Relocating to Michigan: Oakland or Wayne County? Plymouth/Canton area? Lake Orion? (Detroit: environment)

[justwonderin]

We are relocating to Michigan this summer and are having a hard time deciding whats best. What's the scoop on Plymouth/Canton area, and on the other end of the spectrum, Lake Orion/Rochester area? Would love your input, have kids, looking for good schools, Public and or Private.
Want somewhat rural setting yet close to city....

Thanks

[RedWingsFan]

Lake Orion is really nice, just make sure it's not Pontiac schools because they aren't good. Another place you might want to look at that has good schools and is a bit more rural yet a close enough drive is Clarkston. That's where my sister lives. Rochester is nice but they have very high taxes. A great place to live is where most of my family lives - that's Troy. They have wonderful schools, not out of control taxes, very low crime and it's a very nice community.

[glad42day7]

Hi, I though I would give a quick 2 cents worth of opinion! I have lived in Wayne county all my life, 42 years. I have seen tremendous growth in the Livonia, Plymouth and Canton, Northville areas. They are all nice places to live with Northville and Plymouth being the nicest of the 4 cities. There are not too many rural areas left in these cities, unless you go out further towards Superior Township or Salem. You can still find some homes with acreage, but they are usually near other homes. I am not sure what you mean by rural (how rural).
If I did not have lots of family in the area and I was choosing a place to live, I would probably pick Oakland County at this time. I was out to Holly for a wedding this summer and there are country areas to live and not far from City action. Another poster is correct when they said make sure you stay away from the Pontiac School system and in my opinion the city itself. I have a sister in Rochester Hills, MI. It is an upper income area with several million dollar homes but also some that are not. Very nice area. There is not as much urban sprawl in the cities out that way. Worth checking out.
We have a couple places up further North we like to frequent. Traffic in this area is now getting pretty bad during peak times on the expressway (Livonia). Where out near Lake Orion/Rochester/Holly area you are near enough to 75 that you get a good head start on heading north if you so desire. Not that 75 isnt busy and crowded too!

I guess I feel like where I live is great, but nearing the end of its growing phase, where as cities in Northern Oakland county still have room to spread out! Good Luck.

[chadetroit]

I was born and raised in L.O. and still have a lot of friends there even though I've moved out west. Great schools in Lake Orion, Oxford, Clarkston, Troy and Rochester. You can also find good schools out in West Bloomfield, Bloomfield, Birmingham and Walled Lake. Really just depends on what you are looking for. Lake Orion, Oxford and Clarkston all have a similar feel fairly rural towns not too big but are close to such thinks like Great Lakes Crossing (more mall than you will ever need) They have golf courses, amplitheaters for concerts, skiing, lakes for boating and nice small eateries in town. But they will put you at more of a drive if you work in Detroit or Dearborn. Rochester/Troy will get you a little closer to the city you get a little bigger downtown with those two Troy being the larger of the two and also has more business buildings. All the above I would say you can't go wrong if you are going to live in Oakland County. Just find a neighborhood that fits your family and lifestyle, there is something out there for everyone.

[Jeanne]

Consider Wixom or Novi, they're a little bit north of Northville, both have great school systems and the housing is excellent. Also it is close to the X-way for commuting. Another place to consider is Brighton. Where do you plan to work? That should determine where you will want to live. Northville is overpriced, you can get the same thing in Novi or Wixom for way less and live in a safe, friendly environment. Commerce Twonship is another great place as is Milford. A couple of the areas I mentioned are in the Walled Lake Consolidated School district.

[thisguy]

Originally Posted by justwonderin

We are relocating to Michigan this summer and are having a hard time deciding whats best. What's the scoop on Plymouth/Canton area, and on the other end of the spectrum, Lake Orion/Rochester area? Would love your input, have kids, looking for good schools, Public and or Private.
Want somewhat rural setting yet close to city....

Thanks

NOne of these places are rural. Where do you plan to work? Rochester vs Canton is 45 minutes of drive time so you'd want to work near where you live. MI schools in Oakland county are generally very good, and Plymouth/Canton/Northville and even the older Livonia are pretty good in schooling as well but again, all these are cities.

If you want "more rural" then someone here mentioned Wixom, you can go north of Wixom and get a more rural and lake oriented area that is very nice but the concrete jungle is slowly invading that way too and I expect in 10 years it will be strip malled like the rest of the area

If you can give a range of your budget and where you plan to work it would be easier to make a suggestion - but again, this part of MI is not at all rural.

[headin2AZ]

Some beautiful rural areas are Salem and Sumpter Township. Salem is next to Northville and South Lyon, so I believe the school districts are good. Sumpter Twp is close to Ann Arbor, so I'm not familiar with the school district. This area is close to the college town of Univ of Mich.
Be careful if you head west of Wixom towards Brighton. I've heard there are those with less etiquette than you'd find in Northville, Farmington Hills or other upscale areas. One guy told me all of the women in Brighton had tattoos and were wild.

[thar49228]

There are nice places in both Wayne and Oakland counties. One thing to consider though is that Detroit just sucks the life out of Wayne County. If you want to be at peace, consider Oakland or Washtenaw counties.

[fourcer]

I've lived in both Northville and Bloomfield Hills (grew up in Royal Oak and went to school in Birmingham...all, except for Northville in Oakland County). For quality schools, shopping, dining, proximity to Detroit (why?) and Northern Mi, culture, etc. Oakland is the best of the bunch in SE Michigan. Rochester and Rochester Hills are great choices, B'Ham, Bloomfield, Clarkston, Lake Orion...can't go wrong. B'Ham and Bloomfield offer the best public education. Can't really get rural unless you go north to spots like Clarkston and further, though Lake Orion still has some spots, too. Unless you need to be on the west side for work, plant yourself in Oakland County.

[travelling_paws]

Originally Posted by headin2AZ

One guy told me all of the women in Brighton had tattoos and were wild.

He was lying.
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