[jo82633]

I was wondering a couple things hopefully you guys can answer them. We have a family of 6 my husband and I 1 son 10, 3 daughters ranging from 2 months to 9. what area should we be looking to rent a house or mobile home? Hopefully within a 15-20 minute commute. what are the schools like there? his starting salary would be around 45k could we live there on that salary? I am a lpn so i could work if we found reasonable child care in the are anyone know of any that you would trust with your own child? Is there anything to do with the family that doesnt cost an arm and a leg everytime you want to do it? I know i seem to be asking some off the wall questions but we moved blindly before and i have to find these out before we decide. Does anyone know the website for MI so i can transfer my license? I know most hospitals dont hire lpns so are there any nursing homes around? I have done alot of looking around but I dont know the area so I dont know what apartments or houses to look at online. I do know we want to rent for the first year or two to see if thats what he really wants to do. Thank you very much for your time. sorry for double posting

[Ivorytickler]

Originally Posted by jo82633

I was wondering a couple things hopefully you guys can answer them. We have a family of 6 my husband and I 1 son 10, 3 daughters ranging from 2 months to 9. what area should we be looking to rent a house or mobile home? Hopefully within a 15-20 minute commute. what are the schools like there? his starting salary would be around 45k could we live there on that salary? I am a lpn so i could work if we found reasonable child care in the are anyone know of any that you would trust with your own child? Is there anything to do with the family that doesnt cost an arm and a leg everytime you want to do it? I know i seem to be asking some off the wall questions but we moved blindly before and i have to find these out before we decide. Does anyone know the website for MI so i can transfer my license? I know most hospitals dont hire lpns so are there any nursing homes around? I have done alot of looking around but I dont know the area so I dont know what apartments or houses to look at online. I do know we want to rent for the first year or two to see if thats what he really wants to do. Thank you very much for your time. sorry for double posting

Allen park schools are pretty good.

If you're looking to buy a house and plan on staying, it's a good time to buy in the area. Prices are very depressed because of all the lay offs at Ford and Visteon (how stable is this job???).

There's lots to do here. You can buy family passes to places like Greenfield Village (The Henry Ford) and the Detroit Zoo. Once you pay for them, you can use them over and over. Dearborn has a lot of parks, commuity pools and a nice community center but the schools are so so but Allen park does school of choice so that's an option.

There is also a large hospital in Dearborn (Oakwood) that has it's own day care center. Unfortunately, I don't know much about it since it's only for the children of hospital employees. There are plenty of houses to rent in the Oakwood hosipital area of Dearborn since it's so close to Ford's head quarters and design center and they've let so many people go. The houses that haven't sold are often available for rent.

Just saw your note about nursing homes. There are several as well as assisted living centers.

[maestro41]

Originally Posted by jo82633

I was wondering a couple things hopefully you guys can answer them. We have a family of 6 my husband and I 1 son 10, 3 daughters ranging from 2 months to 9. what area should we be looking to rent a house or mobile home? Hopefully within a 15-20 minute commute. what are the schools like there? his starting salary would be around 45k could we live there on that salary? I am a lpn so i could work if we found reasonable child care in the are anyone know of any that you would trust with your own child? Is there anything to do with the family that doesnt cost an arm and a leg everytime you want to do it? I know i seem to be asking some off the wall questions but we moved blindly before and i have to find these out before we decide. Does anyone know the website for MI so i can transfer my license? I know most hospitals dont hire lpns so are there any nursing homes around? I have done alot of looking around but I dont know the area so I dont know what apartments or houses to look at online. I do know we want to rent for the first year or two to see if thats what he really wants to do. Thank you very much for your time. sorry for double posting

you could go on Mich.gov re: licensure status, app and renewal information. I live in Tecumseh with my wife which is about an hour away from Allen Park. There are a lot of parks that are about 20-30 or so minutes from AP that you and your family may like. You could go on realtor.com and find some decent real estate rentals in the area. We dont have kids but I gather child care is astronomical; I cant comment beyond that. Will your husband be working in AP or Detroit? I can recommend Tecumseh for a quiet and clean, family friendly area with great schools. It is a semi rural area about an hour from Detroit, 30 min from ann arbor or toledo.

[ImaMichigander]

I have had my kids in several daycares in the area-- though mostly toward Wyandotte and Trenton. I would be happy to share thoughts on any of them.

As for housing, I know of a house that just went to auction in Lincoln Park, 1.5 blocks from the Allen Park border. I think that it was for well under $100k and it had 3 with a possible 4th bedroom, 3 full baths, hardwood floors, granite and stainless steal appliances in the kitchen. While Lincoln Park schools are not great, they are school of choice with Allen Park and Wyandotte, which are better, at least in my opinion.

There are tons of health care opportunities in the area, hospital, office and nursing home based. I would guess that you will not have trouble finding work here.

My family loves the Toledo Zoo, it is great! Tons to see and do, very reasonable membership. The same is true for the Hands On Museum in Ann Arbor. Greenfield Village is great. There are lots of community based sports opportunities. Baseball, t-ball, swimming lessons and competetive teams for 5 (maybe 6) and up-- all through the community centers. There is a great Metro Park system-- with a $20 annual pass, you can do ALL sorts of things (biking, hiking, nature centers, wave pools--one of which is just opening a waterpark, great tot-lots, free square dancing lessons), including listening to the Detroit Symphony Orchestra at the parks on select days.

Let me know if I can help! Oh, and Welcome!

[jo82633]

Thank all of you for the information. I have been doing alot of research. With the information you have provided i feel alot better about the move. My husband will be working in the technical hotline part of Ford so aslong as they engineer new vehicles he should be safe.