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I guess what I really want to know is if there are other ways (brokers, agents, etc) of looking for apartments/condos/lofts that aren't available on forrent.com, rent.com, apartments.com and similar sites. For example, finding lofts for lease on those sites is pretty much a lost cause, but maybe finding one, period, is just that...
I would look on realtor.com put in zip codes and the price range and then call up the realtor. They may also know of something not listed they can email you.
There are some loft type apts in Birmingham/RO. In Birmingham some are over your price and to me I would rather rent a home. I am very familiar with Birmingham and really like the area. You are close to shopping,expressways,not far from night life. Many like RO as well. I would not live in Southfield as I don't feel it is safe or desirable for the most part. Dearborn I know little about and Beverly Hills is iffy depending on how close you are to Southfield. I think there are Whole Foods in Troy and Trader Joes near as well. There is also a newer market called Plum Market that many like heard.
I am from MI originally but live in CA. Is that where you are moving from? Sorry I am a little confused. Just remember with driving to work in the winter you will have snow and summer construction.
I would look on realtor.com put in zip codes and the price range and then call up the realtor. They may also know of something not listed they can email you.
Thanks! Will give it a look.
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There are some loft type apts in Birmingham/RO. In Birmingham some are over your price and to me I would rather rent a home. I am very familiar with Birmingham and really like the area. You are close to shopping,expressways,not far from night life. Many like RO as well. I would not live in Southfield as I don't feel it is safe or desirable for the most part. Dearborn I know little about and Beverly Hills is iffy depending on how close you are to Southfield. I think there are Whole Foods in Troy and Trader Joes near as well. There is also a newer market called Plum Market that many like heard.
Yeah, Neighborhood Scout didn't have many good things to say about Southfield. There's a nice Trader Joe's in...I want to say Ferndale, right across from Westborn Market which I also like. I think I've been to Plum Market...aren't they owned by Whole Foods or am I mixed up?
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I am from MI originally but live in CA. Is that where you are moving from? Sorry I am a little confused. Just remember with driving to work in the winter you will have snow and summer construction.
I would be moving from VA after spending two years there, but for all intents and purposes I am "from" CA, yeah. Will definitely need to adjust my driving style.
I think your price point is a little too low for one of the nicer lofts in Royal Oak. When I was looking a month or so ago (just moved from East Coast) most of them were in the $1,600-2,000 range. If you want to get a roommate- it's very affordable, but at your age, might be past roommate living.
I don't know how often you make it to Whole Food's/Trader Joe's - but I can't imagine going more than once a week - and most of the cities you mention are within a 5-10 minute drive. I'd rather live someplace I enjoyed than next to a strip shopping mall.
You've been here a summer - so familiar enough with the area/locale to know what cities intrigue you. One thing you might want to consider, is posting on Craigslist under the "Housing Wanted" section. That way, realtors or those with apartments can contact you directly and eliminates you having to email 40 random postings. Of course - looking more than a month or so in advance tends to be futile. Good luck!
Take a look at Wyandotte. Nice little downtown with a little bit of life to it. Some really neat housing options. You want to be near downtown, and if possible walking distance to the river is nice. They have pretty bad schools, but you donot care about that. Reaonably close to Dearborn.
Trenton could be a nice option as well, expecially if you find something next to Elizabeth Park. Allen Park is inexpensive and parts of it are pretty decent.
There is no really eay way to get to dearborn form most of the nicer areas. The closer you are, the better it will be. The Southfiled freeway is open again, but it is still 55 MPH and still chokes up a lot.
The closest cities to Dearborn are nto very exciting, but some of them are reasonably nice. SOuthgate, is just sprawl but decent and has a passable shopping mall. Riverview, Woodhaven and Brownstown are all ok places to be. There are no Trader Joes or Whole Foods downriver, but there is Meijers, Aldis, There is a small local grocery on Sibley (I think) near Allen. it is called concessi or somethig like that it stocks a lot of organic and unsual foods. LIvonia is close and northern livonia is raonably nice, but it is pretty bland.
Plymouth is pretty neat downtwon too, ut that is a bit more of a commute than I woudl prefer (but then my current commute is as long or longer).
You are apparently already familiar with Dearborn. IT hsa a lot of neat things going on they have a theater group, orchestra, two colleges, and the HEnry Ford/Greenfield Villiage has a lot of things going on.
It is hard to beat downtwon or mid town Detroit for stuff going on. No Trader Joes, but Eastern Market is a neat trade off. You just have to go out of town to buy pair of shoes.
You could manage the commute from Royal oak or Ann Arbor, but I woudl not want to. You will probably live a better life if you live closer to work and just to go R.O. or AA on weekends. With a long commute, you are not going to go out often once you get home from work. Long commutes wear your down, especially when there is weather, or traffic, or an accident, a good looking girl broken down ect. Often by the time you get home, you just want to grab dinner and go to bed. A shorter commute leaves you with more energy and enthusiasm once you get home.
I think your price point is a little too low for one of the nicer lofts in Royal Oak. When I was looking a month or so ago (just moved from East Coast) most of them were in the $1,600-2,000 range. If you want to get a roommate- it's very affordable, but at your age, might be past roommate living.
Waaay past roommate living. Yeah, the more research I do, the less likely it is that I will be able to afford a loft in RO. Oh well.
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I don't know how often you make it to Whole Food's/Trader Joe's - but I can't imagine going more than once a week - and most of the cities you mention are within a 5-10 minute drive. I'd rather live someplace I enjoyed than next to a strip shopping mall.
Right. I'm not placing a priority on the stores being close, but in my experience, the nicer stores are also located in nicer neighborhoods, which is important. I usually go grocery shopping twice a week - this way fewer things spoil.
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You've been here a summer - so familiar enough with the area/locale to know what cities intrigue you. One thing you might want to consider, is posting on Craigslist under the "Housing Wanted" section. That way, realtors or those with apartments can contact you directly and eliminates you having to email 40 random postings. Of course - looking more than a month or so in advance tends to be futile. Good luck!
Yep. That's how I was able to select places like RO, Farmington Hills and West Bloomfield, they just looked nice when I went there. On the other hand, there are places I probably hadn't made it to that are equally as nice (and others I thought were nice and really aren't) and visiting isn't the same thing as living there. I've been wary of posting on CL in general based on the number of spam and scam e-mails I usually get, but I guess it couldn't hurt...I consider myself intelligent enough to look past that crap. And yeah...I am not going to start looking seriously until approximately April which is when I'll be able to come out and look at the places myself (big thanks to Ford for picking up that tab)...right now I am just scoping out the areas to even begin looking at.
Wrote a whole post and then accidentally closed the window. Gah...
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Originally Posted by Coldjensens
Take a look at Wyandotte. Nice little downtown with a little bit of life to it. Some really neat housing options. You want to be near downtown, and if possible walking distance to the river is nice. They have pretty bad schools, but you donot care about that. Reaonably close to Dearborn.
Trenton could be a nice option as well, expecially if you find something next to Elizabeth Park. Allen Park is inexpensive and parts of it are pretty decent.
Will do. Wyandotte and Trenton are actually pretty well-rated by Neighborhood Scout, so that helps. Allen Park...that's a bit south of Dearborn, right? I don't remember there being too many residential areas there, but I guess I could give it a closer look.
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There is no really eay way to get to dearborn form most of the nicer areas. The closer you are, the better it will be. The Southfiled freeway is open again, but it is still 55 MPH and still chokes up a lot.
Yeah...Southfield being closed was a huge pain in the you-know-what during summer, but I still got an impression of Michigan as a very car-friendly state (heh, it better be) - I'm "from" L.A., so any time I see a good flow of traffic on the Interstate going slightly above, not slightly below the speed limit, I'm happy.
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The closest cities to Dearborn are nto very exciting, but some of them are reasonably nice. SOuthgate, is just sprawl but decent and has a passable shopping mall. Riverview, Woodhaven and Brownstown are all ok places to be. There are no Trader Joes or Whole Foods downriver, but there is Meijers, Aldis, There is a small local grocery on Sibley (I think) near Allen. it is called concessi or somethig like that it stocks a lot of organic and unsual foods. LIvonia is close and northern livonia is raonably nice, but it is pretty bland.
Yeah, to be honest, none of that sounds terribly exciting. Maybe Livonia - I've been there a few times, but, like you said, rather bland. Nice neighborhood, but I imagine I'd be bored to tears there most of the time.
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Plymouth is pretty neat downtwon too, ut that is a bit more of a commute than I woudl prefer (but then my current commute is as long or longer).
Yeah, a buddy who lives in Pitts Township had recommended that I look at some of the new condo developments there, but most of them seem to be for sale, not for lease. Still, now that I'm armed with realtor.com, I could look there as well.
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You are apparently already familiar with Dearborn. IT hsa a lot of neat things going on they have a theater group, orchestra, two colleges, and the HEnry Ford/Greenfield Villiage has a lot of things going on.
Yeah, Dearborn is neat in its own right (I like Bailey's even though I don't drink that much), but living there will be overpriced for my money.
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It is hard to beat downtwon or mid town Detroit for stuff going on. No Trader Joes, but Eastern Market is a neat trade off. You just have to go out of town to buy pair of shoes.
I may be overly prejudiced, but Detroit scares me a little. OK, a lot. I want the urban lifestyle, but not that urban...
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You could manage the commute from Royal oak or Ann Arbor, but I woudl not want to. You will probably live a better life if you live closer to work and just to go R.O. or AA on weekends. With a long commute, you are not going to go out often once you get home from work. Long commutes wear your down, especially when there is weather, or traffic, or an accident, a good looking girl broken down ect. Often by the time you get home, you just want to grab dinner and go to bed. A shorter commute leaves you with more energy and enthusiasm once you get home.
I could do RO - it's nice in that I can get home, clean up and dip out for a bite or for happy hour. Plus, a bunch of people who will also be joining Big Blue with me are looking to live there, so it would be nice to live closer to them, but they can afford the slightly pricier lofts if they so choose since they don't have $150K worth of B-school debt to pay off, plus some of them are just out of undergrad, so roommates might not be out of the question in their situation. Ann Arbor, though I like it a lot, is way too far for me and absent a good railway system (Amtrak only works one way to Dearborn - I can't be arsed to look it up right now, but it either works going, but not coming or vice versa) I just don't want to drive that much. I like driving, but not that much. Speaking of...what are some good radio stations in the area? Looking mainly for alternative rock and talk radio one shade classier than TMZ.
Wrote a whole post and then accidentally closed the window. Gah...Will do. Wyandotte and Trenton are actually pretty well-rated by Neighborhood Scout, so that helps. Allen Park...that's a bit south of Dearborn, right? I don't remember there being too many residential areas there, but I guess I could give it a closer look.Yeah...Southfield being closed was a huge pain in the you-know-what during summer, but I still got an impression of Michigan as a very car-friendly state (heh, it better be) - I'm "from" L.A., so any time I see a good flow of traffic on the Interstate going slightly above, not slightly below the speed limit, I'm happy.Yeah, to be honest, none of that sounds terribly exciting. Maybe Livonia - I've been there a few times, but, like you said, rather bland. Nice neighborhood, but I imagine I'd be bored to tears there most of the time.Yeah, a buddy who lives in Pitts Township had recommended that I look at some of the new condo developments there, but most of them seem to be for sale, not for lease. Still, now that I'm armed with realtor.com, I could look there as well.Yeah, Dearborn is neat in its own right (I like Bailey's even though I don't drink that much), but living there will be overpriced for my money.I may be overly prejudiced, but Detroit scares me a little. OK, a lot. I want the urban lifestyle, but not that urban...I could do RO - it's nice in that I can get home, clean up and dip out for a bite or for happy hour. Plus, a bunch of people who will also be joining Big Blue with me are looking to live there, so it would be nice to live closer to them, but they can afford the slightly pricier lofts if they so choose since they don't have $150K worth of B-school debt to pay off, plus some of them are just out of undergrad, so roommates might not be out of the question in their situation. Ann Arbor, though I like it a lot, is way too far for me and absent a good railway system (Amtrak only works one way to Dearborn - I can't be arsed to look it up right now, but it either works going, but not coming or vice versa) I just don't want to drive that much. I like driving, but not that much. Speaking of...what are some good radio stations in the area? Looking mainly for alternative rock and talk radio one shade classier than TMZ.
Allen Park is south of Dearborn just down southfiled where it truns into a street. THere is quite a bit of residential, some nicer than others. A bit of a downtown, ut lots of it is run down and/or closed. Still there are some great music stores and a theater that plays second run movies for $1.50. Best thing for you is it is cheap and very close to Dearborn.
You will not see anything like LA traffic unlees you go north of Detroit on the 75 during rush hour. I once hit LA like traffic on the 275. There was black ice and a multi car accident (I think there were 30 cars in the accident - nothing major, just some bent fenders).
I like woodhaven better than Livonia, but that is just a matter of personal taste. Livonia is a very fine example of soulelss suburbia. And the home to some fantastic historic sites. (I was born there.)
You cannot rely on Amtrack. It is frequently an hour or more late. This is the MOTOR city. You need to motor.
My Brother is starting at Ford on Monday. He lives in Plymouth. That will be an easy commute for him, he worked in Dotwntown Detroit for several years.
Downtown Deteroit is pretty neat. It is the surrounding area that is scary. If I was single and/or kidless downtown Detroit would be on my list of four or five places that I woudl like to live. It is fun especially in the summer. THere is always something going on. Free concerts, eventls like red bull air races or an international Parquor competition, festivals for varous kinds of music (Jazz, Techno/dubstep (huge), country/western, etc). It seems like from the end of may through mid septemeber there are several things going on downtown every weekend. Every Friday in the summer they have concerts by really old rock stars (Like Pat Benetar, Foreigner), they are free and fun.
Talk radio is a bit weak, at least I have not found much. WJR and WWJ on AM are the main purely talk/news stations. One of them is basically news and pretty dry, except inthe morning. One is basically a rah rah rah Michigan State University station. One is super conservative talk int he evenings (I am conservative, but I cannot stand jack*****e$ like Marc Levin). I have a hard time finding anyhting interesting to listen to int he evenings. Most of the rock stations have competing morning talk shows. Sorry I cannot help much with station names I know them as button 1, button 2 button 3 and button 4 (5 is reserved for Jazz). Most of the morning talk on rock stations is inane and juvinile. Usually people call in with made up sex or relationship problems and 15 year old listeners call in with sage advice and made up anecdotes. Unfortuantely, most of it is not even very creative. If you want entertianing slanted liberal news there is NPR and another AM station out of Ann Arbor that you cna usually pick up in the evening. Although I am more conservative, I find the extreme slant to be entertaining. However the one Ann Arbor station, I think that the hostess is stoned becuase she frequently seems to forget what she is talking about mid-sentence.
There are some decent Alt rock stations but again it is just FM 2 Buttons 3 and 4 to me. I do not pay any attention to the station names. There are some great classic rock stations as well. You can always get sirrus and continue to listen to John and Ken.
If you find good talk radio someplace, please come back here and post the station.
Royal Oak/Ferndale, Downtown Detroit and Ann Arbor are the places where you will find the most fun. Wyandotte is fun too, but less well known and smaller. Dearborn is probably next on that list.
Since you are renting, you can always move when you find you like somewhere else better. However there is very little that can make up for a super short commute. I once lived 1 mile from my work and I learned, life is better with a shorter commute.
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