Life in Marquette (Grand Rapids, Wyoming, Escanaba: relocating, property taxes, housing)

[Jack Straw]

Last week I posted about possibly relocating to the U.P. Most everyone agreed that the jobs are in Marquette. Are winters there as brutal and snowy as Ive been told? Is 4wheel drive a must? How are housing prices and property taxes? Is crime a big problem?

[Great Lake Boy]

Marquette on average gets 5 inches of snow a week based on a snow season Oct - April. This is just a rough estimate of course. The seasonal average of the county near the shore of Lake Superior is 139.9 inches and in the southern part of the county its 60 inches.

Marquette is right on the shore line! I remember a recent year where they got nearly 190 for the season. Which averages about 7 inches a week!!!

140 inches divide by 7 months = 20 inches a month divide that by 4 weeks you get 5 inches a week.

So that sounds pretty brutal if you ask me. Not to mention the cold wind coming off the lake!

[M TYPE X]

Crime? Sometimes people go above the speed limit on Front Street.

It's a college town. Clean, safe, and umm snowy. Hotels, malls, car dealers ... plus Presque Isle and Marquette Mountain. I'd like to teach someday at NMU. Downsides: miles from any kind of freeway, too close to Packers fans!

The snow situation in December wasn't very good, so I stayed in the lower peninsula to go skiing. I'll be up in Marquette for a night in early August, always a nice time to visit.

[jeeg]

Originally Posted by Jack Straw

Last week I posted about possibly relocating to the U.P. Most everyone agreed that the jobs are in Marquette. Are winters there as brutal and snowy as Ive been told? Is 4wheel drive a must? How are housing prices and property taxes? Is crime a big problem?

As I said before, I live here.
Last year our families in Grand Rapids, MI (just across the big pond from you) got more snow then we did all winter. With the exception of the one storm around Easter, we never got hit hard. Even had a brown Christmas until it started snowing that afternoon (I admit, this is not the norm)
So it all varies. Yes they've gotten 200 inches of snow up here. But the county plow folks are known as some of the best in the entire country. The roads are almost always clear and you have to remember we don't have traffic like you envision it down there. If you buy a house, then you'll spend a few hundred dollars or so on a snowblower and snow shovels. Big deal. It's not like it takes that long to clear off your drive and sidewalk if you do it consistently.
I honestly had a neighbor across the street last year who would cuss and curse the snow he had to shovel so he could get to the gym and workout
Guess it boils down to either you love winter and snow (like me), therefore love it here. Or vice versa.
On to your other questions. Both our vehicles and nearly everyone we know up here are frontwheel drives. Everyone downstate told us we would need 4X4 to live up here. We saw a lot more trucks and suv's downstate then we do up here.
Marquette you're going to pay close to $140,000 for a nice house in no need of major renovation. 8 miles west in Negaunee you're going to pay $75,000 for the same house. 8 miles further west in Ishpeming you'll pay $60,000 for the same house (no I'm not a realtor, just in the market to buy something myself). Marquette itself is quite pricy to most people.
Property taxes - I don't like paying any so of course I think they're bad!
Crime?? The U.P. is larger then some of the states in our union. I think in the entire time I've lived up here there have been 4 murders, none here in Marquette area, two of them implemented by tourists. Depending on where you live you'll get petty property crime etc. just like anywhere else in the US.

Edited to add: Before anyone thinks I've described Utopia......... the wages are a lot lower up here. And for people who are not willing to be flexible, jobs can be hard to come across. We felt (and still do) that those were small sacrifices to make to live in this beautiful land.

[Jack Straw]

Thanks to all who replied! Having been born and raised down here in Chicagoland, I am very used to brutal winters.Perhaps we dont have the snow totals Marquette receives but we have our share! Its funny how life is a trade-off. Down here we have plenty of jobs and good wages,but with the crime,pollution and congestion the quality of life stinks. There is just way too many people. Traffic is a nightmare. The thing that attracted me to the U.P. whenI visited was the natural beauty and the slower pace of life. I am planning on visiting Marquette and area and hopefully like it so much that I will want to move there. Thanks again!

[Great Lake Boy]

If the snow doesn't bother you and you like a slower type of life style I don't think you can beat Marquette and or the UP in general. The UP is a true beauty there is no denying that.

[Mark S.]

Originally Posted by Great Lake Boy

If the snow doesn't bother you and you like a slower type of life style I don't think you can beat Marquette and or the UP in general. The UP is a true beauty there is no denying that.

I love Marquette. Lovely, lovely town in God's country.

But hey, if you want the UP but the snow scares you, you might consider Escanaba. It's in the banana belt of the UP. They average only about 8 feet of snow per winter.

[Drover]

One word: Subaru.

[Great Lakes Pirate]

Hi Jack and Everybody,

I've lived in Chicago (the city, not the 'burbs) for about 8 years, and roughly the same amount of time up here in the Western UP.

Jack, you're right about the trade-offs. There is virtually no crime in the UP (but keep in mind, there isn't a whole lot in Lake Forest, either). On the other hand there isn't a lot of economic growth up here.

If you plan to buy a house, and expect it to appreciate -- like it would in the Chicago area -- you will be burned. So, buy a house you love to live in, not to fund your retirement.

Also, ask yourself what kind of recreation/diversion you (and your wife/family) truly enjoy. You may think it's fun to go snowmobiling once a year, but when that could be the only thing on your menu for 4 months you could tire of it pretty quickly. If your wife likes to go shopping she'll go nuts -- unless she likes to buy things made out of pinecones

Getting out of town is a big issue. Down there, you can go to OHare or Midway and connect to anywhere in the world. Up here, you automatically add 3 hours to any flight plans (or you'll have to drive 4 hours from Mqt to Green Bay to find a freeway).

Jobs are kind of hard to find. It helps if you know somebody who knows somebody. (It wouldn't hurt to change your last name to Maki).

About the winters: You're right in saying Chicago winters are no picnic. But you are playing golf there when we're still pushing our stupid yooper scoopers around the yard in the so-called "spring". In other words, it isn't just the severity of the winters (pretty bad) but also the length of the winters. (Kids have to wear their H'ween costumes over their snowsuits, and nobody can hide Easter Eggs outside).

My advice- look before you leap. Spend more than a week driving around soaking up the fresh air. If you can, rent a cabin or house for a month and get a taste of "real life" not just "vacation life".

I'd also warn you that some poeple in the small, isolated towns are in small, isolated towns because they don't like outsiders. So you can expect to be on the business end of the xenophobic stick.

A bigger town like Marquette, or a college town in Houghton, is more accomodating to non-locals.

[villagefish]

Hey Jack,

I lived in Marquette for 3 years. It's a very snowy city, but plowing is good. 4wd isn't a must, but RWD is probably out of the question unless you have a locking rear differential and very good snow tires. My wife and I drove a 90's AWD Subaru Legacy without any problems in the winter, besides starting it on the -20 windchill days. When it was in the shop we borrowed my parents' RWD Ford Econoline: driving that was scary-we had to plan a special route without any hills to go shopping.

We're walkers and have gone walking on above 10 degree days in Marquette. However, there were stretches where we couldn't get outside because of the cold; we bought Dance-Dance Revolution to beat our cabin fever.

Marquette is a very safe place to live...however, watch out for the Matrixx bar and nightclub on weekend nights when it closes. There's usually a circus of drunk college students walking in the streets.

My wife and I hated living in Marquette. It was too isolated for us and we were not accustomed to the slow life style. Also the drinking associated with a college town was not to our liking. Winters were very long and there were stretches for months without sunshine. We both developed seasonal depression. There were a lot of partiers and slackers at NMU when we attended, most left during the summer, but we both received an awesome education for the money. We came across several people who obviously did not know how to drive in a city-they turned right when their left blinker was on, or pulled out in front of us. It happens everywhere in the US, but seemed unusually frequent on US 41. In retrospect, Marquette isn't that bad of a place to live. We live in Laramie, Wyoming and never knew how good we had it.

Despite being a small town there are things to do. The natural scenery is awesome! Town library is brand new and has many good selections. There's a magazine shop downtown. It has a mall, Kohl's, Walmart, Target, and a staples. Getz's downtown has a lot of outdoor clothing. A GorTex jacket is a must if you're planning on living there. Getz's has a great selection of Northface.

BTW-don't consider living in a town close by to MQT. I worked in Ishpeming and drove through Gwinn and Negaunee on a regular basis: they're run-down, po-dunk, and littered with abandoned mines.

We never owned a home while there, but I did rent an apartment for a summer, which seemed kind of steep for the upstairs of a 100 year old house. I paid $200/month and lived with 2 other guys. Kind of steep for a nasty old house!

If you have any more specific questions message me.