer park and is now some nice looking new homes in your price range, I think! Southfield, but in B'ham schools!!!

[Cato the Elder]

It's not just parts of Southfield that fall in the Birmingham Public Schools catchment area. You can live in Beverly Hills, a small southwestern portion of Troy, Franklin, Bingham Farms, and maybe a couple other areas surrounding Birmingham. It's also not well known that you can pay a surcharge in some cases and go to Birmingham schools. I presume that you have to live somewhat close to Birmingham. We have a friend who lives in Troy but has to send her kids to Royal Oak schools. She pays a couple thousand/kid and sends them to Birmingham schools. This is what we will likely do.

[Coldjensens]

No one will be surprised to see me suggest that you look at Grosse Ile.

Grosse Ile is an island, partially in the Detroit river and partially in Lake Erie. Grosse Ile is near Rockwood/Gibralter and has far better schools.

Watersports are a way of life here. It is a great family oriented community with a small town atmosphere and excellent schools. There are a lot of houses under $300K and many many phenominal bargains right now. You would be hard pressed to find a riverfront or lakefront property for that price, but you could probably find something on one of the canals. You might ind a smaller house on the river or lake.
We have grocery stores and a few small independant stores and restaurants on the island, and a mall as well as plenty of other shopping is about ten to fifteen minutes away.

It usualy takes me 32 minutes to get to downtown Detroit, but with the 75 closed, it takes a few minutes longer.

We searched S.E. Micghian for 2 years for the perfect place to raise a family before choosing Grosse Ile and we have no regrets. OUr second choice was Plymouth, but no water there. We also like Wyandotte a great deal but the schools are not as good.

It is hard for anyone to seriously assert that Grosse Ile is nto the best option downriver if you can afford it.

Taxes are not cheap. Anywhere with good schools has high taxes. I think that we pay about $7K a year, but we are on the waterfront and we did not homestead in 2007 (did not get our C of O on time).

I have written several posts about Grosse Ile and the many ameneities of the Islands as well as the awesome community. You can search for them if you wish. If you want to look around,send me a PM if I am in town I will show you around quickly. You could also contact Bonnie Adams at Caro Bolo & associates Realtors. She is a super sweet and very knowledgeable lady. If you use any Realtor here, be sure that they are local.

Personally I am not fond of most North Oakland County areas because of the crowds, conformity, etc. However they are very nice communities with great schools. Getting near the water will be too pricey, but you might find a subdivision that has lake privileges even if you are not on the water. My brother has a house that is worth about $230,000 in West Bloomfield and I think that they have lake privileges on a small lake.

Ypsilanti is probably not what you are looking for. Walled lake is a considerable commute. The lake is nice, but pretty crowded. My sister lived there for a long time, but moved when they extended the freeway and dumped tons of traffic into the town. the schools are decent, but not in the top tier.

Milford could be nat for you becuase it is near Kensington Metropark whcih has a good sized lake, but it is a no wake lake. basically padding and sailing and fishing or swimming.

I have never heard of Chesterfield.


Reasale possibilities are a wild guess. Some may tell yu that Michigan will never come back. Some may tell you that it will come back next year. The truth is that no one has any ideas. I have heard several real estate professionals say that they believe that most of southeastern Michigan areas have hit bottom as far as real estate prices, but they are only guessing as well. Sorry, anyone who answers that question for you is guessing. Nobody has a clue whether prices will recover in five years. Typically, a real estate rescission does not last that long. Our recession is about two and a half years old, we are considerable more advanced recession wise than the rest of the country.


Good luck and welcome.

[4WD Greg]

You don't want to commute from Macomb Co. or Oakland Co. to downtown Detroit every day. The traffic will be terrible in the morning and in the afternoon too. If you want light traffic, then go to the westside, or downriver areas. There are some nice communities in both areas. Ann Arbor is about a 50 minute drive from downtown. Ypsilanti Township is about 35-40 minutes, but the city of Ypsilanti is not the most desirable place to raise a family. You might want to look into Wyandotte in the downriver area. Pretty close to Detroit, but it's pretty much a thriving city. Flat Rock and Gibraltar are a little farther down river, but they have more water recreation opportunities.

[cardwellave]

Originally Posted by 4WD Greg

You don't want to commute from Macomb Co. or Oakland Co. to downtown Detroit every day. The traffic will be terrible in the morning and in the afternoon too. If you want light traffic, then go to the westside, or downriver areas. There are some nice communities in both areas. Ann Arbor is about a 50 minute drive from downtown. Ypsilanti Township is about 35-40 minutes, but the city of Ypsilanti is not the most desirable place to raise a family. You might want to look into Wyandotte in the downriver area. Pretty close to Detroit, but it's pretty much a thriving city. Flat Rock and Gibraltar are a little farther down river, but they have more water recreation opportunities.

Totally agree! Lots of nice big, new homes in your price range in Taylor and Southgate too.