Looking for "Family" suburbs around Detroit m (Ann Arbor: best cities, for sale)

[sahara910]

My husband has a job prospect in Detroit like downtown on the Canadian border Detroit. And we live in rural Georgia now... I would love to look at some very family friendly, good schools, nice parks neighborhoods. I don;t have any idea what the homes cost there, but we would like to be right at 300K for a 4 - 5 bedroom house with a yard.

Any thoughts?

Thanks !

[behindenemylines]

Take a look at Grosse Pointe and Huntington Woods. Both are nice areas with a pretty decent commute to downtown. You could also look into areas off the Northwestern Highway like Farmington Hills and West Bloomfield (not West Bloomfield schools, though) because you can shoot down The Lodge to downtown fairly easily as well.

[Coldjensens]

THis is kind of funny. You have so many choices it is difficult to even identify them all.

Close to Detroit (i.e. within a half hour or less):

Great Places:
Grosse Pointe (and the related cities - Grosse Pointe Woods, Farms, Park)
Grosse Ile

Decent Places:
Trenton
Southgate
Riverview
Woodhaven
Dearborn

Wyandotte, Royal Oak and Ferndale are really neat places to live and/or visit, but not the most family/child friendly places. Schools are not so good and businesses generally tend to be more young adult and up oriented. These towns are more urban.


Slightly Further out:

Great PLaces(40 minutes to and hour or a bit more):
Birmingham,
Rochester
Northville
South Lyon
Lyon Township
Milford
Plymouth
Troy
Bloomfield Hills

Decent places:
Farminton/Farmington HIlls
West Bloomfield
Canton
Walled Lake
Novi
Brighton
(Note: these are pretty great palces in a lot of regards, but they do not have the character that the other options offer - if they were close in, they would be on the Great places list, but the competition is stronger when you get out 40 minutes plus from the City.).


Out near Ann Arbor (at least an hour from Detroit)
Chelsea!!
Dexter
Tecumseh
Saline
Ann Arbor

This area offers some of the best cities and small towns, fabulous schools, beuatiful scenery and architecture, great sense of community, you name it. Ann Arbor is a sizable city built around a large college so it is a loud busy place and you have to put up with rowdy college students everywhere.

[sahara910]

Wow that is quite the list!! We are totally fine with the 40 min commute ot so much the more than an hour. Im NOT a city fan, I have lived outside Boston, baltimore and Atlanta and other than going out for a good dinner its not my thing. Give me nice trees, parks, and more yard any day!!
The kids are 9, 6, and new one in January so we will definitely have good schools at the top of the list! I will try to look at some of these 'hoods and see what I can come up with Thank You!

[gmc862000]

I have 2 nieces, 1 nephew and a brother that live in the Troy and Rochester Hills area. They have children enrolled in the Troy and Rochester Hills public schools from kindergarten to High School.

The kids are active in the Park and Recreation soccer, football, baseball and hockey leagues.

It's a easy commute to downtown Detroit via I 75. Both areas meet all the criteria you mentioned.

You can't go wrong purchasing a home in either area.
Do a Google search for each city.

[sahara910]

Great thank you!! He has another interview next week and I have never even been to MI!

[michsnowlvr]

Originally Posted by sahara910

Great thank you!! He has another interview next week and I have never even been to MI!

Good luck on the interview! Plenty of great family suburbs, keep us updated.

[delayed]

I know exactly what you are looking for. I am the same way. I'll take wild game and a two-track road over bus stops and urban folks any day of the week. If you're ok with a bit of a commute Chelsea, Dexter, Scio, Huron Twp, are all good choices. If you want a bit less of a commute there are SOME areas of Farmington Hills are are worthy of a look. Specifically 12-14 mile rd, from drake to middlebelt. For 300k you can certainly find exactly what you're looking for. Being a Southern boy myself I've searched long and hard to find places in michigan that remind me of Tennessee.

[DaniellaG]

I grew up in West Bloomfield but went to Birmingham schools which I think were very good. I have a friend who lived in Bloomfield Hills and went to Birmingham schools so the city one lives in may be different then the school district. It will depends on how far your husband wants to drive. Don't forget to take in to account the long snowy winters. Birmingham though nice tends to have older homes and often are smaller. Many are being added on to. In your price range there are so many. In my moms sub in WB there are so many for sale and even in very well off areas many foreclosures. Some areas tend to have more of a down to earth feeling then others so just fyi on that. Not sure if I get the warm feeling from parts of WB. Good luck with what happens. Moves are stressful I do know but hopefully a new job will make things easier