Is detroit bad? (Dearborn, Dearborn Heights, Bloomfield Township: car insurance, loft, high crime)

[whitechocolate86]

Is Detroit really bad?...I ask because it looks like it has a beautiful skyline and the Cost of Living for a big city is quite affordable...I know it has a high crime rate...are there many positives to Detroit or are there more negatives...
Thanks

[Coldjensens]

Downtown Detroit is pretty nice. City services are poor, but overall it is decent. It is pretty quiet for the most part. Not many people live here and after working hours it is real empty. There are no grocery stores here and very little retail. A few nice pubs and resturuants. Lots of office buildings. Greektown is lively and fun. The area near easter Market is neat, especially for younger people. The area near Wayne State UNiversity is a nice area with lots of quality museums. Campuss martius and the sports center area is neat.

It is the outlying areas around the city center that are terrible and dangerous.If you enter a blighted area, yu will know it immediately.

[illmatic774]

there are many bad neighborhoods outside of the core, but frankly there isn't much to do there anyway. unless liquor stores and beauty shops are your thing...

[OhEdo]

whitechocolate, I think the previous two posts sum it up pretty well. Detroit is not New York or Chicago, and it's blighted areas are probably larger than the healthy areas, but it has its high points too. And you are right about cost of living for a big city. Of course, the ghetto areas are cheap because nobody wants to be there but there are bargains to be found such as the mansions in Boston-Edison, Palmer Village and Indian and English Villages. My downtown loft is probably a third to a half of what it would cost in Chicago. While there are no grocery stores in downtown proper, there are some good independent grocers in Mexican Town and East Jefferson, not to mention Eastern Market on Saturdays. For me, working downtown and with no kids, living downtown was a no brainer and I don't regret my decision. However, watch out for car insurance costs. Zip codes within the city of Detroit have astronomically high car insurance premiums.

[cardwellave]

Originally Posted by OhEdo

whitechocolate, I think the previous two posts sum it up pretty well. Detroit is not New York or Chicago, and it's blighted areas are probably larger than the healthy areas, but it has its high points too. And you are right about cost of living for a big city. Of course, the ghetto areas are cheap because nobody wants to be there but there are bargains to be found such as the mansions in Boston-Edison, Palmer Village and Indian and English Villages. My downtown loft is probably a third to a half of what it would cost in Chicago. While there are no grocery stores in downtown proper, there are some good independent grocers in Mexican Town and East Jefferson, not to mention Eastern Market on Saturdays. For me, working downtown and with no kids, living downtown was a no brainer and I don't regret my decision. However, watch out for car insurance costs. Zip codes within the city of Detroit have astronomically high car insurance premiums.

Or even any city bordering Detroit! Mine are very high here. (Dearborn Heights)

[whitechocolate86]

Originally Posted by cardwellave

Or even any city bordering Detroit! Mine are very high here. (Dearborn Heights)

Would you suspect they are like that of Los Angeles...the city with the worst traffic in the nation?

[cardwellave]

Never lived there so I couldn't tell you. I wish there was a website that you could compare individual zip codes.

I know my dad lives in Oakland County in Bloomfield Township and is astonished by the car insurance rates down here in Wayne County, and in my case, a zip that borders Detroit, AND Inkster. Both high crime.

[One Thousand]

Originally Posted by whitechocolate86

Is Detroit really bad?...I ask because it looks like it has a beautiful skyline and the Cost of Living for a big city is quite affordable...I know it has a high crime rate...are there many positives to Detroit or are there more negatives...
Thanks

The population of Detroit is dwindling for a reason.

[klife123]

Originally Posted by whitechocolate86

Is Detroit really bad?...I ask because it looks like it has a beautiful skyline and the Cost of Living for a big city is quite affordable...I know it has a high crime rate...are there many positives to Detroit or are there more negatives...
Thanks

Yes its bad. Yes, it has a nice skyline but once you look towards the ground, you can definitely set yourself up for disappointment. The city has no "great" perks, the taxes are high , crime is high, high STD and AIDs crisis, the housing market sucks, school system sucks. I see the differences because i am not from here so i can personally compare it to other areas that i have lived in. If you don't have dreams and apirations for yourself then I can definitely see how people can get caught up in the nonsense.

[alterroad]

Detroit is a great city to live in if you know what you're doing. Yes, the bad neighborhoods are pretty scary and some of them seem hopeless in the near future, but there's no reason you'd go into them. Besides downtown, there are a several cool neighborhoods and several more that are a little rough now, but getting better.

Honestly, the city isn't for everyone -- if you don't care about culture and architecture and a sense of history all that, it's probably not worth it. If you have kids, you'll probably have to send them to private schools, and there are only a few neighborhoods in the city I'd recommend to a parent.

But if you're into the urban thing, then yeah, Detroit can be a real bargain.