[dulongj]

My wife and I are nearing retirement and like in Berkley, MI, just outside of Detroit. We are considering moving to Mason, MI, when we retire.

Why Mason? First, we both went to Michigan State University, are life time alumni association members, and want to be close to MSU. Secondly, we are both genealogists and like being near the Library of Michigan and the State Archives in Lansing as well as just a two hour ride to the second largest genealogical collection in the world at Allen County Public Library, Fort Wayne, IN. Thirdly, we would be in the middle of the lower peninsula and in between two of our daughters and closer to our third daughter. And fourthly, we enjoy riding a tandem bicycle and the area around Lansing is perfect for cycling. And lastly, we are already use to Michigan weather.

We visited Mason last year for the first time and just fell in love with the town. However, I would like to hear from others what they think of Mason. What are Mason's positive features? What are the negatives of living there?

Are there any surrounding towns that are as quaint as Mason? Holt also looks nice, but appears to have higher local taxes. What about Lansing? We have seen some nice houses in Lansing for sale, but we really do not know which neighborhoods are preferable, any suggestions?

Since we are so close, we plan on visiting the area several times and cycling around the towns to spot other possible locations well before we start house shopping.

Thanks for you feedback.

[teachbeach]

You might want to check out Williamston. Cute community with a walkable downtown area with great restaurants, antique stores, a home town theatre and artsy shops. Mason is the county seat of Ingham, so the courthouse is there, and much of the activity is centered around the town square. I agree that it's a great little community and would be wonderful for retirement. The only drawback is that it is a bit of a drive from Mason to either hospital or many of the specialty doctors that older adults seem to need, which are located in the Lansing area, with sub specialties spread out all over. Grand Ledge is further west of Lansing, but it too has a great sense of community with special celebrations, a commercial area/downtown, and opera house and soup to nuts housing options, both older and newer construction. Check out DeWitt and Bath as well.

Holt is nice, and slightly closer to more stores and easier to get into the city of Lansing. Lansing taxes are the highest, but there are many nice areas~near Frandor, along Coolidge Road, Kipling/LaSalle Gardens and the Groesbeck neighborhood (off of Saginaw). There is a brand new subdivision near Lansing Catholic High School with all types of housing available. The west side (Delhi) is also nice and near lots of amenities/malls/restaurants/stores etc.

Haslett and Okemos are more of a community sprawl, but there are plenty of great neighborhoods and the accessibility to highways and the college is a selling point. We retired here as well, looked at houses all over (Holt, Haslett, Okemos, Lansing, Grand Ledge) and ended up in the Haslett/East Lansing area because of the proximity to the college, bus service (should we ever have to give up driving), near restaurants & stores, a quick trip to center center of Lansing and only 10 minutes to campus. The rail trail is great for biking, and there is a Tri County bicycle group (check out their webpage) that has lots of bike friendly routes and group rides. I love taking people to Old Town, we attend the festivals and events in Lansing and East Lansing, and also subscribe to the Wharton Center for their offerings. Downtown Lansing has really revamped itself as a destination for decent food and entertainment. Besides the museums, there are great history tours, the Olds Museum, Riverwalk Theatre, the Lugnuts for baseball, the summer concert series (all over Ingham county, not just downtown) etc.

Come; live and play in the Lansing area!

[dragon_fly_12]

I am a 4th generation Mason-ite. My grandmother and father still live on a portion of the original family homestead. We all graduated from Mason schools. I have several extended family members in the area.

Mason is quiet and lovable. Walkable downtown, everyone knows everyone, but not in the gossip type way. Plenty of things going on because it is the county seat, including the Ingham Co Fair and county 4th of July celebration. Some very nice, charming homes. Within an easy commute to East Lansing and Lansing since it is on 127, no high traffic. Easy access to shopping, credit unions, good coffee. Very low key and quiet.

Other towns to check out with similar vibes are Williamston, DeWitt and Grand Ledge. Okemos / Haslett / Holt all have sprawl due to high demand for the school systems. Mason is starting to experience this as well, but the newer subdivisions are outside the city limits.

[dulongj]

Thanks for the tips. We will definitely check out Williamston on our next visit. DeWitt and Grand Ledge also sound nice. We plan on taking several tandem bicycle tours of these towns over the next two years. It is a great way to see the towns and also to see which are the most bicycle friendly.

What surprises me is how affordable the housing is all around the Lansing area. We also like seeing so many ranches available. This is the last house we plan on buying so we are going to take our time and make sure we get a house we can grow old in comfortably.

[teachbeach]

That was our mind set as well; either a ranch or a cape cod with master suite on first floor. This is our final home (or we hope it to be). That was all we looked at and found tons available. Condo communities, sub divisions (new and old) and explored the option of building in a new community. It was hard to pick/like just one. We ended up in a Florida style ranch~living space in the center and the master bedroom on the other side of the house from the guest bedrooms. Good Luck!

[dulongj]

Thanks teachbeach for suggesting Williamston. My wife and I visited this town last weekend. Very charming. We found several houses for sale that would meet our needs. As we still have two and a half years before we retire, we are not house shopping, but neighborhood shopping. We are now adding Williamston to Mason and Holt as possible places to retire. We still have to check out DeWitt.

[teachbeach]

You're welcome! Keep us posted! If you're doing DeWitt, you might want to spend part of a day in the Grand Ledge area. Great center of town (Bridge Street plaza) with weekly concerts/movies/festivals and farmer's market during the summer. An opera house, community theatre, Yankee Doodle days and near the west side of Lansing for Malls, restaurants and grocery stores. Easy on/off 69 or 96.

[JimmyInGreatLakes]

I live in Mason and really enjoy it. The one negative for us Northern Michigan lovers is that, had we moved to Dewitt, we'd cut off about 25 minutes from our drive north, however, that's a small factor and you mentioned something about Fort Wayne anyway. I'd say a real big plus for us is the accessibility to some great biking. We live on the east edge of town and within minutes to the East or to the South, you are in some fantastic, scenic, and quiet roads for medium distance bike routes (I usually go about 15-20 miles). If you are on the west edge of town, you have some great West or South routes as well. And, as they continue to expand the river trail from Lansing, there could eventually be a continuous extension from Mason all the way into Lansing.

[dulongj]

My sister-in-law lives in Eagle, which I believe is near Grand Ledge. I like her area, but I prefer to remain on the east side nearer to MSU.

My wife and I rode the river trail on our last visit on our tandem. Nice trail. We have done a lot of peddling around towns northeast of Lansing like Owosso and Swartz Creek. We like cycling in this part of Michigan because it is not flat, but the hills are not extreme. We like to do 15 to 60 mile rides. It is encouraging to see how bicycle friendly East Lansing and surrounding areas appear to be.

[teachbeach]

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