Husband has job offer at ford in dearborn/allen park area and we have some questions (Detroit: realty)

[jo82633]

I was wondering a couple things hopefully you guys can answer them. We have a family of 6 my husband and I 1 son 10, 3 daughters ranging from 2 months to 9. what area should we be looking to rent a house or mobile home? Hopefully within a 15-20 minute commute.How safe is the area. can you walk around at night with out always looking over your shoulder? we currentluy live in wyoming with a town the size of 500 people. what are the schools like there? his starting salary would be around 45k could we live there on that salary? I am a lpn so i could work if we found reasonable child care in the are anyone know of any that you would trust with your own child? Is there anything to do with the family that doesnt cost an arm and a leg everytime you want to do it? I know i seem to be asking some off the wall questions but we moved blindly before and i have to find these out before we decide. Does anyone know the website for MI so i can transfer my license? I know most hospitals dont hire lpns so are there any nursing homes around? I have done alot of looking around but I dont know the area so I dont know what apartments or houses to look at online. I do know we want to rent for the first year or two to see if thats what he really wants to do. Thank you very much for your time. sorry for double posting

[cardwellave]

My house actually has an income of about 5k less than that(but we only have 2 people in the house!). We live in northern Dearborn Heights, and don't care for it. Your best bet would be to look in Allen Park, or Garden City. Avoid northern Lincoln Park, Ecorse, River Rouge, Melvindale. Personally my preference is Allen Park, near Allen Road/Park Ave. Quaint neighborhood. Dearborn and Dearborn Heights schools are NOT very good. I know a lot of people in these systems. I couldn't tell you too much about Allen Park schools, though northern Allen Park schools go to Melvindale, which I think would be pretty on par with Allen Park schools. Garden City schools are better than Dearborn/Dearborn Heights, at least with the people I know who have gone through these systems. They are all recently updated/remodeled and are known to have a better education. I would look to rent a house, as there are lots available. You should be able to get a three bedroom for around $700-900 a month no problem. These neighborhoods are by no means ritzy, but middle class and comfortable.

[amac626]

I agree completely about Allen Park. This is probably your best option for the money, however you would want to reside in the Allen Park school district. The Northern Allen Park/Melvindale school district is not nearly as good/safe. The zip code is 48101, I would check realty websites and do searches, you'll be able to find 3 bedroom homes with basements and garages for under $100,000 in this very stable and safe location. Also it is very convenient to all freeways.

[jo82633]

Thank you all for the information. I feel alot better about the move now. I was just worried about moving to a large are the biggest city we ever lived in was about 100000 people.

[Paddington]

Maybe it's different in Wyoming, but in the Midwest you would have to be trash to even consider living in a mobile home.

[J_S_B123]

Originally Posted by cardwellave

My house actually has an income of about 5k less than that(but we only have 2 people in the house!). We live in northern Dearborn Heights, and don't care for it. Your best bet would be to look in Allen Park, or Garden City. Avoid northern Lincoln Park, Ecorse, River Rouge, Melvindale. Personally my preference is Allen Park, near Allen Road/Park Ave. Quaint neighborhood. Dearborn and Dearborn Heights schools are NOT very good. I know a lot of people in these systems. I couldn't tell you too much about Allen Park schools, though northern Allen Park schools go to Melvindale, which I think would be pretty on par with Allen Park schools. Garden City schools are better than Dearborn/Dearborn Heights, at least with the people I know who have gone through these systems. They are all recently updated/remodeled and are known to have a better education. I would look to rent a house, as there are lots available. You should be able to get a three bedroom for around $700-900 a month no problem. These neighborhoods are by no means ritzy, but middle class and comfortable.

I attended both the Garden City and Dearborn public schools admittedly quite sometime ago, but the schools in West Dearborn were quite good at the time. Has that changed? When I attended it was generally thought the Dearborn schools were a bit better than the Garden City schools of that era, ( 60's until the mid 70's).

[cardwellave]

I would say they both are pretty sketchy, but West Dearborn is a big mess. I know lots of people who have gone through both systems and the Garden City system is safer, newer, and overall better.

[Paddington]

The demographics of some of these places have changed a lot, so I wouldn't necessarily buy someone's representation from the 1960's or whatever. For example, Dearborn used to be the most racist city in America North of the Mason-Dixon line, filled with notorious segregationist whites. Its mayor would not allow a single minority to live within its borders up until a few decades ago.

Today, it's over 30% Middle Eastern. LOL.

[Brighton Girl]

Doesn't Dearborn have the highest "Middle Eastern" concentration in the US? Not saying it's a bad thing, just a point. If a person were racist they would not want to live there. From what I've heard (and I may have heard wrong) about people from "Out west" they tend to like less ethnically diverse areas. If that were the case, perhaps a move west of 275 would sit better with them.

[Nearborn]

Middle Eastern people, for example Lebanese people, are white (unless you're talking about North Africans). Why would a white racist have a problem with Middle Easterners? Maybe bigots would have a problem with them, but you'd think white racists would get along just fine with other white folks, no? Unless you were talking about Black or Mexican or Asian racists???

The demographics of some of these places have changed a lot, so I wouldn't necessarily buy someone's representation from the 1960's or whatever. For example, Dearborn used to be the most racist city in America North of the Mason-Dixon line, filled with notorious segregationist whites. Its mayor would not allow a single minority to live within its borders up until a few decades ago.

Today, it's over 30% Middle Eastern. LOL.

You make it sound like "a few decades ago" was yesterday. Orville Hubbard has been dead for a long time and out of office even longer. As far as "notorious segregationist whites", which ones besides Hubbard? What integrated area had what Dearborn offered? Parks that everyone could walk to, public swimming pools in every neighborhood, unrivaled city services? Where were these "notorious segregationists" supposed to live? Detroit? Why? Inkster? Why? Maybe they just lived there not because they were "notorious", but because they liked everything that Dearborn had to offer. Taking a bus to a museum downtown is great. Shooing your kids out the front door to play ball at the park a block away is better.

I would say they both are pretty sketchy, but West Dearborn is a big mess. I know lots of people who have gone through both systems and the Garden City system is safer, newer, and overall better.

Dearborn High has always been better than Garden City High, and still is. Fordson is probably better at delivering what the Fordson community needs than Garden City High is at delivering what that area of East Dearborn needs. I'm not sure about Edsel Ford High.

The OP is just going to have to spend some time there and see for themselves.