Survey about relocation to Ann Arbor (Detroit, Grand Rapids: low income, best suburbs, new home)

[citychik]

Originally Posted by usroute10

To tell you the truth, there is only 1 regular poster on the Ann Arbor forum who is young and semi-transplant (Brodie734). The Ann Arbor forum has only a few regular posters actually. There is another contributor who posts sporadically, named GoBlueA2. You can message her/him

Thank you.

BTW, I'm not looking for answers from only young people who have moved there. I may feel young and have a youthful outlook, but I'm over 40 (and I won't say by how much). Anyone who relocated as an adult, even if they've been there for 20-30 years is welcome to share their experiences.

Ann Arbor always comes up on "best of" lists as a great place to live, and since so many people are quite mobile and move around a lot these days, I figured it's a place a lot of people consider for relocation. Even just a few more responses will be helpful.

[craig11152]

Originally Posted by kb245

I grew up in the other and better college town in Michigan. Go State! And returned after living overseas as an expat. We chose A2 thinking it would be similar to EL..... the taxes are insane....We are moving to Ypsi and doing private school.

Ann Arbor tax rates are considerably lower than East Lansing. Perhaps In EL you can get a much nicer house for $200,000 than in Ann Arbor, I can't say one way or another, but in EL your taxes will be $1300 a year more for that $200,000 house than in AA.
You will get a lot more house for your money in Ypsilanti than either EL or AA but Ypsi's tax rate is much higher than AA. In Ypsi your taxes for a $200,000 house will be $2,000 more than in Ann Arbor.

[citychik]

Okay, thanks for the info.

[brodie734]

Saying EL is better at basically anything than A2 is like saying Chili's is better than a Michelin starred restaurant. You might legitimately think that but almost nobody else does and that opinion says more about you than anything.

[citychik]

<sigh>

[craig11152]

Originally Posted by citychik

<sigh>

If you are frustrated perhaps your expectations for an Intent forum are unreasonable. How many responses that just stuck to your 8 question script were you expecting? This forum isn't loaded with Ann Arbor people who meet your desired demographic eager to fill out your 8 question test.
You might actually learn some things through the back and forth of folks familiar with the area even if that back and forth strays from your script.
For instance so far in the off script exchanges you might have learned that property prices are high in Ann Arbor but not necessarily tax rates. You might also have learned that it doesn't take much to ignite a UofM vs MSU "war" in south east/west/central Michigan.

[citychik]

Who said I am not learning anything? Who said I am frustrated? Who said what my expectations are or were, if any? You are making assumptions.

I simply don't want people's answers to be challenged and turned into an argument or debate. Opinions are subjective and opinions, in the format of answering my short questionnaire, are what I requested from transplants with this topic. I don't see how useful it is for people to argue about whatever someone else has shared as their experience. Why challenge someone on their experiences? I'd like this thread to stay on topic - is that too much to ask? I'm hoping for a few more people to respond to my questions AND for this thread not to follow the typically contentious route of far too many City-Data forum threads already.

I have also gotten a number of very nice, friendly private messages and I appreciate those, too.

Thanks!

[craig11152]

Originally Posted by citychik

Who said I am not learning anything? Who said I am frustrated? Who said what my expectations are or were, if any? You are making assumptions.

correct I made an assumption based on your "<sigh>" post. Perhaps you could clarify what you were conveying with "<sigh>" so I can understand my misinterpretation.

Originally Posted by citychik

I simply don't want people's answers to be challenged and turned into an argument or debate. Opinions are subjective

Except some things are not "opinions" but facts. And when those facts are misrepresented do you not want to know?

[brodie734]

I didn't intend that as an MSU-UM thing. MSU is a great school, top 100 in the country. People should be very proud of it.

I just think East Lansing is one of the worst towns in the Big Ten. Only West Lafayette is unarguably worse.

[citychik]

I'm very grateful to all who responded so far. Your answers are helping me make some decisions. If any other transplants want to add their responses, please do - thanks again!