Farmington Hills and Novi (Detroit, Ann Arbor: apartments, low crime, houses)

[KayAnn246]

I am moving from the Raleigh, NC area back to Metro Detroit. I have posted here a few times and narrowed my search of places to settle down, Farmington Hills or Novi area. Can anyone give me insight on the different positives and negatives of each area? I will give you a bit of my situation.

32 year old single African American women (need a diverse area)
2 children ages 4 and 10 years old (need excellent school system and low crime)
looking to buy a home in the next 2 years(lowest property and lower cost of living)
We would like a great community center for kids sports.
Easy access to Wayne County area because all of my family live in Deaborn, Westland and Wayne. I will also be getting treatment at the VA hopsital in Ann Arbor or Detroit.

I have looked at Citation Club apartments in FH. I will aso take a tour of Highline Club and River Oaks West apartments in Novi next month.

Based on my situation which area or apartments would be best for a good move back?

[belleislerunner]

Choose either Westland or Garden City. It's more convenient (right off 96) for the trips between Ann Arbor and Detroit (plus it's closer to family/friends) which will be helpful for play dates/hanging out. It's also more economical. There's no point in spending more just to isolate yourself up in F. Hills/Novi.

[ForStarters]

Originally Posted by belleislerunner

Choose either Westland or Garden City. It's more convenient (right off 96) for the trips between Ann Arbor and Detroit (plus it's closer to family/friends) which will be helpful for play dates/hanging out. It's also more economical. There's no point in spending more just to isolate yourself up in F. Hills/Novi.

True, except for her concern about schools.

[KayAnn246]

Thanks, I do not prefer Westland schools at all. I prefer Oakland County. Any thoughts?

[Coldjensens]

Novi has better schools. It is not diverse. Traffic is awful by Michigan Standards. It is a soulless place with no character at all, but loads of shopping/strip malls. It has lots of modern McMansion type subdivisions if that is what you are looking for. It is very clean and safe. Did I mention a whole lot of shopping malls?

F.H. is a bit closer to Detroit; does not have the traffic density of Novi; schools are not as good, but still goods schools; I do not know, but I think it is probably more diverse; it has fewer stores, bars and eateries. houses are generally older, in many cases more spread out. The hilliness is a nice feature. Farmington has a decent, but not great downtown. You may want to watch school districts. I think part of FH goes to Walled Lake. again I am uncertain, but I seem to remember that Walled Lake has lightly better schools (depending on what criteria you use). Part of FH may also be in the West Bloomfield district. You might get more diversity in W.B. schools, but they have had a lot of trouble recently. I would not choose W.B. for my kids, or at elast I woudl be reluctant to do so.

Remember in looking at schools there is a lot more to your evaluation than two or three year old statistics. You need to develop your own personal criteria. For example to me a small school is more important than how many AP classes it offers. The number of people going to college from a school, or the number who got scholarships is more important than diversity, how many books are in the library or the performance of the sports teams. However other people will have different priorities. If you just look at rankings, you are adopting someone else's priorities which may not be consistent with yours.

Did you consider Plymouth?

[DaniellaG]

Yes part of Farmington Hills does go to Walled Lake.
I agree that many cities in Oakland County have good schools. I would try to research the schools and also that just because you live in a certain city does not mean you will be in that district.
An issue I will bring up about Novi and Plymouth is trains. If you are not noise sensitive it may not bother you but there are many trains in the area.

[KayAnn246]

Does Novi and FH have school of choice?

[willzzz88]

Novi is White/Asian mostly with a huge emphasis on education and community.

Novi Schools also has the advantage of some very rich $$$ corporate sponsors and the PTA (Parents Committee or something I forgot, been a few years) funneling the money needed into the school for the special events, sports, etc.

I do see some highly-educated blacks moving into the area too so it maybe is getting more diverse (Diversity in Novi = White/Asian == West/East).

If you can afford Novi then it's a great community!

Also close to the great outdoors near-by off I-96 West.

[willzzz88]

As for the school of choice I don't believe so.

The economics reason of the success of Novi Schools is co-insided with their business community and general community.

I mean there's even been DEBATES ABOUT WHICH SUB-SCHOOL (there were 2 elementary or something, everyone wanted to send their children to the newer one) IN NOVI IS NEWER TO SEND THEIR LITTLE ONES TO!

[reconmark]

Originally Posted by Coldjensens

Novi has better schools. It is not diverse. Traffic is awful by Michigan Standards. It is a soulless place with no character at all, but loads of shopping/strip malls. It has lots of modern McMansion type subdivisions if that is what you are looking for. It is very clean and safe. Did I mention a whole lot of shopping malls?

F.H. is a bit closer to Detroit; does not have the traffic density of Novi; schools are not as good, but still goods schools; I do not know, but I think it is probably more diverse; it has fewer stores, bars and eateries. houses are generally older, in many cases more spread out. The hilliness is a nice feature. Farmington has a decent, but not great downtown. You may want to watch school districts. I think part of FH goes to Walled Lake. again I am uncertain, but I seem to remember that Walled Lake has lightly better schools (depending on what criteria you use). Part of FH may also be in the West Bloomfield district. You might get more diversity in W.B. schools, but they have had a lot of trouble recently. I would not choose W.B. for my kids, or at elast I woudl be reluctant to do so.
Remember in looking at schools there is a lot more to your evaluation than two or three year old statistics. You need to develop your own personal criteria. For example to me a small school is more important than how many AP classes it offers. The number of people going to college from a school, or the number who got scholarships is more important than diversity, how many books are in the library or the performance of the sports teams. However other people will have different priorities. If you just look at rankings, you are adopting someone else's priorities which may not be consistent with yours.

Did you consider Plymouth?

Exactly what trouble are you referring too, or is it that diversity and trouble are one in the same for you??..

Can we have some specifics or are we going to get, well my uncle on my nieces cousin's side said,etc..