Anyone know anything about Canton or Northville? (Detroit, Livonia: apartment, condominiums)

[Decepticon]

Just wondering if anyone can tell me anything about Canton or Northville. I am trying to decide if this might be the place for us to relocate to. I have had a couple really good offers in Livonia, MI and RTP, NC. Just trying to get a bit of a feel what the area is like. Are the schools really good in Northville and Canton? Are people friendly in the area? I would be relocating from Carmel, IN (N. Side of Indianapolis). Any information on these areas would be great from someone that knows them!

[DaninEGF]

I lived in an apartment in Northville Township along 8 mile road back in the early 1990s. There is a city of Northville, which is older and contains many historic places and is well known around the region for its quaint downtown. Northville Township covers the northwest corner of Wayne county from about 5 mile road northward and west of I-275. Northville (both city and township) is a very nice place to live, but very expensive. Most expensive place to live without a doubt in Wayne county and much more like Oakland county than Wayne county. I check back every so often about the area through web newspapers, and see that it home prices have gone up quite a bit with most single famly homes in the 450,000 and up range...with many close to $800,000 to 1 million. Most homes are large though and situated on quite large lots...but in recent years to make them more affordable lots have decreased in size. Northville schools are excellent. Novi schools just north of Northville are also award winning.

Canton and Plymouth just south of Northville are very nice areas that have grown enormously too. A new IKEA has opened up in Canton. Generally home prices in Canton are lower than Northville, with Plymouth prices in between. Both locations would be a good place to live and all are convienient to Livonia. Plymouth-Canton schools are good too. I havent lived there in quite a while...so I am sure already bad traffic is worse with the new growth. Roads cannot keep up with traffice in most of western Wayne county.

I would also consider Livonia. It has a nice mix of older and newer residential neighborhoods and much better prices. School situation there has been at issue this year due to declining enrollment.

As for crime...not sure about the areas now. Of course anything can happen anywhere nowadays...but it was safe for me.

[Decepticon]

Thank you for all the great information! That was very helpful!

[DaninEGF]

I am glad to be of help. Maybe someone who lives in the area now can let you know what it is like. Canton and Plymouth townships and even Northville Townships were more rural in the early 1990s and both have built out extensively now. Canton especially has been very fast growing as its township size is quite large. But Canton does not have a "downtown" whereas Plymouth and Northville do. Schools in all three townships/cities are very good and from what I gathered still do strongly support education. Novi just north of Northville is also an excellent place that has grown enormously with good schools.

Also northwest Wayne county is about as different from the rest of Wayne county as night and day. Back then, I had just moved into the area after college, and not being from the state at all, got the feeling that the Canton-Plymouth-Northville area would like to get away from Wayne name as fast as possible as many people back then did not go into Detroit at all. Western Livonia 6 mile northward to 8 mile road and east to Middlebelt was good area too back then with new construction around the Laurel Place Mall. Livonia was back then rated as safest and best family city for cities over 100,000. I have not been back to the area since 1994, so cannot speak for right now. Although hard to see Livonia falling too much as it was more residential than industrial and was laid out well from the beginning.

I would move back to the area if the opportunity came....but I like where I am at too. good luck. Check out numerous web sites on the area.

[Kaka123]

If you have children, moving to either one will be great...Both are award-winning school districts.

[mhogan10010]

I grew up in the area and still have family and friends there.
Either location has great schools, a variety of churches, is accessible to major transportation arteries and good shopping.
If I moved back to MI, I would look at both Canton and Northville.

[Decepticon]

Thanks for all the help! We went up there a couple of days ago to scope out the area and really liked both Northville and Canton. I really liked Northville's downtown, but Canton's affordability may be more suited to us. We also looked at Livonia which had a lot of nice older neighborhoods, but the homes were a little close together and not much sq. ft. We will be travelling down to Raleigh, NC (Cary to be exact) this weekend to compare the areas and get a better idea of which state would be best for our family. I would love to hear any opinions if you may have lived in both areas for a comparison!

[JuneBug68]

Hi, I actually live in Canton. It's a really nice place. Lot's of stuff to do here. There are soccer fields for the kids, awesome library, close to shopping, parks, and expressways. It's a really booming area.

We don't have any children in school yet, but I have heard that the schools are excellent.

And, of course - there's Ikea.

We live in Traditions at Cambridge condominiums. [moderator CUT]
Good luck on your move to Michigan!

[b.fenn]

Hello,
Northville and Plymouth are nearly identical in nearly every respect now. The houses along Beck that run from Canton up to the mall area - which extends through Canton, Plymouth, and Northville are identical in price range, quality, etc. and are the most expensive in the area. They skew the average home price in the area upwards. Plymouth downtown has a gorgeous square with many more high end shops and restaraunts than Northville, plus Plymouth doesn't have the feel like it closes down at 5 pm like Northville does.
There are some extremely nice, rather New York or Boston like condos going in downtown Plymouth that will only add to Plymouth's rather active and high end feel. The local downtown theatre is re-openning to show movies soon - right down on the square in Plymouth.
Canton is flat topographically, as is Livonia. Plymouth and Northville are somewhat hilly and have a rather east coast feel, unlike Canton and Livonia. Hines Park is an emerald jewel that extends through Plymouth and Northville at its north end, you will love it.
Plymouth canton schools are extremely good. Most folks in my neighborhood send there kids to a very well known private school, the name of which you'll become well aware of when/if you move here.
These towns are as crime free as it gets. Friendly people are verywhere here. You'll love it. If you can afford it, take Plymouth or Northville - you'll be glad you did once your here and get used to the place.

[nickszcz]

i thought i'd just let you know that i'm 25 and lived here my whole life. i played soccer at plymouth salem. plymouth and canton are basically the same city. (canton doesn't really have a downtown but just got an IKEA). plymouth and canton have sweet schools. at first it was just plymouth and canton on the same campus (about 5000 kids) and now they just added another school, plymouth on the same campus, so there's a ton of kids there. it's bigger than most colleges. plymouth is a getting to have a really cool downtown. it's a perfect city to raise your kids. northville is basically the same but a little more wealthy with a little more hippie presense. oh yeah, plymouth and canton are unreal at soccer. canton won states in 94, then salem won states in 95 then we went back to states in 98 and 02.

basically, if you have money, you live in northville. keep it real and live in plymouth or canton. your kids will like the high school experience better.