Farmington Hills Area Relocation

[grmi66]

I keep looking up trails in Michigan and it seems that they call anything in a park a trail, even if it's paved. So to be more specific, are there any dirt trails and bonus points if it's hilly within an hour of Oakland County? Doubt I will find anything like I have now where I can do a 7-10 mile run that has 1000 feet of climbing. With all the water around I may have to take up kayaking.

The tip for looking on CraigsList was a good one. Finding rentals that are being rented by the owner rather than a property management company and often these people don't know what the going market rate is. That's how we found our place in Phoenix. Most of my neighbors pay $1500 for a house in a historic neighborhood while we pay $975.

Last, but not least, what is the job situation like for me? My wife will have a good job waiting for her when we arrive. My background is in outside sales, operations management and retail management.

[DTWflyer]

Listings/Rentals:
Most people don't go with a listing or agency on rentals since the don't want to pay the fees to the listing agent/property management company. Obviously, as you know, you need to vet the landlord just like how they vet potential renters. There are some landlords that have no business being in the rental business.

Trails/Parks:
There are plenty of good places to trail run out in western Oakland County. There isn't reall a good website that provides a comprehensive list, but search around some of the ones listed previouisly, MMBA.org - mountain bike trails, HCMA Metroparks, Michigan State Parks.

Many of the parks have added paved bike paths which are also good for running, but there are many dirt trails for hiking and mountain biking that are also good for trail running

I'm into running and mountain biking too. Good places to run dirt / unpaved trails, worth checking out on that side of town include:
Maybury State Park - dirt trails, paved bike pathes
Proud Lake State Recreation Area - dirt trails
Novi Lakeshore Park - dirt trails
West Bloomfield Trail - gravel/unpaved rail-trail
Island Lake State Recreation Area - dirt mountain biking/shared used trail, paved bike path
Kensington Metropark - paved bike path, I don't think the have much formal dirt paths good for running and the don't like trail runners in the nature center trails

Job situation -
Pretty good for college-educated people with a background in operations management as many of the automotive suppliers are looking for qualified candidates. I have no clue about the job market for retail management in this region. There are numerous good-sized companies in Southfield, Farmington, Novi, and along the I-275 corridor that may be viable options to research.

[Arthur Digby Sellers]

Originally Posted by DTWflyer

Job situation -
Pretty good for college-educated people with a background in operations management as many of the automotive suppliers are looking for qualified candidates. I have no clue about the job market for retail management in this region. There are numerous good-sized companies in Southfield, Farmington, Novi, and along the I-275 corridor that may be viable options to research.

I would expand that to any knowledge-based careers that are employed in the auto industry including, but not limited to:

Operations
Supply chain management
Finance
Accounting
Marketing
Engineering
Sales

[mgkeith]

Heritage Park in Farmington Hills has hilly, dirt trails. People run all over the place here, lots of hills. No mountains for you, sorry! I have walked on many dirt trails in the other parks mentioned.

[usroute10]

Originally Posted by grmi66

I keep looking up trails in Michigan and it seems that they call anything in a park a trail, even if it's paved. So to be more specific, are there any dirt trails and bonus points if it's hilly within an hour of Oakland County? Doubt I will find anything like I have now where I can do a 7-10 mile run that has 1000 feet of climbing. With all the water around I may have to take up kayaking.

The tip for looking on CraigsList was a good one. Finding rentals that are being rented by the owner rather than a property management company and often these people don't know what the going market rate is. That's how we found our place in Phoenix. Most of my neighbors pay $1500 for a house in a historic neighborhood while we pay $975.

Last, but not least, what is the job situation like for me? My wife will have a good job waiting for her when we arrive. My background is in outside sales, operations management and retail management.

All of the state-owned parkland that have the title "Recreation Area" have miles and miles of UNPAVED hiking trails through mostly hilly, heavily wooded terrain (but not 1000 feet of climbing). Very, very beautiful, but you will need bug spray in the warmer months. The recreation areas are not as "developed" as the "State Parks" and Huron-Clinton MetroParks. The latter mentioned parks have paved trails and recreational facilities.

To get a glimpse of the trails/terrain of the state recreation areas of western and northern Oakland County, and Eastern Livingston County, please see below video of Pontiac Lake Recreation Area.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKK9qXiXbws