Looking for a Detroit suburb with a healthy lifestyle (organic, natural, outdoorsy) (Farmington Hills: fit in, rent)

[Arthur Digby Sellers]

Originally Posted by usroute10

What about those cities/townships along the I-96 corridor, west of I-696 - Commerce Township, Walled Lake, Milford, South Lyon, Wixom. Novi is too chain store heavy. Lakes, trails, but the commute down M-5, I-96 and I-696 might be a bit too much. There are several large parks around there though. Milford has a cute downtown.

Nightmare commutes to Eastpointe.

[cityofdenver]

We want to buy a house and stay forever, which is why I have been asking so many questions. Our kids are young, but we've moved so much we need to settle down.

Budget is ideally 200-300k. Could push that higher if necessary- even up to 400, but that's the major draw for relocating so we want to keep out mortgage on the lower end of that if practical.

[cityofdenver]

Also, the fact that all of you who are complete strangers are helping so much with this project gives me confidence in uprooting and moving "home" to a new place.

[animatedmartian]

Originally Posted by cityofdenver

Also, the fact that all of you who are complete strangers are helping so much with this project gives me confidence in uprooting and moving "home" to a new place.

I didn't think being nice was such an oddity, but glad to help either way.

$400K is right about mid-range for homes in the Pointes. Usually above $400K are homes that are close to 4,000 square feet or more. Then of course it's more expensive on the waterfront where homes are typically around $1 million dollars.

Although, good luck finding your dream home because Metro Detroit's housing market is considered somewhat hot and is pretty much a buyer's market. Homes that don't need any or little updating go pretty quick which obviously leaves a lot of fixer-uppers in the market. It's really a barging hunt out here.

[cityofdenver]

I've been looking at listings and that seemed like a reasonable budget to me in most of the areas mentioned except maybe Birmingham, which looks to be slightly higher prices. I don't know, maybe standards are high there. For me, a 1800 or 2,000 sq ft home under 400k seems like a great deal. Am I missing something?

[animatedmartian]

All the areas mentioned are very desirable areas. Many parts of Metro Detroit have homes under $400K for decent square footage, but often it's in the more vanilla suburbs with older housing and neighborhoods. You can get a 2,000 sq ft home in Warren for around $170K plus or minus. The homes and neighborhoods are decent, but they certainly don't have the charm/ornateness of the more expensive areas and lack the similar neighborhood amenities that you'd be looking for. Plus the schools are more satisfactory rather than cream of the crop. So you kind get what you pay for.

[DTWflyer]

Birmingham is one of the most expensive real estate markets in the region. Your money will not go very far there. Hence a $300k house in Birmingham would be more like $200 for the exact same house in Royal Oak or Berkley.

The only housing under $400k in is Post-WWII bungalow style housing in the Southeastern part of the city, which is the exact same housing stock in Royal Oak or Berkley for less money in a somewhat less desirable, but perfectly fine school district.

As said, the current housing market in Metro Detroit is surprisingly rediculous right now. Relatively low inventory of reasonably prices home that don't need much updating. There is a lot of over-priced stuff out there right now in my opinion. Houses that are on the market for awhile, well there is a good reason for it - either overpriced and/or needs a lot of work.

[Prisoner24601]

When I bought five years ago (which was admittedly when the housing market bottomed out), you got a lot more house for your money in Grosse Pointe than you did in Birmingham. I'm guessing maybe that the market has changed significantly since then though. And the Pointes are becoming a tighter market again - partially because of their already limited amount of housing stock, their proximity to the lake, the great schools. I'm also guessing that all of the new companies that are relocating back into downtown Detroit doesn't hurt as well, since that is one seriously fast and easy commute from here. Even so, I think you're going to probably still get more house for your money here than in Birmingham, so that's something to consider as you look.

One thing you're really going to want to keep in mind as you look at how much your mortgage is going to be is what the property taxes the house will be. From talking to friends who live in Colorado, it sounds like the property taxes in Michigan will generally be much, much higher than what you're used to. It can also vary greatly from city to city even within the Metro Detroit area (with, for example, Birmingham property taxes being some of the very highest). You're going to want to make sure you understand how the property taxes on the house you're looking at are calculated and know that if you're buying a house that someone has held onto for 30 years - what they pay in property taxes might be a whole lot lower than what you're going to end up paying for the same house.

Just something to think about as you look for houses.

[cityofdenver]

Good point in the taxes. Thank you.

You can't believe how difficult it is to get reliable information on that area from here. It's all horrible articles on how bad Detroit proper is.

[animatedmartian]

I'd believe it. Heck, most people don't even seem to think the rest of Michigan exists outside of Detroit.

Speaking of non-chain stores, I tried to find a few links that highlight local businesses in Metro Detroit. Outside of a few suburbs (many already mentioned), most independent stores are located around Downtown Detroit. Not sure if this helps you much, but at maybe at least give you an idea of the shopping situation here.

Places To Go Search Results

Shop Locally - Made in Detroit | Detroit Highlights - VisitDetroit.com

Detroit Development News