Medical student moving to MI, need a rent home for the family. (Detroit: real estate)

[Dr.D]

Looking to move June 23 from Louisiana. Areas I have been looking at but not limited too; West Bloomfield, Troy, Farmington Hills. I will be working at a Hospital in Southfield btw. At least a 3 bedroom home with two car garage.

Terms I am looking for:
Lease: Option to break lease without penilty. I will require at least a 3 month
notice if you are not going to renew my next lease.
Rent: $1200/mth
Deposit: none
Pets: 1 indoor only cat (13yrs old)

It will be for a family of 4. Children (3 and newborn)
90% chance I will live in MI until I finish my residence but in medicine never say never, hence the option to break lease. I plan on staying for sure for 2 years then possible another 4 years after that. I must have pictures up and down the street, the house (in and out) and the address. Email me and let me know what you have. I am pretty easy going.
Thanks
Jeff

[jeffncandace]

Originally Posted by Dr.D

Looking to move June 23 from Louisiana. Areas I have been looking at but not limited too; West Bloomfield, Troy, Farmington Hills. I will be working at a Hospital in Southfield btw. At least a 3 bedroom home with two car garage.

Terms I am looking for:
Lease: Option to break lease without penilty. I will require at least a 3 month
notice if you are not going to renew my next lease.
Rent: $1200/mth
Deposit: none
Pets: 1 indoor only cat (13yrs old)

It will be for a family of 4. Children (3 and newborn)
90% chance I will live in MI until I finish my residence but in medicine never say never, hence the option to break lease. I plan on staying for sure for 2 years then possible another 4 years after that. I must have pictures up and down the street, the house (in and out) and the address. Email me and let me know what you have. I am pretty easy going.
Thanks
Jeff

Hi Jeff, this is Jeff, and I just moved to Michigan from So Cal last year.
First of all, prepair yourself for about 50 posts from people who will tell you to not move here, it's horrible, ect ect...
Ignore them, and may I be the first to welcome you early!
Although it's numbers look good on paper, and it is a safe town with good schools, Troy is a souless strip mall town. The only part I would consider living in is the expensive southwest side of town, near Birmingham.
I have just rented a house in Royal Oak, which is in the area your looking at. Good luck trying to find one without a deposit, probably won't happen. Most require at least a month and a half deposit. As far as price goes for what your looking for, your about right on, depending on how nice you want the house to be. As far as terms go, if you want the option to bail early, they will definately want a deposit.
The following towns are near Southfield. They in general have decent schools, are safe, and in addition have a vibrant vibe along with neighborhoods that aren't cookie-cutter. (I hate cookie-cutter subdivisions, that is all that California has!) The neighborhoods are older, well kept homes with tree lined streets:
Royal Oak
Berkley
Birmingham (very overpriced, but very upscale)
Beverly Hills
Clawson
Farmington
Bingham Farms
Lathrup Village
Ferndale
Pleasant Ridge
Huntington Woods
Let me know if this helps! Good luck and welcome to Michigan.

[Dr.D]

Thanks for taking the time to post. Can you recommend any resouces for finding a rent house in MI? Rent.com seems to be the only one I have had any luck with so far.

[MotownLowdown]

There are lots of listings there, especially with what you are looking for.

www.craigslist.com

The areas Jeff listed are great places to live.

[jeffncandace]

Originally Posted by Dr.D

Thanks for taking the time to post. Can you recommend any resouces for finding a rent house in MI? Rent.com seems to be the only one I have had any luck with so far.

I honestly don't know. We went through a Century 21 Realtor. I would say look at the Oakland Press online, maybe? Or Google to find other local papers.

[Angel Bear]

Definitely look at the classifieds of the Detroit News and Detroit Free Press on Sunday...See if you can buy a copy and have it sent to you or look at their on-line classifieds...Their coverage is for the entire Metro Detroit area. Oakland Press is a good starting point, but there just won't be as many ads, etc.

[southernlady5464]

You might want to consider checking the Toledo Metro area since some of Downriver is considered part of that metro as well as Detroit's.

Craigslist is a good resource, just don't limit yourself to Detroit's...check Ann Arbor's and Toledo's. Liz

[Cato the Elder]

Originally Posted by Dr.D

Looking to move June 23 from Louisiana. Areas I have been looking at but not limited too; West Bloomfield, Troy, Farmington Hills. I will be working at a Hospital in Southfield btw. At least a 3 bedroom home with two car garage.

Terms I am looking for:
Lease: Option to break lease without penilty. I will require at least a 3 month
notice if you are not going to renew my next lease.
Rent: $1200/mth
Deposit: none
Pets: 1 indoor only cat (13yrs old)

It will be for a family of 4. Children (3 and newborn)
90% chance I will live in MI until I finish my residence but in medicine never say never, hence the option to break lease. I plan on staying for sure for 2 years then possible another 4 years after that. I must have pictures up and down the street, the house (in and out) and the address. Email me and let me know what you have. I am pretty easy going.
Thanks
Jeff

I don't doubt that you can get all your demands, but I doubt you'll get a neighborhood that you are comfortable with. If you are guaranteed 2 years, why the need to break a lease? Why not just sign one year to year or for two years even?

The towns suggested are a good place to start. If you give some more details about what is important to you in a neighborhood, I'm sure people could help narrow it down further. Good luck!

[roox]

craigs is good way to go - it's free so many get put there even by agents - i have 5 bed 1 acre for rent in rochester @1900/mo - maybe a little high & further than you like to drive

[magellan]

Try realtor.com. It actually compiles data from most of the area Realtor Association MLS systems (legally).

They have a rental section here:

REALTOR.com: Home and Real Estate Search - Advanced Search

Then you can plug in your criteria (city, price range, size, sf, etc..).
I'd run it by zip code rather than by city.

DKD Oakland County District View

BTW: Toledo is a LONG drive from Southfield, so is Ann Arbor, especially if you are going to be working late and early morning shifts. Are you required to live within a certain distance of the hospital for on-call shifts?

I'd stick with the Oakland Co. suburban areas like Farmington Hills, Novi, Birmingham, Plymouth, etc... Also, we have friends who live in Berkley (East of Southfield near Royal Oak), which has a lot of great old tree-lined neighborhoods, well-kept homes, with a lot solidly built bungalows.

You may have to bump up your rent rate a little though. $1200/mo is not a lot for an entire home.

Good luck and welcome to Michigan!