Best family suburb for Wayne State job (Detroit, Farmington Hills: 2009, rent)

[234psdet]

If you don't have kids, I would recommend Ferndale, Pleasant Ridge, or Royal Oak. Ferndale has a nice downtown area with good restaurants, bars and clubs, as does Royal Oak. I live in Ferndale and I can get to downtown Detroit in 15 minutes without traffic. There are even parts of Detroit, around the Wayne State area, that are pretty nice and diverse. I wouldn't consider living in Ferndale or Royal Oak to be "urban living"-- maybe small city living--but if you want to avoid strip malls and subdivisions, South Oakland County is probably your best bet. If you're looking for racial diversity, you might have a tough time finding it in the Detroit area. Detroit is known for its segregation. Hamtramck, Oak Park, and Southfield are probably the most racially diverse areas that I know of, but with the exception of Southfield, have pretty lousy schools.

Anywyay, good luck with your search, and welcome to MI!

[Coldjensens]

I would add Wyandotte to the list of great cities for those with no kids.

In Detroit look at Corktown, Eastern MArket, the cultural area (near Wayne State) and along the waterfront. Maybe Hamtrammak too. Theris not much going on downtwon at night. But if you look around you will find a lot of cool things to do, especially in the summer.

The closest place to New York that you will find here is Ann Arbor. Anywhere else will be a bit of culture shock for you. Michigan is more outdoor oriented and not very ""happening City" type of place.

[Dyenimator]

Wyandotte is fine for kids. Schools aren't that bad, definitely comparable with other Downriver cities. Royal Oak and West Dearborn are some other options for you. If your kid(s) play football though, you better move to Allen Park!

[queenodessert]

Happy New Year! I'm planning to make a follow-up visit to metro Detroit in the near future and I really appreciate your helpful suggestions about where to look for housing.

Originally Posted by 234psdet

If you're looking for racial diversity, you might have a tough time finding it in the Detroit area. Detroit is known for its segregation.

It's a tragedy how segregated Detroit is... I just started reading Thomas Sugrue's book The Origins of the Urban Crisis: Race and Inequality in Postwar Detroit, which analyzes how structural factors ranging from deindustrialization, anticommunism, and discrimination during the supposed glory days of 1950s American prosperity created the racialized ghettos of inner-city Detroit.

Originally Posted by Coldjensens

The closest place to New York that you will find here is Ann Arbor. Anywhere else will be a bit of culture shock for you.

Hmmm, it seems somewhat traitorous for Wayne State employees to live in U of M terriority, not to mention a terribly long commute! Are there similar places in or around Detroit? Nightlife isn't as important to me as being close to cultural attractions, bookstores, cafes, good restaurants, and safe places for outdoor strolls around the neighborhood.

Thanks again for your suggestions!

[Houghtonnnnn]

Hi Hemmie,
During 2007-2008, i lived in royal oak and worked at the IA (library technician) in Bloomfield MI before landing my librarian job this fall. The Troy IA campus isn't quite as diverse as the Bloomfield campus. Bloomfield students have roots from India, China, Japan, and Europe. African American students are the minority at both campuses. Unfortunately, neither Troy nor Bloomfield have "downtown" areas, per se. In fact, both have an abundance of strip malls. Troy has a high end mall called Somerset, but it's not your small town feel. You many want to consider Farmington; it has excellent schools (progressive and culturally diverse) and a charming downtown area, and Farmington Hills is quite culturally diverse, more liberal than conservative, and quite civic minded. You might also want to consider Milford. It also has a lovely old downtown and a diverse cross section of housing, e.g. small city lots with charming, updated and/or contemporary homes to hilly country lots with acreage for horses. And just a stone's throw from Milford is the International Academy's third campus. It currently shares space with Lakeland High School, which is in White Lake, MI. I hope i didn't confuse you. Good Luck and happy house hunting. You're going to be thrilled with our housing prices compared to LA and DC!!!

[renter8319]

if you can afford to live anywhere you want. i would say 75% of the people in your situation that are familiar with the metro area, looking for what you are looking for would prefer to live in birmingham or grosse pointe. grosse pointe has the older homes. they both have great schools. birmingham sees more traffic from other cities because grosse pointe is it's own secluded community. to know grosse pointe though, you must understand that there are 5 points and each one is different, so don,t judge it until you've seen them all. there are probably more options for entertainment in birminghaam, and your commute is probably closer(20-25 min with normal traffic). grosse pointe is closer to detroit, but the route to wayne state is more complicated. i would visit them both, but i believe you could find exactly what your looking for in both those areas.

[KtMI04]

Well it really depends what you mean by Detroit. If hes working in the city or the detroit area. Either way go Oakland County is where you wanna be. If hes gonna be working in the city, go for southern oakland county or better yet Northville or Plymouth would be perfect. Both historical cities, (Northville even has a victorian festival every year) adorable downtowns.

[hemmie]

Thank you... am starting to get a feel for the subtleties but only a hint! Speaking of which... I know I won't understand until I visit, but can someone enlighten me as to WHAT the differences are among the Grosse Pointes? Or is it just a feeling one gets when one passes from one to the next?

Thank you! We're getting closer to closing the deal, so we'll probably come out for a visit in February - we'll drive around, visiting neighborhoods, preschools, elementary schools, and finally, actual houses. So far, we're having fun visiting Google Real Estate and Realtor.com. And YES, the prices are vastly different from LA prices. But we're trying to remain rooted in reality nonetheless!

[renter8319]

Originally Posted by hemmie

Thank you... am starting to get a feel for the subtleties but only a hint! Speaking of which... I know I won't understand until I visit, but can someone enlighten me as to WHAT the differences are among the Grosse Pointes? Or is it just a feeling one gets when one passes from one to the next?

Thank you! We're getting closer to closing the deal, so we'll probably come out for a visit in February - we'll drive around, visiting neighborhoods, preschools, elementary schools, and finally, actual houses. So far, we're having fun visiting Google Real Estate and Realtor.com. And YES, the prices are vastly different from LA prices. But we're trying to remain rooted in reality nonetheless!

without ever actually living in the pointes(i used to work on the houses in the pointes) it comes down to different schools(grosse pinte north or grosse pointe south) the wealth of your neighbors. i believe it is grosse pointe shores that is borders the lake. you'll find that these houses are enormous. the city actually comes in your backyard to take your garbage, stuff like that it's amazing. also, the relative distance to detroit. one of the pointes directly borders detroit at cass rd. the amount of shopping and restaurants etc. calling a realtor that specializes in grosse pointe would be a great idea. they would probably be able to break it down very well for you.

[Twehttam]

I'll try to help as best I can being a new Grosse Pointe (Farms) resident, but those who post here who have lived in GP longer will undoubtedly be a better resource for you.

My wife and I moved back to MI from Seattle this year and selected Grosse Pointe for numerous reasons.

First, we like its location to the city. Yes, Detroit has problems, but I personally am not going to let that choose where I'm going to live. Detroit also has a lot of great areas and people. For example, we closed on our home on Halloween. We handed out candy to trick-o-treaters, and while many were driven in from the city, all the kids were great and everyone had a good time. In addition, my wife and I like going downtown for nightlife, sporting events and Eastern market. It's nice to be close.

Second, we wanted the "city" feel. We looked at nice communities in Oakland County (such as West Bloomfield, Franklin, Beverly Hills, etc) but we didn't feel "it". We wanted 'sidewalks and street lights', we wanted to feel like we were in a community of people, connected not in a generic subdivision. We wanted history.

Third, schools. GP schools are great but there are differences and this is what will probably help you pick WHICH of the five Pointes is the one for you. If you have kids and will be sending them to public schools, the preference is Grosse Pointe South versus Grosse Pointe North. GPN is a fine high school, but the main difference that I'm aware of is the middle school your kids will be sent to. There are three middle schools in GP, two in the GPS district and one in the GPN district. That school is Parcells. Again, I have no first-hand knowledge of this school and am relaying only what my realtor, friends and neighbors have told me, but compared to the others it's not as highly regarded. I'll get back to some of this later.

Fourth, public services. We did not want to be out in the far suburbs where services such as trash, plowing, and safety rank lower. For example, and this is true in Grosse Pointe Farms and GP City (possibly all five, but I'm not sure) the city does come and pick up your trash from your back yard so you don't have to bring it to the curb (they drive small golf cart-type vehicles up your drive). They also plow your sidewalks for you in the winter so you do not have to shovel them and are very good about plowing all side streets as well (not waiting days for the city to come and do this is a great benefit). In addition, public safety is great. The police force is VERY present in the area, be it officers in vehicles or, in the spring/summer/fall on bicycles as well. When you visit and drive around the communities you will be hard pressed not to see these officers out and about.

Fifth, the resident-only parks. Each Pointe has its own park. Non-residents of each respective city cannot access these. This means anyone. Not only residents from neighboring cities, but also the other Pointes. For example, as a Grosse Pointe Farms resident I have access to my park (Pier Park), but I cannot access another GP resident park and other GP residents cannot access ours. Seems restrictive and snobbish, and while it is to a degree, this is a BIG plus to each GP community. Our park has a large olympic-style swimming pool, clubhouse, concessions, tennis courts and new ice skating rink and moorage for boats.

There's more, but you'll be hard pressed (IMO) to find a community with all that the Pointes can offer. The taxes are higher, yes, but you get a lot.

As far as differences between all five, it's hard to say as they're very similar, but Grosse Pointe Woods is probably the one you'd want to rank lower than the rest. Don't get me wrong, there are some wonderful homes there, but you're in the GPN district. It also borders St. Clair Shores, which isn't a bad thing at all, but I always felt like I couldn't really tell the difference driving through both areas. It's hard to explain, but it just didn't have the same feeling as the others. Grosse Pointe Shores is also in the GPN district, but these homes are mainly at the far end of the price scale (as the community borders, for the most part, the lake). You'll pay a premium for the homes here just for this fact. The other three, the Farms, the City and the Park all have their plusses and minuses but I'd start with them and go from there.