Best Suburbs North of Detroit For Kids (Livonia, Farmington Hills: apartment complex, rental)

[StuntGirl]

Hi,
We have 2 kids (6 and 11) and will be staying there from Sept-Dec. We are looking for a city to stay in that is:

1) Very Safe
2) Family friendly
3) Upper middle class - upscale
4) good schools/parks/activities....such as:

equestrian riding lessons, good Tae Kwon Do, MMA

5) healthy markets (such as Wild Oats or Whole Foods)

So far people have suggested:

1) Bloomfield areas
2) Birmingham
3) Troy
4) Novi
5) Livonia
6) Royal Oak (except for the kid factor)

We would most likely stay in a (furnished, corporate style) apartment/condo rental -if it has a gym/pool, etc.

We would love to find out first hand from other parents what you suggest and why. Thanks so much!

[jimmyP]

I have lived in Bham, Bloomfield and Troy. All are nice areas and meet your needs. All very pleasant living and lots for kids to do.

[StuntGirl]

thanks jimmy :-)

[Coldjensens]

Equestrian oriented would be South Lyon/Lyon township.

However there are stables all over the place.

The other items are pretty much in every NW suburb except Royal Oak/Ferndale which are not really family oriented places. Lots of families live there, but the schools are not so good and the shops etc are adult oriented. Many are very adult oriented.

You are missing a lot of other options. JUst look through various discussions on these boards. Not on your list are Rochester/Rochester Hills, Walled Lake, Farmington Hills, Franklin, Northville (!!), and a whole munch more.

[US-Traveller]

I think Bloomfield Township is a great place to raise kids. A young family with enough money could really enjoy the Turtle Lake community. Home prices start at $2,000,000, but homesites are available for under $300k. I am considering the area for relocation, but I am not leaning towards Detroit as a whole.

[hanna_house]

I highly recommend the Rochester Hills area, though you can't go wrong with Bloomfield or Birmingham either.

[MTUCache]

General impressions from someone who grew up in the Northern suburbs:

All the cities you mentioned are very nice, safe, upscale, and have access to healthy markets and parks/schools/etc to different degrees, based almost entirely on price.

If you are looking for something that has corporate housing, you'd have to look and see where it's available. Detroit suburbs are a pretty spread-out place, and can vary a lot in the types of housing they offer. I don't know if you'd find anything like that in Troy or Rochester, unless it was an actual rental-house (which I'm sure there's a ton of right now with the economy being what it is), rather than corporate housing.

While B'ham and Royal Oak are the only two with real "downtown" feels to them (shopping districts, parking garages, etc), there's a lot more to those cities than that. The rest of B'ham is very expensive (comparatively) with the rest of the area. The rest of Royal Oak is quite a bit more modest (older, bungalow style houses). In fact, RO is not really at all like the other cities on your list... it's a much trendier, younger, clubbier area downtown, with a much older housing-stock.

Troy/Rochester/Novi all offer a pretty similar feel to eachother. Tract-subdivisions built throughout the 80s and 90s with pockets of newer townhomes, high-end McMansions, or older 50s/60s subdivions that are getting recycled. Ninety+ percent of what you're going to find there will be your typical "suburban" setting. Very nice, very insulated, not very diverse. Single family housing prices have probably gotten down into the $250k range recently, but were up over $300k until last year. This type of development goes FAR beyond Rochester/Troy if you're just looking in that general area. Places like Shelby Township, Lake Orion, etc... all the way out to Oxford or Clarkston. It all depends on where you'll be commuting too. Generally the further north you get the newer the housing stock will be, although the bang-for-your-buck will be pretty static in this market, and if you work in Troy the commute down I-75 (and especially M-24) in the mornings can be pretty soul-crushing.

Depending on what side of town you're working in, the advantages are pretty apparent. Novi is definitely a popular, more recent area, but it's not exactly "northern suburbs" the way Rochester/Troy are. I-696 can be a real tough commute if you're not used to an area where everybody drives and there's no mass-transit. If you're working near Novi it wouldn't be bad at all, but if you're working in Troy that could easily be an hour-commute each way from Novi.

As for "equestrian" activities... those you would have to travel a bit for. If you can afford it, the trust-funders have that type of stuff in B'ham, but it's VERY pricey. If you're willing to drive just a half-hour though, up towards Oxford/Metamora, you'll definitely find a horse-country, farm-type setting. I personally would have loved to have lived in that area, but it's quite a ways from where I worked, and as you get further out the rest of your activities (TKD/MMA/Whole-Foods) get a bit more scarce.

I think you'd love Troy/Rochester if you're into the typical suburban setting... and if you can afford it B'ham is definitely nice.

[daddythreepointoh]

From what the OP has said I would think that B'ham would be the top choice. Very upscale, very nice, hip, family friendly, ect. However, with the other choices pretty much all of them will be family friendly.

It boils down to what you want. Bloomfield areas will be more wooded, whereas B'ham is more urban. Both are family friendly...just depends on what your style is.

[StuntGirl]

wow, thanks! appreciate all the help. :-)

It looks like we'll probably stay in a nice, gated apartment complex in Troy. From the sounds of it, I think we'll be fine there. It's only for a few months and I'll most likely rent a car so we can travel to horse riding and other activities.

I prefer/enjoy walking the area with the kids, as opposed to the usual (southern california) driving that we do everywhere!! But, it sounds like I won't find everything in one town (can't blame a girl for trying though!).

Maybe we'll find good stuff for the kids in Bloomfield and Birmingham too....and they seem to be real close to Troy.

Gonna look for a traveling type school too...( one that blends a home-school program with a couple/day a week school session).

Work will be in Troy and other unknown surrounding areas....so in regards to a heavy commute, we have to bank on the Troy area as our home base for now.

Lots to do! Thanks for all the fabulous help, I really appreciate it. :-))