Grand Rapids: bad areas? (Detroit, Fountain: rentals, houses, neighborhood)

[windfarmer]

i've heard that Baxter, Heartside, Southwest area neighborhood, and South Division are not that great to move to. Are they really higher in crime, violent or not?

If anyone knows about these areas, please tell me what you think. I'd hate to move there and be unhappy – or not move there simply out of ignorance.

the rentals seem to be quite affordable in those areas. that's why I am considering those areas. currently an AA resident.


thank you.

[mackinac81]

Not sure about Baxter, but the rest are on the mark. They're trying to renovate South Division (looks quite a bit better, actually) but I'd go with the exurbs or smaller towns if you can. (but then, I like open spaces)

Also, any part of the city immediately west of the Grand River is pretty bad, in my view.

[burgler09]

Yeah, it is definitely not a really nice place to live on the direct outskirts of downtown grand rapids. The downtown area is very walkable.. even at night.. but don't buy a house just outside.. A nice little acecdote to go along with it.. my buddies had a house on Michigan and Eastern.. well they had a party (i left early) when a gang decided to show up and beat my friends down with crobars.. sent 4 of them to the hospital and almost killed one of my buddies, he had a cracked skull and was put in a coma for 3 days.

My advice is to live around 10 mins just outside of downtown and you'll be just fine. Grand Rapids isn't detroit.. but its bad areas can be very sketchy.. and it doesn't get much media cover.. in my opinion its a lot worse around there than it is made out to be. You have to watch out in buying/renting in certain areas around the dowtown area due to gangs "owning" that part of town. If you'd like any more help with the areas or whatnot feel free to pm me!

[windfarmer]

burgler, that's a pretty awful story. I'm hear things like that happening in Detroit, but I never thought Grand Rapids could play host to that sort of trouble.. GR seems so peaceful to an outsider like me.

Also, can anyone shed more light on South Division? Is it a gang-infested area too? The properties appear reasonable in price.

[JoeLunchBox11]

I really wouldn't advise a move to any of those areas. They are close to downtown which is nice, but you can find something that is 5-10 minutes farther away in a much better area. Stay away from the SE side.

[cardwellave]

How about the John Ball Park area?

[Cato the Elder]

Originally Posted by burgler09

Yeah, it is definitely not a really nice place to live on the direct outskirts of downtown grand rapids. The downtown area is very walkable.. even at night.. but don't buy a house just outside.. A nice little acecdote to go along with it.. my buddies had a house on Michigan and Eastern.. well they had a party (i left early) when a gang decided to show up and beat my friends down with crobars.. sent 4 of them to the hospital and almost killed one of my buddies, he had a cracked skull and was put in a coma for 3 days.

My advice is to live around 10 mins just outside of downtown and you'll be just fine. Grand Rapids isn't detroit.. but its bad areas can be very sketchy.. and it doesn't get much media cover.. in my opinion its a lot worse around there than it is made out to be. You have to watch out in buying/renting in certain areas around the dowtown area due to gangs "owning" that part of town. If you'd like any more help with the areas or whatnot feel free to pm me!

Yikes, maybe it's farther away than it seems on a map, but we were looking at some houses just north of the Fulton St Cemetery when we were thinking about moving there.

[cardwellave]

I know when we were there we turned north on Eastern Ave from Logan Street and the "Baxter Neighborhood" looked sort of rough, but overall, the city doesn't LOOK bad, but I guess some places are.

[burgler09]

The john ball park area isn't too bad, but it is hit or miss.. there are parts that are worse than others.. but the closer you are to john ball park the better the area. You are pretty safe as long as you are close to john ball. The further you move away from it the worse it gets. My advice is the more you move toward downtown from john ball the worse it gets, the more you move away from john ball away from downtown the better it is going to get.

[mich2fla]

Originally Posted by Cato the Elder

Yikes, maybe it's farther away than it seems on a map, but we were looking at some houses just north of the Fulton St Cemetery when we were thinking about moving there.

My brother lives in that area near Grand and Fountain since 2000...he likes it. He said need to use commonsense like locking the car up, hide valuables from view, etc.

I get my haircut at Di Trapani's on the corner of Fulton and Diamond. I don't feel scared in either area.

You'll be very close to downtown, the highways, etc.

Is schools important? You are probably aware that GRPS has issues.