Moving to Detroit, Michigan in June 2010 (Livonia, Jackson: foreclosed, crime, house)

[Coldjensens]

The best schools close to Detroit are Grosse Point and Grosse Ile (opposite directions from Downtown). You should probably check out both, they are very very different types of places. You cna learn a lot from their web sites.

What is your acceptable commute time?

Birmingham has good schools too but it is very expensive and the commute can be a bear. That is one of the heaviest traffic areas and the current construciotn makes things worse. (plus there is the snob/materialism issue - but that depends on your perspecitive)

Detroit has one really good high school - Renessaince High which is a charter school, hard to get into. Renessaince recently fell quite a bit in various rankings, not sure why. Most of the other schools are below unacceptable.

If you expand your commute range out to about an hour, you get a lot more options. Northville, Novi, Plymouth have outstanding schools. South Lyon, Farmington Hills, Walled lake, Rochester, have great schools. Livonia, Trenton, Southgate, Riverview, Woodhaven, Milford, all have very good schools. I am missing a dozen or so other communities with very good, great or outstanding schools.

[rdub1968]

I would also check out Troy - as long as you live sort of close to I-75 the commute isn't that bad at all. They have great schools. It is a very safe city too. Plus it is close to Rochester, which is a nice downtown. There are also great libraries and an excellent community center with a great water park.

I used to live near S. Blvd and Livernois and worked downtown at the RenCen. I was able to get there in 30-35 mins during rush hour. Now that less people are working at GM, my commute was very easy near the end before I moved out of MI.

If I wanted to go east or west, M-59 was also nearby.


Grosse Pointe is too close to Detroit if you ask me. It seems like you are driving in the ghetto, then all of a sudden it changes to somewhere nice. That could be a fine line that slowly changes as the years go on.

I would also avoid Birmingham, I lived at Lincoln and Woodward and it was too congested for me. And during Dream Cruise - FORGET IT!!!

[chris0681]

Don't move to Michigan, there is still time to say no, cold weather, no jobs, (except maybe yours), Detroit is falling apart literally with most businesses either bankrupt or heading there, the only good thing about Michigan is their sports teams, (when they are winning- for the Lions, the Barry Sanders era doesnt count). Oh, well I guess a good thing is you can buy a house for $1, in some areas.. but then again you'll be living in the murder capital, or at least it has been alot in the past. Oh and pretty much every other city or town in the entire state isnt doing so great either.. since it has been like a 10 year recession or possibly longer for us. Oh and yeah we lose the most people every year, or at least most years the past few years.. so thats not a good incentive to move here either, I had to be negative beause Ive lived in Michigan my whole life, and the recession has made almost everywhere bad except maybe North Dakota and a plain state here and there, but if you have to come, at least come with a guaranteed job that you cant lose for at least 5 years, while the state tries to recover, somehow.

[rdub1968]

Originally Posted by chris0681

the only good thing about Michigan is their sports teams, (when they are winning- for the Lions, the Barry Sanders era doesnt count).

If you like microbreweries, Michigan has the best beer east of the Mississippi and close to the likes of California, Oregon, and Colorado.
Yeah, Dogfish Head isn't in MI, but I'm talking the entire state as a whole.

And not everywhere is the murder capital, you can be safe in the suburbs. I never went downtown unless it was for work.

But you are right about the cold!

[Coldjensens]

Originally Posted by rdub1968

If you like microbreweries, Michigan has the best beer east of the Mississippi and close to the likes of California, Oregon, and Colorado.
Yeah, Dogfish Head isn't in MI, but I'm talking the entire state as a whole.

And not everywhere is the murder capital, you can be safe in the suburbs. I never went downtown unless it was for work.

But you are right about the cold!

I work in downtown Detroit every day. I bring my family downtown for various events both in the daytime and at night. It is a reasonably safe place for a large city. People who claim that Downtown is dangerous are almost always people who have not been here in years, if at all. Parts of Detroit are very dangerous, but it is a big city. If you do not go into those areas, then you are not exposed to that danger. THe negative nellies and fear mongers cna quote articles and statistics all day. Yes. Detroit has a very high crime rate as a whole, but Downtown Detroit does not. To avoid Downtown Detroit in ear of overall crime statistics is like saying that you will never visit California because Watts has high crime. THat is just silly.

While you do need to use common sense when you are downtown, it is not the crime ridden place that many seem to want to make it out to be. You do need to lock your car doors, and not leave any valuables in sight, just like you need to do in any City. Likewise you need to stay out of obviously bad areas, not walk around alone at night, not wear a lot of flashy bling, etc. This is true of any city.

Thus, while it is funny to say things like "If you go dowtown you should wear a body bag and save the coronor some troube" It is just silliness and not reflective of the actualt atmosphere downtown.

[UKUKUK]

I feel safer in downtown Detroit at night than downtown Chicago, and I'm a huge Chicago booster.

Downtown Detroit is very well policed, as are many of the better neighborhoods. It's worth noting that unless you're into the drug trade, that your chances of being murdered are less than half of what the statistics say, even in a bad 'hood.

[rdub1968]

Originally Posted by Coldjensens

People who claim that Downtown is dangerous are almost always people who have not been here in years, if at all.

I guess I should clarify I didn't ever go downtown because I felt it was unsafe, it was just because there have been an extreme shortage of good restaurants there for many years. It has finally come back somewhat - but why go all the way down town for a few good restaurants if I can go to a nearby city in the suburb and have a choice of many.

It was a good place for concerts though - Joe Louis, Chene Park, Majestic, etc.

But is does get shady around the bus stops and a few blocks away from the downtown area in no time flat.

[usroute10]

Just to be clear, Coldjensens, Rennaissance High School is and always will be a DETROIT PUBLIC SCHOOL.

Also, to rdub1968, there are PLENTY of GREAT restaurants in Downtown Detroit, the area north of Downtown (called Midtown), and the neighborhoods immediately west of Downtown (Corktown and Mexicantown). How long have you been away?

To the original poster, please look into the Grosse Pointe communities - community pride, safety, great historic housing stock, a couple cute business districts, great schools, great lakefront parks only open to residents, and generally great quality of life, and it is very close to the cultural amenities of Downtown/Midtown Detroit.

You should also look into Farmington/Farmington Hills - schools are not quite as good, but still a safe, rather diverse suburb (black, white, Middle-Eastern, Asian), with about a 40 minute commute.
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I just want to add, (in response to zhatsman28 that you have to pay 175,000 to buy a house in a good city neighborhood), if anybody out there is willing to give the city a chance, you can get a well-maintained house in the neighborhood of the University District for under $100,000. Within this neighborhood is a Catholic Elementary, and just to the west a highly-regarded Catholic Middle and High School called U of D-Jesuit. These are all affiliated with the University of Detroit-Mercy, from which the neighborhood gets it name.

(I'M NOT A REAL ESTATE AGENT, moderator please don't delete)
http://www.realestateone.com/homes/2...troit-MI-48221

(The taxes on the following house says 5,000 a year, but you can get your house reassessed, and because it's in a historic district, there is a 12-year long property tax reduction, so you might only pay like $3,000 a year. You can use money saved from your low mortgage and low property taxes to send your children to the private schools in the neighborhood. Just an option)

[rdub1968]

Originally Posted by usroute10

Also, to rdub1968, there are PLENTY of GREAT restaurants in Downtown Detroit, the area north of Downtown (called Midtown), and the neighborhoods immediately west of Downtown (Corktown and Mexicantown). How long have you been away?

The key word you are using is "are", which I agree with there are good restaurants now. But I was talking about before the stadiums were built - good restaurants were lacking. There was the Whitney, a few good italian restaurants (Roma Cafe?) and not much else worth going downtown for.

But even the Roma Cafe was in a bad area, as was Traffic Jam and Snug.

I did go down to Mexicantown quite often though

I moved out of MI last June and live in Charlotte now - and let me tell you I had the best winter of my life!

[ckhthankgod]

Originally Posted by Coldjensens

The best schools close to Detroit are Grosse Point and Grosse Ile (opposite directions from Downtown). You should probably check out both, they are very very different types of places. You cna learn a lot from their web sites.

What is your acceptable commute time?

Birmingham has good schools too but it is very expensive and the commute can be a bear. That is one of the heaviest traffic areas and the current construciotn makes things worse. (plus there is the snob/materialism issue - but that depends on your perspecitive)

Detroit has one really good high school - Renessaince High which is a charter school, hard to get into. Renessaince recently fell quite a bit in various rankings, not sure why. Most of the other schools are below unacceptable.

If you expand your commute range out to about an hour, you get a lot more options. Northville, Novi, Plymouth have outstanding schools. South Lyon, Farmington Hills, Walled lake, Rochester, have great schools. Livonia, Trenton, Southgate, Riverview, Woodhaven, Milford, all have very good schools. I am missing a dozen or so other communities with very good, great or outstanding schools.

Can't forget about Cass Tech too.....