[Virginia1]

Well thankyou everyone for the information. It really helps trying to narrow things down. Thanks ATL-Mike for the other areas. I have been to Petosky and really enjoyed the area. The only problem with areas like Petosky and Traverse City or even Ludington is the pay corresponds with the low populated area ( compared to Ann Arbor or Detroit, even GR). I have found that the larger places pay more, ( have a son in college). But I think the cost of living of course would be lower, among other things. Everyone seems to agree on the fact that I should not buy. I kind of would like to. You see down here the Real Estate is insane. A 150,000 house bought 3 years ago would cost around 225,000 or more today. People like me, with decent income can't even afford a house with the regular 30 yr. mortgage. I mean a house that is not in the hood, black or white. Houses in areas that are less desirable to live in are around 140,000 or more. So when I look at the Michigan prices I see homes that I could buy and not be house poor. Granted they are old, but I prefer those old homes that have been kept up well. Who knows I may not want to leave Michigan once I get up there. I would rather comfortably afford a house and vacation then be house poor. Again Thanks everyone for the input. If any of you ever move or vacation down here feel free to ask for advice. Thanks........EVERYONE.

[mhogan10010]

Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak. My wife actually got a job offer there once, and says she would try and get a job there (Nurse) if we ever moved back to Michigan.

[thisguy]

Originally Posted by Virginia1

Well thankyou everyone for the information. It really helps trying to narrow things down. Thanks ATL-Mike for the other areas. I have been to Petosky and really enjoyed the area. The only problem with areas like Petosky and Traverse City or even Ludington is the pay corresponds with the low populated area ( compared to Ann Arbor or Detroit, even GR). I have found that the larger places pay more, ( have a son in college). But I think the cost of living of course would be lower, among other things. Everyone seems to agree on the fact that I should not buy. I kind of would like to. You see down here the Real Estate is insane. A 150,000 house bought 3 years ago would cost around 225,000 or more today. People like me, with decent income can't even afford a house with the regular 30 yr. mortgage. I mean a house that is not in the hood, black or white. Houses in areas that are less desirable to live in are around 140,000 or more. So when I look at the Michigan prices I see homes that I could buy and not be house poor. Granted they are old, but I prefer those old homes that have been kept up well. Who knows I may not want to leave Michigan once I get up there. I would rather comfortably afford a house and vacation then be house poor. Again Thanks everyone for the input. If any of you ever move or vacation down here feel free to ask for advice. Thanks........EVERYONE.

I think what we are warning you about is right now MI homes are not appreciating and in fact over past 12 months depreciating. I am talking SE Michigan ... if you go to Grand Rapids or elsewhere its another story. So you mentioned you might only stay 3 years... if so what we are saying to you is you are living in a world where a $150K house went up to $225K in 3 years. That doesn't even seem like reality in MI - its a different world. In VA you made $75K equity and once you take out the commission you still made out nearly $60K.

In SE MI right now you buy a $150K house, it might be worth $145 or $155K in 3 years when you might move, and when you leave in 3 years, you pay the commission and you could be actually in the hole.

I am in that situation right now... I bought my house in the "hot" (I use the word sarcastically) market in 2001 in one of the most desirable areas (Royal Oak) for $145K... similar houses are going for sale (hundreds of them) for $155K now. I made $10K in 5 years... when I sell I will have made zilch, in fact I will be in the hole if I sell now with the upgrades I need to do to get it in selling condition. This is with hardwood refinishing I did, painting every room etc

So when I read stories in CA when people buy $150K houses in 2001 and now worth $350K, again this seems like another planet, not to mention another country, not to mention another state. Its just not the realty here. If you plan to live here 10 years go ahead and buy the house... but if you plan to buy and sell in 3,4,5 years you could be in the hole. Somehow I missed the greatest housing boom in history just because I was located in the wrong state and my $150K could of doubled in many other states. Location Location Location. So I lost those 5 years... if you have a short time frame to live here (5 years or less) don't plan on that appreciation - your frame of reference needs to change in parts of the midwest (parts of Ohio, parts of PA, parts of Indiana, parts of Michigan)

[Rohan]

Originally Posted by thisguy

I am in that situation right now... I bought my house in the "hot" (I use the word sarcastically) market in 2001 in one of the most desirable areas (Royal Oak) for $145K... similar houses are going for sale (hundreds of them) for $155K now. I made $10K in 5 years... when I sell I will have made zilch, in fact I will be in the hole if I sell now with the upgrades I need to do to get it in selling condition. This is with hardwood refinishing I did, painting every room etc

Your numbers are difficult for me to believe. While the housing market in Royal Oak *HAS* slumped quite badly, if you bought a house in 2001 you rode the massive appreciation boom from 2001-2005.

I bought my house in Royal Oak for 120K in 2001, it was appraised at $300,000.00 in January of 2006. We've done a lot, ground up renovations and all of that fun stuff, and probably sunk 50K in cash into it. Even so that was a $130,000.00 profit.

However, the market right now is trash, the summer is traditionally a great time for home appreciation and this year they DROPPED a bit. WXYZ still reports Royal Oak as gaining 3-4% a year, but I just don't see it. If I had to sell my house right now, I would guess we would be fortunate to get $250K out of it.

My neighbors house isn't even close to ours in terms of quality, and his is listed for 200K, I figure another 50K would be in the cards for us. So that is a n estimated $50,000 loss in housing value in only a few months thanks to the grand vision of Bush. ;-)

Even so, we are considering selling, and taking whatever profit we do have and banking most of it, and buying a cheaper house in Berkley - which by all accounts is a better community for families. Royal Oak closing 4 schools in 2006/2007 is NOT helping our property values one bit!

[CaboolBound]

If you want to work near downtown Detroit, you might want to consider Southgate, Allen Park, Wyandotte or any of the cities Downriver. We live in Southgate and are looking into MO. My husband is on disablity due to a spinal cord injury from a car accident 2 years ago. We have been here 4 years and have never had a problem. Our neighbors are great, we have great schools and I believe that our crime rate is low. The only reason we are moving is because it is cheaper down there ( we are living on SSI ) and slower paced. Houses around our neighborhood run around the mid to high $120's. We are actually going to be selling our home below the market value just so we can move quicker. [cut] We are hoping to sell the house for $117-119,000. IT is true, the houses are not selling fast enough. IT is a buyers market. We are about 15-20 minutes away from the medical area of Detroit. There is Detroit Recieving, Henry Ford, Children's Hospital, Harper, Hutzel, and I can't remember the rest. We have a hospital about 6-8 minutes from us, Wyandotte Hospital. This is a nice area if you are looking for something in the city, quiet, and good schools. We are close to all the freeways too. I'm a nurse ( but I stay home to take care of hubby)and there are alot of medical field jobs around here. We have a lot of radiology offices around us too. Good luck in your search.

[JasonCarp]

I am a Michigan native. I grew up in Kalamazoo and Grand Rapids, went to school at Michigan State University, and lived and worked for a few years out of college in Metro Detroit. In addition to that I spend vacation time in the summer in Northern Michigan! I have been living in Grand Rapids for the past 10 years. I can honestly say, I love Lansing for the college atmsophere, I miss Detroit for the pro sports, diversity, and size of the city, but I love Grand Rapids and West Michigan. The people are great, the diversity is growing, the economy is building and for someone in the medical field, the possibilities are endless. Moderator cut: No Advertising Please

Good Luck

Jason Carpenter

[Lauraferg]

Saline would be good for you. Saline is a suburb of Ann Arbor, although Saline has a small-town feel and low crime, with only 8,000 people. Everyone is nice.

[r1a]

Originally Posted by zygnoda

Royal Oak
City-data.com crime index
(higher means more crime, U.S. average = 327.2)

1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

217.1 196.6 186.7 161.5 168.8 160.5

Oh yeah- they have terrible crime

Not to say that's Royal Oak is a hot bed of crime, but I think that these numbers are just wee bit off.
It looks like there might have been something wrong with how Royal Oak reported their crime figures.
If these numbers were true then Brighton, (a community that I'm pretty familiar with) would have twice the over all crime rate:

[CENTER] 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003
272.0 268.0 262.3 301.9 350.1 [/CENTER]

That, and according to the same data table, Royal Oak had 127 murders in 2005!?! I'm pretty sure I didn't see that in the Tribune!
It would be my guess that the Royal Oak data is incorrect. Could it be that Royal Oak under reported some of it's crime numbers until more recently?

Here is a look at the whole chart for Royal Oak:

[CENTER]Type 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005
Murders 0 1 0 0 0 1 127

Rapes 20 13 23 10 9 11 1

Robberies 51 32 49 35 42 42 20

Assaults 74 92 57 60 52 52 34

Burglaries 246 255 270 289 275 246 278

Thefts 1,489 1,279 1,116 971 1,078 997 954

Auto thefts 194 186 166 143 155 136 189

City-data.com
crime index 217.1 196.6 186.7 161.5 168.8 160.5 354.5[/CENTER]


Even when population size is taken into account, (according to the FBI crime statistics), Brighton is safer overall.



Latest 2005 Crimes per 100,000 People:


[CENTER]Royal Oak,Brighton,National

Murder:1.706.9
Forcible
Rape:34.1228.0832.2
Robbery:5856.2195.4
Aggravated
Assault:122.856.2340.1
Burglary:474.2365.1814.5
Larceny
Theft:1627.43510.22734.7
Vehicle
Theft:322.442.1526.5 [/CENTER]


By the way I have lived in both Royal Oak and Brighton and it's my impression that Royal Oak does have a higher crime rate. It's by no means unsafe, it's just pretty much what you'd expect from a community of about 60,000 that's two miles from the city of Detroit.

[depeche]

Just wanted to say I lived in Royal Oak for 32 years. Hard to believe someone said it's full of drugs and crime. It's one of the most intimate and friendly neighborhoods. Ferndale is up and coming too. Michigan is a great state but it's true the economy is dreadful right now.

[Abzp4]

I have posted these questions on "What is Saginaw Like" thread also.

I might move to Saginaw township north and I want to know about the area

What is the job trend in the township? As in, is it growing or is it declining?
Is Heritage High School a good school?
Are there any new developments in the township?
How is the crime in the area?
And, how does the future look for Saginaw township?

Please reply, thanks