[skylar1]

Hi, we are interested in moving out of the chicago area. Rochester Hills seems comparable to where we are living now but newer homes and less $. Can anyone tell me what is the general vibe/attitude? If we step outside of rochester Hills, what is there to do? Are there a lot of restaurants and things to do with small children. Thank you so much!

[Jwo85]

They have a pretty good layout on their website about the focus of parks and such.

Overview, Our Community, City of Rochester Hills

[Coldjensens]

R.H. is a very family oriented place. There are a lot of majorly upscale homes (formerly in the $1 mm range now in the $500k to $600k range). However there are a lot of average homes as well. The schools are good and if you are made of money, Cranbrook, a nearby private school, is one of the best anywhere. There is quite a bit to do in RH It has your typical line up of chains and mini chains for restaurants/bars. The Palace is very close. Oakland University is right next door. Cranbook has some events and a planetarium. The city of Rochester is cute and quaint and not too big. For shopping there is a large mall (Great Lakes Crossing) that is reasonably close. R.H. has a nice country club/pool.

Just by chance, everyone that we know who lives there are very wealthy, but that is not the norm. Although it is upscale, it is an upper middle class type place. there is some pretty topography (hilly with woods and streams) and even a few older farmhouses with some land if that is what you want. Mostly it is subdivision lifestyle.

The downsides are traffic is heavy and R.H. is somewhat remote to some areas. It is a good hour from Downtown Detroit if you are lucky. It is not a diverse place. Some call it snobby, I have not seen that on a wide scale basis. There are some snobs, but I would not call it a snobby place. Most of the housing is McMansion subs or cookie cutter modern smaller homes. However there are a few unique homes in neighborhoods. RH is pretty much strip malls, but Rochester is not far away.

Some friends of ours are raising 6 children in RH and they could afford to live anywhere. They seem to think that RH is ideal, at least for them. (their kids go to Cranbrook - because they can, but they said that they would have no qualms about sending them to the RH public schools).

[skylar1]

Thank you soo much for your very descriptive detail of RH. I have a couple of questions if you do not mind and have the time...(If you have ANY questions about anywhere in chicago/suburbs, I have lived here 37 yrs!) what would be the difference between RH and Bloomfield Hills? There are some families in our area that have come from BH. We live in a very upscale suburb that is quite jewish and crazy expensive for not such great houses. We would like a mix if possible (we are both half jewish half catholic)
If you go to the suburbs next to RH are they nice? I love grosse pointe but it seems like the surrounding suburbs are a little run down..GP is way to "blue blood" it seems very uptight. We want a new house and you cannot get that in GP. The houses that I am seeing in RH for $800.000 would go for about 1,3000 here so we are really "turned on" by what we have seen. Would it be correct to say that you cant really walk to anything? Is it very spread out? we want to visit next month.
How far is it from rochester and would you say it is nice? I am sorry to bother you but you seem the most knowlegable by far! oh and my husband works from home, he is a trader so we do not have to care about a commute. Are there any subdivisions that you would recommend over another? we would like 4,000 sq ft-5,000 $700,000-900,000-NICE friendly neighbors, because we are great neighbors who's door is revolving all day! I cant thank you enough you are soo helpful!!! remember I know chicago!
andrea

[tjay]

there are a decent amount of restaurants in the area, i do know that. also you will have to check out the paint creek trail, very popular in rochester.
Paint Creek Trail

also the arts 'n apples festival every year:
Art and Apples Festival

i'm not as knowledgeable for the rest of your questions (not wealthy! :}) but i have a friend who has raised 3 daughters in rochester schools, and the schools seem to be good. i think they have 3 high schools now? the surrounding towns/cities are all nice, no areas to worry about. lots of catholics in the area (not sure about jewish population but definitely don't think anyone would discriminate). i think when you visit you'll get a much better idea on the neighborhoods etc. i lived in chicago briefly and i think you will like this area. you'll enjoy having less traffic, more space, parks and fresh air at your disposal! good luck!

[renter8319]

rochester hills is a great area