Job in downtown Detroit and looking for a safe place to live (Lansing: custom home)

[Cccvirginia]

We are looking for a safe place to live and with the “easiest” commute to downtown Detroit. We have driven around and like the Monroe area but just heard about a huge heroin problem. Does this really exist and if so, how does it affect the normal public? Are strung out people roaming the streets, parks, stores, etc? Any other recommendations for a safe area along the 75 corridor. We are a couple in our late 40’s, all kids in college so schools don’t matter & a budget under $350-400000. Also interested in new builds. Builders to use and avoid? Thanks for any information.

[canadian citizen]

Windsor, Ontario. I joke, but imagine a city in the USA with a population of 250,000 people that went two years without a murder ? Windsor did.


link. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/windsor-murder-free-for-2-years-1.1050349

[billmymortgageguy]

Originally Posted by Cccvirginia

We are looking for a safe place to live and with the “easiest” commute to downtown Detroit. We have driven around and like the Monroe area but just heard about a huge heroin problem. Does this really exist and if so, how does it affect the normal public? Are strung out people roaming the streets, parks, stores, etc? Any other recommendations for a safe area along the 75 corridor. We are a couple in our late 40’s, all kids in college so schools don’t matter & a budget under $350-400000. Also interested in new builds. Builders to use and avoid? Thanks for any information.

Have you considered the East-Side?

With your budget you can get a nice home in St. Clair Shores or one of the Grosse Pointes.
(15- 20 minutes on I-94)

[NOLA101]

Pretty much all of Metro Detroit is safe except for a few ghetto communities, mostly in Detroit, Highland Park, Pontiac, River Rouge, Ecorse and a few others.

Do you want to live next to work? Then live downtown. Do you want a safe, regular, suburban neighborhood? Then pick a decent inner suburb.

Keep in mind, too, that Metro Detroit doesn't have bad traffic issues, at all, compared to most major metros. So you can live relatively far from the city, say Livonia, or Troy, and still have a relatively easy commute downtown.

My brother commutes from Northville to downtown and it isn't a bad commute, and Northville is an outer suburb. This isn't LA or DC, where 10 miles can take 2 hours. I know someone who commutes from South Lyon to Lansing (!) and it takes under an hour.

[keraT]

Grosse Pointes - if you want the suburbian life
Downtown Detroit - if you want the urban life
Huntington Woods


Wait you are looking for new build house or to build a new house for yourself? some pockets of inner ring suburbs will have space for new build but most likely for new subdivision you are driving to outer ring suburbs

[Coldjensens]

Monroe is too long a commute unless you do no much like your family. There was a huge opiate/heroin problem there for was while. It is getting better, but it is still an issue. Like anywhere, there are better and less better parts of the city (literally divided by a railroad track).

As you come up towds the city from the south, there are some very nice places to live. Wayandotte is the coolest city. their schools could be better, but they have improved considerably. Woodhaven is nice suburbia and has some new contractuion going in. So does Brownstown. Trenton is a pleasant is somewhat uninspiring little town, but it is right next to Wyandotte and it has some nice places. Also better schools.

Grosse ile is fabulous in every way, but will be at the very top of your budget, and very little new construction. It also adds 10 -15 minutes to a commute to downtown. From May to October, we will only have the toll bridge and that adds $120 per commuter/car per month. It is hard to beat Grosse Ile as a nice place to live even in comparison to pretty much anywhere in the country, but it is hard to afford to live in Grosse Ile as well.

Riverview, Southgate, and Flat Rock are all pretty decent and have some new construction, but more individual custom homes or very small subdivisions than instant "sea of suburbia" type mammoth subdivisions.

To the West: Livonia is nice. Plymouth, Canton, Northville, Novi Lyon township, South Lyon Wixom and Farmington Hills are all very nice and have good to great schools. They are also pretty expensive and a bit of a commute.

The Grosse Pointes are also very nice. they are nestled right in and on the edge of Detroit. Again maybe too pricey.

The two places with the most new construction are Lyon township and Macomb township.

[usroute10]

Originally Posted by Coldjensens

Riverview, Southgate, and Flat Rock are all pretty decent and have some new construction, but more individual custom homes or very small subdivisions than instant "sea of suburbia" type mammoth subdivisions.

To the West: Livonia is nice. Plymouth, Canton, Northville, Novi Lyon township, South Lyon Wixom and Farmington Hills are all very nice and have good to great schools. They are also pretty expensive and a bit of a commute.

The Grosse Pointes are also very nice. they are nestled right in and on the edge of Detroit. Again maybe too pricey.

The two places with the most new construction are Lyon township and Macomb township.

This person asked for suburban options with new housing in the I-75 corridor. Don't Brownstown and Woodhaven have a fair amount of new housing?

[Coldjensens]

Originally Posted by usroute10

This person asked for suburban options with new housing in the I-75 corridor. Don't Brownstown and Woodhaven have a fair amount of new housing?

They have some. Not a huge boom. A few subdivisions here and there. They kind of trickle onto the market from time to time. A number of them are Del Webb type (55 and older) and there are quite a few that are town-homes. Riverview has some as well.