Moving to MI...from IL (Detroit, Grand Rapids: mortgage, for sale, apartment)

[zoopups]

My husband will be working in the detroit area and will need to go to Ann Arbor for school...We're looking for a community with good schools and a lot of house for the money; some place where we will actually make some money on our property. Some people have recommended Royal Oak - can you share your thoughts about Royal oak and other communities in the area? thanks!

[TurboState]

Royal Oak is great, one of the few great cities left in Michigan IMO. Progressive, lotsa stuff to do, a great ZOO, plenty of fine dining. Good schools, safe, mostly upper or upper middle class with a smattering of middle.

[cksh]

If he has to go to Ann Arbor for school then I would stay away from Royal Oak. It is nowhere near Ann Arbor and would probably be an 45 minutes to an hour drive in non rush hour traffic.

Where will your husband be working? If he will be working near Royal Oak then it is definitely a great community to move into (but like I said a long drive to Ann Arbor). But not some place where you could get a lot of house for the money unless they have been building new homes since I used to hang out up there some 10 years ago. Lots of nice older homes but relatively small.

Michigan is not the place where you will be making any money on your property regardless of where you live for the next few years. If you plan on staying here 5-10 years then you may have a chance. I would defineitly recommend renting a house (or apartment if you don't have kids yet) before buying any house here.

[SusanC]

Originally Posted by cksh

Michigan is not the place where you will be making any money on your property regardless of where you live for the next few years. If you plan on staying here 5-10 years then you may have a chance. I would defineitly recommend renting a house (or apartment if you don't have kids yet) before buying any house here.

I agree - if you want to check out the housing market, the best idea is to rent for awhile, and travel around to different towns for the day -- you'll notice a lot of houses for sale. This is due to the pharmaceutical and auto companies pulling up stakes and leaving or laying off workers. A lot of people have their houses up for sale and have had them this way for several months to years. Of course, this is a good time for a house buyer to come along, because most people are desparate to get rid of their houses/mortgages.

You should check out Ypsilanti, Saline, Dexter, Manchester, Belleville, Canton, Plymouth.

Ypsilanti (Ypsi to the locals, pronounced Ip-see, not Yip-see), has some run-down areas, but also has some nice streets. Don't rely on your local realtor to tell you which area is which - there are several places in Ypsi where one street is really nice, and the next street over is not.

I hope this helps. My husband and I are moving to California, near LA, in a few weeks and I am so nervous.

Good luck with your move.

[Bhaalspawn]

If you look on a map, you'll notice that Ann Arbor is about 15-20 miles to the west of the western suburbs. (I regard Ann Arbor as a suburb itself since it really isn't that far away.) It might be feasible to commute to Ann Arbor from Plymouth, Canton, Novi, or Farmington Hills (the later two of which have good freeway access to it), but you probably wouldn't want to move any closer into the city area than that.

[itsgood2beme]

I would highly recommend Grosse Pointe, currently you can get a lot of home for the money. Plus, you need to look at resale - when you go to sell your home - GP schools are among top in the State. I have lived in Chicago and am in the process of moving back there myself, lived in Elmhurst - great town and awesome schools! Good luck with your search!

[CA2MI]

Originally Posted by SusanC

I hope this helps. My husband and I are moving to California, near LA, in a few weeks and I am so nervous.

Good luck with your move.

My husband and I are moving to Royal Oak in a few months. We are from LA - talk about nervous!

Where in LA are you moving to. Let me know if you need any information about LA...

[Rapunzll]

South Lyon might be worth a look.

[GRBound]

I moved to Michigan from Ohio last year. I looked at over 200 homes (yep, I'm a bit obsessive huh?) in various areas and found that South Lyon was the best fit for our family. My husband works in Detroit and says the commute isn't bad at all (40 miles) and I work in Ann Arbor and that commute is easy, easy, easy (15 miles). The schools here are great! We currently live in a 4 bedroom, 2.5 bath home in an awesome family friendly sub, with the elementary directly behind our home (tree line hides the view) and no one across the street. We will be listing our home shortly because my husband got a transfer to Grand Rapids. It's looking like whoever buys our home is going to get lucky and get a lot of bang for their buck...this is going on what the Realtor suggested we list it. I'm going to miss it here terribly. The people have just been so friendly and kind. I can't say enough good things about this area...it's great for raising kids. If you need more information, please don't hesitate to contact me. I know what it's like moving and hoping you've picked the right place.

[Wabbit]

CA2MI,
Where are you from in LA?
SusanC,
Where to?