Nice cities to live between Detroit and Toledo (Dearborn, Taylor: loan, condos)

[Tommy999]

My wife has found a job in downtown Detroit (close to Wayne State U) and I'll be working close to Toledo. We will need to find a place between Toledo and Detroit. Any nice cities there along I75? Please advise.

[Coldjensens]

Grosse Ile is ideal for you. It is one of the best places in Michigan to live and it is abut 35 minutes from Detroit, and 45 minutes from Toledo. I worte a long post somewhere all about Grosse Ile. You can search for it if you like.

Wyandotte is also really nice and pretty lively. (Grosse Ile is quiet, pleasant and somewhat rural/small town ish. Wyandoote is a City). Gibraltar, Flatrock, and Rockport are all not bad and have specific things to offer.

Part of Dearborn are nice, but I do not know it well enough to say where.

Taylor is in that area too. I have nothing to say about Taylor or the schools there, except that Heritage park is really neat and they have some golf courses if you golf. (My mother taught me that I I have nothing nice to say, say nothing).

[cardwellave]

Anything downriver is probably a good idea. The nicer areas are Wyandotte, south Lincoln Park, and Allen Park, as well as Grosse Ile. The latter of which is sort of sleepy but still nice.

Other than that there are a few small towns between Detroit and Toledo, namely Monroe which has a nice little downtown, but from what I've heard has some shady areas, but you get that anywhere. But in my experience it is a really quaint town. LOVE the homes off of Elm Avenue north of downtown. Not a real bustling city however. The official website of the City of Monroe, MI

There's also places like Luna Pier, and places in Frenchtown Township like Detroit Beach. Very small towns.

It's really about what kind of atmosphere you want. Wyandotte has the lively downtown, 1920s-1950s era homes as well as some nice condos, Grosse Ile is quiet and has that island like get away aspect, Taylor is a suburban sprawl, Monroe is small town America.

[nycjefftrain]

Well, I guess I will throw in my 2 cents for Monroe. It's a quaint and tight-knit community 15 miles north of Toledo and 50 miles from downtown Detroit. I worked there for 2 years and I enjoyed it. I still have a number of friends that live in Monroe. Many of the people that live there do exactly what you describe...1 works in Detroit, 1 in Toledo. It is the largest community bwtn the 2 cities because it is considered separate from the Detroit or Toledo metros. It is a middle class town which has your basic neighborhoods and subdivisions but Monroe does have it share of large and really cool homes with amazing architecture. It has a cute downtown, a hospital, a mall, good public schools, friendly people, and is a typical American small town that just happens to be between a large and medium metro area.

[ImaMichigander]

We live in Brownstown, which is a community in a larger collection of communites referred to as Downriver-- included in that are some cities already mentioned, like Wyandotte, Southgate, Lincoln Park, Grosse Ile. We really like living in the Downriver Community-- you mostly can't go wrong with any of them. The lines distinguishing one from the other are pretty blurry. We do have friends that built a great house in a nice subdivision with really great neighbors in Newport. There is nothing in Newport, but you are moments from I-75 and a few minutes from Monroe and Downriver. My two cents on Grosse Ile is that it's pretty pricey and somewhat uppity....

[Coldjensens]

Originally Posted by ImaMichigander

My two cents on Grosse Ile is that it's pretty pricey and somewhat uppity....

Clearly you have never spent any time here. You are dead wrong.

[cardwellave]

I definitely have gotten that impression as well. A lot of people from there seem to have a 'holier than thou' feeling against their counterparts across the bridge. That's the impression I got the few times I was there and from the few people I knew from there. It is a very neat place though, and 'm not saying everyone is like that.

Downriver is a great community though.

[Coldjensens]

I think that many people expect snobbishness from Grosse Ile because there are quite a few very wealthy people living here. Perhaps some people see what they expect rather than what is really there. My older brother sees snobbishness in everything and everywhere and came here absolutely convinced that this was a snobby place. It took him a few visits, but he changed his mind eventually.

I have never found a more down to earth friendly, giving, and helpful bunch of people any place that I have been.
Like anywhere, there are some snobs. However most people live here because they have eschewed the pretentious lifestyle. Many very rich people drive plain cars, live in more or less ordinary homes, and shop with us at Target and Meyers for clothing. Most people here just want quiet and natural. There is not a lot of pretentiousness (however I have to admit that I have not met the people living in the really huge homes). I have met people who live in homes in the $1 million to $2 million range and they are just simple nice people. Most of them bought their homes when G.I. was less expensive. Most of them are or were engineers marketing or similar positions at car companies. Lots of small business entrepreneurs.

Actually is is unbelievable what people here have done for us. People who did not know us at all came and helped us work on our house. About a dozen people loaned us money when we had problems with our construction loan. Everyone we meet has made suggestions about where to find materials and services. Often we come home from somewhere and find a box of antique light fixtures, or some old wavy glass on the porch, or a note saying that someone wants to donate an antique door or window. When we first moved here, we found welcome notes and an occasional bottle of champaign at the front door from time to time. All from people that we did not know.

The neat thing about the island is that people tend to band together to help solve problems and produce community events. It is a small and close knit community even though it is no longer all that small (10K people). The five churches often work together to put on special services or events. The service clubs and township government work together for school and other events.

This is a wealthy community, but if you want to find snobby, you will need to go north. You have to look too hard to find it here. Most people here are simply not into that.

[suydam]

Grosse Ilse isn't snobby. It's an island. If you choose to live on an island with only two (i think) bridges, everyone who doesn't live there is going to call you a snob because you chose to do something different than they did. :-)

You should check it out. I think Grosse Isle is a pretty cool community.

Anything down-river is nice though. Water-frontage is more affordable than many places, and there are nice little communities as well. Flat Rock is nice (not on the water) as is Monroe (someone already mentioned that).

[Coldjensens]

Monroe has some incredible deals on historic houses. We almost bought one. The problem is that it is far away from everything except Toledo, and the schools are pretty bad. It seems like a really nice small city. Calling it a town is a bit of a misnomer. I think that I woudl prefer Wyandotte for city type living. Not as many amazing turn of the century homes, but a cleaner, and more entertaining city and waterfront to boot. Still not very good schools.

Flat Rock has an awesome community center. They just opened it up for us snobs from Grosse Ile. It is really super. We go there several times a week.