[jhomes]

I am looking at moving to petoskey or gaylord. I have sold my home in florida and am thinking of moving to the north.
I will have to find some work and would like to know how the economy is doing.
I really don't want any one to put a spin on reality that things are good or a spin that things are bad. I just want the facts of how things in this area are doing.
I have been told that the construction and related things are very bad.
I am in the escrow business and have worked in title insurance for many years. Usualy this is a good area to be in as you can not learn this trade in school.
But with the housing and lending in such bad shape I wonder if things are shut down in north michigan.
Please people who only live in the area respond.
Thanks.

P.S. Also thinking of Traverse city so any one who lives in this town please tell me what is the state of the economy, I read that the talon group a title office went out of business there.

[Jswee]

Can't speak for Petoskey or Gaylord but I live in TC and am in the Real Estate biz so I can give you some insight for this area. The market is soft but has not completely tanked. To give you an idea, you can compare closings for 2007 to 2006 & 2005 figures. These figures are for Jan. - June and are single family homes only. 2007 - 982, 2006 - 1,029, 2005 - 1,078 . So purchase closings are off about 9% from 2 years ago. Re-fi's are also much slower than previous years but I don't have the exact numbers. There is still a fair amount of commercial construction going on in TC. The Traverse City economy is much less Dependant on tourism than Gaylord's is and is much more diverse than Petoskey's.

The Talon group was never one of the major Title Co's in TC. There are at least 8-10 title co's that seem to be surviving pretty well.

[persephone]

I live in Gaylord. I am leaving Gaylord. The market is being flooded with forclosures and we have lost 2 major industries in one year; one of which was Georgia-Pacific and we are still feeling the effects. The real estate market here is the 'worst I have ever seen' in the words of two of my real estate friends who live and work here. Petoskey and Traverse City are in better shape than Gaylord, but I wouldn't say by much. Good luck, but I personally do not recommend this area to anyone, let alone anyone in the real estate industry.

[dgkpdk]

[FONT='Calibri','sans-serif']I grew up in Traverse City. I lived in Gaylord for many years. I went to college in Petoskey. The area is a beautiful, brutal place to live in. Even during the best of times there are few decent paying jobs in these areas. Most jobs consist of hotels and restaurants and other low paying service industry employment. If you already have money and resources, you could be quite comfortable there. It is a difficult place to try to get ahead. I am now in South West Florida and would only return to Northern Michigan to visit and things aren’t that great here! Best of luck.[/font]

[Northman]

I've been in Petoskey for a year, and love it. I am in healthcare, and the hospital here is the major employer for the area, so I am good, but it's pretty tough going otherwise. That said, even the hospital is constantly worrying about their financial situation, and there have been times that I've wondered if layoffs might be coming, but it hasn't happened so far.

Michigan is struggling mightily, but it's such an awesome place to live, especially up north where I am. I'm sticking it out for now because of that alone.

[zakian]

Originally Posted by jhomes

I am looking at moving to petoskey or gaylord. I have sold my home in florida and am thinking of moving to the north.
I will have to find some work and would like to know how the economy is doing.
I really don't want any one to put a spin on reality that things are good or a spin that things are bad. I just want the facts of how things in this area are doing.
I have been told that the construction and related things are very bad.
I am in the escrow business and have worked in title insurance for many years. Usualy this is a good area to be in as you can not learn this trade in school.
But with the housing and lending in such bad shape I wonder if things are shut down in north michigan.
Please people who only live in the area respond.
Thanks.

P.S. Also thinking of Traverse city so any one who lives in this town please tell me what is the state of the economy, I read that the talon group a title office went out of business there.

If I were in your business I would not go there.

[trapper1]

hey jholms

Not really sure what is it you do or what the pay is in Florida but the jobs that I can think of in that field around here are low paying jobs and the cost of living is higher here becous everything is centered around tourism.The good news is, if you choose to move to Petoskey the VIEW OF THE BAY will more than make up for the poverty wage. Well.......at least that is the way I think it is supposed to work!!!!!
There must be a reason that you are looking at this area and that reason is what will probably make or break your success here or any where.


trapper1