[us66]

New Haven did show promise a few years ago. A number of lower-end new houses were built and in surrounding Lenox Township a house on land can be had for less than surrounding townships. I get a feeling that these newer subdivisions are not going to age well. Price reinforces exclusivity and NH/LT are not exclusive places in the least.

If you like that cutesy, faux-Victorian, new urbanist style (like Amherst off 27 Mile) there's a subdivision, Deer Trail, I think, right at 24 and Interstate 94 in Chesterfield Township that is a little less far out in the country and where the houses are pretty much being given away as well. The schools are a bit better but I am unsure if it's L'Anse Creuse or Anchor Bay. Both are average to slightly above average.

Yes, the New Haven schools are iffy, but the district has more of a tax base than it used to, and probably more pupils too, which is good for state funding. If the economy and housing market ever come back in SE MI (also as long as gas doesn't go any higher than it is, too, since 27 and Gratiot is the middle of nowhere for most commuters...) the area has hope. It will never be upscale. It's an awful hard place to recommend, unless bang for the buck is paramount, and New Haven has plenty of that. It's kind of like a semi-rural Roseville or Eastpointe. If you can afford a little more per month, you'll probably be better off in Chesterfield Township (also hit particularly hard by falling prices, a more convenient location, and a somewhat more desirable area for the most part) or, if you can swing a bit more still, Macomb Township might be more where it's at. (Watch out, however: New Haven schools go into both townships as well, but not much of them.)