Relocating to Ann Arbor, need advice (Ypsilanti, Saline: affordable apartments, rental, high crime)

[EastBoundandDownChick]

I'm a Michigan native who has spent the past 6 years living in NYC. I was planning on staying long-term but the housing here is just so expensive it is no longer a practical option, plus I miss my family. I received an excellent job offer in downtown Ann Arbor, accepted, and will be moving in 6 weeks. That being said... I am really unsure about whether to rent/buy/lease-to-own. I have a little under 50K in savings. My initial hunch was to rent for a year in the downtown area since it would be close to work, then figure it out from there. Does anyone have any thoughts? Also, I'm concerned about fitting in. I'm a 35 SWF, athletic/outdoorsy type, educated, artistic. Any advice you have is very much appreciated!

[craig11152]

fitting in will be no problem your description "...35 SWF, athletic/outdoorsy type, educated, artistic..." should work just fine with the post college crowd.
As to living downtown rents are pretty high in the downtown area but not by NY standards.
As far as buying, currently the housing market is a sellers market, especially at prices below $250,000. Houses in that range if they are in move in condition mostly sell in hours or a days at or above asking. The ones that lingure usually need some work.
What sort of rent are you wanting to pay? If you were to buy what is your price range?

[EastBoundandDownChick]

My rent budget is $1000-1200, ideally something on the lower end of that range. For buying I'd be looking at something around 200K.

[craig11152]

I am not up to date on rental numbers but at your price point it will be very hard to find a place downtown.....depending on what we want to call "downtown". At that price you will be a bus ride or 10-15 minute bike ride away from downtown. If your new employer has parking available then a car is an option. Otherwise parking to work downtown is costly. There are a few programs that could cover your bus fair downtown depending on whether your employer participates. What general area of town will you be working in?

As to buying at $200,000 you will be looking at a fixer upper probably on the southeast side (where I live) or on the far west side.
I think renting should be your plan to start. Then you have a year to settle in and get the lay of the land. I don't know if rental places have options to buy out of a lease or not. If so that could open possibilities to watch for a house in winter when it sometimes can be a bit more of a buyers market.

[EastBoundandDownChick]

My employer pays for parking. I'll be at Liberty/Main. Is it really THAT expensive to live downtown?? I thought $1200 would at least get me something decent? I've been looking online and am seeing one bedrooms in that range. Am I wrong?

[craig11152]

Originally Posted by EastBoundandDownChick

I thought $1200 would at least get me something decent? I've been looking online and am seeing one bedrooms in that range. Am I wrong?

If your seeing them then your not wrong. I do not pretend to be on top of the latest prices in the downtown area. I will stand corrected

[animatedmartian]

1K is pretty much bottom of the barrel for rental units downtown. You're either sharing an apartment with roommates or got a unit in the basement/attic of an older building. Most apartments in this range don't include parking unless you pay additional fees. It's doable if you're flexible with what you want, but imo, 'decent' would be around the 1,500 range.

You get a lot better options farther out from downtown especially once you're near/outside of the freeway loop mainly towards the south and southeast.

[EastBoundandDownChick]

Originally Posted by animatedmartian

1K is pretty much bottom of the barrel for rental units downtown. You're either sharing an apartment with roommates or got a unit in the basement/attic of an older building. Most apartments in this range don't include parking unless you pay additional fees. It's doable if you're flexible with what you want, but imo, 'decent' would be around the 1,500 range.

You get a lot better options farther out from downtown especially once you're near/outside of the freeway loop mainly towards the south and southeast.

Good to know, thanks!

[EastBoundandDownChick]

I've had people recommend Dexter and Saline to me if I wanted to live outside A2 and have "country" surroundings. Also Chelsea. From what I've researched there's no way idt that I would live in Ypsi. Seems to have a bad rep and high crime stats. Issue with these other areas is the commute is a bit much. Is there anything closer/non Ypsi that you could suggest in my price range? Thanks.

[craig11152]

How long are you willing to spend in your car driving to work?
In my opinion there are one bedroom apartment's in your price range that are acceptable. They just won't be downtown. The other issue will be when they have open units. The more affordable apartments that are "nice" tend to operate at pretty close to 100% filled. At any given time it may be hard to find an opening. The University of Michigan has 40,000 plus students and most of them don't live in dorms so they compete for the housing stock.

There are a few places east of Ann Arbor before Ypsilanti proper that are not too bad. They would be in Ypsilanti Township. I have a daughter and son-in-law who are Washtenaw County Sheriffs Deputy's and I can consult them about what places they get called to since they cover Ypsilanti Township.






By way of disclosure I lived in Ypsilanti from 1961 through 1984 except 1971,72,and half of 73 in AZ. I have lived in Ann Arbor since 1984. I have 3 daughters near to you in age. Two live here in Ann Arbor.