Thinking of Moving to Flint? (Grand Blanc, Mason: home, university, art)

[RedWingsFan]

Why would anyone consider moving to Flint? As far as I knaow it has nothing to offer except hard times.

[recentgradmich]

A good alternative to living in Flint but still being close is Lapeer, or even closer to the Genesee County line/Davison. You're still practically in Flint due to I-69 but you don't have to deal with the crime.

[kaypurdue]

There are some nice places in the city to live, but I think the streets you named are in pretty rough neighborhoods. Be wary of anything near Hurley Hospital, Beecher area/north end, etc., or with a street named after a state - high levels of prostitution/drugs there.

I am seeking to buy my first house in the city this summer myself (nothing has possessed me except quarter life crisis, maybe?), simply because I can't afford the suburbs right now, and because MSHDA has very attractive loan programs for moderate-income folks who buy in one of their "cities of promise." I am looking in the Mott Park area near Kettering University. I live in a tiny apartment in Davison now, and I can get a decent sized house in Flint, in pretty good shape, for the same price I am paying for my apartment. And I get to paint and have a dog.

One good website to check out is http://www.ersys.com (select Michigan as your state, then click on Flint), and you will find maps from the menu on the left hand side that draw on census data to show where the higher and lower incomes are, higher/lower levels of education, etc. The Flint maps cover almost all of Genesee County. Compare that with a map of where you are looking to buy to get an idea of what the area is like.

[Rapunzll]

I've worked in Flint on occasion with my pt job and every time I'm there, my thought is, 'If I lived here, I'd do everything I could to get out of here'.

[Virginia1]

My fiance lives in Burton, pretty much on the border of Flint and Burton. I presently live in Virginia Beach and I will sometime move up, but not Flint. When I went to visited her the first time 6 years ago, I told her, there was no way I would live in Flint. I have visited many times, she is involved in the Flint Art Fair, and every year it appears there are less and less people going and artists participating. There are some real nice areas tucked away, but for the most part its pretty trashed. If you look on Ebay under Real Estate, select Flint Michigan and look at the plethora of homes going for $1,000 to about $6,000, look at the pics and you will get an idea of what downtown Flint homes are like.

[turinband]

Yes, i have to agree with the majority above me. I grew up in flint and lived there for 20 years. Its NOT the best place to be. why?

High crime rate

poor poor poor schools (i went to kearsley hahahaha its a joke)

run down nasty buildings all over

pretty pricey houses for such a gloomy neighborhood

BUT one good think about flint, or at least the subdivision i lived in, Birdland, just off of bealsey road, was the community. all of your neighbors, (if your in a good neighborhood) tend to get together and try to fight the crime and take a stand. We all looked out for eachother and protected eachother so it made it a bit safer of a place to be.

ultimatly, id say no. hell id say no to michigan period, with the way its economny is going! But the choice is yours!

oh p.s. Bealsey and richfield rd.'s are pretty safe places to be, i know because i have lived there for a long long time.

[mean2402002]

Wasnt that place voted one of the worst cities ever?I saw it on the discovery channel or somthing.

[kaypurdue]

Originally Posted by mean2402002

Wasnt that place voted one of the worst cities ever?I saw it on the discovery channel or somthing.

I think we were beat out by Detroit and, of all places, St. Louis, MO this year. Those jerks! Flint used to be the murder capital of the country, come on people!

Flint has its problems... a lot of problems actually... but I think if you get into the right neighborhood, you'll do alright with a much lower cost of living. We do have small arts and music communities, and the Flint Cultural Center going for us. Plus four colleges (UM-Flint, Kettering, Baker, Mott) that I think we could take a lot more advantage of now than we currently do. Plans are in the works to build dorms for UM-Flint, which will bring more college-age folks downtown and should prove to be helpful. A few new businesses are going in along Saginaw Street, slowly but surely.

The politics.... bleh. Good luck with that. The mayor is a jerk, the rest of the city government is corrupt. We have a newspaper that tells lies and an alternative newspaper that tells even worse lies. I try not to pay too much attention to any of that stuff. The city schools are headed down the drain (they have their problems like all urban schools), but the good news is that the current superintendent is probably leaving soon... so hopefully this will be our chance to get someone in there that can help turn things around.

I won't say I'm for or against living here... I grew up here too, so I guess I'm attached (I'm also a Kearsley grad! it wasn't terrible...), and there are neighborhoods I wouldn't go near during the daytime, let alone at night. (My being a tiny white girl doesn't help.) Look for places in the college-cultural neighborhood, Mott Park, Carriage Town (which is a renaissance zone so the taxes are super-low), Miller/Hammerberg area. Avoid anything too far north, and any street named after a state. At least for now.

Happy hunting!

[the j0ker]

Originally Posted by dmurphy24055

Hi evryone were thinking about buying a property in flint can someone please tell me what they know about these neighborhoods Ive heard alot of bad things about the area but I figure theyre must be some fairly decent neighborhoods theyre

Gilmartin Street?
Mason street?
W Court Street?
Concord Street?
Prosect Street?

I really appreciate any help thank you so much.

if drugs and gangs bother you stay away from mason street i know of 4 different crackhouses on mason street alone i know because i used to use cocaine and i have gone to all 4 of these houses to score coke and weed and saw crack being cooked up inside of the houses and addicts inside smoking then again pretty much all of flint seems to be drug and gang infested the worst areas of flint are the north side, which is bloods and cobras turf and the east side which is crips and cobras turf a good friend of mine lives off of W Court street and it is not a good neighborhood overall but definetly not the worst in flint same can be said about concord flint is not the best place to live if crime bothers you i would stay away from flint but if you have to move there then i would say look for a place on either the west or south side

[jmlowman]

and it didn't seem as bad as I thought it would be. We were there in 1989 and it looked like a third-world country.

Of course, we were staying at the Courtyard by Marriott, which is a nice part of the area outside the city.

I grew up there and went to JC the first two years of college, then transferred out of state for the remainder in 1968.

I grew up on 2nd Avenue and Mason. My grandparents lived across the street. When I drove by, the house where I lived was a vacant lot; same for my grandparents' house. Even the street looked like it had see work in years.

The prices for homes in Grand Blanc and Mundy Twp. certainly were compelling, by California standards. I could sell this house and buy a palace in Flint, with a nice retirement income as well that would go a long way.

After living here since 1975, I don't think that either of us could stand the winters.