Home buying in Ferndale (Detroit, Ann Arbor: live, restaurants, shopper)

[mangofacee]

Originally Posted by MIEng

Yes Ferndale is very hot right now, specially around the area you are looking for. Popular among house flippers, so keep that in mind. I don't know how much is your budget but you can still find good deals under 100k for unremodeled homes in southern Ferndale but you need to do some work. A few years ago most deals were cash, now you have a lot of first time home buyers looking for that finished house (emotional buyers) so prices has gotten higher. While there is nothing wrong with Hazel Park and Oak Park, the fact is that Ferndale's location (along Woodward) and downtown makes it a better long term investment IMHO.

Thanks for the reply. I was told by my coworker, who is a home owner in Ferndale, to stay north of Marshall. I personally think that the south side is fine, considering how hot the neighborhood is. What is your opinion on this? We would like to keep it under $160K, so I think the south side is probably the way to go.

[belleislerunner]

Ferndale is only worth buying in if you're walking distance to 9 Mile. Drive there and see how long the distance is you're comfortable walking/driving. If it's past X point - you may as well get a cheaper place in Oak Park or Hazel Park since you'll be driving anyway.

[MIEng]

Originally Posted by mangofacee

Thanks for the reply. I was told by my coworker, who is a home owner in Ferndale, to stay north of Marshall. I personally think that the south side is fine, considering how hot the neighborhood is. What is your opinion on this? We would like to keep it under $160K, so I think the south side is probably the way to go.

Marshall all the way down to Chesterfield is fine. Just stay on the west side of Woodward as is more desirable (no crossing Woodward by foot to go to downtown). One thing to keep in mind is that a lot of properties on that area do not have a driveway or even less so a garage. This causes a lot of congestion on the street as people need to park on the side of the street. Drive through Chesterfield on an evening and you will see what I mean. So if you can find a house with at least a small driveway on the front even better.

I believe in that price range you might be able to find something near Marshall if not the streets south of Marshall should be just fine.

Good luck.

pd: what belleislerunner said is true. The price you pay in Ferndale is worth it as long as you are within reasonable walking distance from downtown. For me it would be a mile or less and not crossing dangerous major roads by foot. Drive and walk through the area and see if you are confortable with the walking distance.

[snoopygirlmi]

The houseflipping isn't really unique to Ferndale either.

Now that the market is "coming back", a lot of people are looking to sell their home for a higher price than what they bought it for.

[us66]

Ferndale, outside of the downtown area and points towards Pleasant Ridge, is overrated, imho, except for its pretty central location in the metro area, and certainly outside those desirable areas, overpriced for what it is, just like extreme SE Royal Oak, say Lincoln and Campbell area, which really isn't within walking distance to downtown anyways.

Oak Park, not generally considered desirable. Not sure about safety (a high school classmate was murdered in Oak Park probably 15 years ago) but you hear less about it in the news than Eastpointe. NW corner, next to Huntington Woods (now there's a nice place), has Berkley schools, which are worth a few bucks at resale time.

Strangely, I am kinda interested in Hazel Park at the moment. Not a great place (I'd take it over comparable south Warren in a heartbeat), but convenient location to RO, Ferndale, and downtown Detroit, and is in the magical 248 area code and the magical land of Oakland County, rather than Macomb and the 586. Like I said, not a wonderful place to owner occupy, but prices are still low enough for investors and I imagine the rental market is strong.

[TiggerDog]

If you go with Oak Park try to go in the northern part, it will be berkley schools and not oak park schools in case you have kids. I would rather pay the extra and go to Huntington woods then Oak Park. If its between Ferndale and Hazel Park, I would go with Ferndale. Go to Kroger on 9 and John R ha ha lots of hicks and obese people still in Hazel Park.

[DTWflyer]

Ferndale is benefiting very much because of resurgence of downtown and midtown Detroit. Highly convenient and a short commute to those areas down Woodward, avoiding the congestion of I-75.

[animatedmartian]

Originally Posted by DTWflyer

Ferndale is benefiting very much because of resurgence of downtown and midtown Detroit. Highly convenient and a short commute to those areas down Woodward, avoiding the congestion of I-75.

More specifically, Ferndale (and Royal Oak to a similar extent) are benefiting from college students choosing to stay in SE Michigan rather than moving out of town/state. The thing about Ferndale (and RO) is that they're pretty similar in urban design to small college towns; small bungalows and apartments, an identifiable central business district, and usually a somewhat prevailing liberal/underground/artistic atmosphere. The biggest and obvious difference is that the nearest major colleges are all miles away and so it's still more suburban than it is true urban.

Downtown and Midtown Detroit, at present, still lack a cohesiveness to make it feel comparable to similar other major urban neighborhoods, not to mention the lack of residential availability, which basically makes Ferndale and Royal Oak substitute areas until many more gaps are filled in downtown Detroit (provided it doesn't get too ridiculously expensive).

[jonnynonos]

The drawback about Ferndale is that it is still essentially a giant yawn. So is Royal Oak. Don't get me wrong, for a lot of people they are the best options, but people talk about them so much anyone who visits is likely to wonder if they have the right cities.

[Lafleur]

Originally Posted by jonnynonos

The drawback about Ferndale is that it is still essentially a giant yawn. So is Royal Oak. Don't get me wrong, for a lot of people they are the best options, but people talk about them so much anyone who visits is likely to wonder if they have the right cities.

Ferndale is cool and trendy, but it's also pretty small. There are only a few happening places in the downtown district. Royal Oak has far more options, but is more of a fist-pumping, bro-fest on Saturday night. Definitely some good restaurants and bars in the area though.

Both cities are about as good as it gets in Metro Detroit though as far as bustling small-town downtowns go. Plymoth and Ann Arbor are still my favorites, but they're not quite Metro Detroit either IMO.