Moving to Detroit - Best Places to Live? (Warren, Sterling Heights: best suburbs, apartments)

[abhishek124]

Hi,
I am moving to detroit. I am married and have a 3 year old kid. My office is in General Motors, Warren. I am looking for a place in detroit Which has
1) Safety--No Crime
2)Schol for My daughter
3) Fun place
4) Not too far from Office
5) Rental upto 1000 dollars.

Appreciate any replies

Abhishek Singh

[MIEng]

Well, you have many options. If you want to minimize your commute anywhere around Troy , Clawson, Sterling Heights will be good and are also vey safe. I too work at the Tech Center and live north of Sterling Heights. It takes me no more than 20 min to get to 12 mile. I do leave the house very early in the morning so that helps. I chose this place to live for the commute and because I have everything I need withing a 2 mile radius from my house (restaurants, shopping, hardware and grocery stores, doctors, many parks etc). My kids go to Utica schools and I'm happy with the district.

I recommend you look at houses for rent, not apartments. You may be able to rent a house in a quiet neighboorhood since there are so many people that are trying to sell their homes and keeping up with the payments.

Metro Detroit is huge so if you are willing to drive more there are many other good options but you will not get much for your $1000 rent.

Good Luck!!

[sumukru]

It's been a several years since I've lived in Michigan, so I can't tell you how much rentals are going for in what areas now, but if schooling is one of your top priorities, then I recommend using greatschools.net. From there you can weed out which areas are your preference.

Another way to get ideas of places to live is to ask around at your new place of employment. It was very helpful to my family when we relocated to get the 'inside scoop' from my husband's future co-workers.

GL!

[McSparkle]

I'd recommend Warren itself (certain areas better than others), and points North (Sterling Heights; Utica; Macomb Twp; Shelby Twp.).

[Coldjensens]

You probably need to start with school. Good schools and low crime seem to run hand in hand. If you look at the cities with good schools, they all pretty much have low crime rates.

You have to get out a little way to get into the better communities/school districts. Troy is pretty good. Brimingham, Rochester, Bloomfield Hills and WEst Bloomfield are good choices. Farmington hills is pretty good.

[bc008]

Originally Posted by cloudification

1) Safety--No Crime ....can you say #1 crime capital of the US
2)Schol for My daughter.......... HOME SCHOOL DEFINATELY
3) Fun place......................... another state somewhere
4) Not too far from Office.........when your life is at stake texas should'nt be too far.
5) Rental upto 1000 dollars......don't put your money back into that corupt city.

the OP didnt say he had to be in Detroit proper. IMHO Detroit has some of the best suburbs in the country.

@ The OP: Plymouth/Canton is great. (its where we are headed if your house ever sells..) They seem to have the best schools in the area, although the number of students can scare some people off (6,000+ kids in the HS if I recall) Northville and Novi also seem to be very quaint communities.

[MTUCache]

Originally Posted by bc008

@ The OP: Plymouth/Canton is great. (its where we are headed if your house ever sells..) They seem to have the best schools in the area, although the number of students can scare some people off (6,000+ kids in the HS if I recall) Northville and Novi also seem to be very quaint communities.

Plymouth/Canton could be a hellish commute to Warren everyday. Even with a third of the area out of work I wouldn't want to spend an hour on 696 each way everyday when there are so many other good options in the North suburbs. Online maps don't show the soul-crushing factor of 696... I'd say you could probably double their estimates for time if you're commuting during rush hour.

Depending on where you're at in Warren, Sterling Heights is probably the easiest catch-all for what you're looking for, although you are still going to get a bit of the "inner-ring" suburb feel out of the kids at the local schools. Nothing too scary, but there's not the same "college prep" feel that you're going to get out of the Troy/Rochester school areas. A somewhat cheaper option, but with a nice middle-of-the-road feel (between SH and Rochester I mean) would be in Shelby Township. Not the quickest commute from Shelby, but not bad at all (say 20-25 minutes).

Again, depending on where you're at in Warren, and if you are willing to commute up to 45 minutes, you've got a TON of options for a little bit more rural feel as well (rather than Plymouth/Canton which are going to feel exactly like Troy/Rochester). You don't necessarily have to be in the McMansion suburbs. Romeo, Armada, Richmond, etc have plenty of land available right now and pretty decent schools. I personally would find the extra drive worth it to get a couple of acres for the same price as a quarter-acre in Troy/Rochester, but that's just me.

As for fun places, they're all what you make of them. From shopping to cider mills, you're right in the middle of one of the greatest areas in the country. Crime will be a non-issue in just about all the places I mentioned, schools will be good to excellent, and with the housing market right now $1k/month should get you a very nice house in a very nice neighborhood (or out of a neighborhood entirely if that's your thing).

[snoopygirlmi]

I agree w/ MTUCache - you do NOT want Plymouth/Canton as your base if you are working in Warren. Sterling Heights would be about as far north as I would look. I worked down the road from the Tech center on 12 mile and it would take closer to 30-35 minutes to get down there from Sterling Heights (I was at 18 Mile + Utica). Again, a lot depends on where you live, but some of the roads up to Sterling Heights are just packed during Rush Hour - and just 2 lanes (I'm speaking of Utica Road).

I'd look at North Warren (north of 12 Mile), South Troy, Sterling Heights, Royal Oak. Honestly, the closer you live to your job, the less headache you will get sitting in traffic. The roads are a mess during the Rush hours. And you want to avoid taking 696 if at all possible during Rush hour. Personally, I'd rather spend time with my family than sit in traffic.

If you do choose a 40-45 minute commute, then just remember when it starts snowing, you could be stuck in traffic a lot longer because of accidents and slow drivers and all the typical messes that come with winter in Michigan. My husband had to stay at a hotel a few times two winters ago because it just wasn't worth it to try to get home after class because he needed to get up super early to leave for work the next morning. (We lived in SCS and he worked in Auburn Hills) It does take an emotional toll. Needless to say, life got a lot better when we rented a place in Rochester Hills. Just something to think about.

[Coldjensens]

Ignore the fear mongers. Only parts of Detroit are horrible. Most of the suburbs are terrific and very safe.

I live 23 miles from downtown. (33 minute commute) The community where I live has almost no crime (petty theft, drunk driving, ect). The schools are outstanding. The community is clean, has lots of facilities and lots of neat events. There is a lot to do if you are into outdoor activities, especially watersports. There are many many simlar suburbs around Detroit. Some are a bit of a drive. PLeace s that you might want to consdier include:

Grosse Pointe and the related cities (Grosse Point Park, Grosse Pointe Farms, etc). *
Grosse Ile (I live here).*
Birmingham*
Beverly Hills
Troy
Farmington Hills
Bloomfield Hills
West Bloomfield
Rochester*
Rochester Hills*
Novi*
Northville*
South Lyon
Lyon township
New Hudson
Plymouth
Salem
Canton
Livonia
Trenton
Walled Lake

All of these communities have good schools and good safety records. Some are better than others. Livonia and Trenton and possibly Troy are not quite as strong for schools. Wlled Lake I am not certain, I have heard things both ways and I did not look them up. Communities marked * have unusually good schools, or at least they did when I last looked. Part of Canton is in the Plymouth Canton school district. That is the part that you would want ot be in. Grosse Pointe has two high schools (North and South). I think that South is the good one, but I keep getting mixed up.