Birmingham house rentals - HELP! (Detroit, Ann Arbor: condo, lease, work)

[BookLover08]

I had another thread that just died but I've done some reading around here and I think that we can get a better price on Birmingham rentals.

So far, one place is 1480 sq. ft., 3 BR, and they want $1800/month for it. Seems a little steep because I could get a house with 1800 sq. ft., 3 or 4 BR and pay about $1600/month in Grosse Pointe. Both are considered to be good suburbs for schools, which is critical for me. I just don't get why one suburb is overpriced compared to the other one - they're both considered desirable.

[michiganalum]

I'm in a rental in Beverly Hills - Birmingham Schools (Beverly Elementary, Groves High School). It's a great neighborhood and it's within walking distance to Downtown Birmingham and other parks. It's 1800 sq. ft., all hardwood floors, new appliances, remodeled bathroom with jacuuzi tub. I pay $1450 a month. We just built a new house closer to Ann Arbor as I'm doing more work out of my Firm's office there, so we're moving out within the next 3 weeks. I still have 4 months left on the lease, so if you're interested let me know.

[mslr]

Birmingham is better than Grosse Pointe. It will cost more to live there.

Birmingham is a better location for a variety of reasons. It has a larger, more lively downtown area. It is more centrally located to most major employers. Birmingham is close to troy, rochester hills, royal oak, and berkeley. although grosse pointe is closer to Detroit and the waterfront, birmingham isn't that far from detroit either. Birmingham is surrounded by all these wonderful communities and downtowns, whereas grosse pointe is essentially stuck on an "island" of sorts. East Pointe, and harper woods are not real nice areas. In grosse pointe, (although it's very wealthy and nice) you can literally cross the street and it becomes ghetto.

another thing to consider, is the exact location. Not just city versus city. How far is each house from the downtown area? In birmingham, if the house is within walking distance of downtown (old woodward) the house/apt/condo is immediately in much greater demand. the proximity the house is to a school or park also effects the price.

generally speaking, although both cities are very nice, birmingham has not been hit by the recession nearly as bad as grosse pointe.

Originally Posted by BookLover08

I had another thread that just died but I've done some reading around here and I think that we can get a better price on Birmingham rentals.

So far, one place is 1480 sq. ft., 3 BR, and they want $1800/month for it. Seems a little steep because I could get a house with 1800 sq. ft., 3 or 4 BR and pay about $1600/month in Grosse Pointe. Both are considered to be good suburbs for schools, which is critical for me. I just don't get why one suburb is overpriced compared to the other one - they're both considered desirable.