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Old 01-25-2017, 04:06 PM
 
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My husband just got a new job and we will be moving to SE Michigan in a couple months. I'm looking for suggestions about where to live within 30-40 miles of his job in Novi. Obviously a shorter commute would be preferable, but we're willing to move farther away to get more affordable housing and access to outdoor activities.

We are 30 with no kids and a combined income of ~$100k/year. I love our current spot outside Lansing because we live in a little downtown area within walking distance of a couple restaurants and coffee shops, the library, a park, farmers' market and a gym. We're within biking distance of two other really nice parks with trails for hiking, biking and cross-country skiing, which is awesome because we're very active.

I might be asking a lot, but is it possible to replicate our current situation within 30-40 miles of Novi?

I'm really nervous about moving away from our friends and our current amazing neighborhood.

Thanks in advance for your help!!
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Old 01-25-2017, 04:10 PM
 
Location: Ann Arbor MI
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Brighton.
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Old 01-25-2017, 04:36 PM
 
Location: Grosse Ile Michigan
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For outdoorsyness, Try to get one of the houses on Buno Road nestled right up against Kensington Metropark. Anything adjoining Kensington would be wonderful, Brighton township, New Hudson/Lyon township, Milford Township.

For walkable small town with at least a bit of a downtown with nearby outdoorsiness and within 40 miles of Novi:

Milford, Brighton, Ann Arbor, Tecumseh, Saline, Plymouth, Northville, Farmington,

Probably a lot of others.

A few notes:

Brighton is expensive downtown meaning lunch will cost you are least $18 - $20 per person. At least all the places I could find that looked interesting.

Ann Arbor is a bigger city/college town. Probably the coolest place in Michgian to hang out/walk around. Still outdoorsy. The Huron river runs right through town. There is a canoe rental with a really cool steep chute next to the dam. In minutes, you are canoeing in areas where it at least seems wildernessy. Housing in Ann Arbor is quite pricey. The downtown is absolutely awful to drive in and traffic is insane on some days (game days, student move in/out, etc).

Plymouth has a cute central square where they have lots of neat events like a greenness fesitval (electric vehicles and such); an ice sculpture contest, square dancing, and a bunch of other stuff.

Milford has access problems. Primary access is two lane Milford road. Gets pretty crazy at rush hour. Cute downtown though and less expensive (primarily because the schools are not as good).

Northville - semi cute old fashioned but partially yuppified. Expensive.

Farmington - More suburban than others on the list. Not as much to offer.

In all these places except Farmington and the Kensington areas, I see no point in living outside a reasonable walk or bike ride of downtown. There is no reason to pay the premium to live in one of the cool cities and then have to drive there anyway.

Tecumseh is pretty far away, but secluded if you like that. Cute little town. Lots of neat houses. It is also down in the flatter part of Michigan, so there is less intersting outdoor thngs.

I guess I will toss South Lyon on the list.It was a cuteish very small country town but it got all McMansioned up and strip malled and chain stored, so there is really only about a block and a half of cuteness left.

The entire area is loaded with parks, bike trails (an awesome rails to rails route), XC ski opportunities, Kensington has toboggan runs and a fun sledding hill, trails, a sizable lake, boat rental etc. Maybury park is very nice too. Island lake has a decent beach and some nature areas. If you go with Brighton, you are almost right next door to Hell!.
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Old 01-25-2017, 04:57 PM
 
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Default yes

This is great information - thank you.
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Old 01-25-2017, 04:58 PM
 
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Farmington Hills has an amazing park, very large with great trails. Heritage Park! Coldjensens, it sounds as though you have never visited our parks here. We also have one of the metro areas best sledding sites and Shiawassee Park, too. The city of Farmington has a nice downtown area which has been developed a lot in the past several years. If I were a young adult, I would choose to live within walking distance of it.

You don't want to move to areas far from Novi.
Milford, Brighton, Ann Arbor, Tecumseh, Saline...wouldn't recommend. Commute will be a pain in...um, unnecessary.
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Old 01-25-2017, 05:32 PM
 
Location: Ann Arbor MI
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One nice thing about Brighton is you are only 40-45 minutes to Lansing if your inclined to visit.
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Old 01-25-2017, 07:35 PM
 
Location: Central Mass
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Coldjensens View Post
Tecumseh is pretty far away, but secluded if you like that. Cute little town. Lots of neat houses. It is also down in the flatter part of Michigan, so there is less intersting outdoor thngs.
Tecumseh would be an awful commute! Might as well stay in Lansing at that point (it's only 5 miles closer to Novi than Lansing is )
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Old 01-25-2017, 08:14 PM
 
2,115 posts, read 5,383,653 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by craig11152 View Post
One nice thing about Brighton is you are only 40-45 minutes to Lansing if your inclined to visit.
Yup. One of those towns that you can say is a reasonable drive to the Lansing area, and a relatively easy one down to Ann Arbor. And also quite easy to Metro Detroit areas such as Novi.
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Old 01-26-2017, 01:00 PM
 
Location: Metro Detroit
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Brighton.

/Thread
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Old 01-26-2017, 01:09 PM
 
1,996 posts, read 3,129,025 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Coldjensens View Post
For outdoorsyness, Try to get one of the houses on Buno Road nestled right up against Kensington Metropark. Anything adjoining Kensington would be wonderful, Brighton township, New Hudson/Lyon township, Milford Township.

For walkable small town with at least a bit of a downtown with nearby outdoorsiness and within 40 miles of Novi:

Milford, Brighton, Ann Arbor, Tecumseh, Saline, Plymouth, Northville, Farmington,
Tecumseh? You might as well have thrown in Rochester!

Northville has a nice downtown, is adjacent to Novi, and you have Maybury State Park and Hines Drive (a 17-mile long linear parkway) right there. Plus you are within 20 minutes from large recreation areas such as Lyon Oaks County Park, Kensington Metropark, and Island Lake Recreation Area.

Like Mr. Craig said, Brighton also is good option. It has several huge State Recreation Areas in the vicinity, and is not that far from Lansing.
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