[emhensley]

Thanks to everyone who responded and gave us some input on the area. It looks like we will be visiting Detroit and surrounding areas in the next week or two before making a final decision. All in all it seems like there are a few options that would be a good fit for us. Hopefully the visit will go well and we will have a better understanding of the area and where we might want to live.


Also, I appreciate all those restaurant tips for the future

[emhensley]

Originally Posted by Geo-Aggie

What you just described sounds an awful lot like Northville.. I think you'd fit in quite well there with its great schools, walkable downtown, relative diversity, and safe environment. Plus, it's like a 5-10 minute drive on surface roads to Novi.

I too moved here looking for "home" - and we seem to have found it in Southeast Oakland County, but if my office were a little further west I believe there's a high probability we'd have found it in Northwest Wayne County. I'd also highly recommend Plymouth be on your list as well.

We found out that he will actually be in Detroit more often than not. I am curious to what area in Southeast Oakland you live? Is it an easy commute to Detroit?

[Bimmerfanboy]

Ann Arbor is more lively and cultured, and Northville is relatively close to there. Downtown Birmingham and its surroundings are nice.

Overall, to put it bluntly, metro Detroit is incredibly stale and boring. There's little to do or see, and few places that are truly "walkable" and give a sense of community. That's why I recommend Ann Arbor or around Birmingham, otherwise it's suburbia, strip malls, and boredom.

[highlanderfil]

Originally Posted by Bimmerfanboy

Overall, to put it bluntly, metro Detroit is incredibly stale and boring. There's little to do or see, and few places that are truly "walkable" and give a sense of community. That's why I recommend Ann Arbor or around Birmingham, otherwise it's suburbia, strip malls, and boredom.

Midtown/Downtown (if you're on the slightly adventurous and non-risk-averse side), Royal Oak and Plymouth would also like a word. However, as for the rest (so, around 70-80% of Detroit Metro), you are not wrong.

[Bimmerfanboy]

Originally Posted by highlanderfil

Midtown/Downtown (if you're on the slightly adventurous and non-risk-averse side), Royal Oak and Plymouth would also like a word. However, as for the rest (so, around 70-80% of Detroit Metro), you are not wrong.

Yeah mistakenly forgot about those. Plymouth is pretty good actually. While not as "high end" as Birmingham, it is definitely larger. Grosse Pointe has a nice little downtown but it's so far from where most people live, and it's nothing more than a couple blocks.

Midtown/Downtown have improved and their prospects are getting better, but idk even the nicest blocks there would be average in most other major cities. It's OK but there's not enough retail and foot traffic to really feel like a community. I have to wonder how they'll fare once the [eventual] next "dip" cycle for the auto industry occurs.

[usroute10]

Originally Posted by Bimmerfanboy

Ann Arbor is more lively and cultured, and Northville is relatively close to there. Downtown Birmingham and its surroundings are nice.

Overall, to put it bluntly, metro Detroit is incredibly stale and boring. There's little to do or see, and few places that are truly "walkable" and give a sense of community. That's why I recommend Ann Arbor or around Birmingham, otherwise it's suburbia, strip malls, and boredom.

You don't go to the city of Detroit, so yeah you are missing out on ALL of what the Detroit area has to offer:
-Corktown
-Eastern Market
-Southwest/Mexicantown
-Riverwalk/Dequindre Cut
-Belle Isle
-West Village/Indian Village
-the Avenue of Fashion (7 Mile & Livernois)

-Grosse Pointe has 3 small, walkable commercial districts (the Hill, the Village, and the Cabbage Patch), not 1

-Also, you did not mention the suburban downtown of Ferndale, which is fantastic. When is the last time you've been to Ferndale?

-When is the last time you've been to downtown Wyandotte, Pontiac, Berkley, West Dearborn? Hamtramck? Rochester? even Clarkston? or Clawson?

-The Middle Eastern bakery and restaurant district on Warren Avenue in Dearborn

-Windsor, Ontario - downtown, Old Walkerville, Little Italy, Asiantown restaurant district, Canadian Club tour

How many times do we have to mention that annual events that take place here, the Techno Fest, the Auto Show, the Thanksgiving Parade, Grand Prix, Hydroplane races

Just this weekend, we had the Nain Rouge parade.

We have recreational opportunities here - Lake St. Clair, the Detroit River, Lake Erie, the inland lakes area of Oakland County, the St. Clair River.

In the suburbs, you have the Cranbrook Institute, the Holocaust Memorial Center, the Arab-American Museum, Greenfield Village, on and on and on.

We have a ton of nature preserves in the far northern and western suburbs for hiking in hilly forests and boating

No we don't have mountains or an ocean.

If your whole experience in Metro Detroit revolves around Troy, then yeah you are going to have a dull experience.

[Bimmerfanboy]

^Cute

I've done most of the things this place has to offer. It's simply a fact that metro Detroit isn't a very appealing place to live compare to the coastal metros and places like Chicago, Dallas, Houston, and Denver. You can see it in how much population the state, the cost of real estate, and the fact that MI has one of the worst retention rates of college grads of all 50 states. It's not bad if you have a stable job, but it's just very average and "meh" overall.

Those are the facts buddy.

[Geo-Aggie]

No, those are bimmerboi's alternative facts. In reality, Detroit/Dearborn/Warren has the top grad retention rate of any Metro in the nation.

Source: Which U.S. Metros Are Best at Keeping Their College Grads? - CityLab

Meanwhile real estate metrics indicate Berkley (Detroit suburb) and Kentwood (GR suburb) are 2 of the 20 hottest zip codes in the country.
Source: 2 Michigan cities are among America's top 20 hottest housing markets | MLive.com

And Detroit as a whole is the 14th hottest metro market in the nation, sitting right there with those screaming hot markets on the west, but with an up-front cost at 30% of what you'd spend there.
Source: Top Real Estate Markets for 2017: The West Leads the Way | realtor.com®

So you keep your alternative facts bimmerboy, we'll stick with reality and metrics when it comes to advising people who inquire what parts of Detroit to move to.

[MS313]

Originally Posted by Bimmerfanboy

^Cute

I've done most of the things this place has to offer. It's simply a fact that metro Detroit isn't a very appealing place to live compare to the coastal metros and places like Chicago, Dallas, Houston, and Denver. You can see it in how much population the state, the cost of real estate, and the fact that MI has one of the worst retention rates of college grads of all 50 states. It's not bad if you have a stable job, but it's just very average and "meh" overall.

Those are the facts buddy.

If those are facts then start listing the unlimited amount of things you can do and see in Houston and Dallas (for starters) that you can't in Detroit.

As somebody else has mentioned before... if you always find yourself bored in a region of 5 million people... it's not the region, it's you. What makes it funny is that I actually know quite a few people who have lived in both Detroit and Dallas or Houston and still have yet to hear any of them say it's easier to find things to do there than Detroit. In fact alot of them complain about how much more spread out it is in Texas or how Dallas is alot more bland and generic and has a lack of culture all together compared to Detroit.

[magellan]

Originally Posted by Bimmerfanboy

^Cute

I've done most of the things this place has to offer. It's simply a fact that metro Detroit isn't a very appealing place to live compare to the coastal metros and places like Chicago, Dallas, Houston, and Denver. You can see it in how much population the state, the cost of real estate, and the fact that MI has one of the worst retention rates of college grads of all 50 states. It's not bad if you have a stable job, but it's just very average and "meh" overall.

Those are the facts buddy.

BMW-fanboi, didn't I warn you a few months ago not to troll the forum?