Living Suggestions Detroit Area (Ann Arbor, Troy: apartment complexes, lease, how much)

[harrisonh]

I'm a recent college grad moving from California and am starting work in September in Pontiac.
I've looked at many threads and friends, and a lot of them recommended Royal Oak.

Do you have any suggestions for which areas or complexes to look at? I've also read a bit about Troy, Berkley, Clawson, Birmingham. How would you compare nearby cities?


A bit more info:
- male, will be in long-distance relationship, 22 years old, asian
- want a single-bedroom apartment (can't be too small/studio since i have 3+ bikes)
- enjoys outdoors (biking, running, hiking)
- values good restaurants and diversity, groceries, safe/walkable areas
- <20 min commute preferrable, but I can probably deal with up to 30 minutes.
- budget: I browsed for some apartments, and $800-$1100 is approximately what I am looking at
- I think I'd prefer having a garage/covered parking. I've never lived in a cold/snowy environment.

[DTWflyer]

If you really enjoy outdoor activities like running, biking, hiking then I would look around Rochester and Rochester Hills.

There is the Clinton River trail and Paint Creek trails, both rail trails great for such. Close to Stoney Creek Metropark, Bald Mt rec area, and Bloomer Park.

Downtown Rochester has a nice downtown walkable area with several restaurants bars and shops.

Lots of apartment complexes throughout Rochester and Rochester Hills within your budget.

[Coldjensens]

Get a temporary lease until you have a chance to look around and get a feel for different areas. Also consider how much of a commute is acceptable.


Milford/New Hudson/Brighton twp might appeal to you for proximity to Kensington Metropark. Kensington is our king of all parks around here.

Young guy nightlife is Mid-town Detroit, Royal Oak, Downtown Detroit, Ann Arbor, Ferndale, Wyandotte. Find out which ones you like to hang out in and how far you are comfortable driving for a night out.

For shopoholics - Troy Novi, Canton.

Rochester Hills is great if you want to be part of the crowd. It is a very nice place, just mass conformity.

Pontiac is not very nice but Waterford seems to attract some younger people although I am not really sure why.

You may also find you prefer to live out in the country. Highland would be good for that.

Or you may want to live on or near a lake.

Maybe you want to live as far north as possible so you can more readily escape to the UP on long weekends.

Give yourself room to figure out where it is that you would end up wishing you had chosen.

[usroute10]

Originally Posted by DTWflyer

If you really enjoy outdoor activities like running, biking, hiking then I would look around Rochester and Rochester Hills.

There is the Clinton River trail and Paint Creek trails, both rail trails great for such. Close to Stoney Creek Metropark, Bald Mt rec area, and Bloomer Park.

Downtown Rochester has a nice downtown walkable area with several restaurants bars and shops.

Lots of apartment complexes throughout Rochester and Rochester Hills within your budget.

Living in Rochester/Rochester Hills, put you close to Pontiac for work, and also puts you close to Troy, Birmingham, and downtown Pontiac, which also have good clusters of restaurants, and Troy has a notable (for Michigan) Asian population.

[Geo-Aggie]

My suggestions in no particular order:

Royal Oak: Big suburb with a big walkable suburban downtown area that offers something for everyone. Royal Oak becomes more traditionally suburban as you go north of 12 Mile. Used to be very young and hip, has become a bit yuppified in recent years. Mostly professionals. Good mix of DINKs and older families. Leans liberal.
Ferndale: Significant recent-grad demographic. Younger (mostly 20-somethings), very hip suburb with lots of walkable trendy bars and quirky shops. Probably the best pub/nightlife scene outside of the city. Mostly single with no kids. Mix of professionals and artsy types. Very liberal.
Berkley: Large 25-40 demographic contingent, less trendy but still a fairly artsy and cool suburb with a few walkable pubs and lots of artsy shops. Good mix of young singles, DINKS, and young families with kids, mostly professional. Leans liberal.
Clawson: A bit of a mixed bag of demographics ranging from young families to older blue collar types. More family-oriented, but still a couple trendy spots in their downtown area. Moderate, leans conservative.
Hazel Park: This is the new suburban hipster place to be. Outside of Detroit, this is where you go if you want a grungy, low-rent, cool place to call home. A beautifully odd mix of 20-something professionals and activists with families who have a busted truck and a Walmart pool on the front lawn. Politically a mixed bag.

They're all pretty safe and walkable (except some of the northern parts of Royal Oak which get rather suburbany). There are plenty of apartments. You shouldn't have a problem finding a 1BR under $1100 in any of those. They're all about 15-20 minutes from Pontiac. Good luck and welcome to Detroit! It's always exciting to read about more 20-somethings moving here. I moved here at 28 and I've loved it.

[mgkeith]

Is it important to you to live in a community with a significant asian population? How about proximity to asian groceries and restaurants? Are you concerned about adjustment to a wintry commute? It can take a lot out of you....

Answers to these questions might lead to suggestions of cities which could work best for you.

[usroute10]

Originally Posted by Geo-Aggie

My suggestions in no particular order:

Royal Oak: Big suburb with a big walkable suburban downtown area that offers something for everyone. Royal Oak becomes more traditionally suburban as you go north of 12 Mile. Used to be very young and hip, has become a bit yuppified in recent years. Mostly professionals. Good mix of DINKs and older families. Leans liberal.
Ferndale: Significant recent-grad demographic. Younger (mostly 20-somethings), very hip suburb with lots of walkable trendy bars and quirky shops. Probably the best pub/nightlife scene outside of the city. Mostly single with no kids. Mix of professionals and artsy types. Very liberal.
Berkley: Large 25-40 demographic contingent, less trendy but still a fairly artsy and cool suburb with a few walkable pubs and lots of artsy shops. Good mix of young singles, DINKS, and young families with kids, mostly professional. Leans liberal.
Clawson: A bit of a mixed bag of demographics ranging from young families to older blue collar types. More family-oriented, but still a couple trendy spots in their downtown area. Moderate, leans conservative.
Hazel Park: This is the new suburban hipster place to be. Outside of Detroit, this is where you go if you want a grungy, low-rent, cool place to call home. A beautifully odd mix of 20-something professionals and activists with families who have a busted truck and a Walmart pool on the front lawn. Politically a mixed bag.

They're all pretty safe and walkable (except some of the northern parts of Royal Oak which get rather suburbany). There are plenty of apartments. You shouldn't have a problem finding a 1BR under $1100 in any of those. They're all about 15-20 minutes from Pontiac. Good luck and welcome to Detroit! It's always exciting to read about more 20-somethings moving here. I moved here at 28 and I've loved it.

The problem with these otherwise fine communities is that the OP indicated he has 3+ bikes and really enjoys outdoors (biking, running, hiking).

Biking and Hiking facilities are nearly non-existent in the southeast Oakland County area. In the Pontiac/Rochester Area are paved bike/running trails (Paint Creek, Clinton River Trail & Macomb Orchard Trail), and large hilly, forested nature preserves like Rochester's Bloomer Park, Stoney Creek Metropark, Orion Oaks County Park, Bald Mountain & Pontiac Lake State Rec Areas with plenty of mountain biking and hiking trails. You can even hike and bike in the Cranbrook Institute's grounds!

For walkable areas, downtown Rochester and downtown Pontiac are right there, with Birmingham not too far down Woodward. Troy is not walkable, but it has a plethora of restaurants, chain and independent.

Originally Posted by Geo-Aggie

Hazel Park: This is the new suburban hipster place to be. Outside of Detroit, this is where you go if you want a grungy, low-rent, cool place to call home. A beautifully odd mix of 20-something professionals and activists with families who have a busted truck and a Walmart pool on the front lawn. Politically a mixed bag.

I would say Hamtramck offers far more than Hazel Park in terms of dining, dive bars, live music, diversity, vibe, and other hipster pursuits.

[Geo-Aggie]

Good point on Hamtramck. I mistakenly lump it as Detroit or "inside" Detroit, for.. understandable reasons, but yeah, Hamtramck rivals the trendy Detroit neighborhoods when it comes to that. Hazel Park's proximity to Ferndale really drives its growing demand right now.

I too like the outdoors, but my desire to live some place like Rochester Hills when I was 22 would've been basically zero. Even at 32 it's barely above zero. Downtown Pontiac is a good suggestion. Rochester City wouldn't be bad either, but ... $$$

[DTWflyer]

While its not your picture of ideal, there are a lot of twenty-somethings scattered amongst apartment complexes throughout Rochester Hills. Not everyone needs or wants to be in a walkable downtown community and being in a "reasonable proximity" is good enough for many.

You are under-selling the fact of how Rochester really is a decent place to live, especially if working in that part of Oakland County especially if one wants to minimize their commute.

[RockChester]

Auburn Hills, Rochester Hills or possibly Troy. The Rochester area is heaven for bicycling with the trails.

Royal Oak, Ferndale, Berkley, Clawson and Hazel Park are too far away and the commute can be a nightmare. Royal Oak is really busy and noisy. Ferndale is nice, so is Berkley. If you like noise and lots of people those are areas to check out but the three I mention are close to Pontiac and are safe and the commute is easy.

Waterford is basically an airport. You'll hear lots of very loud jets taking off all the time.

Ann Arbor, Novi, and Brighton are wayyyy too far away. Detroit? LOL