[rokonmadness]

I would consider buying in Brighton. You would have a 30 minute drive to work but would be living in a much nicer area. My wife and I lived in Brighton for over 20 years. We just sold our house and moved to the west with my job. The big three with their horrible people management skills have ruined the state for jobs.

[rokonmadness]

What Michigan really needs is to throw the governor and the rest of the states representatives out... then go find a good business person and put in the capitol. The idiots in those politics intend on riding the state right into the ground. I'd like to return someday but it won't bee soon.

[Cheeto]

Why do people consider Southfield a bad area? Sure, there's some inflated crime around 8 mile, which is true of any northern suburbs. For the most part, Southfield has a lower crime rate than most cities its size. There's been a few years with higher than usual crime, but again that's common for any town that borders Detroit. For the most part, Southfield is a progressive, clean middle to upper middle class suburb with alot of diversity and close proximity to downtown. In recent years, the city has become predominantly African-american, but is still racially diverse and integrated. I think Southfield is an excellent place to live, I worked there many years, left state, and if I could get paid what I do out here in Cali, I would absolutely consider Southfield. I can't help but think that the city has a bad stigma because it is predominantly black now. What? It's o.k. for middle class whites to flee Detroit in droves, but black middle-class should stay and deal with the remains of a city that its founders abandoned. Compare Southfield and Oak Park to the predominately white areas that border 8 mile (south Warren, Hazel Park, Eastpointe), and you will find a much better quality of life and better well-kept neighborhoods. As long as people label an area ghetto because it is predominately black, Metro Detroit will continue to be the most segregated area in the country.

[Chero]

Port Huron which is near Lake Huron is also not a good choice. No culture, stuffy/clicky people, lack of good paying jobs unless you want to commute to the burbs of Detroit. Its a place that basically has little to offer in the realm of things to do unless you are a bar person. Considering all the water in the area, the beaches and parks are nothing to write home about.

Most of the shopping is bunched together at the north end of the city where expansion seems to sprawl and sprout up and the traffic congestion is awful!

In my opinion, people here seem to be unhappy most of the time and very unfriendly.

[Coldjensens]

Northville is excellent, but pricey. South Lyon may be a better option. Milford is not quite as nice, but they border a terrific huge park (Kensington). New Hudson is tiny, kind of cute and cheap (South Lyon Schools!). Novi is very close. Loads of subdivisions, malls and strip malls. No neighborhoods and no downtown. Decent schools if that matters. Northville and South Lyon schools are better. Farmington and Farmington Hills both have nice areas and pretty good schools. Franklin Village is quaint but pricey. Walled Lake may even be reachable in your time limits. Walled lake is quaint and on a lake, but the main part of town is a bit of a mess traffic wise because a freeway comes out there. Wixom is tiny, really just an extension of Novi. Some neat older farm houses in Wixom. Don't know what school district Wixom is.

Southfield has some good parts and some bad. Royal Oak is a bit more interesting, but very near Detroit. Maybe too far for you.

The smart thing to do is rent for a year or possibly two. Real estate prices are still falling. Wait until they bottom out so you do nto lose more money on your house than you earn at your job.
there are some fabulous bargains right now and prices are still falling. Renting will also give you time to get famililar with different areas. They are all very different it depends on what you like.

Property taxes are rough. Michigan taxes property more than some states but income and sales less than some states. For some reason tax appraisers seem to think that the market is still going up. That should change this coming year since they cannot deny the comps from this year and last year.

[someguy23475]

Wixom is Walled Lake Schools, at least in the section I used to live in. They recently built a city center, but the last time I drove by it was partially empty.

Port Huron's downtown is really declining. Most of the businesses seem to have moved to Fort Gratiot, just up M-25. Fort Gratiot didn't seem too bad, but I don't know the economy or the daily life there.

New Hudson isn't even really a town. It's techinally part of Lyon Township, so those are the taxes you'd be paying. That area was developing rapidly last time I was out there, but I don't know about now. It is South Lyon Schools, I believe, as is most of Lyon Township.

[Bridgett]

Stay away from South Lyon schools!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Try Plymouth Twp. Schools are excellent, as Northville is, and twp taxes are cheaper then the city of Plymouth and Canton. Walled Lake and Brighton schools are good too. I am a former educator so I am familiar with the schools.

[Coldjensens]

We recently went through what you are going though. We decided to move to MI and began searching for a suitable place to live based on five criteria: good schools; near DTW and not too far form the South Lyon/Plymouth/Northville/Ann Arbor area where our friends and family live; sense of community; not too big (already did the living in a city thing, wanted to try something new); and old houses neighborhoods (no subdivisions for us!). We had the luxury of spending two years researching and visiting before we found a place to live. We also had the benfit of participating in many different schools since we have a lot of kids and we moved or changed schools several times. We saw "good" schools become terrible in less than two years and "bad" schools improve remarkably in the same amount of time.


Even with all of that I am not sure we made the best choice for all of our children and the place we chose is a pain in the seat to get to and from. This is a long way of saying that you can benefit from our effort to some extent. Mostly we learned that there is no way to figure this out from what other people tell you. You can rent for a while and check out different areas, but once your kids get dug in, you are pretty well stuck in that area unless you want to totally disrupt their lives again.

Do not take others' advice on schools. We all have different veiws and want different things. Go to the schools and talk with people who are actually there, a lot of people. One or two opinions and some statistics are not going to help you. You can always find people who think any given district is terrible and people who think it is great. Statistics are pretty much meaningless. When we lived in CA our kids attended schools that were statistically terrible. They got a great education at those schools and were testing in the top 10% or better on national test scores (testing does not mean much either though). You really need to sort it out personally.

To me there are three things that are important. 1. Opportunity for a good quality eduction (available in most places). 2. Overall quality of the school experience (kids should like school). 3. Probable peer groups. All schools have kids with drinking and drug issues. However in some places that is accepted as the norm and geeky kids (i.e. good students) are ostracized. In other schools it is the opposite. How to discern the difference is incredibly tricky. The percentage of kids who continue on to college is a clue, but not definitive.

Other people think other things are more important. Sports, band, theater, AP courses, etc. Some people want their kids to graduate from high school in three years and college in two. I would not wish that on my children. I would not wish on them a Harvard education followed by a 90 hour a week job at Microsoft either. We determined that a small school was more important than massive offerings of class options, or state sports or academic competition awards. That is working out ok for some of our kids, but we ended up in a district with a terrible choir program with two of our five kids being choir oriented. (ooops). Maybe they will miss some opportunities in high school competitions, but they also gain other benefits, many of which are intangible.

Obviously some people far prefer the mega schools that can offer specialized and advanced classes in everything, but provide less personal attention to each student. Some people search for districts with good special ed programs. Some want a certain demographic mix. Everyone is looking for something a little bit different. test scores and statics are important for resale values and may have some actual relationship to the performance of the schools/principal/teachers/students, but be careful they cna be misleading and things can change a lot.

First figure out what you want for your kids and for yourself, then look for a school/community that fits.

I am also familiar with South Lyon Schools having gone there (not so good back then) and still having family and friends attending (good now). We looked at Brighton as a place to live and decided against it because of the schools among other reasons. South lyon is difficult to evaluate because of the brand new South Lyon east High school. It is certainly a marvelous building. What really matters is who gets put in it.

New Hudson was growing on the outskirts, but not much growth there now. It is tiny and has little to offer except proximity to Kensington and to the freeway. Still it is sort of cute. (I go to Church there every once in a while.

Northville and Plymouth both have very good schools as well. Plymouth has an awesome town to boot. Northvlle once had a wonderful downtown. It is has been badly marred by the wrecking ball and subsequently mediocrity in the design phase of reconstruction. Plymouth had only one major development disaster (demo of the Masonic temple (lodge?) and construction of a hideous condo thing (still empty I think).

Overall, find a place that you like with decent schools. Stay involved. Pray.

[firecracker123]

ok I have been reading with interest --- I am in Toronto now and we are relocating to Michigan for my husband's job (automotive)...things are so different - and I KNOW there will be much to get used to...however we are looking in the areas of Tory, Bloomfield and Birmingham.....he will be working in the city (Warren or south of, not sure as the plant is yet to be built/found) ... what is the commute like? Time and distance wise?

Being from the biggest city here, we are used to traffic and know the hassles driving into the city....we are hoping that it isn't too far....I am not willing to go further south as my research (I will be visiting several times over the next few months) indicates these towns as being comparable to what we have now (house size, lot, age and services).....

[someguy23475]

It depends on exactly where the plant is, and which community you choose to live in. If you're taking I-75, it can be quite congested during peak hours. Van Dyke Ave. (which is industrial, and may be where this plant could be located) also gets congested at times.